Dear Diary... August 2026
Monday 31st August – Bank Holiday Bliss
It was the late Summer Bank Holiday today so at least that did mean that we were able to relax during the day. We did have an overnight stay last night from one of The Love In My Heart’s relations. They were working a shift in central Manchester and had landed the job as chef in a small chain of three places, and so as The Love’s place was nearest, it was easier for them to crash out over here rather than head all the way back home a fair distance. Now they have the job confirmed they will be checking over a flat in the city centre to see if that works best for them – and at least that will mean some nice space to be able to head back to.
Later on after breakfast, The Love’s sister and niece headed over – it was her boyfriend whom had stayed over last night, and so was good to see them for a good chatter too. I think that it was noticeable that they were excited for different reasons - the niece does start the new term of the new school she will be teaching at, and it will definitely be a different experience from her previous job. It will also be interesting as this role is a higher grade due to the way that the job has been specified, so I am hoping that she thrives and does well, and means that she gets to achieve. It is always nice when that happens.
Once everyone had left, Brian the cat naturally wanted some playtime on the patio outside with the weather being dry, then raining, then dry. He did try to brave the rain once but soon realised this was not good and so headed in quickly with his fast trot, shaking himself as he came in. He did get lots of fussing and attention from both me and The Love so he was happy, and we made sure later we got him some more of his favourite dry food with salmon as he likes that a lot. With him all sorted, it was time for us to head out for the afternoon.
The first stop was John Lewis and Partners in Cheadle Royal, as The Love thought it a good idea to have a look around. There was a bit of a sale on in the Summer stuff, but not much, and already some Halloween little items were on two shelves showing that they were preparing for that. We did pick up some birthday cards in there whilst we were there for some forthcoming birthdays and some nice ones too, so that was a good thing. I did also note that they do appear in their coffee machine concessions to sell Nespresso Vertuo Pods, I’ll have to check and see in future if I need any as that might be a good option for me to go there.
It was then on to The Gateway in Didsbury for lunch and as it was the Monday and at a certain time, some items were even cheaper than normal. I went for the small fish and chips and The Love had the barbecue chicken, and both of those went down well. We had a good chat about the holiday, and we did check the hotel to see if they had a hair dryer – which they did and saves The Love having to take one. I had noted that a lot of the restaurants were fish, especially octopus, so noted the ones nearby that were not all fish. Made me think of being in Porto where it was a lot of meat and fish too. Tune of the day in the meantime is Something Every Day by Swing Out Sister, as it resembled today’s chilled out vibe.
Sunday 30th August – Playtime and Pints
The Love In My Heart had been woken in the night with Brian the cat deciding that he wanted to make a mess of the litter tray and get all of Mummy’s attention. That did wake up Little Miss O, who then snuggled up to The Love in bed. I was fast asleep, but when I eventually did wake, I did have a big smile from Little Miss O to greet me, as she and The Love had got up, and then came to me and had a “wake up!” look on her face. Not long after Little Miss E woke and came into to say good morning, with a hug for everyone too. Aww. So nice when little nice things happen.
The Love set about making some breakfast, so it was cereal followed by some pancakes with bacon and strawberries for the little ones, and a nice bacon sandwich on toast for me, with some lovely sourdough bread as part of that. That and a nice coffee set me up well for the day and I was really pleased to be wide awake. It had been raining overnight and raining in the morning so that did mean that there was no initial outside play on the patio or indeed anything else. The girls had a go each choosing a television thing to watch with Little Miss O picking nursery rhymes including Old McDonald Had a Farm (I sang along too so tune of the day) and Little Miss E choosing Lego Elves, which seemed quite the fantasy cartoon.
We thought that as the weather had dried enough, a trip to the local park and some play time was a good idea, and they were both excited and happy. I ended up running around the park’s playground to make sure I kept up with Little Miss O’s insistence on going on the slide again and again, and Little Miss E asking me to be the troll on the bridge (similar to the Billy Goats Gruff) as there’s a bridge between the ladder up and the slide down, so I could ask “who’s been crossing my bridge?” with a giggle from them both in excitement. They loved that and later on we had the ball on the patio for Little Miss E to play with too, and she loves throwing it to me so I can catch it. Little things, but nonetheless lovely.
Their parents came to collect them later and Little Miss O spotting them and yelling out “Daddy!” was so nice to see – it is clear there is a lot of love in the house, and that really shows with how well they behave for The Love. They know it is a nice treat to see her and the last time each of them stayed they did ask where I was, so it was good to be there and to hopefully give them lots of fun and make sure that they were entertained. I do have my uses sometimes, apparently! Nonetheless, it was very enjoyable to see them both so content and I know that they will be back at school and nursery next week too.
The Love and I later decided to head out for some lunch, and we did not want to travel far, so it was off to The Sheldon Arms near Ashton-under-Lyne. We did manage to get a table which was at least something, and after choosing a nice pint of the bitter, and then went for the mains. The Love had the fish and chips, and I went for the sea bass with prawns, and potatoes and vegetables in a creamy parsley sauce. It was really nice and although the carvery was very tempting to say the least, I knew I would eat too much of it and that would not do me any good!
Later The Love and I settled in for some television, with The Love continuing her enjoyment of watching Downton Abbey from the start. She is in series three at present, where Lady Mary has married Matthew and Edith has a romantic relationship with someone who is older. I do seem to recall myself seeing some of these at some point myself, maybe if The Love had been watching previous repeats on ITV3. Nonetheless, it did remind me how much she still loves it. We did also watch the first episode of the new series of Vigil with Suranne Jones, and that was tense. I remember Svalbard from one of the Steve Marsh videos if I remember, and certainly a place to go if you want to be away from it all, but cold most of the time…
Saturday 29th August – Little Misses
It was off up to Manchester for the weekend and some quality time with The Love In My Heart. Admittedly, I had missed her but also had the added bonus of being able to see Little Miss E and Little Miss O today, who were staying over. The original plan was for The Love to collect me from Manchester Piccadilly, then we would head to their place, collect them, and head to The Lowry as there was an exhibition for children on in there that we thought would be good to see, including the likes of Dear Zoo which I know Little Miss O loves to read.
As it transpired, a few minutes before my train was due to go to Manchester, Avanti Worst Coast decided to cancel it – claiming train faults, whereas interestingly Realtime Trains cited lack of drivers and train crew. Now clearly Avanti has to inform someone of this, so why two different stories with the faulty train one being given out over the tannoy? That smacks of covering up their errors and is also very unprofessional – and it is something I have seen Arriva London who run the Overground’s Windrush line also do. The people deserve the truth if things go wrong. That did mean the 0833 was busy but I got a seat so all good.
Once I got to Manchester, I headed on the tram to The Love’s place, dropped my case off, and fussed over Brian the cat for a bit, then headed back on the tram and to MediaCity UK. In the meantime, The Love had taken the girls to McDonalds for a little lunchtime treat prior and then were stuck in traffic heading towards The Lowry for some reason. I had arrived before them and so had time to mooch around some of the makers market stalls including a record stall, so definitely thought that was good at least.
The Love arrived with Little Miss E and Little Miss O having matching little coats on, as it was raining, and Little Miss O spotted me first and called my name, as did Little Miss E. A big Teletubbies style hug followed which was lovely – I had missed them, but it was nice that they missed me too. It humbles me and fills the heart with joy. I don’t expect it ever, but it is just a wonderful thing to know that you are appreciated, and you are seen to be a nice kind person who will be caring for them.
We went into The Lowry and soon found the way to the second floor and to the exhibition, passing past the main Lowry section first. What they had for the Wild Things exhibition was an animal from different children’s books, and some of that was themed around Dear Zoo, with others being classic books. So, B was for Bear, and they were going on a bear hunt. C was for Cat, so Little Miss O of course was happy (she loves Brian the cat lots) and each different letter had displays and also some spaces had some nice activities to draw characters, colour them in and paint them on the wall too, so that was nice.
After this, we then headed over to the Seven Bro7ers bar so we could see out to the quayside and have a drink. Of course, as it was raining, we could not sit outside which upset Little Miss O a little – I think she wanted to have some outside time. It was good to relax in there for a bit and I think that Little Miss E enjoyed her lemonade and also as we had a high table, meant she could see the boat that takes you on a cruise around Salford Quays, so that was nice to be honest. We headed back in The Love’s car back to her place where of course Brian the cat was wanting plenty of attention and some tuna and Dreamies, which of course was happily being fed to him!
We settled in for the evening, and the girls had some pasta for tea, with The Love and me having some spaghetti and meatballs later, which was really lovely. Little Miss O did get a little tired and was crying, but a couple of stories made her giggle and she was eventually nodding off nicely for bed too, which was good. Once she was off, Little Miss E had some stay up time for a little while and she was more than happy to watch the Garfield animated movie, which does have Hannah Waddingham really hamming it up as the evil cat Jinx, she plays it ever so well. Good Life, performed by Jon Baptiste, is tune of the day as it is one she likes, and well why not?
Sunday 23rd August – We Fight Til The End
It was the first Manchester City home game of the season, and my second season in Block 302 of the East Stand as a season ticket holder in that area. It was good to see that so many of the people I’d got to know last season had renewed, and was not tempted by heading to the top of the Pep Guardiola Stand to be with the diehard singing section who had their safe standing area there. I like the view I have, I can see all the action across the pitch, and no one sat in front of me either (which is nice) so definitely well worth me making the effort to be up in Manchester.
City’s opponents were AFC Bournemouth, who had managed to qualify for European football this season by right, having clinched sixth place in the Premier League after drawing with us in the second last game, also giving Arsenal the title at the same time. Things of course had changed since then: both teams now have new managers, and both teams would have a point to prove as the season started. I still did not know who City might sign before the transfer window closes, and how the team would function. No Bernardo Silva, no John Stones for example. And it looked like Ruben Dias had been appointed captain by the new City manager Enzo Maresca.
Naturally any of the new signings making their home debuts such as Elliot Anderson were welcomed warmly, as was Maresca. It was going to be a tricky opening game make no mistake, and I wanted t see how we would shape up. And initially.. I was not convinced. We looked okay going forward but having the likes of Marc Guehi and Elliot Anderson in front of a back four was intriguing, with Rico Lewis at right back. Unfortunately, he did not play so well and was culpable in part for the AFC Bournemouth opener. They went down the right, put in a perfect cross that evaded the defence (and to be fair Abdukodir Khusanov could have cut it out) – and the ball fell to Marcus Tavenier and he slotted it home for 1-0. It was a good goal from their point of view, but it meant more frustration for the City fans, more so after losing the last home game as well. We did try to get back into it and Erling Haaland had a chance he may have scored on a better day, but it was half time and losing 1-0, not a good look to be honest.
City came out for the second half and initially I was not sure if anything was going to change, but we got a corner, the cross came over, and Marc Guehi headed wide when it was easier to score. Was this to be not our day and it all turn sour? AFC Bourmemouth had chances too at the other end, and it was certainly a case of the next goal was going to be crucial without a doubt. City huffed and puffed but no matter what, nothing was happening. That was until Rayan Cherki came off the bench, and all of a sudden, City felt invigorated and ready to do the business. The fans behind the goal in the Pep Guardiola stand really did get behind the team and that did help to make a idifference, I felt.
So a corner comes over from Cherki, and this time Marc Guehi heads it in, albeit via a slight deflection. Nonetheless it was what we deserved and 1-1 was now all to play for, with City driving on. As the game entered what seemed like a stupidly low three minutes of stoppage time, Cherki got the ball on the edge of the box, slotted a pass to Josko Gvardiol who slid it home from close range. Almost immediately the linesman put the flag up for offside and we felt gutted, but I had a feeling that he was not offside. Sure enough it went to VAR, and the longer the check went on, the more I felt we’d scored. The referee drew his TV screen with his hands and pointed to the centre circle, and the replay showed that Gvardiol was on side after all. Yes. Get in. We’re Man City, sang the fans, we fight til the end – make that one tune of the day.
Saturday 22nd August – Northern Lights
It was an early rise for me and for the first time in a couple of weeks, up to Manchester for the weekend and to see The Love In My Heart. I have to admit that I have missed her a lot and it would be good to have some quality time together. I also wanted to check in on my Mum as well as she had had a recent operation and head over for a chatter, and be able to have some chill out time with The Love before the Manchester City season opener in the league tomorrow, which I must admit I am looking forward to. The last game I went to was the final Pep Guardiola game where we had lost against Aston Villa.
The train from London Euston was at least on time for once and so the train headed to Manchester Piccadilly without any major issues. I had already arranged with The Love to get the tram so that she could rest and relax a bit more at her place without having to come for me, and I know she appreciated that a lot. It was nice to arrive and of course as Brian the cat was playing on the patio, he spotted me with a suitable miaow of approval. Needless to say he got some fusses as well as some Dreamies later on when I had arrived and settled in.
The Love’s sister popped by for a chatter and we sat outside on the patio with a coffee, and she remembered that the car park in what was the Lowry Outlet Mall (now Quayside) might prove to be cheaper than the on street parking for the Lowry and Media City, handy to know as next week we have Little Miss E and Little Miss O and plan to take them there. So when we checked, sure enough, it was cheaper – by some distance too. Four hours for £4.50 compared to the three hours for £7.50 we had paid the other week, so definitely well worth it. With that noted and with plenty of chatter, we finished the coffee and it had been a useful time all round.
We then headed over to see Mum, and one of Mum’s friends was also there – someone who I get on really well with too and had not seen for some time, so that was an unexpected but welcome bonus. I think too that having company for Mum was a nice thing, and we had a good natter – she told us all about the operation she had had, and was recovering well I thought. It was also good that we had a coffee and chatter there, and clearly Mum’s friend was on hand to help and be kind which I was not surprised at. She did ask me too about an issue she had with planning and neighbours, and my sensible thought was to get legal advice but also check in with the council and see if they can send you plans of the boundary maps in front of you, so you have evidence to hand. As The Love always says, get your evidence!
It was then over to Wallop (formerly Wine and Wallop) for us, but it was really busy and in the end we could not get a space at the front. It was more because I think because people tend to head there before heading out for a drink later, but our backup plan of heading to The Gateway worked and we could sit outside with a nice drink instead, so no complaints there really. It is always nice to have a good proper pint of cask ale and sit on an outside table, with the sun sort of being around but also not, but not raining at least so we were thankful that it was dry. We headed home later but stopped off somewhere on the way back.
We had not had Chinese takeaway for ages and thought that it would be a good idea if we did. Mind you, so did plenty around the local area, as the place was packed with both those making orders and some collecting who had rang. We went for the crispy shredded chicken in OK sauce, and the sweet and sour chicken, along with some egg fried rice – we had also spent enough to get some prawn crackers, which as you can well imagine Brian the cat was well wanting some of. We enjoyed that food a lot, and naturally as I was waiting, I had the song in my head that had played on the iPod on the way up – Hong Kong Garden by Siouxsie and the Banshees, so tune of the day all day there.
Sunday 16th August - Happy Valley and Farthing Downs
I did also want to do another little walk this weekend, which involved the option of getting the bus near me and meaning that the Weekend Hopper of £1.75 all day would come into play. I did though want to watch something first this morning and that was the marathon from the European Athletics Championships. I had been watching all week and it was great last night to see the British men and women smash their 4x100 metre relay finals and get golds in both, along with an excellent battling high jump competition for the women where the excellent Yaroslava Mahuchikh won for Ukraine, and it was well deserved.
So when I looked at the map of the marathon course, and knowing Birmingham well, I thought it would be tricky. They effectively did eight 5k loops around Broad Street, the National Indoor Arena, Jewellery Quarter and so on, and they are not flat. So plenty of climbs and descends each lap and even on the 1K our and 1K in, that had some hills too coming into the centre. For the women, Alisa Vainio from Finland stormed into an early lead and she was not to be caught, in fact eventually winning by close to five minutes. But the real battle was what was going on behind - and even more so as there was a team marathon medal for grabs too.
The chasing pack group had a number of athletes in but for the team event, this had two from Hungary, two from Italy and intialy three from Great Britain, but that went down to two after a while. The final loop did sort out some movements and in the end it was Lili Anna Vindics-Tóth who broke away to claim second. But the rest were still chasing, and as the aerial shots of Birmingham did not give Steve Cram or Paula Radcliffe a full picture, once it went to a close up shot, we could see that Abbie Donnelly was third, which she managed to retain to the line. What a superb effort and Britain's first European women's medal at the marathon too. More to come too as her team mates did well - Natasha Wilson did a sprint finish to claim fifth and Rose Harvey was not too far back in 14th. That meant Britain won gold in the team event, with Italy second and Spain third. Well done!
With all that excitement I got myself showered and ready in time for the Formula E qualifying, which was epic, and then headed out for a planned walk. I had wanted to do Happy Valley and Farthing Downs for some time once more, as it was a partt of the London Loop walk I really enjoyed, and best of all, it is not too far from me so I can easily get there and make the most of the time. With that in mind it was off on the short walk to the bus stop and to get the 466 bus, which did encounter some roadworks on the way down to Purley, but was all good on the road to Coulsdon Common and The Fox pub, which would be the start point.
From there, it's the walk along the ridge towards Happy Valley's actual valley, which really does show off its best once you turn right through a set of trees and are at the top looking over. It's a gorgeous view, and then you head down a steep hill and follow the path up and through the trees. It's more of a woodland walk from that point and it shows that the shade here was very welcome, with one final climb to the top where the visitors car park is for Farthing Downs, along with a small coffee stall selling cold drinks as well as coffee. I paused for a momen here to admire the view.
The walk along the ridge actually goes up a little bit too and at the highest point, the view is amazing - you can actually see The Shard, and bearing in mind you are around fifteen miles away, that is pretty impressive. The walk gradually downhill takes you towards Coulsdon South station and then from there you can walk into the centre of Coulsdon itself. I did see what the bus opportunities were and I was able to then see that a 166 was not far away, and so I thought I may as well ride the bus with some aircon and head over to Banstead for a well earned drink, so took the bus and it went past Mayfield Lavender Farm on the way.
I got off close to the Woolpack pub, and it was a nice option to sit outside in the beer garden at the back with some shade, and have a pint of a really nice hazy pale, which was lovely. It was also nice to be able to just take it easy and chill out, and later on managed to time things well to get the 166 bus back home too. It had been a lovely walk out and indeed a nice time had doing some exercise and seeing more of the places that are nice to go to when I've got the option. Tune of the day is the somehow apt Can't Be Sure by The Sundays, from their iconic 1990 album Reading Writing and Arithmetic, which I've been re-listening to a lot as of late.
Saturday 15th August - Weekend Hopper Fun
I was staying at home this weekend, as I originally thought I may have been going to the Community Shield in Cardiff tomorrow to see Manchester City take on Arsenal. However, getting a ticket was not the problem - the transport would be. Trains were around £100 return and even the likes of National Express were pushing £80 return, and of course I'd be with a shed load of Arsenal fans too. In the end and with holiday next month, that expense would just prove to be too much to be honest, and so thought it better not to go and instead to have a weekend utilising the Weekend Hopper Fare, where all your bus and tram journeys in one day would be capped at just the price of a single fare - £1.75. It's an incentive Transport for London (TfL) have on for the Summer holidays.
With that in mind, I thought first of all a visit to HMV in Bromley might be a good idea, as I still had a gift card from my birthday that I could use and maybe get two albums on CD if I put the extra to. I did consider getting the Converge Hum of Hurt album, but no way was I paying £18 in HMV for it (by contrast, their superb Love Is Not Enough was £11 when I got it a few months ago from the same branch!) I did have a good look around and with some good tunes playing, and ended up getting two albums: Phoebe Bridgers' third album Lost Weekend, and the Boards of Canada album Inferno.
To get there I'd taken the express superloop SL5 bus from Croydon, and did the same one coming back. Part of me was tempted to get off at the Chinese Garage and then head to Kelsey Park nearby and do their crazy golf, but it was still earlyish in the day and was not sure if they would be open at just before 11am - I checked later and 11am was when they'd open, so would have had to wait anyway. I stayed on and then headed homewards so I could listen to the CDs for a bit before heading back out. The Phoebe Bridgers album got my attention straight off and Lost Boys from that album is tune of the day.
I then headed back out as I had planned to go to Westerham and walk to the brewery there, which is a nice walk so I get some walking in, but also the prospect of some nice beer, which I was not going to say no to. I was able to get the 119 from near mine and then get off in the Bromley suburb of Hayes - I could have got off at Glebe Way a few stops before but I knew it was a decent wait for the bus and so thought it may be less time. By the time I'd had a look around a couple of the charity shops in Hayes it was good timing to see the 246 heading into the street and not far from me, so was able to then head on the bus.
I had been to Westerham on the 246 before, normally on a Sunday and that also includes when it gets extended in the Summer Sundays to run to Chartwell, the former home of Winston Churchill. It's a nice run through Biggin Hill, over the tops at Westerham Heights, down and over the M25 motorway (yes, a red london bus outside the M25) and into Westerham. I knew the way and so walked by the car park outside the town close to Quebec House, and then followed the path around the playing fields, with skateboarders on their ramps. It is then following another field around the edges, with a farmer out with the tractor, and at a point to safely cross the A233 bypass and on to the Westerham Brewery.
The brewery is also home in a separate building to Squerreyes Winery, where wine is made and you can do a tour of the vineyard and tasting. It is not cheap at £40, but worthy of note if you wanted to make a day of it and maybe book a tour there and then head over to the taproom. The Westerham Brewery also does the occasional brewery tour and tasting, so definitely need to check that out. With their Kentish Bulldog ale at a mere £5.40 a pint, which is pretty cheap, it was nice to sit outside in the shade and be able to relax and chill out for a while, just admiring the stillness of the countryside around.
In fact, on each day Wednesday to Sunday they have a street food stall outside. Today's one did jerk chicken along with rice and peas, and I tried that as they stayed all their chicken is boneless, so no faffing around there. Ihave to say it was delightful, with the chicken soft and tender, the sauce just the right side of spicy for me, and some lovely rice and peas too. I did also spot earlier that the Westerham Brewery's fab triple chocolate stout, Wally Winker's Death by Chocolate, was on tap, so had to have that. It was just as good as ever and really nice and flavoursome, and the thing just to enjoy too. It was a good few hours chilled out and enjoying things really.
The walk back to Westerham centre certainly felt a little easier as it is partly downhill apart from the last part. Where the car park is, you can just follow the road, or take the path past houses and this takes you up into the church yard of the local church, and you end up in the centre on the green. I did that coming back and that proved to be a good uphill final section. I had timed it well and as I crossed the green, I only had to wait a minute or two for the 246, so that was good. I got off at Glebe Way and crossed over, not having to wait long for the 119 back home. All of those buses for just £1.75, a genius move and a very lovely day all round.
Wednesday 12th August - The Games I Played
I had a package arrive safe and sound whilst I was away, which was a bundle of Commodore 64 games which I had won from eBay. There were 19 boxed games and 4 unboxed games, and even considering just the boxed ganes, that was £22.62 for the bundle, and that meant £1.19 each. An absolute bargain considering that some of the games were actually worth a fair bit more overall if sold individually, and it did fill several gaps in the collection as well, so that had to be something, right? Most of all, I hoped that they would load properly, and so give me an excuse to spend time both last night and tonight playing some classic games from way back when. I was not to be disappointed.
In fact, as I went, I got out a very useful little piece of hardware, the DC2N. I have versions 4 and 5 of this, and version 4 is nifty and small. It has connectors for the Commodore 64 cassette recorder, Micro USB to connect to the PC, and power too (which I had from a powered USB hub power adapter which I sensibly kept as it had the right end connector!) As I tested each one, I also then ensured I captured a dump of the cassette, which then created a tape TAP image, not just for emulator use, but also for the version 5 of the DC2N, which has a connector so you can plug it in to a Commodore 64, and load the TAP images as if loading a tape - which works awesomely.
With some of the digital archiving done as I went, it was an enjoyable session or two of gaming. The one I was most pleased to get was the Rack-It label re-release of the classic Uridium. Yet, as the instructions noted, was it Uridium Plus instead? A load and check said yes. This version has different level layouts, you do not have to wait to land (so no "land now!" message) and on top of that, there are Commodore 128 tweaks and enhancements if you have one. I did manage to get pretty far including the end of level five where you have to guide the Manta ship through the narrow passage, and so did well there. It's stll a bona fide classic even in this altered form, it has to be said.
It was then on to another Rack-It game, this time the re-release of Thalamus' first game Sanxion. Thankfully it had been remastered with the original loader intact, which of course means you get the iconic Thalamusik from Rob Hubbard during loading (make that one tune of the day.) It was such a good tune and still is, and sets you in the mood for the game, which to be honest, is still good but not as good as the magazines made out. It's still a nice idea having two views of the action and the pace can be as quick as you like, and the top view is more for show to be honest. Nonetheless, all good fun.
More fun was to be had with the likes of the re-release of Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future, with stirring theme tune from Graham Marsh (aka BOGG), the re-release of Piranha's Yogi Bear game as you seek to get as far as you can to rescue Boo-Boo, Super Nudge 2000 (aka Fruitbank) for all your fruit machine needs, a game I already had but nice to check the duplicate works as I can offer it to a fellow Commodore owner I know, and also the iconic re-release of Rescue on Fractalus, complete with quicker loader too. All in all, all goodf fun and really nice to play something old school!
Monday 10th August - Pretty Prestatyn, Untidy Towyn
The Love In My Heart and I had a good sleep in the Quail lodge, and was awoken by ducks outside the front and even some on the decking, all happily content and relaxed. It had partially rained overnight so the outside was gradually drying off, but it had been light rain at best and soon was showing very dry outside. We got ourselves showered and ready, and although the temptation was there to go into the hot tub for a final time, the decking would be slippy and might have been a bit tricky getting in and out. Still, we had a lovely time and it was nice just to take things at a chilled out pace overnight, with the sunset and darkness accompanied with the still night air and our lovely lodge. We definitely need to come back.
As a fair number of North Wales towns and villages have Monday closing, with both the local antiques centre restaurant (where we had breakfast last time) and also the local café in the village closed too, which apparently has rave reviews, we decided the McDonald's near the roundabout we came off the A55 at would do the job - and it did. I had an offer on for a double bacon and egg McMuffin and a coffee for £3.99 so that was me sorted, and with The Love having a McMuffin meal with orange juice, we added the extra hash brown on to hers for 99p, so I got one too and paid less than the £1.79 for it being separate. Crafty, but you have to do these things!
We headed along the A55, taking the junction 24A turn off and following the narrow roads and on to Gors Road, which led us into Towyn, a place spent many a Summer at as my grandad used to have a caravan there, so most Summers we'd spend a week away. I had of course been back since and revisited some of my old haunts such as The Black Cat arcade, but would it still be the same? Well, we managed to park up near the central traffic lights and walked down the road towards the Knightly's funfair, stopping off at an arcade close by there for some 2p falls games and also a couple of nice additional ones such as a two player (out of four) Kentucky Derby thing where you win tickets. In fact we gave the tickets we won to a mother and daughter, so they could save them for something.
We headed over the bridge past the funfair, and on to the sea wall. I explained all the rocks due to the flood that had happened many years back, and then took a nostalgic walk over another railway footbridge - no train passing underneath sadly, but still. We did then pass the Happy Days site where the caravan used to be and even spotted the building that used to have the bathrooms in back in the day. Most appear to be owned paying around £5k a year in site fees now, but a lot of them do look very well looked after. It was then back along the main road and to the Black Cat, where it was hugely disappointing - most of the machines did not work, it felt smaller inside and a lot of the space had been given up to a local barber's. It was a shadow of its former self unfortunately.
Also, I have to say, and this was something The Love also commented on, how untidy and dirty the whole place looked. Rubbish was everywhere despite there being bins, and some of the shop fronts looked pretty scruffy to, and also selling the cheapest tat possible. We did have a nice little 12 hole game of crazy golf in what appeared to be the outside of a local community centre, complete with a dragon on the first hole, and that redeemed things a little, but I have to say I felt really disappointed to be honest. It certainly did not feel like the happy memories my brother and I had of the place, and the fact I'd make 10p on Track and Field last a bit whlst my brother battled the handlebar controls on Paperboy. The whole place needs tidying up and making nicer.
Fresh from that disappointment, we headed on the A548 coast road, taking the promenade route through the centre of Rhyl, and close to the centre of Prestatyn, turning left and heading towards the central beach, with plenty of parking to choose from. We chose the beach car park to the left of the Nova centre, and walked along the sea wall for a bit. The tide was out and the beach was not packed but people were on it, either playing or relaxing, and it did look and feel a lot better - the place was very tidy all round too. In fact, we stopped off at the Beach Hut place at the rear of Nova, which faced the beach and the sea, and had a drink there, which was lovely. Nice atmos, lovely friendly staff, and relaxed setting.
We then hit another arcade, Waves, and that was good fun with the 2p falls and plenty of grabber machines. We did try to win an Aristocat, but no dice. I did spot an old school crazy golf course close by complete with windmill, but The Love had already played once so didn't want her to face another one! Nonetheless, the place was much tidier all round, and given the choice, I'd much rather spend time here on this beach, and it's a short walk too from the train station too. Presthaven Sands is a couple of miles to the East, and that with the sand dunes is somewhere The Love has stayed at before - I never did because of the caravan. Which leads me to tune of the day - Holiday by Pullover. The key chorus line of "I want to find out who I am, in a caravan" complete with jangly indie guitars? Bring it on.
Later on it was back along the A548 through Flint, heading over the bridge before joining the A494 near Queensferry then the M56, and we came off at Manchester Airport to follow the road through to near Handforth Dean before cutting along the roads, following the 313 bus route, back to Cheadle Hulme. We had a late lunch / early tea at the Sir John Millington pub which we both like, and it was two courses for £17, so can't argue. The Love had the chicken liver pate, followed by chicken with mash and broccoli in a nice creamy sauce. I did the button mushroms with ciabatta to start and a lovely light salmon risotto for main. Sat outside, chilled out, on a late Monday afternoon? Bring it on. In fact, the only sad part of the day was having to get the train home later!
Sunday 9th August - Retreating To North Wales
It was a nice relaxing lie-in for The Love In My Heart and myself this morning, although of course Brian the cat wanted all the attention from his Mummy, as you might expect. He's a one for it to be honest and he uses his paw to gently try and wake Mummy up, and then be all adorable as he miaows for a fuss and some Dreamies too. We did both get up as we wanted to be sure we were all ready for later on, as we were heading away for an overnight stay, and to one of our new favourite places in North Wales - Herons Lake Retreat, just outside the village of Caerwys and not too far from us either.
The Love had received a number of gift vouchers for there for her birthday, but you cannot always book a 1 night stay there, it's usually 2 nights plus. However, a month or two before, any odd nights that haven't sold out (say there are two night bookings either side) become available, and The Love and I had spotted one for the Sunday evening overnight stay. We both were able to take the Monday off work and that did also mean that we could do something on the Monday day time too before I would head home, so definitely a good thing. The lodge we got was not the smallest, so not the cheapest either, but we made the price difference between us and so were looking forward to heading there.
We had also booked the Piccadilly Inn in Caerwys for Sunday lunch, as you cannot check in to the lodges til 4pm, so we set off, headed down the M56 and A494 before joining the A55, came off at the turn off and followed the road for Caerwys, and soon were at the Piccadilly Inn, with The Icicles playing in the car, so the fab La Ti Da is joyous and happy and so tune of the day. The lovely staff showed us to our table, which was in the rear modern extension and was light and airy, with aircon on too for a while (until a big group wanted it turned off) - and with their own lager being a mere £4.90 a pint, albeit in tankards which The Love isn't a fan of, it was an easy decision and then to the food...
And oh yes, that was rather lovely too. The Love had the Sunday Roast lamb, which was soft and tender and full of flavour, along with all the trimmings. They do ask you if you would like a Yorkshire pudding or not, so The Love declined - and was better for it. I was tempted by the plaice with the vegetables and so on, but alas, it was fully on the bone and I didn't fancy sorting that out, so went for the regular fish and chips as well, which was brilliant. The minted mushy peas were to die for, and the fish had a light and crispy batter which I know The Love would have approved of. I even had room for a baked Alaska for dessert - not had one for many years! We then had another drink sat outside in the nice fenced beer garden and had chilled out with some good tunes.
We then were able to head to Herons Lake Retreat, with The Love heading into the shop and office and checking in. She had to present the vouchers to them even though she had redeemed them when booking on the phone - I guess this was to verify them. With the key code obtained and directions on their map, it was not long before we found the dedicated parking space and made our way to the Quail Lodge (it's number 23) which had a slightly elevated position overlooking one of the lakes, which had plenty of ducks and three white geese, who seemed happy to spend all their time together, whether in the lake or chilling in the trees near our lodge!
We unpacked and settled in, with the lodge bigger than the one we stayed in last time (Redwing). There was of course a hot tub as every lodge has one, complete with a nice studio lounge, with sofa, bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, television with plenty of Internet channels including one showing nothing but The Cube (yes really). and a well appointed kitchen with a fridge, oven, microwave, kettle and all the utensils you need. We had brought our own nibbles for tea later due to us having had a sizeable lunch, and once all done, it was in to the hot tub for some chill out time and a glass of prosecco, because why not? That was lovely, and we chatted and chilled out for a good while before we headed out, and got dried and changed back.
After a bit of telly including the final stages of the UK's Strongest Man, with an epic final event of loading sacks into a truck then pushing the truck fifteen metres over the line for the fastest time and to win, we had some nice cold meats including salami, chorizo and Italian ham, with some cheese and crackers, which did the job. As the sun started to set it was back to the hot tub for us and it was nice to have the fancy lights on (purple or blue in the main) and relax some more, with The Love having some wine and me a nice Dortmund lager that The Love had picked up in Asda, which was really nice. The whole evening felt relaxing and having the ducks and geese close by with nature felt rather lovely too. Hurrah for nice breaks!
Saturday 8th August - Saturday Sunshine
It was off up to Manchester today and with the weather taking at least a little bit of a breather in terms of the absolute heat and humidity before a fifth heatwave of the Summer hits next week, these may prove to be good conditions for heading out and about in, not least tomorrow as The Love In My Heart and I have something nice planned. In any case, it was up and out for me as I headed on the 0813 departure from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly, which, shock horror, was actuallly on time for once. That made things nicer as I was able to then take the tram at leisure and head to The Love's place, where of course, Brian the cat was already having a play out - because he can.
Although we weren't seeing Little Miss E or Little Miss O this weekend, we did have some of The Love's relatives coming over - her two sisters, as well as one of her nieces. The other niece was supposed to be coming over but had been out the night before and was hung over (which I had guessed was the case but was then confirmed to The Love's sister later). We had some of the chairs out on the patio and it was nice to catch up and chatter with everyone, taking in the nice but not too hot weather. Now this on most days would be perfectly lovely and fine to be fair.
After we had spent some nice time chattering, once everyone had left and we had fussed over Brian (because he hides when there are too many people around - he likes his own space) we then headed out and decided that a well earned drink at Wallop (formerly Wine and Wallop for those in the know) in West Didsbury was in order. In fact, it was nice to be sat outside, and both the Wallop pale ale, and the Maverick from Brightside Brewery were both on really good form. It is always nice to sit outside and just chill out, with some good tunes on in the background as well. It's the sort of nice vibe we like really.
We headed back to The Love's place, and I tuned in to the semi finals of the UK's Strongest Man, live on Channel 5 and from Glasgow. It certainly sorted out the men from the boys with some tough events and the final twelve were in two heats of six being run at the same time, with the top three going through to the final and the remainder facing the eliminator, which this time was a carry of a large object including over a step and then up a few stairs at the end. This proved pretty tricky but the one who had finished in fourth in both cases did get through, so perhaps justified of their position really.
The Love had excelled herself with a beautifully made chicken parmigana, complete with nice tomato sauce and topping, with some potatoes and carrots to go with it. It did the job really well, and we relaxed later watching the series on Suissex on Channel 5, which included a look at a small winery. This was bitter sweet as the programme had been filmed in 2024 but the owner had passed away last year. The Love also watched all her favourite Royal programmes afterwards although what made us both chuckle was one of them used the same tune as The Yorkshire Auction House, so tune of the day was an obvious choice there!
Sunday 2nd August - Sunshine in Salford
The Love In My Heart and I had had a chilled out evening, mainly with some telly. I did watch some of the Commonwealth Games highlights including the men's mile final where Josh Kerr won that, and followed up on his recent world record which I was able to see a few weeks back. What I did note though was that even with a smaller 10,000 capacity stadium, the athletics was not quite full, and there were some empty seats at the events elsewhere. To be fair, Glasgow came in last minute and have managed to pull off an excellent event overall - it is not down to them whatsoever but the overall federation needs to stop and think - not having a deal broadcast on terrestrial television for live coverage undoubdedly did some damage.
The Love and I had a lie in of sorts this morning, except Brian the cat wanted snuggle time with his Mummy, so I left them to it and had a coffee and caught up on some telly too. It was overall a pretty good relaxed morning, with some nice breakfast and seeing an episode of the Celebrity Yorkshire Auction House, where some of Dennis Taylor's stuff went on sale for a reasomable amount, including some waistcoats he used to wear (and he signed them) going for a pretty pennt, as you may expect. The best item was a silver dish which actually was made by a relation of Angus himself - apparently quite well known.
We decided to head out for the afternoon as we were picking up Little Miss O later as she was staying overmight with The Love, who was having her tomorrow all day. We thought it would be sensible to head to Salford Quays and Media City, as at least we'd be on the way. After paying a massive amount for parking (and no details of what the charge actually was until you enter the registration plate and time - and a lot of the car parks around there appear to be the same now - money grabbing so and sos) it was on to Grub on the main front, with some outside seating and nice beer, for an initial drink and the sunshine too, so we could not complain.
After that we went over to what was the Lowry Outlet shopping but is now Quayside, and it is looking a shadow of its former self now it has to be said. Only the food outlets on the outside facing the quays appears to be keeping it open, and on the inside only a few shops remain: The Works, Next Outlet, Marks and Spencer, and Holland and Barrett with a child's painting place and a Costa really. I remember when every shop was taken up and it was a busy place - the Gap outlet for example had several bargains. Shame, but it I guess is how some of retail appears to be at present, more so as I kept getting emails from various Whitbread owned places that they were shutting including Beefeater and Table Table.
We went to the Seven Brothers Social which was formerly 11 Central and this had outside seating facing the quayside and the Manchester Ship Canal. They did do some nice beer of course, and a Sunday roast was good too. The Love had the chicken which was more like a chicken supreme, and if I knew I'd have had that. I did have the roast beef the other day and that was great too. It was just good to have a nice meal together and we soon were heaidng back across and over to collect Little Miss O, who was of course very pleased to see us both. As for tune of the day, The Love was playing some 80s in the car, and so it had to go to the iconic Don't You Want Me by The Human League, a song we both love!
Saturday 1st August - Swings and Slides
I had arrived at The Love In My Heat's place last night, and thankfully for once the train was on time. I took the tram as The Love had Little Miss O staying over, and she was all happily asleep when I arrived. When we got up this morning, in came Little Miss O, and she spotted me and said hello. It was lovely to see her happy smiling face and she was more smiley too when we looked through the two picture books that The Love had made, one for the last two yaes with some pictures. She happily pointed out Mummy, Daddy, sister (Little Miss E of course) and Nana too, so that was nice to see that she was recognising everyone in a good way.
We made sure Litlte Miss O had some cereal and then later made some breakfast, so we all had some bacon on toast, with one set being cut up into smaller bite sized pieces, which she was more than happy to scoff and be all grown up. Awww. I think that was lovely, and she was able to enjoy seeing a little bit of Peppa Pig on the telly as well as a video which has nursery rhymes on, which she either sings along to or gets myself or The Love or singing with her - and particularly The Wheels on the Bus is one of her favourites, so tune of the day without question.
We then headed off to the local park as it was mid-morning and not too hot as yet, so that meant she could have a little run around and play. Little Miss O does love the slide, it has a little step staircase to head up, and then an elevtated bridge to get to a little house part before the slide itself. She loves it and happily goes up and down a lot, with us all happy smiling seeing her so happy. In fact I can catch her at the bottom and lift her up, which she also loves as a little extra treat, so that is a positive. I think she wanted me to go on it too which was nice, saying "go on, you first!" and then waiting for her to show her happy face sliding down.
More of the same on the swings too, I think Little Miss O wanted to go on the bigger swings, but she tried it and realised that she may need to hold on to the side chains a bit more, whereas the smaller ones she can put her feet in and hold the chair instead, and then have myself and The Love giving her a litlte push to give her some extra pace. I think she adored that too with us both pushing and with her having a happy giggling face. It is moments like this which make me feel so humble really - in that both the little ones think a lot of me, and that if I can do my bit to make them happy, then that's my job done.
We later dropped off Little Miss O back at her parents' place, and she had plenty of time in the car spotting bee buses along the way which is fun. She now has a bigger car seat which means like her sister she can see out of the window and admire the view, so definitely that means we can do more things like I Spy as well as spotting the yellow Bee Network buses (hence the exclamation of "bee bus!" when she does). It was a lovely day all round and it was nice just to be able to spend some quality time like that, and settled in later back at The Love's place with the live heat of UK's Strongest Man, from Planet Ice in Milton Keynes. And yes, the atlas stones did make an appearance..