Our Trip to Blackpool

Well I'm very sorry, it has been some time since I last posted a blog, but all sorts of things seem to of been happening in my life, which I will tell you more about, in the future, but now as I promised this is a story of our trip to Blackpool last week.

Originally we were planning to go to Wales, but due to problems with the trains decided we would use Blackpool as a base, and therefore we would travel by car instead.

The hotel was a little basic but the rooms were okay, and the food was excellent, although the waitress appeared to have the same problem as I, short-term memory loss, because she was constantly coming back to check what our order was.

We did little on the first day, apart from in the evening when we went along the promenade taking a series of photographs of the sunset and the illuminated attractions, which seem to have come out quite successfully.

The next day we had a trip to the famous Bispham Chippy, we had a meal of fish and chips followed by carrot cake to fill us up, then encouraged we went to Stanley Park for opportunities to take photos of the scenery & any other things of interest

Well the park was a really good place to go because there were a range of swans, geese & ducks all with their little ones, looking really cute, plus herons & other birds, as can be seen by these photos.

We then went to the café for a drink & could not believe the notice on the wall, which amongst other things banned CARS, how did they think they were going to get through the doors, also as you can see from the photos they also banned scooters, which at the time we thought funny, imagining dirty smelly Vespas trying to come in, no they meant electric mobility scooters, which was going to cause problems for a range of customers, although they allowed dogs, maybe they behave better & make less noise :o)

That evening yet again we took some more photos along the promenade, but it was very windy so trying to balance the camera became a problem at times.

The following day we went for a look at the ship that had sunk near Cleveleys & went on the beach to get some better photos of it, whilst there 2 young ladies from the council appeared & erected banners as you can see from the photo informing us all that there was an exclusion zone & we were not to approach the ship, what is interesting is that we & others all obeyed although there was actually no barrier to stop people getting closer to it.

We went to Fleetwood for a look round & managed to get lost both going there as well as on the way back, to show how competent we were we managed to get lost on our way back to Stanley Park, which had been selected because of the fact it was such a nice quiet place where we could eat whilst listening to the bird song.

When we got there all the seats outside were full so we went inside, sadly it was full up, with a very limited supply of sandwiches & cakes for us to eat, we finally found a table just near the jazz quartet who I think would of sounded quite good if only they had sorted out their sound system, after that we managed to get lost yet again on the way back to the hotel, at least we are consistent.

Guess how we spent the evening, well you guessed it at the promenade again, but wait for it we also took a series of photos of the Big One ride to show the height & speed, not sure how well they worked out, will have to put some up for peoples comments, but we spent nearly 2 hours watching the sun go down which was so beautiful a sunset, but sadly most of the rest of the holidaymakers seemed more interested in the pubs & amusements, so never saw this sight.

The next day was the last so sadly we packed & set off home, finally one of our group had sorted out the sat nav on his mobile phone, which seemed to agree most of the way home, but then when I took a short cut it kept trying to get us to go back on route, despite it we finally got back home, hope you have enjoyed the story

What on Earth Is The Cuckoos Arms Pub on SagaZone

Some time ago I wrote a blog about Owls the forum I had joined on SagaZone, since then a small group of us created a new daytime and evening forum, Cuckoos Arms, which basically is a fantasy pub, run by ICE the manager, with a mixture of the strangest staff & customers you could ever meet in life.

Well for example I am the waiter, not very good & keep disappearing but, totally in love with Debbie who also works at the pub.

Well what can I say about “My Debbie” she is the lovely person who calls in each morning to make sure the heat is on, do the cleaning, serving as well as help to test the quality of the gin by drinking pints of it, at a time.

There do seem to be one or two strange things about this sweet innocent person, like why did she not mention these 3 sisters, who by mistake she said were her daughters, on more than one occasion and why does she have the need to tell everyone when she has been drinking that she does not wear underclothes & why does she keep telling people about some of the things I would prefer to remain quiet about the two of us.

But after all she is such a lovely person to me & all the others in the pub & is very tolerant to that Sue.

Yes now what about Sue, a flirtatious person, who is constantly looking for the next man, I feel really she is just looking for that special person, but the constantly going fishing for the person, I feel must be a little off putting to the men, whop come to the pub.

I also think her constant change of allegiance to various men is also confusing for everyone, including the days target, but I also feel sadly there is a degree of jealousy in relation to me & my Debbie which brings out all sorts of negative statements to us both

Now what does Sue do in the pub, well she goes “fishing” but what about serving cooking or cleaning in the pub I am still waiting to see her pour a pint other than maybe one for herself or the man of the day.

What to say about ICE our manager, well first I have to remember she is the boss & I need the job, so that will affect the things I say ever so slightly (well actually a lot but don’t tell her), she doesn’t seem to spend very much time at the pub, but often I do wonder why not given the quality of the staff & the behaviour of the customers, she seems to be particularly drawn to the male customers for some reason & frequently wants quiet chats with them in her office whilst they drink large quantities of alcohol.

She also keeps recruiting new members of staff, again a lot of men but they only seem to last a day or two after she has had them in her office to help her with her spreadsheet, which seems strange because she never asks me to help out with it & she doesn’t seem to look to deeply into their backgrounds before employing them.

If ever there was someone who flirts well ICE deserves medals for it, as she wanders round the men in the pub, but there again in the nicest possible way she also seems to do the same with the lady customers also, which I suppose helps the staff customer relations, I am very happy that she does not flirt with me because what would my Debbie think.

What I cannot understand is that we appear to be constantly running out of staff, food & at times alcohol, plus many of the people do not seem to pay for their drink, in particular if they are invited into ICE’s office, I do worry if she does not spend more time sorting out the pub we will be closed down.

Now how many of the other staff should I mention, in the short time we have been open I have been so confused at the number that have come & gone so I must apologise at not mentioning you all.

I do remember EMLM who actually seemed to be very conscientious, but one day just disappeared, there is Violet who I think is some sort of bar person, or customer, I do worry about the lack of clothes & her suggestive remarks to the male customers, but she seems a nice person, now I think Chukkie was employed as entertainments manager, but where has she got to & what about organising some entertainment other than the fact that the male customers seemed to like her pole dancing.

Now is my friend phizz a customer or a member of staff, we do know she will do anything apparently for a pork pie whether it is cooking serving or spending time entertaining the male customers, but she is a lovely friend to everybody if only she could find someone of her own to share a pork pie with.

What about John at 105, I am still unsure if its his age address or some other link he has not told us, what the relevance is of the 105, again not sure which category he fits in with, seems very nice until he has had, well a “few” drinks then stand back if there are any women about in the pub, I don’t know where he gets the energy from.

Now I have to say I feel very let down by David From Scotland, when we first met he seemed such a nice sort of person & I am sure he will not mind me saying a fellow TOGG, but what has happened now, between the drinking, womanising & abusive remarks to me well I don’t know at all what to say without being sued for libel.

GUC or My Pauly, well the handyman I believe, well he does live round the corner & he is good with provision of our music but most the time he is off flirting with any women or is doing the same at the pub with any of our female customers, though they do seem to like it, when it spends time chatting them up

Now the mysterious Dan, yesterday there was a hint of who he really is, I have always wondered how he could find a plane for a trip at short notice for us to go on holiday & so smooth & debonair, but so nice & kind to us all, but he seems to just drift in & out, with a fairly low profile, maybe the only normal person that comes to the pub, but I have noticed a slight flirtation with the beautiful ICE on occasions & wonder is there something there or is it all part of the illusion, they seem to speak when most of us are gone, maybe I should stay late one night & check it out

There are the customers as well, who seem to spend, so much time chasing each other or drinking huge quantities of alcohol & often not paying for it, I wouldn’t mind if Ididn’t have to clean up after them every day

There are some interesting people who have recently joined like Shoney who is lovely & seems to have something like Debbie’s magic bag (I wonder what it is) must ask some time, then there is JR, Blondie or whatever her real name is, now again, she has like Dan inferred that she is linked to the secret service, how exciting, but what an actress, she seemed a really nice person when she first appeared, but quickly seemed to spend all her time getting drunk apparently & chasing any man who dared to appear in the pub, as I have said to her what an actress she must be, but how does she cope with all the alcohol, when hiding her personality & is something going on in the pub that we don’t know about.

Well folks where do we go from here, we must be doing something right it has already had over 9000 hits from people in the short time it has been running, it seems to have a following of people who watch our antics I am told & a mixture of strange & wonderful people popping in on an occasional basis, Hi Clabby & FF, & all the others I have missed, in the blog

Trip To Spain

Well I have now been back from holiday for a few days, so thought I would just let you know a little back bit about the trip, we went back to the same hotel in the same resort as last March, so it was much easier to settle in and sort ourselves out.

One of the dilemmas was because we've taken so many photos last year of all the local sites, apart from some beautiful sunsets and some of Malaga and Nerja there was going to be nothing out of the normal I felt for me to take, I will mention at this point that Brian spent much more time out taking lots of photos, but sadly when he came to download the photos his memory card was corrupted he will have are my boring ones to show to other people.

When I went on holiday when the main things I wanted to do was to chill out and take stock of my life and to try to plan some things for the future, which I suppose I have done although I accept things don't necessarily work out in the way that we choose and fate goes along its own path, so who knows.

Because of our past experience we had the shopping off to a fine art, I knew this time the supermarket was less than five minutes walk away and we had no problems in relation to food in the apartment, Brian had been kind enough to bring me a packet of porridge which was very kind, also we knew of restaurants that we could eat out at with no problem.

For most of the holiday the weather was really good bright and sunny and I spent some time just lazing in the Sun whilst Brian went on his walking trips, I took a good supply of reading material and music which lasted me for the duration of the holiday.

I think it's worthwhile mentioning, bearing in mind the object of the holiday was to chill out, that Brian and I managed to lose each other at the airport when we started out, and also managed to lose Brian's passport on way home which are still not turned up, which was sort of stressful, but also interesting to find how easy or difficult it is to leave one country and return to another one.

We had a day in Malaga which was pleasant but seemed to be a lot of walking, but also went to Nerja which took nearly 6 hours travelling there and back, but in reality without transport there was little that we could see in our short stay there, but I had to admit that the meal there was one of the best, especially the gateau which was a strawberry one with cream that I had whilst I was on holiday.

On our last morning we had an early start, and it was quite ironic that the temperature dropped and it was warmer in England than it was there and the rain they had was much worse than that we normally have, so for a change coming home was quite positive, we realised because of the timing that we could have stayed for another week there because the Easter holidays, but at least it has given a time to rest and recuperate before going back to work.

How Not To Organise A Concert Part 2

Well good evening readers, as promised this is the outcome of the concert that I was involved in organising earlier today, was it a total disaster, I leave it to you to decide, on the other hand I suppose there were some very good positives, so here we go, I may want off a little, but I had been on the go since early this morning.

Should I mention the good bits first or last, will start with the bad debts and build up, the first was as I was getting ready to go to the concert and set things up this morning, my phone went and it was a friend of mine I was going to see later, who decided to come and visit, well time passed and eventually I had to remind him that I had things to do, at that point he put it on mini disc decided to buy a ticket which was very kind, but he never turned up at the show, plus I was now starting to run late.

The other thing that will matter as I tell the story was that I had problems transferring the music for the dances, of which there were from cassette to disc, so had put it on mini disc and took along all sorts of connections to fit the sound system.

But when I got there nobody else had arrived, but I met Brian, the manager a kindly set everything up for us just where we asked for it, just then the dancers arrived they were all female young & not called Sever but Fever, I had a feeling it was the first of a long set of problems today, well next the pianist arrived, she wanted the piano moving in front of the curtain, well that was okay but what about the 2 young people who were playing, set pieces, well we reached a compromise.

Now what else could go wrong well our intrepid sound person had got stuck in road works, so I could not try out the music, nor could the dancers, so with heavy heart I went to se how many people were outside queuing up for tickets, you have guessed it none, there were now about 20 performers & no audience, uumm.

Well eventually we set up the sound system & everything worked as it should , but then the 2 principal singers from the operatic society explained they both needed microphones, well you would be impressed with me I managed to sort that one out without to much of a problem.

Well now to the running order I wrote down the various things as instructed by Jackie & we seemed to be on our way, I was on a run I met our two talented young people Matthew & Johanna, & their mum & they seemed very organised. So over to Jackie & let the show begin, Alison & John had very good voices, next was Matthew & Johanna, playing the piano violin then Johanna, dancing, I just wish I was so talented or my children were, we finished the first half with Affetside choir doing their usual beautiful singing.

I forgot to say through all of this Fever dancers were watching & dancing along to the music, in the wings which for me was just as well because I was unable to see the show, due to being curtain person & assistant sound person.

Well in the interval I went to have a look at how things had gone on with ticket sales, well I think the volunteers & entertainers outnumbered the customers 2 to 1, but they all seemed to enjoy themselves & talking to people the various acts had enjoyed the others,

Well all seemed to of settled down we were on a roll, “oh no we were not” we should of started with Johanna doing a dance, well guess who messed up the music & the curtain not once not twice but three times, but I do have to say Johanna was a total professional putting up with me & my deliberate(if only) mistakes, her performance once she started was well worth the wait though.

Now just looking at the timetable I have spotted my next deliberate mistake, now how could anyone forget a choir of 30 people, well I did, then they started & sang & sang, I went out front & really enjoyed the whole set, but I had decided that Jackie was doing her piece & had set the stage for this, but the cue never came, why not, because I had made another minor mistake.

Finally they finished & now back to Johanna & her last set of dancing, well how could I possibly get it wrong after the last time, well opening the curtain may of helped, playing the right piece of music also, who could I blame, well me, but again what a pleasure she was again.

Now you & I would think Jeff you have had a bad run of luck but we are alright now, wrong again, it was finally Jackie’s piece, which she needed a music stand & a microphone on a stand, as well as the radio mike she already had, well what could go wrong well the mike would not work the stand would not take the wider mike so guess who was summoned to stand looking stupid holding the microphone for Jackie for the duration of her song.

Well at long last the lovely young female dancers time came, they were dancing initially to very upbeat music, then a whole range of music in different styles, but the most worrying for me & maybe our sound person was when they wore very! Short skirts for one of the numbers, I have to say at this time my back was aching with all the standing & I thought how wonderful to be so fit & capable as they & Johanna were, in fact I shut my eyes when she & one of the dancers at separate times did the splits.

Finally that was the end, I missed asking people in the audience how it had gone on but felt the applause was a true indication that people had enjoyed themselves.

When I checked we had about broken even with ticket sales against expenses, therefore was it all worthwhile yes of course it was we all enjoyed ourselves

Now for the future, never ever ever have an event on mothers or any other day like that, because this was I feel why we struggled for the acts & audience.

Make sure who is going to perform & get the publicity sorted out very early on.

Make sure that any music or other items are sorted out well before the day

Remember to check the running order & get someone else to assist where their brain works better than mine

Get people to buy tickets well in advance, so that we make a profit at least.

More reasons why I have been quiet for a while

Last April I had problems with my back, but so what it had happenned before but no this was to go on & on & on

I have tried all sorts of stuff to put it right, my osteopath has tried to resolve it I tried the medication route, sadly although that seem to be helping to control at the same time it has made me even more tired out than I already was.

I went to see a lovely physio Gail & she has been treating me for some time now, she told me my muscles are amongst the tightest she has seen, being the silly person I am I boasted about this rather than resolve it, having said that I am doing some interesting exercises including the cat & the cobra, but it just did not get better, in the end it was suggested I needed to see a consulktant & have a scan

Well I have done that & had the scan, the only way seemed to be to go privately which I finally did, one less holiday this year then, the outcome is that apparrently it is something to do with the lower part of my spine narrowing.

The nice consultant has now said he can do injections in my spine (oh dear) but that may only provide temporary relief, but then he can do a proceedure which has a very high success rate, so now I have the answer, what will happen next, we will have to wait & see. Now you realise that that has had more than a little impact on my life.

Latest update on Concert

Well I am so sorry I have not been blogging for a while, but it has been one of those periods in life when we think well eventually I will find the time to catch up.

Fortunately Caroline kindly spurred me on today asking why had I gone quiet, so how could I resist, are you reading carefully then I will begin.

You may remember that I was organising another concert, did you know the date, well I did, its this Sunday, now what’s special about this date that I did not know, yes its Mothers Day, so of all the days in the year how could we of got it so wrong, or at least that’s how it seems.

Well that’s not to bad you say, no but supposing the person who rings round to sell the tickets & do the publicity has to go off ill, well that’s very sad for her but also for the concert, but never mind, now just supposing the person who was designing the posters became pregnant & struggled to do them, gladly she now has a lovely little baby called Dylan. But then just imagine that the substitute person now after doing the poster, disappears when we find we need it altering, um interesting.

Now there is the little issue of the performers, it seemed so simple & I must say that all that is going to happen on the day is down to the lovely Jackie, who has worked so tirelessly to make it all happen, as people found they could not do their part, finding substitutes & wheeling & dealing, planning, doing the running order, Jackie you have been brilliant, quite who or what will be on the stage we will have to see

Oh I forgot, we have had a little hiccup, to do with the piano, well we will now have it, but will it be in tune, lets see

Now about the tickets well they should be going great after the success last year, well not quite, so readers if you are about this Sunday & want to treat the family please come down to Radcliffe Civic suite for 2pm, I am sure you will have a treat.

In case you turn up & cannot see me well who do you think is operating the curtain again, but I will come out in the interval to see who turns up.

An Update on Life

Hi Readers sorry about the delay, but it has been busy recently, plus my health has not been as good as I would like

Well the concert draws closer & we seem to have all the ingrediants for a successful show, these include Affetside Choir, Whitefield Operatic Society, Matthew at the Piano & his sister who is going to play the piano as well as show us various routines from her dancing skills, also at the last minute we have a new group from Merseyside Sever, who are performing arts students doing various dance routines.

The tickets are printed & on sale from now & shortly we will be advertising the event, lets hope it is an even bigger success than last years was.

Sadly the final pieces are falling into place in relation to my divorce, which will mean it is finished once & for all, but at the same time it means its the end of what once was a very happy realationship, at least I feel that my solicitor helped me as much as possible unlike these stories that we hear of to do with others in their profession.

I have been sufferring a lot from my back the last couple of weeks & am at present on very strong painkillers which are making me quite tired but mabe the rest I have had this last week is what the body was trying to tell me it needed, also to spend less time on the computer.

As a result I have now decided to see a consultant privately just to get some answers to what is going on with my spine & other parts of me, I just hope its helpful & not bad news.

The good news is that I have booked the next holiday & hope that it is as enjoyable as the last one, the photos may show that hopefully, will give an update after the event.

Please dont forget to have a read of the other parts of my Blog & in particular I am still waiting for those special photos from anywhere in the world of beautiful settings together with fast food places

Another Gentle Reminder

Hi Folks As I have said previously please go & have a look at my other blogs, pass comments, good or bad you will find them if you dont know how by going into My Profile & they are there at the bottom of the page.

Pams People should of been on here but it was a bit late so decided I would tempt you over to the others to have a look in case you have not been there before

If any of you from Sagazone have wandered in here, please have a look, some you will of seen but lots more should help you to sleep as you read, but dont get lost you may never find your way back

Just A Reminder

Hello Folks, shortly will be putting some new material on this blog, but dont forget my other two blogs if you havent already read them, in particular, my latest little story about my childhood, called Two little men in a Flying Saucer

Pams People

Well on monday went to see Pams People, a small group of people who have got together to entertain others.

It was in a large community centre hall but sadly there were only a few people there as an audience, in fact I think there was not many more than the number of performers, despite this the how cold the room was there was a great atmosphere & it really was a good performance with a mixture of songs from the musicals, sketches & carols.

The group seemed to enjoy themselves almost as much as the audience, my friend Jackie was there & it was lovely to hear her as others sing solos rather than with the choir I am used to hearing them in.

One of the group a young lady has the most beautiful smile when she sings as well as a beautiful singing voice, I mentioned, this to Jackie & low & behold the lady came over, her speaking voice matche the rest of her, but why had she appearred, well at long last my chance had come, she offerred me a stocking, but then explained that she wanted me to drap it over the shoulder of the man next to me when the cue came.

Well faced with this responsibility, at long last someone had realised my potential, not sure really as what, maybe props, I watched whilst still trying to follow the wonderful comedy sketch, at long last it seemed to be the right moment, but the gentleman noticed & was not very happy until I explained it was part of the show, finally the point was reached & we all enjoyed the conclusion of the piece & the stocking was returned to its owner, much to the gentlemans relief.

I wanted to take a photo to put on the blog but sadly the group do not feel ready for this quite yet, what a lovely afternoons entertainment, I could almost become a groupie

Happy christmas everyone