It’s so lovely that normal bank holiday weeks are back. And haven’t we had scorching weather. I’ve actually managed to cast off my trousers in favour of a skirt or dress. My legs screamed with the shock at having fresh air round them! I’ve also gone into my sleeveless nighties at last. Imagine, it’s June and we’ve only just got out of Winter clothing, it’s mad.
Warm May Bank Holiday Weather
It reminds me of when I was little and wore liberty bodices. They were like a warm sort of vest with a furry inside, well not furry, more sort of a woolly, especially when they were new. I particularly loved the label on them. Made by Cherub, they had the head of a cherub in full colour with glowing cheeks. I suppose I was more taken up with the label than the excitement of a new liberty bodice and my, they weren’t half warm. I rarely got a new one. They had to be almost like a straight-jacket through me growing out of them or shabby, whichever came first, and not until.
Anyway, my mum, like lots of other mums would always quote ’ne’er cast a clout until May’s out’. To us, it always meant don’t go into Summer clothes until the end of May. I found out years later that it was actually ‘ne’er cast a clout until the Maythorn is out’, meaning when the Hawthorn flowers. Which of course is usually earlier than June. Even if we were sweltering, parents then adhered to the old rule, but when I got older I didn’t! Jane played with two friends when they were young and their mum had a bit of a stuck-in-the-mud for old times’ attitude. They had to wait until June – so get sweating girls!
Normal Bank Holiday Weeks are Back in Blackpool!
It’s strange isn’t it how life changes. Speaking of which, Jane has been to Blackpool this week doing videos for YouTube which we’ve watched after our lunch. Gosh oh golly, the town is changing rapidly, and for the better, methinks. There’s scaffolding all over the place as things are built or renovating and it is looking the better for it.
Here’s the town centre walk through one that she did:
She showed the Sands Hotel which should be opening soon on the seafront and my is it in a good spot for beaches and shops. You couldn’t get any nearer if you tried, other than being right on the beach!
There’s a site next to the new conference centre on Leopold Grove and more plans have been submitted for a hotel there with 160 bedrooms. It looks like this time they’ll be agreed, and very nice too it will look if it goes through. It includes a bridge to be built, linking the hotel to the new conference centre which incidentally is going up at a cracking pace. I was surprised when I saw that too. With a link to each building, I would imagine people attending a conference would love being able to access a hotel so easily, so it’s a no brainer isn’t it.
There will be a bar and café area and a double level car park with 94 spaces. Which is better because if I was visiting Blackpool, there’s no way I would leave my car on a public car park. You have to say that Blackpool Council are storming ahead, with many regeneration projects under way.
Better Facilities – Better Blackpool
There seems to be development all over the place – even the smaller hotels on the seafront and elsewhere seem to be getting the message. A lot of visitors don’t want the typical seaside landlady place. They want cleanliness, modern hotels, ensuites as standard. I for one, having grown up in time when you shared toilets and bathrooms, know that it was horrible. Heaven help you if you had a desperate need to go in one and someone was in it. You had to hang on and wait. It wouldn’t be the first time I followed someone (particularly men) into a very nauseating smelly toilet! I certainly wouldn’t stay anywhere without an ensuite, not likely.
However all in all, great things are happening in town and not before time. If you want to attract customers from other walks of life you have to give them what they want, like it or not, or go under. My lovely friend Pamela who lives in Scotland and comes down here very often has had to miss her trips. I bet she’ll find a great deal of difference since she last came.
And a Rip Off…
It’s good that normal Bank Holiday Weeks are back but the one fly in the ointment for me was the news that rip-off merchants are still alive and well in Blackpool. Either that or they think we haven’t got a brain and will pay anything to get what we want. When you’ve heard this, see what you think.
There’s a rock and sweet shop on the front who seem to think they are living in London or New York and they can diddle people out of their well earned holiday money. They’re selling sweets for £2.49 for 100 grams and someone was charged £19.50 for a small bag of sweets. Another person was charged £20.10 for two small bags of sweets. As I would have done, they told them to keep the sweets as they weren’t paying rip off prices.
I’d have had something to say if he’d pulled that stunt with me! I hate being ripped off, I’d rather give my money away than line some unscrupulous horrible persons’ pockets wouldn’t you? The powers that be should close them down for daylight robbery. My we’d sort them out, wouldn’t we!
Other blogs you might be interested in:
- My Latest Stupid Adventure…
- What a funny week
- The cake crawl that wasn’t
- Perpetual Motion
- Online shopping
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