Blackpool

Our current challenge is to try and work our way through the hundreds of photos we took on our recent half-term break when we headed north and checked out the Lake District and York, and a few other places up north.

So to start with, here's a few pics of the famous, historic and delightfully tacky seaside resort town of Blackpool. This is where in Victorian times, the workers from the northern mill-towns used to spend their annual week's holiday, sitting on the beach, enjoying the tram and donkey rides, climbing the Blackpool Tower, eating chips, playing Bingo, riding the Pleasure Beach amusements, and generally chilling out amongst thousands of other like-minded souls. Apparently not much has changed, and although it's a lot quieter in the middle of February, we found it very interesting to see what folk from these parts look for in a holiday resort.



The girls in front of The Big Dipper - the largest and most famous ride in The Pleasure Beach. We can see where the inspiration for Luna Park came from.


A look down the promenade.. the "illuminations" are apparently quite spectacular after dark - not sure about the Dr. Who theme though?


The English love a good pier and the more amusement rides you can squeeze on it the better.



Yes, it's true - we love Blackpool

The trams run along the beachfront during summer. That's the Blackpool Tower you can see in the distance through the winter mist.


Alas, we didn't have time to visit the famous Laughing Donkey Family Bar on the South Pier, but we've no reason to believe it's anything less exciting than it sounds!


The art deco facade of the Pleasure Beach harks back to Blackpool's glory days of the 1920's & 30's; as does the use-by date of the food on display in the takeaway shops along the promenade.

And a quick peek at The Big Dipper...

Dodgy mobile phone pics

Oh dear... we have been tardy... Blame it on the new camera and it's ability to hold hundreds of photos without the need to download, blame it on the rain (aka British summer), blame it on being busy, blame it on the quality documentaries on BBC 2, blame it on the boogie... however you look at it, it's been over a month since our last update.

Don't worry, we do have lots of pics from the new camera showing the fun places we have visitied and how our two little darlings have grown. In the meatime, our apologies to you our loyal blogging friends. Hopefully this collection from Keezee's work phone will partially make up for it. The Manchster pics are because he's been working in Manchester - interesting place, friendly people with funny accents, rains a lot!



The view out the window of Keezee's hotel room in Manchester... did I mention it rains a lot in Manchester?


Here we are at the dogs in Manchester.. Belle Vue is the name of the track, and suprise, it's raining again.



The dogs didn't mind though. Neither did Keezee... he won £40 on the Trio (a.k.a Trifecta)



This is the entrance to a bar is called The Temple, and you enter it down some stairs in the middle of the street... it's an old public toilet, so it's commonly known as The Toilet Bar... surprisingly trendy though. We like it! [Note the rain]




The tickets for Elton John said no photography allowed!



The concert was held at Mercedes Benz World in Brooklands, near our place... Note the Mercedes badge on top of the building.



Elton's still got it... he played for 2hrs without a break and was very, very good... albeit a bit small from this distance.



Speaking of bad seats... here we are at the Manchester Utd v Juventus pre-season friendly at Old Trafford. I've never been a fan of Man U and now I know why.



More of the most boring game ever... 0-0 was the final score with one shot on goal. It's hard to see from this shot, but it was raining. The highlight of the evening was the rowdy songs sung on the tram back home... wouldn't want to be a Liverpool fan on that tram.