Sunday 31 July 2011

Last day of hubbys holiday

Well today is the last day of hubbys two week off from work and I must say I will miss him when he goes back to work tomorrow, it's been a lovely two weeks. First off in the first week we had a little holiday in mablethorpe from monday to friday with My sister Ali, nephews William and Andrew and my mum, the weather could have been better but we had a nice time all the same and I experienced my first ever caravan holiday.
While we were there we visited skegness, mablethorpe seal sanctuary and the beach, sandringham house where the royal family go for christmas and cleethorpes.
This week hubby and I stayed at home but we have been out and about a few times. On monday we did some work in the house and garden, it hadn't been touched for a week as only Lucy the cat and Matt our nephew had been here and neither are too familiar with a duster and hoover lol.
On Tuesday Paul and I took mum to southport for the day, we'd been saying we'd take mum there for a while as she's never been before. Paul and I went a few years ago while staying near blackpool and had liked  it. It was a lovely day with nice weather for a change, it was so nice to walk round without a cardi or coat on and an umbrella at the ready. We must have walked miles along the beach, round the lake, in the park gardens and  round the shops. I'm sure we more than walked off the fish and chips and ice cream we had while we were there.
On wednesday it was rather dull in the morning so we just lolled around at home, but after lunch we were feeling tired and lethargic so we decided to go out and get some fresh air. We popped to nearby cannon hall to walk around the grounds. The sun had come out by the time we drove there so we were enjoying a nice stroll round with the thoughts of a sit down with an ice cream, or tea and a bun later when I suddenly noticed I had a group of little black flies following me, just to the left of my head near my shoulder.
No matter what we did we couldn't shake them off and we tried alsorts including Paul flapping his arms around like a mad man having a fit and me trying to walk slow and then rush to out walk them but nothing was shifting them. So a good walk ruined we decided we'd go back to the car and go home, it was quite embarrassing walking around with about 3 dozen little flies buzzing round my shoulder.
I don't know exactly why these flies had took a fancy to my left shoulder but we think it could be the smell of my left hand which I was holding onto my bag with  near my left shoulder. Just after we got to cannon hall we'd called in the farm shop where I had put my hand on some spilt ice cream on the counter and had wiped it clean with a wet wipe, so we think they may have been attracted to the scenty sugary smell of my hand.
Strangely though once we got into the car park they dissapeared so when we were sure they weren't coming back we decided to go across the road to the garden centre and have a piece of cake and a tea after all, luckily the flies didn't follow.
On thursday I went into town to change over my jewellery in Jan's shop and afterwards Paul and I had an hour or two looking round town and doing a little shopping. We had planned to go to home, have dinner and then go back out to the pictures that evening but once we got home we decided that rather than cook something ourselves we could go to the pictures early and get something to eat at frankie & bennys which is on the same complex as the pictures. We had a quick wash and brush up,got changed and out we went again. Dinner was lovely and the film 'horrible bosses' was really funny so we had a really enjoyable evening.
Friday we did more lounging, housework and popped to the supermarket.
Saturday Paul and I had a lovely day out at doncaster races. The weather was gorgeous and the racecourse was packed. It's a long time since we last went to doncaster races and we were surprised how it had changed, we knew it had been updated but we were surprised just how much, we hardly recognised it.
We had a fab time but we weren't very lucky, especially me, none of my horses won or got a place so no winnings for me. Paul won £11 on a race where he bet on the horse that came second. On two races I did pick the horse that came in 3rd but unfortunately they were both on races with only a few horses in so the bookies were only paying out on the first 2 places.
It seems lady luck was not shining on me yesterday. In fact one of my horses came in so far behind the others we thought it hadn't even run. It was a horse called Balandra which was a beautiful grey horse with speckles and black hair. When it came into the parade ring I thought it was gorgeous and was feeling quite lucky, that was until the jockeys came out and got on the horses. The jockey got on Balandra and they didn't seem to get on, the beautiful horse that had happily gone round and round the parade ring looking rather regal and calm suddenly started twisting and turning and pulling, then as the horses and jockeys were lead out of the parade ring onto the course mine went the wrong way. The other horses ran down the little path and as their handlers let go and turned away to the side the horses and jockeys carried on the same way out onto the course, but not mine, oh no mine followed the handler and so had to be turned round and more or less shoved in the right direction, by now I wasn't feeling terribly optomistic at all. 
The race started and the pictures came up on the big screen tv in front of us as the start was too far away for us to see. There was no sign of a grey horse at all among the horses racing, we kept watching and saw Pauls horse among the others but still no sign of my horse. Soon the horses were in proper view charging to the finish line and still no sign of my grey horse. Paul and I thought it must have pulled up or not come out of it's gate and hadn't run or something.  Everyone else went wild as the front few crossed the finishing line and then the rest with still no sign of my grey horse. 'I bet it never set off' I said to Paul
People had started to get up to go down to the betting area to collect their winnings when we heard the sound of laughter and there in front of us trotting along at a steady, but not really racing pace,was my beautiful grey horse with the jockey bouncing about on its back. By now everyone was either laughing or shouting 'come on you can do it' and 'you're nearly there'. The closer she got to the finish line though the slower she got, I thought she wasn't even going to finish, but eventually she managed to reach the finish post before stopping completely. Needless to say if I ever see Balandra at a race meeting again I won't be betting on her, although I must admit it was a rather funny race to watch.
So now it's Sunday and Pauls last holiday, he's back to work in the morning. This afternoon we decided to visit brodsworth hall and gardens, which isn't very far away but I've never been. The house is an english heritage property and has been preserved more or less how it was left when they took it over in the 1980's. Its an odd place really as its a mix of old georgian style with newer pieces and its in a bad state of decoration. As you go round you see things that give you a taste of how gorgeous and grand it would have been in its heyday but also get a sense of how hard it is to keep up and live in a place like that when the money dries up.
A lot of the rooms had obviosuly not been used properly for years before it was handed over and were basically left or used to store random item. A lot of the furniture and decor was in a bad state and to be honest I must admit it wasn't my favourite type of place to visit, I prefer to see houses that have been restored and look how they would have done in their heyday, but it was interesting to see and we enjoyed walking round the gardens where today there was a brass band playing which we sat and listened to for a while.
So there we have it huby and I's holiday fortnight we've both really enjoyed it but it's back to normal tomorrow though, work for hubby and ironing for me whoopeedoo.

5 comments:

  1. Glad you had a brill time - all that walking you must be like a snooker cue now.

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  2. Unfortunatley not Chrissy still more of a rather large snooker ball shape lol

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  3. Glad to hear you & Paul had a good holiday....
    It's nice just to be able to do nothing sometimes.
    Jo. xx

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  4. Looks like you had a great time. Its such a shame those sort of holidays have to end. Sue x

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  5. It sounded like a nice break to me, all those days out and your week away..perfect.

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