Holiday Blogs – Page 7

Day 3 – Falling Chunder

[just as an fyi, I genuinely do only write this guff, because I like writing. It’s aimed to be nothing other than cathartic, in a non-medical sense. Reader discretion advised!]

Slept way better last night, which was probably down to a combo of all the walking, followed by a big meal, and a few Tuborg Golds, but I’ll take that! Also started by falling asleep on the beanbags on the balcony – it’s just so comfortable.

Because the apartment is just over 1200ft (390m) above sea level, we’re blessed with a lovely breeze most of the time, and that means sitting out on the balcony, even when it’s above 30C, is a joy.

Which is handy when you have to sit around waiting for Lurchio to get out of his pit. I suspect he’s regretting yesterdays badly-applied suncream (leaving him burned) and likely one more Tuborg than was wise (leaving him a little dehydrated). Life lessons…

Whilst we wait, it led me to think about the animals around us. Next doors have a Cockrell with a sore throat, a big dog, and what sounds like a peacock. We on the other hand trump that by having a goat, as previously mentioned.

We have yet to set eyes on a tortoise or a wild pig however, but my mission will continue. If I’m lucky and we ever get to The Blue Lagoon today, I may even see a Turtle. Fingers crossed on both counts!

Finally got moving, so jumped a Taxsi to Fez Bar in Hisarönü, to grab something for dinner (“lunch” for non-locals). Chicken kebab for me & a half-decent 5.2% Frederick IPA, a Türk Tuborg ‘craft’ offering.

We met the owner, Serdal, who is good friends with Gareth. After a good chinwag, he suggested sending a photo of us & to say ‘Merhaba!’. So I did!

Serdal showing what my head looks like from the front and the back…

We wandered back around to the Taxsi rank & ‘blew’ a whole £3.50 on a ride to Billy’s Beach, on the Blue Lagoon, rather than walk a very circuitous dog-day* hour.

(*technically not a dog day yet, for the pedants).

Around £3.50 in each, to the private beach “including sand, sunbed & umbrella”. Have to laugh that on some of the FB groups we’ve joined, people talk about prices going up. It’s gone from a pre-pandemic 8TL to the £, to 20TL, whilst 40-50TL can get you a pint.

Apparently I spent around an hour slow-pickling myself in the lagoon, snorkelled up, albeit I didn’t see any wildlife, but did nearly fall asleep face down it was so relaxing! No turtles today, not even a turtles head.

After the swim, a brief stint on sunbeds ensued, until Jane wanted a “Cornetto, not pistachio” & a coke. A bar trip, and an inevitable first taste of the Efes (“100cl jug & 2 glasses, so I don’t look like a pisspot, Lütfen”).

As we watched all the tandem parasailers come down from the top of the mountain, ( of which, at some points there were over 15 in the sky above us), I happened upon a Facebook post that made me chuckle – it wasn’t salami, it was Turkish sausage, the fools!

From there we took a (free) dolmus back to Oludeniz beachfront bus station, and had a quick wander. It was busy, quite touristy, and glancing at prices is a touch higher priced that Hisarönü & Ovacik, for good reason being on the seafront.

We decided a taxsi back to the nearer end of Hisarönü suited us more and hunted down our snacky tea. Again on good recommendation, we went for a quick (Chicago style) pizza at Pizza Pepino. The usual friendly welcome & impeccable service awaits, and Charlie popped his “first beer order” cherry, in that when asked if he wanted a beer, he said “yes”. His first served pint!

From there, a quick stroll past a few shops selling Stone Island/Moncler/Ahmed’s (Stockport, 1980s reference) etc, before picking up “drugs” from a pharmacy for a neighbour.

Finally a nip up the road to the apartment, during which I got to use the Turkish Salsa (Sol & Sa, left & right) & we made it right to the gate. Opposite the chap who owns a posh retail chain in the UK, who’s apartment I wish I’d taken a picture of yesterday. It it seems empty now, but has previously been lit up with colour-shifting LEDs but in a very tastefully done manner imho!

Game over for today. No clouds at all again. Lots of good people met. Great food, relaxed atmosphere.

Tomorrow will (and without wishing to disappoint this may be a trajectory) likely be a quieter one. May just leave the apartment to get up the Babadag cable car to the summit & watch someone throw themselves over a mountainside and then throw their breakfast over a hotel pool complex. You never know!

Until tomorrow!

Day 2 – Bidet & B’Night

Usual C. J. Airey Senior start to a holiday, with almost zero sleep. I swear it’s because Charlie is the Yang to my Hypnos Ying, with him able to sleep 14h a day! The closer our proximity the stronger the insomnia effect.

Benefits to it however, were:

1. I had a ‘Number 2’ & abluted for the first time here. Not unexpected in its own right, but the ‘clean up’ afterwards was from revolution to revelation! Skipping the toilet roll phase, I remained fully seated & used the right-hand tap.

After a minute of pressure-washing my ring and surrounding lowlands, 3 small sheets of bog roll, a drying dab or two and clean as a whistle!

Impossible for me to now understand how we don’t have this feature as standard in the UK!

2. I faintly heard the 5:30am Güneş Ezan (pre-sunrise prayer calls), which was quite relaxing actually, and a gentle reminder to be respectful of the people & their belief.

3. I got up, put some shorts on, went downstairs, out onto the big balcony (it’s big!), flopped into and across the big beanbags & dozed in the 24C dawn & watched the sun come up over the mountains.

Time passed. More time passed. The boss hadn’t doled out any TLira, so wasn’t sure it was worth an early trip to the local (mini)Market.

Instead, I donned the Speedos, then donned swim shorts, and given no-one else was up, so I couldn’t offend them, I headed down to “our pool”, which as I understand, has recently been upgraded to include a DJ booth, fridge, glass wash facilites & as I discovered, some of the loveliest beer mats.

Cool, but refreshing! Not the pool, the Baileys Birthday Cake liqueur that I had been encouraged to try. A teaspoon full was had, to be clear – it was only 8am, I’m not an animal you know! It really does do it’s job – it tastes of a Jammy Victoria sponge with icing on!

The pool happened to give off the same vibe though – a few strokes & I felt alive!

I then started reading a physical book, something I’ve not done in a while, with my last read being the very enjoyable Kindle version of The Twelfth Man, by the venerable Howard Hockin.

This physical book though…it’s been staring me down since Jane bought it me. ‘End to End’ by Paul Jones is a book about an ex-head teachers attempt on a Lands End to John O’Groats record attempt. 15 pages in, and it’s already punching mental buttons. I think I’m still suffering LEJOG-PTSD. See earlier blog posts from 2012, if you’re a real masochist for ‘holiday diaries’.

Finally Mrs A stirred, a full 5 hours after I first got up. Operation ‘Recon’ went into full pelt, leveraging off my 3 hours of googling info and geotagging all of our recommended bars & restaurants. If only I had a spreadsheet setup so I could plot average walk times, based on local altitude & temperature!

Jane & I had a really nice, albeit hot walk down the main Ataturk Cd. road, heading towards Hisarönü & Oludeniz. Immediately noticeable how friendly people are here. I know the shop staff have a job to do in terms of selling their services, but nothing pushy, and more just a welcoming smile and or wave.

One required stop was to see the very charismatic Mr Dongle, who explained he was sure that Jane would like to rent his black dongle whist on holiday. Unlimited data later for the next 13 days, and that’s Charlie & Jane now sorted whilst we’re out and about.

Once you get down into Hisarönü as the road splits, there’s puerile humour of sorts to be found in the shop names – Harrools, Mark Spengler, Adli, Sainsdurys or other such name twists.

This is where the grey/somewhat dodge clothing, shoes & bags can be bought. An area that Charlie will investigate further I suspect whilst we’re here. Pretty sure he’ll have his head turned by the BayRan sunglasses or the Air Gordon trainers…

At 3.6km of walking later and we succumbed to the heat, grabbing a Taksi back up to near the Apartment, and stopping off at the ÇEŞ Market just down the road. We took the lighter stuff, but they delivered the heavy stuff (water, “Orijinal Tat” Cokes etc) to our apartment later in the afternoon. All good!

Rest of the afternoon was spent by the spotlessly clean pool, sunbathing and cooling off. Repeat to fade.

Eventually, it was back inside, cool showers & freshen ups before we headed to the nearby Shiraz Restaurant for tea (& a beer).

[In advance of ordering, I’m expecting Charlie to find, then order the biggest, most expensive steak, then end up getting meat sweats and not finishing it, as a side bet].

Was great to be served by Suat, a friend of Gareth’s, who was incredibly welcoming. Charlie did pick a steak, but not the massive T-Bone, and did leave some of his chips, but in the main, did well.

Jane and I had mozzarella sticks and breaded crab claw to start, and both had the mixed (chicken & lamb) Turkish Shish kebabs. Bloody lovely!

A couple of Tuborg Golds, for me, and non-drinking Jane even had a (very strong) pink gin & tonic. Which led me to tell Charlie that the next thing you know, she’ll be impersonating ‘Tits Out Jackie’ from City.

Back to the apartment, sat on the balcony, with a slab of beer now installed in the fridge & cooling. The view at night from our main balcony, down towards Oludeniz is great!

I reckon after today, it’ll be another slow start, but with the aim of heading down to Olu for lunch, then a bit of time around the beach & Blue Lagoon, before eating out somewhere for tea. But who knows!

So for now, I bid you ‘İyi geceler’!

Day 1 – Turkiye Supper

A leisurely start this morning, readying ourselves for the 11:30am taxi to the Airport, involved “ditching the dog”.

The worst part of going away is watching Toby getting stressy as he realises there’s something afoot. Hopefully he’ll be ok, once he realises he’s also on his holidays, having a sleepover with his mates Denbeigh & Sadie across the road.

The look on Anthony’s face when Jane left a ‘birthday bag’ and explained it was for Toby, as he turns 7 whilst we are away. The bag contains some doggie treats for him and his buddies.

Sammi arrived on time in his Prius, and a few minutes later, we were checking in our bags at EasyJet, Terminal 1. We’d already had an update from EasyJet saying the flight was delayed by half an hour, which is better than a cancellation, given what’s been going on over the last few weeks.

After the chaos & disruption that’s been occurring at Manchester, we weren’t sure what to expect, but as it turned out, we breezed through a relatively quiet security area & ended up through & in the concourse within about 30 minutes.

A nip to Duty Free to buy a bottle of Red for our soon-to-be neighbour, Mustafa & then into the concourse for some Fanny’s (Kebabs).

Actually, we didn’t end up eating the Fanny’s, instead plumping for a veggie breakfast, two chicken burgers, and three drinks – all for the princely sum of just over £60! Whilst the service was slow (over half hour wait), it was a good job that the food was actually really good, & a decent portion size.

Next stop, Gate 3D & boarding our Airbus A320. Some shambolic boarding ensued due to a lady who decided to sit where she pleased rather than her allocated seat, and being asked to move, kicked up a fuss as she was now away from her hand luggage which had been stored a few rows back.

Pushback at 2:40, and out via 24-Right, over Ashley/Mobberley, through the steel grey clouds, and into the Blue at just after 3pm.

An hour later Bag Lady kicked up a fuss again, getting her travel bag out of the overhead locker & putting it between her legs at her window seat, causing a combination of disruption and entertainment for us & the other nearby passengers. It took around 3 minutes before the Head Stewardess explained it couldn’t be left there as it was a safety hazard. Begrudgingly, she put it back in the overheads after bartering for a space that was 4ft from to her seat as opposed to the previous 6ft, breaking her nail & then kicking up a fuss for Nail Repair glue!

Otherwise it was a great flight! It’s around a 4 hour flight from Manchester to Dalaman, and with wonderful clear skies, it meant a decent bit of watching the world fly by.

We’ve been really lucky with this holiday, having been able to use a friends Apartment in Ovacik, Turkey, a place and a country we’ve never been to before. Noz has been amazingly generous with his time & knowledge, having not only left us with pages of maps, lists of bars, restaurants, beers, beaches & other such recommendations, he’s even pre-arranged the Airport transfers us.

Arriving at Dalaman, we switched from Manchesters 17C afternoon to a balmy 27C Turkish evening. Bags collected, we made our way down to Blue Lagoon Transfers to meet up with our Driver.

It’s just shy of an hour transfer door to door, as we got our first (in the dark) look at the “Turkish Riviera”/Muğla region & head off up the valley towards Fethiye, then Ovacik.

Arriving at the apartment, we were greeted by the neighbourhood dog & the apartments Goat (No, not greatest of all time, an actual goat)!

Following Noz’s very sensible advice we followed his “4 B’s” instruction – boiler on, bedroom choice, balcony & then beer!

Oh, I’m now officially the furthest East I’ve ever been, having really only headed West for previous holidays!

Tomorrow? Well, we’ll orient ourselves and have a wander down through Ovacik to Hisarönü, maybe down to Oludeniz & see what takes our fancy! That’s assuming we can coax Charlie out of his bed!

Yarın görüşürüz, as they say!

The End – Sloth Level Holidaying & Home

Morning!

Anyone heard of it? It’s getting to a point where if we stayed longer, we’d be getting up at dusk.

Decided to make sausage butties for breakfast as it was out last morning and I’d been reasonably healthy each day until tea time. A combination of ‘economy’ sausages, an oven they seemed to be unevenly hot, and a lack of attention from me led to a popping of sausage skins, an oily tray, and subsequently caramelised & burnt ‘bread-fingers’. Lots of red sauce didn’t offset the poor food.

Having tried and failed to get in a couple of pubs, we ended up booking back in the The Ring (where Toby’s ring caused much consternation, previously). A 6pm table meant we only had 4 hours of time to do something.

With no one else suggesting anywhere I set off for Rhosneigr, where we could walk north along the beach and past RAF Valley. Ten minutes in and we did our now customary u-turn, advised by Jane and headed back to the house – for the house key this time. 5 minutes later it turned up, so another 180, and back to parking up at the viewing point on the north side of Rhosneigr.

Had a lovely walk through the sand dunes (except for the bit where Toby tried to roll in the carcass of a long-dead seabird), and then onto the most wonderfully deserted low-tide Sandy beach. We just walked, chatted, threw the ball for Tobes, and looked for unusual stones and shells.

Jane came back with a bird skull (now identified as a Manx Shearwater, whuich is pretty rare), a crab claw, and some coal. Each to their own. Pity Valley was quiet though as I got right in the end of the active runway. Would have got some superb photos if anything had been taking off that afternoon.

After knocking up another 6km and getting a closer look at an Egret, we headed back to the Ring. Good food and a decent pint (Surfin’ IPA by Conwy Brewery), and back to the cottage to pack as we had to be out by 9am.

A busy pack, an early evening, and an early-for-us start, hence the tardiness of this, the last post of this little sojourn.

Got up by the alarm this morning, and then walked down to bring the van back to the house (which used to be a workshop, btw, evidence of which are the steps to the upper workshop floor from the outside of the building). Oh! There’s a lovely Triumph Stag convertible a few doors down. Nearly as good as it’s £££ number plate (5TAG).

A quick stop-off at the local quick-e-mart as we’d spotted multipack bags of salt and vinegar and prawn cocktail flavoured quavers. Impossible not to take some home!

I tried to call in at the Mona Brewery to pick up a few tinnies, but it was all shut up, so nothing more to other than pass by the Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Railway station before crossing the bridge and heading east to the M56 and home.

Enjoyed the break, the fresh air, the food & some of the drink, but mostly enjoyed the company. Not sure Charlie feels quite the same however!

Anyway, won’t bore you all anymore! Now back home, so see you next holiday, perhaps!

Day 5 – Mizzle & The Dancing Dog

Thought we’d best make an effort today and get off our ‘localised’ arses and “see Anglesey”. It didn’t work. Couldn’t be bothered. Not in a bad way either.

We eventually got in the van, did the now-obligatory u-turn to get Janes forgotten phone, and then set off. No idea where to, but we at least had managed to set off.

With little input from any of us, self included, we drove clockwise. Bull Bay, then Amlwych, but due to a classic mizzle and apathy combination, we carried on. Until we hit a dead end at Pen Cei. A swift u’ey and we’re back exploring, until we hit a dead end, this time at the intriguingly named ‘Consuelo Caravan Park’. Must Google that one at some point!

Then we set off again and found Moelfre Ice Cream Parlour. And one remaining space in the tiny carpark. So £3-all day later, we went for a stroll.

Gravelly beach done (Toby was still surf-sensitive), we headed along the coastal path, past the old lifeboat station to the very slick looking new RNLI one. Hint to any charities. Put a contactless card reader in the window of any properties, that are pre-programmed to take £2 increments. So easy you can’t not donate!

Sadly it’s the first time the weather cut short out plans, and after less than a handful of kilometres, as the misty drizzle rolled in we headed back to the van. Me, muttering because I’d forgotten to pack Arthur’s ludicrously sharp Zeiss binoculars and/or his ludicrously small & sharp Leica compacts with which I would have got a better look at the lovely Small Egret on the beach and the myriad of birds out on the island.

The Van! Our sanctuary! Hop in, phones on charge, Toby’s tea out of the fridge. Post-Ice Cream Parlour retreat! Charlie went ‘bubblegum’, Jane, ‘fudge’ and me, well, liquorice of course! Lovely.

After some time passed, it felt right to get an inside table at the Robbies pub opposite, which we knew to be dog-friendly, and serve food from 6pm. What we also knew, down to an earlier recon mission was that if you wanted food before 7pm, get in for at least 5:30 and be ready to place an order at 5:48pm latest.

We got in for 4:45, because it was busy outside and the rain was coming in again. Inside was quiet. Until around 5:15, after which it was a scramble for a table. Settling like crows (an outstanding lyric) the older folk began congregating around the food till at around 5:48, exactly as predicted.

I had our order written up in notepad, Table Number highlighted of course, and a checksum total just to save any haggling. Armed with experience of olden days ordering of beer from a packed pub, plus basketball, plus identifying ditherers, I muscled & elbowed my way past the grannies and got the P3 spot at around 5:51pm

Smashed it! I’d suspected P2 was a closet ditherer. One question (the obvious “chips, new potatoes or mash” conundrum) from Server 1 and they buckled. I waved my phone with a screen full of succinct answers to all questions, and I was escorted to the secret fast serve till. Result!

Apart from when my starter of Tempura King Prawns was delivered and just before table, one of the 6 fell off (“oops, sorry” said the embarrassed young girl that was serving, but with no further reference to the 1/6th of my £7.75 starter that I would no longer eat), the food & service were superb.

Toby made Friends with the people on the table next to us, and the table next to that, and some passers by and a big dog on the next nearest table, who at one point stood on his back legs and did what I can only describe as an Irish Jig. Then, stuffed & amazed, we came back to Cemaes.

We’re opposite a pub, The Stag. Next to the pub is a pub. Called the “Ye Olde Vigour”. Google it and the reviews. Quirky. I like quirky, but I can’t say I wasn’t slightly trepidatious before crossing the threshold. All I can say is I had a thoroughly enjoyable chat with the Landlady (read the reviews) & staff, finding out loads about the locale. I’ll be nipping in again before we leave, for sure.

Just goes to show, eh. Don’t always trust everything you read on the internet.

Night!

Day 4 – Well Choughed! [sic]

Always a tad odd coming away this week. We’re always missing two.

Yesterday was the anniversary of our loss of Scooter, our first dog although she would argue she wasn’t a dog, she was “above all that bum-sniff nonsense”. She was such an integral part of our family. She was ‘Grandads favourite girl’, after his daughter, Jane.

And today was the anniversary of the passing of Jane’s Dad, Arthur Robinson. I can’t tell you how much we miss him, not even close to expressing how much of an influence he has had on me, my values & my love of learning how to do stuff.

But he’s had positive effect on today. I’ll get to that. Charlie’s bailed again, so it’s just Jane, Toby and I today. The plan (there really wasn’t one), was to do what felt right to do, so we went for another walk.

This time we decided to skip driving & walk door to door, which meant a left or right decision. It was left (west), for a closer look at Angleseys now-decommissioned nuclear power station.

It wasn’t, it was actually because it’s a lovely coastal walk, and compared to yesterday, relatively flat, as both of my Achilles and my left anterior cruciate are playing up.

Had a lovely walk, sometimes cliff-top, sometimes beach level, all radio-actively monitored. Points of note are:

Toby finding fox poo & draping it down his left ear
A pebbled cove where it was confirmed that Toby is scared of the “light crashing” of surf
Nuclear facilities are designed by the “Architects of Doom” that design sets for James Bond films
Toby being in the sea only marginally washed off the smell of fox crap.

Actually, the highlight was seeing a chough. A moment where we particularly missed Arthur. He’d have been in his element.

Windswept and as typically uninteresting as we are, it was a more-inland but “shoobie” filled walk home. Thank Anne Wilson & her equally miscreant daughter for that regional nomenclature.

Getting back, we had little enthusiasm for a drive out, so we tried the local chippy. Having googled it, I have to say, I had a sense of dread. “Grumpy”, “chips were anaemic”, “Fish? Must have still been in the harbour because all I got was batter” were some of the comments.

All I can say, is that we all enjoyed our food, chips were decent, fish & scampi also. Didn’t even mind the hidden 5% surcharge of a missing pot of curry sauce, and no vinegar on the chips.

Given up on the local beer, btw. It’s cans of Tyskie tonight, to complement a sesh of 8 out of 10 Cats.

Night, all!

Day 3 – Stacked

Seems that “sluggish” is our pace. Both in terms of waking up and walking.

A bit of brown toast and a couple of boiled eggs for me, before we all got van’d up and set off for South Stack.

A stop for diesel (a T5 is a £100 fill-up, btw), and a turn around to return to pick up Janes misplaced phone. All good though as it turned up on the toilet floor. Suspect Jane was planning to ‘upskirt’ me on my return, tbh.

Take 2, and we got ourselves to South Stack car park. It’s about half an hour from here, a squeeze to get in at this time of year, and a fiver to park for the day, which could be worse.

Sadly, the Lighthouse complex isn’t dog-friendly, so we weren’t able to skip across the scary bridge and suffer ‘The Steps’. But we did make up for it, I was sure of it.

I’d planned a fairly ambitious 5 mile circular walk, ambitious for us at least, so after Toby had spun himself a pound lighter in the middle of the busy road, we set off.

Up the hill on the road, past Ellin’s Tower, the RSPB Info Centre, and then off up the rocky, steep steps to the right and to an old lookout building, where there are some great views down to the lighthouse.

Further on up the climb and to the highest point on Anglesey, Holyhead Mountain, where we briefly took a watch of the rock climbers (rather them than me), before head in on towards North Stack through the lovely heather & gorse. Unless you’re combat shorts, that is.

Out that way, Jane (a birdie at heart, like her Dad), spotted a stonechat with its back to us. Clack-clack of its call, like hitting two pebbles together being the ‘tell’. Think she was chuffed, no pun intended.

After a hefty walk down a steep drop, we could see the buildings and Magazine Building (munitions, not Melody Maker), before an even steeper drop down to what looks like another potential afternoon out, Holyhead Breakwater Country Park, after the heavily collapsed quarry face.

Now turning onto the home leg (Charlie tbf had been very patient up to now, especially as his Jordan AirForce One’s were now not “box fresh”), it was a climb back up to the previous levels, before a slightly more rolling southern side westerly walk back towards the Van.

I felt we’d properly earned a decent Soup du Jour, followed by a Steak pie, chips, peas & a pint. Charlie & Jane felt we’d earned a McDonalds. What a let down.m – I feel robbed. Mainly because it cost me £28 as Charlie ordered three mains. Seriously.

Back via a quick trip to Church Bay to suss out the Lobster Pot Restaurant (turns out Joe won’t be on the pier with his £14 lobsters on Wednesday), so our search for a treat continues.

Happy holidaying folks. x

[Editors comments (mine): going to be honest, I am super chuffed that I did that – Achilles stapled to my heels, a knee that’s as solid as jam. May suffer but it was a bit like what I used to be able to do.]

Day 2 – Free Beer and Football

Sooo, the awkward and oft disappointing second…

As day follows night, and as night follows… you get the gist. Charlie just followed XBox/Parties ‘til 4am which means another late start.

Layout is, in the main, great in the cottage if you’re a couple, (truthfully), even if you have a lazy-ass, nocturnal Teen. Wifi is great. Xbox stream is good. Apparently. But I had to get up. My snoring was waking a couple in Port Erin, which to my shame is around 80 miles north of here on the Isle of Man.

So, I had a nip to the shop (siop) in the morning mizzle, where I thought I’d looked like a right piss-pot, buying a replacement bottle of white wine, and, as it turned out 3 bottles of local ale. At before 11 am.

Pleased to say the two farmers (honest, not stereotyping), who were outside a local, finishing a second at least of Carling, made me feel better about myself.

Having dropped the stash off, I collected Toby and another compliment of poo bags, before wiggling his ablutions out of him on a walk. Toby has a unique ‘spin’ technique to that, flinging it out as he chases his own tail. Bless.

Home and a farewell to Charlie, who’s decided to skip today, before Jane, Toby & I headed off on a diametrically opposite walk to yesterday, on a non-nuclear reactor walk.

An uneventful but enjoyable outbound leg led to Toby having his first proper sea swim (poor lad was scared of waves at first), whilst Jane looked for beach stones. Until we ‘met’ Angel. A little French terrier pup. No angel it turned out. Don’t throw her a ping pong ball…

After dodging that arrow, we walked back the same path before nipping in a very local sports bar attached to a hotel to suss out the ambiance. Turns out the fella I spoke to, Ben, was in charge and they’re dog-friendly, serve food, and have a fridge laden with a local Helles Lager that’s not been bought, so we struck a deal. I’m happy.

City lost. So we went to the other pub where we’d previously booked a table for 6:30. I went straight there. Jane, Charlie & Toby a couple behind me.

“Booked a table for 3 plus dog , 6:30 in the name of Jane”.

“But we don’t serve on Sundays” was the answer.

Frozen pizza, Oceans Eleven, and a dog walk later and I’m writing this.

Happy hols 😉

Post-Apocalypse Anglesey 2021 – Day 1 (and 0)

A day of contrasts, here in Cemaes Bay, on the northern coast of Anglesey.

After a grotty 3h journey yesterday, where we averaged around 40mph due to traffic, collisions & roadworks, (the immature highlight of which was a diversion down Penisaf Avenue in Towyn), we arrived at our funky little “one up, one down” cottage on the harbourside.

An orientation stroll before tea, then I earned my pie tea, by walking the full distance to the pub, all on my own.

I was sat in the beer garden, acclimatising, whilst Jane & Charlie did the same at the cottage. The breeze picked up and I got a tad chilly, so I shouted across and asked Jane to bring my hoodie when they came across.

Decent wholesome food done, and back to the cottage for an early night after the furthest I’ve driven in 18months, due to the pandemic & lockdown.

Saturday. Late start, then later factoring in Charlie, before leaving our temp accom for the week.

A moochy walk, then rain, then sitting in our van watching the rain, then a more-jaunty walk towards two decommissioned nuclear reactors, then a “get back to feed Toby”, stopping off 50yds from our door to see a fella land his catch.

Who the * (apart from non-fishy folks), wouldn’t want a massive 2.5kg of fresh-onto-the quayside, line-caught sea bass for under £40, when Waitrose Dutchy sell it for £30+ a kilo, filleted and rubbed with pepper and veg. Someone tried to haggle the fisherman, bless ‘em.

Don’t even get me started on the lobster & crab! Doubt we’ll be going out Wednesday eve, when he next arrives.

A nip “home”, then out for tea at a pleasant enough place with great service, decent food, but, tbh, lacking in decent beer.

All interrupted, towards the middle of main, by me thinking someone had dropped those lobster pots outside the pub front door [wafts hands].

Turns out (look away now, if squeamish), it was a recurrence of an issue with Toby’s anal glands. Our near neighbours seemed to agree with my lobster pot assumption though, so I think we got away with one there.

Meal done, so just the simple matter of (Jane) donning appropriate protection & squeezing his arsehole surround (repeatedly) into a tissue, using the camper shower, shower gel, wipes etc to clean up, in the pub car park.

Fresh as a daisy, we all went back to our lovely cottage to watch a Netflix film about a man who was imprissoned for over 15 years at mainly Guantanamo Bay without charge, 7 of which were after his successful ‘innocent’ verdict & years of horrific torture.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Florida 2019 – Day 13/14 – Tans and Tornados

Skipping the day 13 write up as it was a quiet day and today is the airport day, so a combined (and likely last) Florida 2019 diary entry.

So, Thursday. Day 13. Our last full day of “proper holiday”, given we fly home on Friday afternoon, landing (hopefully) just in time to get home, shower and get to the Etihad to watch City play Spurs for the third time in less than two weeks, this time in the Premier League.

Charlie was adamant that he was going to stay in bed all day, and Jane wasn’t in a rush to do anything much, so we headed to the hotel beach, and sunbathed for a few hours.

Clearwater and the beaches are absolutely stunning if you like sunbathing and sand. I like neither. Ah, well.

Charlie joined us briefly with the lure of a big beach hammock, but he just crawled under his towel for about 20 minutes before deciding the air conditioned, dark hotel room was a better option.

To be honest, after an hour or so of trying to relax, whilst repeatedly applying factor 50, I got too hot and too fidgety, and followed Charlie back to the room. After a shower and freshen-up, I decided to explore the area south of the hotel, so got in the car and set off on my own.

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Wow! After the big hotels, the gulf-side of the road became lined with mega-houses. We’d looked into an estate agents (a “Realtor”) window and seen houses like these, selling for between $5 and $16. Million! $16 million! Just wow! I guess one of these is Hulk Hogans. I doubt there’s a better location, though. Their back garden is one of the USAs best beaches, and in the “Sunshine State”. Tough life, I’m sure having to put up with that!

I drove back to the hotel, cleared out all of the accumulated rubbish (all Charlie’s), and took all the unused waterproof coats and other car-stored gear back to the room, so we could start to pack up.

It didn’t take long to pack as we’d not really unpacked since our arrival. Except for Charlie, who had made our room his home, and like his bedroom, his possessions were strewn around the place.

After packing, and another freshen-up (it’s damned hot here), we went back to Cristinos Coal Oven Pizza, the place that we’d been to with the F’s on the first night. Once again, the food was fabulous.

After that we went back to our room, finished the last bits of “prep” for getting away tomorrow and then settled down for the evening.

We ended up watching Discovery HDs “Naked and Afraid”, a series where a male and a female, usually with some survivalist experience, are deposited naked (and I assume afraid) in some form of natural hell, and then meet for the first time.

The aim is for them to overcome the initial embarrassment of having to pretend not look at each other’s genitals, and then survive for 21 days, with only a map, a fire flint, and a cooking pot. They do blur the sensitive parts of the body, so it’s not gratuitous, and so it’s actually quite interesting seeing them work things out.

Lights out after three episodes, and ready for our check-out day.

It’s now that odd phase of the hols when, even though still being on hols, thoughts start to focus on the negatives (the hols are over for another year), when actually, there’s loads to look forward to!

On Saturday, we get to see the fourth member of our family, Toby, whose also been on his holidays at my Mums with his rebel-rousing cousin, Alfie.

I get to watch City try and recover from the midweek disappointment and push on in out attempts to win a “domestic treble”.

I also get to finish brewing my DDH NEIPA, with a three days of dry hopping a few ounces of Citra and Cascade, before sticking it all in the fridge for a couple of days to “cold crash” the suspended particles out, before adding the priming sugar and bottling.

We checked out at around 10am today, and headed back to Orlando, which apart from heavy traffic caused by a car being on fire in the outside lane, was about 2 hours of automated driving, back down the I4, this time eastwards.

We dropped the rental car off with Alamo, unloaded luggage, triple-checked that we were leaving nothing behind and then headed to the terminal.

Bag drop then through security in less than 20 minutes (lessons to be learned here, Manchester!) and headed to Terminal A, towards Gate 83, and a lunch stop at the Bahama Breeze.

There’s a huge weather front passing through today, with storm and even tornado warnings circulating, so delays are highly probable. We are supposed to fly at 5pm local, direct to Manchester. The F’s are scheduled to fly from here to Manchester via a change at New York.

Fingers crossed we all get back when we should!

I’m currently sat at the gate awaiting further news, so will call it a day, and wish you farewell for now.

As I’ve said before, I write these for my own enjoyment, and if anyone else reads them and gets some entertainment then it’s a bonus. As such, I do not offer an “enjoyment warranty”, nor any recompense for time you will never get back!

But if you have, enjoyed them, I’m pleased you did!

Lots of love and best wishes, until the next time,

Chris