London !!! here we are at last
Today was a full one,starting with an early breakfast Using our OYSTER cards (brilliant way of gettin around London via Bus & Tube (cost around £30 ($60) each for unlimited travel for 7 days just flash your card entering & leaving bues or tubes Great hassle free travel THEN we went on the London Eye & what a treat !! The views over Big Ben & up & down the Thames was magnificent The capsules we travelled in were warm & very comfortable A 4D short movie was shown before the trip (snow/mist/rain sprayed over us and we felt the weather was inside the building !!! Brilliant treat. We met up with my son later had a beer and a sumptious meal in Soho (reasonably priced) and went to see The Jersey Boys Show (life & times of Frankie Valli & the 4 Seasons) it was Fantastic and well worth seeing Ahh the tunes took me back to the 60 s !! I actually saw them LIVE at the Blackpool Opera House a lot of years ago !! Tomorrow will be as good and we have planned trips to places of interest Stay tuned !!!
From Blackpool to Newbury to London
we set of to Newbury from Blackpool to visit Annies brother Paul & his wife Sally PLUS Kimberley & Russell (children) and after getting issued with 14 rail tickets to get us to our destination we set off to Newbury using 4 different trains and the station change times worked perfectly !!! we stayed the weekend and had agreat time Visiting the stately home of Winston Churchill ..Blenheim Palace ( couldn’t believe how much mud in the car park) we had a lovely time & walked for bloody miles !! But the hightlight for Annie was the Balloon flight ! the weather for the day was perfect !! I stayed on the ground in order to take lots of pictures Annie was excited by what she saw from 2000 feet !! Sally kindly took us to the tube station at Chiswick WE have settled into our Hotel named Surtees in downtown Victoria My son Michael came over (it was great meeting up with him again ) we had a beer in a Blackpool Supporters Club !! (unbelievable !!) followed by a restaurant meal ..Michael carried on to meet his friends and we retreated back to our hotel knackered ready for BIG adventures tomorrow !!
Aladdin at the Grand Theatre Blackpool
What a fabulous night !! Tears streaming down my face & shouting… he s behind you !! Booing at the baddies !! Telling Aladdin (always a girl ) NOT to swap the old lamp for new !! The kids were worse than me !! hehe . Took me back to my innocent (yeah right ) childhood of Working mens club Xmas parties followed by trips to the Pantomime (Sad things & Times have changed so drastically) NO pics unfortunately (not allowed in the theatre) However here is a wee bit of plagiarism Aladdin is a classic Arabian fantasy jam-packed with music and dance, fun and laughter, bravery and love, a magic lamp, a wicked uncle, an incredible genie and, of course, the dream that Aladdin will marry his very own beautiful princess.
Poor street urchin Aladdin is recruited by Abanazar the evil sorcerer who pretends to be his long lost uncle and asks him to retrieve a mysterious oil lamp. Will Aladdin see through the evil sorcerer’s disguise? Will the beautiful princess Jasmine find true love? And what’s all the fuss about a dusty old lamp?
Fly with us on a magic carpet ride to Arabia in this fantastic family adventure! It’s a wish come true this Christmas! BRILLIANY STUFF ( my very own words !!)
Our visit to Nephew Brians pub in Preston
Annie started the day by being brave & headed off into town on her own Three hours later she rang to say she was lost !! fortunately I knew the area!! In the Evening we visited my nephews pub in Preston (around 17 miles away) and quite a few of my very extensive family turned up !! I of course was in my Australian shirt hoping for all kinds of abuse fro the Pomms (English) after the 2nd test Sadly NO takers !! Annie wasn’t feeling too well BUT still had a lovely evening trying to take in what a large family she has inherited !! Tonight we start Xmas by going to a traditional English Pantomime at Blackpool’s oldest theatre The Grand Photos re NOT allowed inside BUT I will attempt to do a bit of review
Blackpool & the Big Freeze
Life here is still great Altho I have visited a couple of my old haunts (pubs n Clubs ) where once upon a time I knew everybody,sadly I didn’t see ONE familiar face.Ann is still mesmerized by the deep frost & snow flurries.Its been lovely catching up with family & friends we have been very busy hence the slowness-on my blogs ! Winter wonderland for us is terrific BUT the locals are not impressed with our enthusiasm !! Come Friday all being well we are off to Newbury for the weekend followed by a week in London. Hopefuly lots of photos will be forth coming
Todays Blog is dedicated to a great family friend who has passed on
Terry was part of my childhood memories,his family and mine were the biggest in our steet I can still hear his yodelling call to his mates so they would come out “and play” to the days we went to the local theatre to support him in his Skiffle Group Contests RIP
Home at Last
We have arrived in a freezing cold Blackpool BUT I LOVE it!! Blackpool has escaped the snow that is putting most parts of UK inchaos !! Shopping is cheap here & Annie has already bought winter clothing My Drizabone is working perfectly and is also very warm.We have visited some friends & met a few of my very large English family.Brother Brian ( no he s not a priest !) has made us very welcome & my sister in law Treesha ( who is currently in Benidorm) has stocked the kitchen up for us ! Annie has tried the Bingo Hall out courtesy of my niece Jenine ( No wins ) & my nephew Darren has taken me to the Movies ( a tradition he & I have encouraged on every trip to Blackpool I make) My first visit to the Ramsden pub ended in me NOT remembering much !! Blackpool town centre is abuzz with the Xmas spirit & we are savouring it to the max. Down the track I will atempt to do a bit of a biography on myself ( to completely bore you all !!) IF anyone has memories of long ago Email me & I will try to put them into stories
Dubai the City & the Freezing Ski Slopes
I Love it here SO clean and HOT.Dubai boasts the largest building in the world.Budget hotels provide an excellent service including full english breakfast.I have been here several times and is a brilliant place to visit.Taxis are relatively cheap and easily accessed =Shopping Malls are HUGE and a person could quite easily spend the day in them Lots of speciality shop One particular shop had life size metal figures of the Predator & Alien (reall life like & made entirely from scrap metal)& plenty of eateries.We visited a cinema to watch Harry Potter battle evil (good film) the cinemas are very comfortable and are also within the Mall. Most amazingly tho is the massive Ski slope in the Mall !! The ambient weather is kept to a very cold -6C !! Once inside for a brief moment you could be in the Alps !! It is compulsory to wear the warm clothes & shoes provided on entry People catch a ski lift to the slope top & Ski down Other activities include sled runs (Annie never knowing the pleasure of this treat went down the sled run twice!!) The staff were brilliant Ice sculptures magnificent and definitely a place NOT to be missed
Dubai
Currently sat in This fantastic Dubai airport Will be back here when we reach UH and settle in (probably Monday) stay tuned for some fantastic Dubai pictures
We are currently in Limbo awaiting our flight to Dubai & Blackpool
Today was our last full “tourist” day looking around Perth The weather was a perfect 25 C and BLUE skies.We took a ferry ride across Perth Water ( Im free coz of my retirement Annie had to pay FULL price !! she is costing me a fortune in fares !!) There is an excellent “light” show on in Perth Forrest Chase a HUGE Plastic shaped dome (s) that once inside incredible coloured lights are displayed purely by sun streaming thru the different coloured plastic domes.Perth central was filled with lots of tourist and music flowed thru the air courtesy of musical buskers (One in particular playing a Sitar making me want to break out into a Bollywood dance !! ) Perth is a vibrant city & well worth a visit ALL City transport is very regular and best of all FREE !!! NEXT…Dubai & UK for NEXT 3 months stay tuned
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 