Dear Diary...

This is my diary. How things are. Or something. Please note that the diary is archived month by month, so feel free to click the links for the archives (which now will go back five years maximum):

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2021


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..