at scarborough

hello there


phew, blimey. this could be one of them long-ish posts, look you see, the type of which i do, to be sure, tend to run out of steam with the wording as it progresses. well, to be expected, i suppose, as some 14 or so years of doing this blog is apt testament to my wanting or lacking writing skills.

anyway,  as summer slightly fades, now is the time to have a look back (rather than forward) to a most splendid weekend away in Scarborough what we had during the so-called "holiday season" for both those of us at school and those of us who what do a verk for a living.

of the 300 (or so) pictures i took, not to mention several (actually seven) videos, i have cut down to some highlights. yes, indeed, as usual this would all be for the benefit of friends and family around the world, but strangers are welcome if they wish to read, so long as they are not oddballs or otherwise troublesome.

commitments for matters such as verk, and of course the cricket, meant that we had limited time to get away. when we discussed where to go, i mooted Scotland once again, as i have done a couple of times. although there is interest from the remainder of my family, time constraints made it less than viable.

suggestions were requested, and the unanimous call off of the boys was a return to Scarborough. they loved the place when we went, what, 3 years ago, and lamented the short time we were there. off we went, then, with the traditional English summer of overcast ways in no way stopping us heading down to the beach, as pictured above.

our proclivity for visiting seaside or if you like coastal resorts has prompted certain questions. why is it, for instance, that i have (so far as i am aware) never ever been pictured wearing one of them Kiss Me Quick hats what are the traditional uniform at such places. let me remedy that, then.

no, i did not purchase the hat as such. other than the trouble it would likely cause should any quite desperate ladies or not at all fussy gentlemen take up the offer presented, i considered the fee of £2.99 for it prohibitively expensive. the proprietor of the shop what sells them, i have every confidence, would not have objected to me borrowing it briefly for this picture.

why did i not wear or pose in one of these last year? well, so as we may have experienced standing in a different sea, we visited Blackpool. as many of you shall be aware, Blackpool has become a bit of a niche spot for jolly outings such as stag nights and hen parties. the consequence of this is that a simple, relatively innocent kiss does not quite do it for the patrons of the place. most of the suggestions on hats in Blackpool are crude, explicit and certainly not suitable for publication here.

so yes, indeed, as you may have drawn for yourself from the above, Scarborough is certainly and most decidedly a family friendly place. with a great deal for all of the family to do together. like, for instance, the splendid styled dragon pedal boats of Peasholm Park.

the boys were quite keen to have a go on these on our first visit, but time and popularity stood against us. on our first day the popularity of the attraction was also prohibitive. we did, however, manage to get on them simply by going along at 10am, when they open. most other people, it would seem, have things to do at such a time which do not involve pedalling around a lake.

yes, the boys pedalled us around. no, we did not insist or make them, no matter what my Dad says. they were quite keen to do it all, so far be it from either me or my (considerably) better half to protest.

should your device have allowed for the playback of video (and i think all now do this), the conversation being had might be distracting or confusing. well, let me help. James is a young man of ambition, and one such ambition was to "do a donut" that thing where you spin a vehicle around and leave skid marks or what have you on the surface. he was indeed successful in doing a "donut" like circle on the lake, leaving ripples of outgoing waves rather than any sort of permanent marking on the surface of the water.

like most, probably all, things in Scarborough, this dragon pedal boat ride thing was most agreeably priced. south of £10 it was, as point of fact i think £8, for a half an hour hire of the boat for the four of us. just some information for anyone using this post to do research and what have you.

another thing reasonably priced is sadly not pictured here. we seemed to have played a great deal of that "mini golf", or if you will crazy golf, game. splendid fun, and too much fun was had playing it to stop and take pictures. also, due to my deft mathematics and outrageous handwriting, i was tasked with keeping scores.

so yes, in the absence of golf pictures, there's James, who i think won at least one of the rounds. i am quite certain that's William and my (considerably) better half just over his shoulder, stepping in to the sea.

my favourite golf course? the one by the north beach / bay corner where the buses stop. other than it being generously priced (£8 for a family of four), i got a hole in one on it. the other, which was £10 for the four of us, was splendid to play on, as that was the one where the Yorkshire (and thus best in the world) Championship of Crazy Golf is held.

perhaps the only time i baulked or paused at the cost of something was when the boys discovered a "Virtual Reality" ride down at the amusements located on the south beach / bay. at £3 a go (each!) this was not a cheap venture.

it was not like they wanted just the one go each, either. but, on the whole, never mind. both of them assured me it was amazing and absolutely worth however much money i channelled into the slot for them to have a go on it.

no, i did not have a go myself. other than the fact that the seats appeared not to have been designed with the larger gent in his 40s in mind, the headset looked quite tricky, what with me wearing glasses. quite like the problems with 3D cinema, i suppose.

some video of the boys enjoying this (expensive) virtual reality thing? sure, since the screen above it appeared to show off whatever thing it was they were doing on the ride.

a sign somewhere or other near the amusement what housed this virtual reality ride made the claim that it is the only such attraction of its kind "on the east coast". well, if that is the case - and why on earth in our trusting society would anyone claim something to be true when it is false - quite a bargain fee paid for it all, i suppose.

to move, perhaps briefly, away from cost concerns, there is the matter of where we stayed. as it happens, in exactly the same place (to the room itself) as the last time. well, it was lovely then, and most splendid again. this was over by the north beach or bay, where it tends to be quieter on a night, except for when them concerts are on at the open air theatre. but, more of that later.

in order to get to the "business end" of Scarborough, as in where all the flashing lights and amusements are, one must travel. and, travel we did, on the magnificent, splendid, open top busses that circulate between the two beaches or bays.

excuse me with financials again, but the value offered by the buses (busses?) is superb. a family ticket for all day rides is all of £8. one presumes this is in some way subsidised by the authorities or businesses, but what forward thinking if so. this really does make getting around and about in Scarborough easy and affordable.

unfortunately i was not able to take nearly as many pictures or videos on the bus as i would have wished to. this was because the boys had a fear that i might drop my phone, or that the wind may catch it and take it away. fear normally has a source, and in this instance James quite nearly lost his hat on our previous visit to such winds. so, he was mindful of the same happening to someone else with something else.

but, still, i was able to get this picture of something most peculiar. well, peculiar and not peculiar.

the bus on which we rode had a language option thing if one had headphones. presumably this was to give a bit of a guide to those travelling between north and south and wishing for some information, or maybe it was to distribute standard bus information.

whereas it is splendid that such is provided, what caught my eye was language option number 9. forgive my potential or possible ignorance here, but is that not the Scottish flag, or if you like the flag of Scotland, and is it not that the people of that nation speak English? i regret not taking a pair of headphones to listen to it, now, so i do, to be sure.

now, if ever i am short £1 of the purchase price of something i want, i shall be momentarily upset and cross with myself then console myself that it is due to me electing to pay homage to The King, Elvis Presley via the conduit or if you like forum or otherwise means of this splendid pinball machine which features His name and His likeness.

i suspect that this pinball machine, resplendent as it is with images of The King, Elvis Presley, was somewhat busted. why? well, on my first go it gave me three pinballs to fire off at once, and then kept on giving loads. whereas this allowed me to amass a score of several million - none of which is my glory and all of it is for the glory of The King, Elvis Presley - it was a little confusing. and yes, i suppose, i am easily confused. but not to Nigel Tufnell levels.

quite, yes. normally when at seaside resorts i would pay homage to The King, Elvis Presley by playing one of those "tipping point", coin waterfall or cascade quasi gambling games featuring His image and playing His music. but, alas, they all appeared to be busted or otherwise broken. so, pinball it was.

whenever i see busted or broken entertainment equipment my thoughts are always drawn to Mr Sinatra. as i have mentioned on several occasions, most notably here, i have every reason to suspect that, whenever he busted or broke some piece of audio or video equipment, Mr Sinatra sold it to Dean Martin, at a premium and profitable price. the pressure placed on Dean Martin by this could well be what caused him to drink so much, and was also maybe a root cause of the several relationship issues he sadly experienced.

did Mr Sinatra ever own a pinball machine or "tipping point" cash cascade device featuring The King, Elvis Presley? i  have no idea, but if he did and he ever busted it, then yes, probably, him and Glass Eye would have loaded it into a truck and taken it around to Dean's place to sell it to him.

there would seem to have been a bit of distraction when speaking about the pinball machine that i had a go on, so here, there's a family selfie for you all, taken by a waterfall at Peasholm Park on an instance when James was not doing a "donut" thing in one of the dragon pedal boats.

Peasholm Park (if i am spelling that right) (hope so) is fantastic. quite extraordinary that one could go to a famous, celebrated seaside town such as Scarborough, and yet not ever actually need to see the beach or sea to have a splendid time. one could remain in the park with all there is to see and activities to engage in for an entire day and consider the day to be magnificent.

no, we did not spend an entire day, but we could and probably would have. but, we were there to see the sea, and of course to engage in the most splendid amusements on offer.

yes, it is entirely possible that i should have grouped all arcade and amusement pictures together, but alas i did not. so, there you go. but yes, i think, in the background you can see some of them "tipping point" style games, although they were not as smart as the Batman one the boys played.

indeed i am aware of the "tipping point" quiz show, called Tipping Point, what is on TV here, specifically ITV i think. the host, whose name escapes me for the moment, is like a Bamber Gascoigne for the millennial generation, and it is certainly serving the aspirations of many by raising the intellectual bar. which may well be a comment on how low that presently is.

but, back to the holiday, or if you will our seaside break. in Scarborough, since that might well have been forgotten as i have rambled through some distractions. did we pick up any memorabilia or other such souvenirs of our time away? of course.

more on the hat William is wearing, but for now the most splendid t-shirt. yes, it is a celebration of the craze or dance of 2018, one called "the floss" for reasons which are not clear to me, but i am, you would think, of an age where one is not expected to be aware of such things.

William is quite the keen practitioner of the floss, such is his love of dancing. so, the chance to obtain a garment, specifically a t-shirt, celebrating this was not to be overlooked or missed.

some video of William showing off his smart floss moves in his smart new "floss like a boss" t-shirt? of course, but William is most keen, if not eager, to point out that this is not his finest ever performance.

can i, moi, do the floss? yes, of course. well, i mean, i know all the moves, and i can do them, but putting them all in the correct order is a bit tricky. difficult to impossible, as point of fact. once i performed the floss and asked William what he thought of it, and he gave every indication that he would very much prefer it if i did not attempt to do it again.

back on it, then, and over the road from Peasholm Park to that other bit of park which might have the same name or might not; the part where the open air theatre thing is. and the train line towards Sea World and all that good stuff.

no, we did not go to Sea World on this visit, as was the case last time. but 75% of the family did have a go on that "sky trail" thing, with me electing to stay behind, or if you like on ground level. this was partially because i am not sure my size and sense of balance were at the forefront of thinking when they designed it, but mostly in case the boys decided to elect to leave the feature earlier than anticipated.

as it turned out, James and William did kind of all right on the lower levels, but it was left to my (considerably) better half to brave the really quite high up aspects of this.

cost? it was £6 each for them to go on, and so far as i was aware there was no such thing as a time limit to it. when one considers the upkeep and staff, that's not bad pricing at all.

some video? well, ok, but this is somewhat brave of me. for reasons best known to herself, my (considerably) better half opted to wear a skirt for doing this sky trail thing. which made looking and indeed filming whilst attempting to protect her Austen-ish, borderline Victorian sense of morality, modesty and values quite the challenge.

as far as i can tell all concerns about modesty being protected are addressed with the above video. if not, well, it should attract them quite strange Japanese types what buy all sorts of peculiar things that you wouldn't normally associate with sexual stuff off of vending machines. that or my (considerably) better half shall instruct me to remove the video. so, watch while you can, i suppose.

GLORIOUS UPDATE ON THE ABOVE BELOW

still, more video to come, if that is your sort of thing.

over at that same park, then, was a feature what the boys went on last time and very much wanted to go on again. i believe, or suspect, they are called "zorbs".

big, inflated balls what one rolls around on the water in would be what i call them. although that is something of a mouthful, so i suppose "zorbs" works as a name. perhaps that, if it indeed is the correct name for them, is some fancy play on the word "orb".

cost? if you insist, £4.40 each for a 5 minute go. which may sound somewhat steep, but it really isn't. the things are no doubt pricey to run, what with it needing inflating every time, and to be honest five minutes looks about he maximum for the amount of time required to extract the fun out of it.

not that i am knocking it, far from it. it's just that for safety reasons there is a limited space you can roll out in, and once you've done that and bashed someone else in their ball (zorb), your five minutes would be all pretty much done.

at least, there were no complaints off the boys when it was time to dock, or whatever it is a zorb does.

no, i am struggling to say much of anything else about the zorb things. so, to clarify, above is a picture of William in one of them, and below is a video of him.

James, it has to be said, was most determined that he would be able to walk in his zorb thing. here he is, in a picture, then, achieving some level of partial success with this.

yes, of course, in the interests of fairness and balance, some video of James doing his thing, whatever that is, in a zorb, is below. this is also the last video of the post.

phew, that is the zorb section done, then. as splendid as they are, there is really not so much i can say about them, except to just let the pictures and videos do their thing.

a little earlier - before all that zorb business and what have you - there was mention of a hat which i did purchase, along with the promise of more of it. so, here it is, modelled by me, with my (considerably) better half looking on, her eyes filled with desire and envy.

if it looks like a conservative blue cowboy hat with red tinsel on it, resplendent with "Great Britain" written on it, with the Union Flag (yes, you are only supposed to call it the Union Jack when it is on a boat or something) either side, that is because it is, as point of fact,  a conservative blue cowboy hat with red tinsel on it, resplendent with "Great Britain" written on it, with the Union Flag (yes, you are only supposed to call it the Union Jack when it is on a boat or something) either side.

there is an obvious question posed by all of this, and the answer is yes, and no. yes, in my imagination, i fully suspect that Boris Johnson wore a hat identical to this as and when he was sent off to different parts of the world to represent all of us. he would no doubt have considered this most splendid and quite appropriate.

no, that is not the reason i bought it, especially not over the Kiss Me Quick one. quite simply, the reason this one got bought was that it only cost 50p. that is a bargain price for any kind of hat. i am trying to think if my Brazil 2014 one off of Poundland was a similar price, or 50% of that.

yes, the two biggest fans of that there Doctor Who show standing in front of what William ostensibly knows as the Tardis. in this instance, it is an actual, fully functional proper Police point, but in the eyes of a fan it is what it is.

actually, all of us are fans, and are thoroughly looking forward to a proper, Yorkshire Doctor Who in the next series. it will probably be a bit boring, for all she will have to do is "make everything like Yorkshire" and all will be perfect, but still it will be splendid and reinforcing to watch.

back over to the south beach or bay, then, and one of the most splendid exhibitions what i have ever been in. this would, but of course, be the Terror Tower, or Tower of Terror if for some reason you think that sounds better, which it might, but it is not the right name for it.

oh, yes, as that above picture shows, some terror is on hand, and you get quite a few scares as you go around it. for a £15 family ticket, or that price for a group of four, this was all fantastic. i am reluctant to give away much in the way of "spoilers", but there is a fantastic Alien and Predator in there, along with all sorts of other scary stuff.

but, be warned, for it really does make you jump.in a good way, i guess, if you like getting scared and that.

a picture of William near that outdoor theatre thing, next to a poster announcing a tribute to The King, Elvis Presley, with the poster on a wall guarding off some sort of fancy new development? i can do that.

there were no less than two (two) concerts on at that open air thing whilst we were there; celebrated band Texas and that James Arthur lad. no, we went to neither, but we saw and heard bits of it. should one be inclined to do so, simply standing at the bank by the (presumably) disused swimming baths gives you an excellent vantage point for it all.

would i, or if you like we, consider going to one of them concerts they have at that place? sure, kind of. the cost would be a factor, mind. now that we have all merrily knacked the recording side of the music industry they do tend to make money off gigs and that. so, from what i can tell, it is rare that tickets for gigs there are as low as, say, £25 each, with means at least £100 for the four of us.

another picture from the beach, since this post is coming to an end in terms of pictures? sure, why not.

indeed, as i possibly commented above (sorry, i don't proof read or other such nonsense), James would have perhaps benefited from having a larger spade with which to dig. oh well, the one he had was the cheapest they had on sale, and so as far as i was concerned it met all the criteria for being perfectly fine.

yes, indeed i am absent from the above picture, for i was taking it. but i am in this next, last, final one.

that's a family selfie thing in Peasholm (please let that be the right spelling) Park, up at the top of the steps, in some sort of Japanese garden thing. no, i have no idea what the association between Scarborough and Japan is, but a fitting tribute all the same.

right, then, that covers just about all of that, i believe. a most splendid time away, as hopefully reflected in all of the above.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

except that's not it, i have been told to update by my (considerably) better half. she reckons that it wasn't a skirt what she had on for that climbing thing; it was trousers and a long shirt. apparently she is quite cross with me for suggesting otherwise.

so, with no modesty to protect as such, some more video.

and a bit more.......

and a bit more, since i think the 1st 2nd new one i added is the same as the original.....

now going back to being excellent to each other.......................................