Crap Weather for May

[Scorps]

lawn looking like it might need a bit of a trim so must just be getting eaten as soon as lol

[Pigmy Pony]

Garden thermometer says 14C, and no clouds. Off to sunny Blackpool this morning. Someone has to get up on the roof to bring a boiler flue through the slates while clinging to a cat ladder, so that would be me. Should get a nice tan provided I don't fall off first

[struth]

ah, Blackie... used to be a haunt of mine... 14c here too with a high today of 24 or so..

[Joe]

We used to go to Blackpool every year to see the lights (my aunt worked for a coach firm and we got free tickets). I can't remember the lights at all; in fact the only thing I do remember about the trips is listening to Radio Luxembourg on the way home in what seemed to be the middle the night. I particularly recall 'The Battle of the Giants', sponsored by National petrol. The problem with Radio Luxembourg was that you only got to hear a minute or so of each song before the adverts kicked in. I've never been back there since; my daughter went there with her boyfriend recently, took one look at the place, and drove somewhere 'nicer'.

[struth]

We used to go to Blackpool every year to see the lights (my aunt worked for a coach firm and we got free tickets). I can't remember the lights at all; in fact the only thing I do remember about the trips is listening to Radio Luxembourg on the way home in what seemed to be the middle the night. I particularly recall 'The Battle of the Giants', sponsored by National petrol. The problem with Radio Luxembourg was that you only got to hear a minute or so of each song before the adverts kicked in. I've never been back there since; my daughter went there with her boyfriend recently, took one look at the place, and drove somewhere 'nicer'.

its certainly gone dowhill, or had last time i was there, which was well over 20 yrs ago

[Joe]

its certainly gone dowhill, or had last time i was there, which was well over 20 yrs ago

More than 50 years ago in my case. I was thinking we stopped going there whilst I was still at primary school, but then I remember we went to Madame Tussaud's, including the Chamber of Horrors, so I must have been a bit older.

[Marco]

I'd love to have seen Blackpool in its heyday, perhaps around the 20s/30s or earlier [same applies to other, once great, British seaside resorts], where I believe it would've been lovely, and staying at places such as Grand Metropole or The Imperial, when they were genuinely 'posh' and could ably satisfy the most fastidious desires of a gourmet and bon vivant, but now?

No way! Fucking CHAV CITY, full of junk 'amusement arcades', very dated, often dilapidated buildings and cheap shops, mostly nasty 'budget' hotels/restaurants, all catering for old people or the undiscerning 'egg and chip brigade'...

A total waste of time and fuel going there and back. All these places need massive financial investment, and totally refurbished, in order to bring them up to date, offer something genuinely worthwhile to tourists who enjoy living well in the 21st century, and to completely reinvent their image!

Marco.

[Macca]

I remember going to a Berni Inn in Blackpool, must have been about 1978 or a bit before.

[Marco]

That would've probably been half decent. They were generally pretty consistent in quality and knew how to cook steak!

Marco.

[Marco]

Look at the lobby of the Grand Metropole, for example:



Beautiful (and many of the original features are likely missing)... I could just imagine coming down those stairs of an evening in my tuxedo, ready to enjoy some champagne and pre-dinner canapés!

Marco.