ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 28TH OF 2023

 Morning all

Tis Friday time for

So as promised last week after our hen and stag weekend at Center Parcs we headed straight off to join the original holiday we had booked at Scarborough.  A mad dash home, a quick washload, a repack and we were on the road again and in under 2 hours we were in our next location with the most beautiful view over the north bay at Scarborough

The view the other way

Our holiday let the week a lovely apartment overlooking the north bay, we were up on the 4th floor, so the stairs all week kept me active (I don't do lifts).  It was a great base and unusually for us rather than heading out in the car everyday we left the car where it was and utilised the remainder of the week to explore Scarborough. 

Scarborough was my childhood holiday as I had a great Aunty who lived there.  

On the Tuesday we headed out and ventured to Scarborough Castle up on top of the hill, putting our English Heritage membership through its paces. 

We enjoyed the history given via the audio guides and wandering the site with fantastic views of both the south bay and the north bay. 

We had blue skies and wispy clouds for the day

Then we headed into town and then wandered back up the hillside taking a shot of the Grand Hotel, when built the biggest hotel in Europe.  It is still a stunning building but reviews for it these days indicate it is a far cry from its original self.  With 4 towers representing the seasons, 12 floors representing the months of the year and 365 rooms representing the days in the year it is beautiful.  It also had an underground train line to deal with all the washing apparently. 

Wednesday was gig day we decided to head to the towns art galleries.  First Scarborough's Art Gallery proved a treat, with lots of artwork including some mixed media.

I loved this wreath

Probably one of the most fun pieces this one was called 'Hello', the fabric at the back had been 'snow dyed' 

Then we headed next door to the Woodend gallery which although small (and predominantly apartments) still provided some eye fodder and a lovely cafe to sit and enjoy the surroundings. 

Then off down the hillside to find the Rotunda museum, originally created to house lots of pieces of the natural world, the building itself it beautiful. 

Back out and we hadn't realised the bridge over the roundabout was actually pedestrian

and we found another cliffside tram, although this one wasn't operable - it was a cafe instead

We headed back to the apartment and got ready and then headed out to a lengthy queue to watch Hollywood Vampires.  I had to giggle when hubby brought me my drink, as you will probably know I've been teetotal for years, so the idea that someone considers water liquid death seemed somewhat amusing. 

We enjoyed the support band 'Those Damn Crows' a Welsh band going on the dulcet tones of the lead singer.  Then the main gig

Lead singer Alice Cooper, with Johnny Depp and Joe Perry playing guitar and Tommy Henriksen they were exceptionally good live and we enjoyed the gig even more than we thought we would. 

Thursday and another wander around Scarborough this time Peasholm park, we enjoyed the ravine walk up to the top of the park

and the blue skies and trees

then we headed into the main park for the Naval Sea Battle 

I remember seeing this as a child, so it was a novelty to attend again as an adult, hubby was bemused. 

The boats appear radio controlled, but do actually have crew inside them. 

It was fun to watch and brought back some childhood memories. 

Friday and our final day at Scarborough (and another gig).  We decided to walk from the north bay to the south bay along the marine road, there are markers along the way providing history of Scarborough that proved interesting.  I don't think I'd appreciated that the two bays weren't originally linked but a roadway was created during the Victorian era to join the two, which we enjoyed walking along. 

We found some bits in town before heading back along the same road finding this bathing sculpture at the end.  There had been a few pieces of information during the week about the bathing huts that they used to wheel into the sea and then wheel out again due to the insistence of modesty for bathers.  

Then back to the apartment for a shower and to get changed and then head out to gig number 2, Tom Grennan with two support bands.  'Flawes' were excellent to listen to but 'Matilda Mann' seemed a little insipid, just not our taste in music.  Tom Grennan however was an absolute ball full of energy and provided great entertainment.  The only element that 'spoilt' it is that the demographic for the gig appeared to be (and I don't like stereotyping but here goes), middle aged Mums who were quite honestly so very very drunk, there were a few blokes there and a number of families but the drunk mum brigade really weren't attractive to watch, the gaggle in front of us were drunk before they sat down possibly not helped by the venue selling full bottles of wine.  Thankfully it didn't spoil it too much but if I'd have laid odds on the most badly behaved audience I probably would have thought Hollywood Vampires, apparently those that attended that were there for the music alone, whereas Tom Grennan had the drunks - weird. 

Our final morning and the sun was shining, I have seriously missed this view all week as you can imagine but it was nice to have a send off like this, the weather broke on the way home and we got caught in a couple of torrential downpours. 

Said 22 year old and his fiancee came to visit and catch up on Saturday and use my cricut machine so it was lovely to have a natter and some company for a few hours.  Saturday night was spent dosing the last night at the apartment had been overly warm which we hadn't enjoyed if I'm honest, so we'd had little sleep. 

Sunday was a getting the washing sorted day, although I'd got it all on the airers by Saturday teatime anyway I wanted it dry and away before recommencing work on Monday. 

Hubby was at home on Monday as normal and I was in the office, the rest of the week has tripped along at a merry old pace and I find myself back at Friday again. 

Hope you've had a lovely week. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY (SATURDAY - SORRY) - 27TH OF 2023

 Good Afternoon I'm over a day late, so sorry but time for 

So apologies for my tardiness but I've had a mighty busy week, we had a weekend away last weekend and then straight into a few days at Scarborough (should have been a week but the weekend last week interrupted that) I'll cover last weekend in this post and this week in next weeks as I doubt very much that we'll do much this week given we are back at work and we are very tired. 

There is no sense to the order of these photos - but I'm going to go with it. 

Last weekend my niece organised a joint stag and hen party at Center Parcs before the big day.  

This is the stag party, said 22 year old, his best man to the left and his Dad to the right, this was before they headed out for a game of pool and some beers at the pub on Saturday night as part of the 'stag' day. 

This is what they did earlier in the day - paintballing which they all enjoyed but had the bruises to show for it in the days after. 

On the other hand us girls enjoyed a lovely spa evening on Saturday

They boys enjoyed squash

Here they are at the paintballing arena again, I'm going to have some fun scrapbooking these. 

We did a family quiz on Saturday night, the hens came 12th, the stags (which included my sister to balance the numbers came 3rd winning a £15 voucher). 

The bride and groom to be before we headed out on Sunday night for a meal

The boys playing pool

and squash 

Meal out my niece and her other half (the maid of honour and bestman). 

The bride and groom to be

Badminton with little enthusiasm although you can't tell it from this picture

My niece had done 'hen do' party bags, I loved the scrunchies

Here we are before enjoying the goodie bags

She'd also organised a craft activity, so we sat sewing for a few hours

The youngsters enjoying the new phone slot at Center parcs

Quiz night, best man and my sister

Hubby and said 22 year old looking very serious lol

Bride to be and my niece

It really was a wonderful weekend to spend time together before the big event, I have so many positive memories that will be heading to a scrapbook layout at some point. 

I hope you've had a wonderful week too. 

 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 26TH OF 2023

 Good Morning

Before I commence my post, I'm going to send an apology to the lovely Kate and Helen as I simply haven't had a moment to myself this week, I promise to have a lovely browse and catch up hopefully this next week when I can sit and soak up all your lovely news.  In the meantime a very hurried

Well we had a lovely weekend last weekend, on thursday we headed off to Chatsworth to watch the Lord Chamberlain's men deliver Romeo and Juliet, despite the inclement forecast we managed to dodge most of the raindrops.  we enjoyed a lovely picnic during the evening, the play was fabulous as always and with it being at the lightest time of the year, we didn't need torches to pack up like we normally do in August when they are usually here. 

We then stayed at the Wheatsheaf pub in Baslow overnight, so that we could continue on our way on the Friday.  We tootled down to Trentham Gardens, I did the official fairy trail which included 21 fairies and insisted on finding them all.  Again the weather was kind

This is Bridget because she hands from a Bridge

The remnants of Trentham hall, it really must have been magnificent in its heyday

This is one of my favourite fairies she is known as 'Whimsey'

This one was hard to find and we had to double back a couple of times. 

and the final one we sat and posed with 'Poser'

then onwards to Stafford we went, checking in at the Swan hotel, this is where we went for our first date.  It is an old coaching in and an absolute treat to stay in.  We had a wander around the town, I found Mister Finch's new classroom space

and saw one of his amazing creations in the window

Our main reason for visiting was to see the play, normally held at Stafford Castle, the local authority have moved it to the local theatre due to cost and whilst it was enjoyable it wasn't a patch on a castle play it has to be said, this one was Midsummer Night's Dream, maybe a little too panto for our liking

They had made an effort to decorate the theatre

We also had a visit to Wroxeter's Roman Villa 

which is only half an hour away, the original Roman town was slightly larger than Pompeii and although you can only see a tiny proportion of it, it really is impressive. 

We had a meal out this was pudding - an amaretto cheesecake

Main was calzone (sorry blogger is being naughty)

this was us after we'd got ready

It really was a lovely weekend away and on our way back up from Stafford we popped in at Chatsworth

as every squeezing every morsel out of everything that we do and yes I was exhausted at the end of it but wouldn't change it for the world.  this week has been mad and crazy in easy measure and suddenly it is Friday morning.  I hope you've had amazing weeks I promise to catch up when I get a moment. 

Biggest hugs

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 25TH OF 2023

 Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for 

Well last weekend was a busy one as always.  Friday we were in work to cover a boat trip, it was a lovely trip with a family I know so that made it even nicer.  We had beautiful weather for it and spent 3 hours meandering the beautiful local canals and rivers. 

When I got back to work I had a few things to finish off before we could head off.

Me and hubby then made our way down to the local shopping centre as hubby was still in need of a wedding suit.  We headed to the shop he wanted to check out and after a little help from the shop staff hubby tried on a suit that he liked got a shirt and tie to match and some shoes, all in one shop, it was not the cheapest of shopping trips but very much needed, then we headed to body shop so I could get some help on some skin care and some new foundation before venturing to the Tapas place for tea, we couldn't make our minds up, so kept it simple by ordering a set menu and then ordering a sharing dessert, all of which was lovely. 

Then I managed to find a handbag for the wedding and some potential shoes, so it was an fruitful shopping visit. 

Saturday proved to be a very long day, I wrote a lengthy to do list and we commenced around 10.30am and kept going until 8.30pm when I started to make tea.  However all the door on the stairs are now changed including new handles and I finished touching up the paintwork.  I also managed to have a good clean through the house, sort washing out, sorted our books out so I was busy all day as was hubby.

The only relaxing part of the day was when said 22 year old and his fiancee popped in, they'd come back from a few days at Cornwall and wanted to touch base.  We had a lovely chat and they brought goodies for hubby for Father's day as well as a beautiful bunch of flowers for me and a 0% cider.  

This meant that Sunday which was Father's day was a much more laid back day, although we did get woken with one of the loudest thunderstorms I have ever heard which went on for some time. 

We had a cuppa and then managed to get some more sleep. 

We woke I made pancakes for breakfast and then we headed to see my Mum.  We had a cuppa and a catch up, she's not fairing well at the moment and has a rubbish week coming up, health care appointment blood test, oncologist appointment and then chemo, so she is definitely feeling a bit low currently. 

We then headed outside to help her replant some tomato plants that she had that were getting spindly because they'd not been planted on.  She already had a grow bag and she's decided to plant them in a deeper container this year but there wasn't quite enough compost.  She suggested using some of her old potato sack compost and wanted to look to see if there were any potatoes that had grown this year that were worth harvesting.

This is a photo of the two of them foraging for potatoes, some of them were tiny but they had fun finding them and then we topped up the tomato plants before heading home. 

Hubby then prepared our slow cooker tea whilst I went around touching up paintwork and sorting a few computer tasks out and then we showered before heading to watch a film (John Wick 4, hubby's choice not my cup of tea a wee bit too violent for the sake of it in my book).  

The rest of the week has been a busy one work wise, I've been working from home as I've got some big spreadsheet work to deal with, but it has been productive nonetheless. 

And then I find myself back at Friday, I hope you've had a good week. 

Hugs