Today was Warped’s annual trip to Blackpool, and what fun there was to be had…
The day started off sunny and rather warm for this time of year, so much so that I enjoyed a quiet walk to the nearest cash machine to draw out some money and grab some chocolate from the newsagent. Just after 9, Tom arrived to give us a lift and we picked up Julian and Sally en-route.
Upon arrival, we moved in the direction of the Big Dipper, with Sally being picked up and dragged by Tom and Julian because she didn’t want to go on it. I also got mobbed by Lizzy and Beth who grabbed me by either hand and attempted to get me to dance and skip along to the music that was being broadcast across the park (disturbingly, the Pleasure Beach radio seems to consist almost entirely of songs from my music collection).
We got on a few rides in the morning whilst the queues were fairly short, including the Big One (which I’ve never been impressed with—there’s one big drop and that’s about it) and the Grand National (possibly the second best ride in the park). It was interesting to see Lizzy and Lucy’s reactions to the rides (although they wouldn’t come on the Big One, instead opting for the Carosel) since this was the first time either of them had been to Blackpool.
Lunch consisted of chips, beans and steak pie, which I was amazed to find coming in for less than five pounds including a drink (with it being a theme park I expected to pay significantly more). It was also very nice food, especially the pie which had obviously been made with reasonable meat rather than just leftovers or tough parts.
After grabbing a rest, drink and some more food (not for me though) from Burger King, Sally and I managed to drag the rest of the group down towards the dodgems because we wanted to go on them. In the end only Homicide, Julian and Sammy joined us, but it was a great laugh and we crashed into people for about five minutes solid. Tom managed to get a picture of me going round and because of the way the flash worked I have red eyes, plus there’s a ruthless determined glare on my face that makes me look like I’m planning on taking no prisoners. 🙂
We headed down to the arcade to catch up with the others after the dodgems, and watched Lucy, Kate, Lizzy, Beth and Julian all competing on those Dance Mat arcade machines where you have to step on the pads in time to the music and the arrows on screen. Videos and photos should hopefully be forthcoming at some point in the near future. 🙂
Unfortunately, with it being a Sunday, the rides starting shutting down from 6:30pm onwards, so we made a move towards the exit. There was no real consensus on what to do, so I said “we’re going to Pizza Hut” and suddenly everyone followed me. Dinner there was nice, and incredibly cheap considering that several people had desserts.
All in all the day was a good laugh, with random memories from Sally leaning over to hug me when I said I wanted to go on the dodgems to playing “tag” in the queue (usually iniated by Lizzy) and my blank expression on the photos from the Big One. I did my neck, knees, back and legs in on various rides but I think they’ll be better by tomorrow (if not there’s always the option of playing the “poor Paul” sympathy card :).
I’m so glad I went.
Update: Beth has photos of the trip. Tom also has uploaded some photos.
Good to hear you had a good time.
I love rides. I’m gutted I can’t go on them any more due to my back.
Woe always me! 🙁
Ah, I’d forgotten you’d done your back in, bad luck about that. Rides are cool, although we didn’t get on as many as last year but that was probably because there were fewer people this time and only a small number of us were into the big “scary” (I use that term somewhat loosely) rides.
Ah Blackpool…
I went there years ago. I must have been about 7. There were dinosaurs there. Loved it.
Maybe just my computer but the link to the photo’s isn’t working.
Sorry, there should not be an apostrophe in photos.
Looks like Graham has broken Dragonhold’s DNS, which Beth’s site seems to run off (in other words, you won’t be able to get at the photos for the time being :).
It could just be me but you don’t half look evil in that bumper car!
Heh, looking back at it I do look quite evil, although it doesn’t help that the red eye reduction was turned off on Tom’s camera and so I come across as some demonic driver looking to knock everyone else out of the way. 🙂
Have you got your licence yet? God help us if you’re driving on the streets as well!
Lol, no I haven’t got my provisional licence yet, although I will be sending off for it over the holidays hopefully—I just have to see if I can grab someone who can sign it for me (I know a couple of people who are eligible, it’s just getting the form to them and back again). I probably won’t take lessons until the summer because I have too much on my plate at the moment, and even if I take my test and pass first time I won’t be able to afford the insurance (stupid isn’t it, I can buy a car but I can’t afford to insure against me crashing into other people) so don’t expect to see me bearing down on you for a while yet. 😉
Having said that, if I can learn to drive this summer and pass my test then I might be able to drive hire cars when we go on trips anywhere… 🙂
Ah come on, we all know not to be disturbed by your music collection any longer..
I’m still disturbed by his music taste!
I guess it’s just as well you didn’t come to Blackpool with us then. 😉 (although in fairness I wasn’t the one skipping along or playing on the dance machines!).
I’ve not seen you in ages. Me you dan and haslam will have to go for a pint one day.
Aye, we will have to have a meetup at some point in the near future, it’s been a long time since we were all in the pub together (last time I can remember us meeting as a group was after paintballing I think). Perhaps sometime over this Easter would be good, I’m also trying to get people back from uni for a meetup although I’ve no idea how well that will work because I imagine a lot of them have moved on now.
And I thought Socialists were crazy.
innit