OCCUPIED COUNTRY

See The Sky About To Rain.....

Today we had a good old-fashioned trip to the seaside. Butties, a flask, a dog and a positive attitude was all we needed so the car was made ready and off we sped in the glorious June sunshine. Didn't we have a lovely time, the day we went to.......

We had planned on heading Southport way, to the endless beaches and dunes of that part of the Lancashire coastline that doesn’t have a place called Blackpool stuck in the middle of it like a running sore. Southport would be ideal, we could let the dog exercise for a good two minutes or so before she would collapse in an exhausted heap and I could photograph the endless horizon whilst contemplating mortality. Dearest could get some sea air to her broken bits and it would be just like being kids again.

“Are we there yet?”

Except we never made it to Southport. Somebody (ahem) wasn’t paying attention to the road signs on the motorway and he missed the turn off. We were heading for North Wales at a rate of knots with no immediate means of retracing, so we decided to stay with it. After all, there was no schedule, no timetable, just two crazy kids and a dog on the highway to oblivion!

It was looking like Conwy or Llandudno – that’s where we usually end up when we can’t think of anywhere else to go. And, to be fair we have had some cracking times there in the past with the kids and others. It’s a beautiful part of the world but one that we’ve been to too often.

Then we saw a sign that said ‘Prestatyn’. Now we haven’t been there for years so we thought we’d give it a go. I vaguely remembered a decent beach and tacky 1950s seaside architecture. To be frank I was in the mood for a decent beach and some tacky 1950s seaside architecture. Mirror, signal and manoeuvre – we turned right and tootled down some delightful country roads and through some cute little Welsh villages and hamlets before pitching up on Prestatyn’s sea front. After paying and displaying we set off down what turned out to be an absolutely excellent three mile walk down a practically deserted sea front. Dunes on one side, the beach on the other. No ice-cream kiosks, do-nut sellers, ‘amusement’ arcades or ‘kiss-me-quick’ hats anywhere.

We really did enjoy ourselves. A good six mile walk and the quality of the light was special – sunshine from one part of the sky and heavy clouds in the other. My favourite visual treat. There was a becalmed wind farm out at sea standing testament to the stillness of the day. It were grand, as they say in the vernacular.

And then my hip started to ache. Another physical niggle to add to the growing list. Old age? It’s a bitch.

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I see Real Madrid aren’t “killing football” with their recent spending. It’s only City who get accused of that. £80million plus £45million for Kaka. Wages for the pair of them that would make anybody’s eyes water and hardly a Gallic eyebrow raised. Monsieur Platini mustn’t have been paying that much attention. Oh sure he did make the odd comment but it’s nothing like the bile he directed at the Sky Blues in January. But then again, Madrid aren’t rocking the boat are they? As long as the billions flow between the ‘Big’ clubs then all’s OK and the World can carry on spinning.

La petite tarte!

Her's some pics from today.......


See the sky, about to rain...


The errant possessive apostrophe.


Skulkin'


Outlook: Mixed!


Foreshore


Beach


Time to go.


Reflections in public art.

That's all folks!