Are you sure it's nearly summer?

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Summer Pudding - yummy!

Brrrr - went out for a short walk today - and was frozen! Even on Sunday when the sun was out and we were out in the back on the swinging seat - I had to go indoors to get a cardi! When is it going to warm up?

Anyway, what's been happening around here recently?

The Birthday girl - with champagne

Well, we celebrated a couple of birthdays. Firstly it was N's mum's birthday and we went to Harecastle Farm at Talke (Miller and Carter) , mainly because if you have signed up to their newsletters then you get a voucher for a free bottle of champagne on your birthday!

 It did feel very decadent as we were drinking it at lunchtime!! It was on my day off from the library - don't worry I wasn't drunk in charge of books :-)

I didn't have steak this time - but some delicious barbecued chicken - and a very naughty pudding! It was a vey nice celebration. I just hope that the Les Miserables DVD that I got her as a present hasn't depressed them too much since!



The Birthday boy :-)

It was also my dad's  birthday this week too - and we had a combined birthday and Eurovision party at ours on Saturday. It is a family tradition to have a Eurovision Party as we love to watch and have scorecards and try to guess who will win. I have to say none of us went for Denmark. I rather liked the doctor from Malta and Nathan liked Greece's "Alcohol is Free" (!) :-)



Eurovision goodies - flag cakes from Sarah!

We were quite intrigued by Azerbaijan and their man in a box - that was pretty original. A pretty good year I think - we had a lot of fun!









Otherwise I have been busy with work. One of our lovely customers brought in a large box of chocolates for Tracy and me - which was nice of him. He says we look after him - although we only request books for him like we do for anyone else! It is good to be appreciated though.


What lovely customers we have :-)

Makes up for the awkward troublesome customers - although we only really have one of those at Silverdale!

I'll leave you with one final photo today - a book title that made me smile. It is one of these light-hearted themed crime books. If you want to borrow it - let me know!!



I love this title!!




Star Trek - no spoilers :-)

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I was lucky enough to have a day off work this week - on Thursday. Nathan and I went to London for the day. His friend Martin was over from Azerbaijan. Remember Martin? He was the one who got married in Slovenia last year. It was the fairy-tale wedding we attended just after my treatment was finished. It was wonderful!



Pitt Cue Co.

Well, he was over for a stag weekend - and had a spare day so we thought we'd go down and spend the day with him. Nathan managed to take a short break from his coding - he deserved a treat after working constantly over the last few months. We don't get to see Martin very often as he lives so far away!  Then in the evening we all met up with Si (of Si and Heidi fame) to go and watch the new Star Trek film in Islington.

We met him at Euston and we decided that instead of going everywhere by tube, we'd walk everywhere! It was a bit of a windy rainy day - but every time there was a shower threatening we just ducked into a pub until it passed! Martin spent a few years living in London so knows lots of interesting places. The first one was a very tiny restaurant called the Pitt Cue Co. It doesn't take bookings so it was first come first served. As it was so popular we found ourselves outside just before 12 noon before it even opened. I took it as a good sign that we weren't the first.

Mmmm cider...

There are only 30 seats, so we had a drink by the bar while we waited to be taken down to the room downstairs, where the few tables were. They just have one beer on - called "Whatever" - so it covers whatever they happen to have that day. N and M declared it to be good. I had the cider and it came in its own little glass flagon and was delicious!

The menu is quite small and consists of unusual cuts of meat. There was the choice of pig's head sausage, pig's cheek burger and pulled pork. All served with bone marrow mash.

It as a bit of a trendy place with various hipsters in there (you can spot them by their red trousers!) But we thought we'd try new things. N and M went for the pig cheek and I had a Bun Meal - the pulled pork on a toasted bun, with vinegar slaw and pickles. It was actually delicious! I loved the bone marrow mash too - very tasty!



Carnaby Street!

While we ate Martin told us that he'd opened a Mexican Restaurant in Baku and wanted to find some Mexican-themed decorations to go in it. We had a wander down Carnaby Street, down to Soho, China Town and Covent Garden. We didn't succeed in finding any - but we did find a few interesting pubs on the way. Including The French House - where they did not allow the use of mobile phones - preferring customers to converse with each other! We saw one unfortunate chap being told off by the barmaid when he got his out. It was a refreshing change! We chatted to Martin and asked him about his honeymoon. They'd been on an Antarctic Cruise and particularly enjoyed seeing the Falkland Islands - very British down to the red phone boxes and the island of Georgia. They saw lots of wildlife too including literally millions of penguins. Sounded amazing!

Legendary Choccywoccydoodah.

Before we left this area we went into Choccywoccydoodah - the famous chocolate shop that has featured on TV. It was very tempting - huge sculptures made entirely of chocolate.

They specialise in cakes for all occasions, especially weddings. There were some beautiful cats and dogs made from white and milk chocolate - but I didn't buy one as they would have been too nice to eat!

I did get some dark chocolate and cinnamon biscuits to give to Heidi - to thank her for letting us stay at theirs overnight.












Nathan and Martin feeling mellow :-)

We also went to the Porterhouse - an Irish pub with a vast array of bottled beers. I foolishly went for a cider - before I noticed that they actually had the one beer I love - Floris Honey Beer. Darn!! N went for some traditional dark porter and Martin thought he'd sample a beer from Thailand. He likes to travel :-)

Millions of bottles from all over the world.

We also visited The Harp, which had a very nice lounge upstairs with extremely comfy chairs. Felt a bit like a gentleman's club :-) The York - where we had some steak and frites and then the Steam Passage Tavern before going to the huge VUE cinema with the big screen to see Star Trek Into Darkness in 3D. I used to watch Star Trek - the original series - but never watched any since. I love Captain Kirk and Spock and Bones and Scotty. I love what J J Abrams has done with these remakes. The film was excellent and Benedict Cumberbatch makes a great villain!

I won't say anymore in case you want to see it for yourself.


After the film we had a couple more drinks at The Angelic and went with Si back to Stoke Newington to see Heidi. Sadly she had a design deadline and couldn't see the film with us. It was nice to catch up with them though - and then stay over. I had to be at work by 12.30pm the next day though - so we got an early bus back to Euston the next morning - and I did make it to work in time!

Bank Holiday Fun

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Hi

Hope you've had a nice Bank Holiday. It has been wonderful weather! In fact today saw the first barbecue of the year at ours :-) It was a bit smoky - and we felt a little guilty as next door hadn't taken in their socks off the clothes line, but it was so nice to eat al fresco. Nathan has made me a new canopy for my swinging seat - so it was lovely to sit in the shade with a spritzer.

On Saturday Nathan and went on a CAMRA Brewery trip! It was forecast to be a lovely day so we set off on the bus to Hanley bus station. It as the first time we'd been in the new state-of-the-art bus station and it was a pleasant enough experience - although I did secretly think it was still cold and draughty! But the screens relayed up-to-the-second information and there's a lovely café where you can get all manner of food and drinks. I was quite impressed that you could buy personalised bottles of coke.  We got ourselves a bottle of water and an Independent and settled down to wait for our coach to arrive at the Coachmaker's Arms across the road.

Due to a slight mix-up (we didn't read the email properly) we happened to see quite a lot of the comings and goings at the bus station as we were there an hour too early. We couldn't really go for a wander as it had started to rain and we were dressed for sunshine. We saw two policemen escorting someone loud out of the bus station and when N went to the loo I was slightly alarmed when a man with two black eyes came and sat beside me - but all was well.

We set off for Shropshire at 10.30am and pretty soon the sun came from behind the clouds and I enjoyed seeing all the lambs  in the spring fields with their mothers. It was an hour and a half to the Bridges Pub/Horseshoe Inn at Ratlinghope, which was our first stop. We had all pre-ordered our food so we were served pretty much as soon as we got there. Who said CAMRA couldn't organise and event in a brewery?? :-)





We all had a nice chicken and mushroom pie with chips and fresh veg apart from Mr M who went all new-man and had a quiche and salad. It did look very tasty though!

Entrance to the Brewery

Here since 1642



Take some home?

Then it was back onto the coach for a few short miles until we arrived at the Three Tuns Brewery next to the Three Tuns Inn. This is where things took a turn to the better - as the beer was free here. There were 31 of us - but the brewery was so tiny only 15 at a  time could embark on the tour. The others were left with a few barrels of the various beers they brewed and invited to sample them all. We did a bit of sampling and then did the second tour.



You've been Yarnbombed!

 It was led by the man in charge - a David Bellamy lookalilke who was so enthusiastic  that you realised he is one of those lucky few who really love their job! The tour had to start right at the top of the tower in the malting attic - and then progress down, via very precarious ladders, a floor at a time as the gravity fed system progressed. There was the mash tun, the boiling coppers, the roasting ovens and the cooling  canisters - all a vital part of the brewing of the different organic beers. He explained how different roasts of malt and barley, different amounts of hops and even the addition of root ginger all help to produce the many different colours and flavours of the beers at the Three Tuns We tried the mild, nice and malty and the XXX which was much more hoppy and light. Sadly they didn't have any of the Steampunk - which is the one with the added ginger and their strongest beer.


Cheering up a boring sign!

Before moving on to our next scheduled stop we were told that there was a beer festival going on in the pub round the corner. So we took to the streets of the beautiful little town called Bishop's Castle and walked down the steep High Street to The Vaults. As we walked there I realised that the place has been yarnbombed! Everywhere we looked there were signposts and buildings covered in brightly coloured knitting and crochet! It looked great! It must have been there some time - as the laminated labels attached to each piece had faded and we couldn't read who had been responsible for it all.





Even the fairy got pompoms!

We loved the beer festival - it was behind The Vaults and they had a live rock band and food and lots of beers and - I was pleased to note - ciders! I enjoyed some Dog Dancer while we squeezed into the busy courtyard and took in the sights. The locals seemed to favour beards, bandanas and dreadlocks - but were pretty friendly!

Sadly we only had time for one drink before we had to visit the next port of call on our itinery - the Six Bells just down the road - still in Bishop's Castle. This had a microbrewery at the back. We had one drink here before being whisked off to Clun, another village with an ancient castle right on the edge of Offa's Dyke by the border to Wales.

It was another beautiful place although the pub here was a little disappointing. So was the quiz machine as it was rather reluctant to let us win! We boarded the bus just as dusk was falling for the journey home. We made it back for 9.30pm tired, but not too merry! It had been a very enjoyable day in good company :-)

The rest of the weekend I have been editing my book The Gardener's Daughter, I have decided to publish it via Amazon and the Kindle. It seems that authors who can't find agents or publisher to take them seriously are bypassing them and self-publishing this way. In fact something like 60% of books sold on Kindle are published this way - and traditional publishers and agents are getting pretty worried that they may become obsolete! So if I decide to go ahead - I'll let you know when it will be available - heehee!

More next time!!

xx

Alternative Office

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Hello

I am working from my alternative office - not the library or my home office - but the pub!
The Lymestone Vaults to be precise - our favourite pub in Newcastle.

I did spend all last night filing my tax returns online - as an employer (stress!!!) and setting up my Real Time PAYE reporting for the next year. It was a long night!!


New Office

Then today I have been getting all my documents ready for the Internal Auditor - updating risk assessments and asset registers and all manner of other documents and filling in the Annual Audit return with big numbers. It doesn't come naturally to a librarian - I can tell you!

So - with all that done I thought I deserved a break - so we have come out for lunch and have both got our laptops so we can work from here too! Well - I just intend to blog :-)




Also (feeling virtuous now) we walked all the way into town and will walk back later - so I am also practising for my Walk for Life next month! It is over 5k!

Nice half a cider!

Office Lunch :-)

I can't believe I've completed all my tax forms 19 days before the deadline!! Hope you are impressed by that Mr Mawbs!!

So I don't think much work will get done this afternoon! Maybe some Candy Crush Saga (I won't put a link in to that - I wouldn't want you to get addicted like I did!) -
but not work!!

In Quizzing news - we've had some unrecognised success and some total success!

Last Saturday we went to Basford Tennis Club - after being invited by someone - we are not members! It was the occasion of heir annual quiz so we thought it might be fun.

There were just 4 of us - Nathan, Laura, the aforementioned Mr Mawbs and myself. Other teams had more people in them - but we didn't feel too intimidated!

There were quite a few sporty questions - but plenty of other stuff too. We felt we'd done okay - and after marking the paper of the team next to us - thought we'd done better than they had. The Quiz Master told us not to add up the total scores as he would do it for us.  Imagine our horror and shame as he announced that Team Interference (for that is our name) had come LAST!! He said never mind - we'd done well as there were only four of us. He gave us the "wooden spoon" prize of a block of Aldi Rum and Raisin chocolate!

I was so convinced that we'd done better than the team next to us - so I asked him if I could have a look at our marks - so we could see where we'd gone wrong.
We looked at it - and N added up the score - and he had missed 8 points (from the science round!) off our score! I didn't want to make a fuss in front of everyone - but I did have a quiet word with him and said we weren't bothered about the prizes. He had a check and then said "Oh yeah - you would have come third" He was entirely unconcerned and certainly didn't tell the rest of the room.

We probably won't be going back there again. Maybe it's just a local club for local people and they don't like "outsiders" - heehee!

To make up for that though - we went to the Sunday Night Quiz at the Wulstan - just N, L and myself and we won outright! We shared £28 - which was nice and paid for a few Sailor Jerry and cokes :-)
We were particularly proud of getting a football question right - without our sport expert Mr M. If you are wondering what the question was - "Which English football team has the shortest name?"

Answer at the end of this blog!!

To be fair - it had been a question at The Greyhound Quiz a few weeks before - and we had managed to remember it! I reckon that if we go round all the local pub quizzes - pretty soon we'll know all the answers and will be able to clean up wherever we go! Then we can all give up our day jobs :-)

Talking of quizzes though - have you watched the new one on C4? "Five Minutes to a Fortune" I love the complicated lateral thinking questions! For example - they ask a question and you have to spell out the answer using elements from the periodic table! It is really difficult! You can win a lot of money though if you are good. Or lucky!! N and I are thinking of entering. I'll let you know if we get on!!

On the medical front - nothing much is happening. No hospital visit this month! I am feeling great and fighting fit. Looking forward to doing the Race for Life on 11th June. Thanks to those of you who have sponsored us so far. I even got Mr Coxon - our favourite library customer - to give us something too.

I'll put photos on here when we've done it. Our very loud pink t-shirts have arrived - and I'm sure Tracy is getting a pink feather boa!

xx

The answer is BURY :-)

Ditched the wigs!!

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Hello!

I have been brave these last couple of weeks and ditched the wigs completely! Well, it was getting warmer - and my own hair is growing back so thick now - it was poking out anyway.


July 2012 - thin hair

Just look at the difference between last July in Slovenia - when my hair was hardly there at all! (I chopped it all off when I got back from this holiday) and now. It has surprised me how dark it has grown back - and how curly. I have to straighten it to keep it under control!

There has been quite a reaction - in fact many of my customers have walked in and then right past me without saying hello - only to be surprised when they come to be served. "Oh it is you!" they exclaim "I thought they'd sent someone from Newcastle!"



March 2013 - thick hair!

I was quite cheered to find out how many of them had not realised that I had been wearing wigs. I thought they were pretty obvious - and felt rather self-conscious wearing them. But it seems that most people were oblivious to the fact. I needn't have worried!

It's nice to be back to me now - all natural. There are even some grey hairs in there too! Must have been the stress :-) I'll keep growing for a while and see how it looks. I'm not allowed to put chemicals on it for 12 months. I might like it by then!!

Have been busy at work over the last week or so. Of course the schools were on holiday so the library has been full of young people. On the whole they were pretty good - if rather noisy! Seems peaceful again now but it was good that they think of coming into the library. Even when the computers were busy they still found things to do - reading the Guinness Book of Records and the latest bio of Tom Daley seemed popular - as well as colouring in - meant for the younger ones - but seemingly popular with teens too!

Also the Parish Council work has been a bit manic too - with the end of year accounts to sort out. Soon I will be off to see the dreaded "Internal Auditor" with my  books and spread sheets. I remember doing it last year - and feeling so ill. I had to wear a big scarf because all my neck was peeling off from the radiotherapy. Don't worry - I won't be putting that photo up again!!
It's the worst thing I've ever seen :-) This year I feel a lot more on the case!



Nice of them to warn me :-)

Had a bit of a shock when we came back from shopping one day last week. There was a note through the door - a little like one you get from a courier when you are not in. Oh no - we though - we've missed a parcel. It was close to Laura's birthday and we were expecting a few things. But when we opened it up - it was a warrant for arrest! It was addressed to someone whose name we'd heard before - and we realised it was meant for someone who lived on a road with a very similar name to ours! We often get post, taxis, curries and pizzas arriving at our door - which are meant for them.



Space training :-)

Having read the message we thought we'd better ring them quickly - so they didn't try again by battering the doors down in the middle of the night! Who knew they actually warn you they have been to arrest you. Surely most people would skip the country??? Nathan rang the number on the card - and they quickly realised that they had been to the wrong house.  Even though we thought it was really funny - they didn't seem to. Perhaps they were a little embarrassed.

Heeheeheehee.

Anyway - I will stop for now. I leave you with a photo of me as an astronaut that I have now retrieved from Nathan's phone.

B xx






Race for Life

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Hi!
I am feeling pretty excited!
I have registered to do the Race for Life at Trentham Gardens on 11th June. Not only have my good friends Janet and Tracy agreed to do it with me - but we have also been joined by Dawn - Tracy's sister. It is going to be fun!
The serious part though is that we will be raising money for Cancer Research. I don't have to tell you how important this is to me. Although I am now cured of my secondary cancer thanks to the wonderful staff from the Cancer Centre at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. None of us have any idea where the Primary Cancer started - or went to. So it is a bit of a worry. Much more research is needed into CUP (Cancer of Unknown Primary) so that treatment can be more targeted and specific.

So we have a fundraising page - http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/the-book-group
where you can donate online - it is totally secure.

A quicker way to donate is to text 70070 with the code BOOK56 followed by any amount from £1 to £10 - it is easy and very fast!

If you prefer to deal with real money we'll have sponsorship forms too. I'm sure we'll pop one in the library - if you are nearby :-)

We are aiming to raise £50 each - a total of £200. If you could spare anything to help us reach our target we would be very, very grateful.

Cancer - we're coming to get you!!!!

In other news we went to see Derren Brown last night at The Regent in his new show Infamous - and he was incredible! He has a lot to say about quacks and so called alternative healers. However - due to the fact that he made us all promise that we wouldn't divulge what happens in the show I can't tell you anything about it. Something nasty will happen if I do - so I can't risk that! Heehee! Catch it if you can - maybe it'll be on TV eventually too. Maybe then he'll lift the curse :-)
(We couldn't take photos either)



Dabber!

We finished off celebrating N's birthday last weekend when his friends were all up for Easter. He wanted to do something a bit random - that he hadn't tried before. After much thought he settled on bingo!

So last Saturday afternoon we took ourselves off (with Mr M and Jo) to Mecca Bingo and joined the club! We were just in time for the afternoon session and we were given "Easy Cards" which meant that each page had 6 bingo cards which contained all the numbers. So as the caller called out the numbers - we knew that each number was thee somewhere once. It didn't help too much - as the caller went so fast!! No more "Two fat ladies - 88" its all "8 and 8 - 88, 3 and 4 - 34" etc. We did have a bit of trouble keeping up!


Birthday Fun

All the old ladies were way ahead. Eventually we realised that the numbers were in columns - and the actual number being called popped up on a display on the table!

We did get into it - and it was a good laugh - but not one of us got so much as a line!

We were very proud of our lovely pink dabbers though!

Pondering the menu at Jalsa

That evening we got everyone together for a few drinks and a curry at Jalsa. it was nice to see the others. Danilo came down from Edinburgh and Si and Heidi came up from London. Thanks for coming guys - it was great to see you and we had a really good time!

So tomorrow I am off to the hospital for a check-up. My first in two months! I guess by now that Dr Gahir has had her baby. I don't know who I will see - but I am hoping that we'll be able to catch up with Frank in the waiting room.

I'll let you know how it goes!
xx

Birthday!!

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Hi
Isn't it nice to have a few days off? I hope that you all have a lovely Easter!


We have had a busy few days with one sad occasion and one happy one.


The sad occasion was the funeral of Nathan's Uncle Roy - who had lived in Manchester. I was sad that I had never met him and wanted to go - luckily Tracy offered to work all day so that I could take some time off.

We went up to Manchester on Monday for the funeral at the Crematorium by the famous Southern Cemetery. We went into the cemetery when we first got there and it is huge. There are many famous Mancunians buried there including Sir Matt Busby and my mum's favourite painter, Lowry.



Tony, Auntie Jean and Leon

It was a touching ceremony and the vicar, Ken, read out a beautiful eulogy written by N's dad. Afterwards we went to a local pub and there was a buffet. It was really nice to meet some of Nathan's family that I had never seen before. Several cousins were there , I remember one called Tony who (I think) sells sausages on Bury market. He was a lot of fun - and even brought some sausages for Nathan's parents - since hey had asked! They all sounded very familiar - as they talked like my parents too! I also met Christopher, Angela and Tracy - and Leon who asked N if he'd enjoyed the Paralympics. it turned out that he had been working for the company that sent out all the tickets and he'd seen Nathan's name and address on tickets he was sorting out.

N's mum and Tony the Sausage King!

Small world!

It was good to catch up with them. It was interesting to know that Tony had been to visit another cousin who lives in Las Vegas!! I asked if he liked to have visitors :-) Seems he does! He is an electrician there - which in a place like Las Vegas - he must be in great demand!




It was Nathan's birthday recently - and I like to surprise him on his birthday by taking him somewhere he has never been before. I think the favourite one so far has been Bletchley Park a couple of years ago. (I like to make sure it is somewhat geeky :-) )

So this time we set off in the car and headed East, over towards Derby then got on the M1.

It wasn't until be got close to Leicester and N saw the signs with a rocket on them that he guessed that we were going to the National Space Centre!

I hadn't realised that we had a Space Centre in the country until I saw it on "Don't Tell the Bride" where a groom had arranged a wedding there for his unsuspecting bride! It had looked pretty impressive so I thought we should go!



National Space Centre

Awesome cake made by N's mum

It was pretty quiet when we got there and we started by going up the four floors, next to the huge rocket, that explained the Space Race between the USSR and the USA. it was brilliantly done  - I especially enjoyed going into the secret session with the Soviets who extolled their many victories over the Americans. Mainly because the voice offered us vodka when we entered and sat down at the table - although it didn't actually materialise! Tell you something though - that Yuri Gagarin was a brave man! When he put himself in that rocket to go into orbit round the earth his odds were not great. The previous two tests had worked - but before that it was 50/50 whether it actually would explode or not. He didn't even tell his wife and kids - just left home without mentioning he was off to space. No wonder he was a national hero on his safe return!



Suits you sir!

Of course that led the USA to plan the moon landings to go one better. Shame I wasn't done for the good of all mankind - not just to get one up on the rivals!

This led to the floor with many interactive displays about the moon landings and the brave astronauts who undertook them. It was fascinating! I wanted to launch Nathan into space - but there were too many school kids playing on that one. Maybe next time :-) He does look good as an astronaut though!

One of the most interesting things was the mini-cinema where we got to see the first ever science fiction film. It was made in 1902 and was a French film called "Le Voyage dans la Lune" It had English subtitles and was only 12 minutes - but as amazing! The bearded astronomers were fired to the moon in a shell that looked very much like a rocket and encountered hostile moon men. They managed to return to earth by getting back into their shell and falling off the edge of the moon. I loved it!  We also went into the Patrick Moore Planetarium to see a 360 degree film entitled "We are Aliens" narrated by Ron Weasley :-) It was all about the possibility of like on other planets. It was 3D in[places as we whizzed through the galaxies to the ends of the universe. They did warn you that you might feel a bit travel sick! It was quite thrilling. We came back later to hear a live presentation from one of the staff about what we would be able to see if we looked out at the night sky at 9pm that very night. He showed us all the constellations, planets and galaxies that may be visible - if there's no cloud.

We stayed until 5pm but we still hadn't seen everything. We had a delicious lunch in the restaurant which is directly underneath the huge rocket. In fact, every few minutes it starts to smoke then there are red flames coming out of the bottom and there is a tremendous noise and a countdown through the speakers as if it is about to launch and take us all with it. As soon as it starts up excited kids run right under it and squeal with delight! So, I guess the smoke and flames aren't too harmful :-) It is quite spectacular!

Space food!

Before we left we had to browse in the shop of course. I got some space food! Freeze dried ice cream. I'll let you know what it's like when I've tried it!

It took us about an hour and a half to get back to Staffordshire.