Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot

Heat and wave are quite possible my two favourite words at the moment (along with ice and cream....and Jensen and Ackles for that matter.....and strictly speaking 'heatwave'...one word, but.....meh ), since last Friday it's been a rather respectable 24-27 degrees round these 'ere parts and Bognor has been living up to its reputation of being the sunniest place in the UK...unblemished blue skies, coastal breeze and sunshine from dawn till dusk...no doubt this will soon be a distant memory since the forecast doesn't look too favourable for the coming few days...a drop by 10+ degrees will see me dig out my jeans once more...but the last few days have been relaxing, stress free and with a couple of ambles along the prom, quite enjoyable.

I decided, in my wisdom, it was about time I gave a tour of my little town....the aesthetically pleasing parts anyway and mainly just along the prom and back which is about a 6 mile round trip from my house...and worthy of the bowl of strawberries and ice cream I chowed down on yesterday evening.....So I present to you....Emma's virtual tour of (the pretty bits of) Bognor:

The reason Bognor has the suffix Regis attached is because it was a favourite of King George V for convalescing...notoriously (although largely legend) quoted as saying 'Bugger Bognor' upon his deathbed.....apparently, however, everyone's a critic.....

This is the Aldwick duck pond, positioned just a few yards across the road (where apparently all the ducks were hiding)

Oh, wait there they (all two of em) are

This little patch of greenery is called The Pound, a popular shortcut on the way to the beach and for dog walkers to foul up the path (their dogs that is not the walkers)


Marine Park Gardens run parallel to the beach just before the start of the prom....it's been around since about the 1930's and is a popular place for the cotton tops to take their afternoon snooze. It's also the place in which I met Mike Reid (a then moderately famous radio DJ) at a teddy bears picnic when I was a nipper.....I mainly remember having to be rescued by my dad from a crush of cotton tops who, obviously overdosing on their HRT, went completely loopy for the bespeckled, mulleted DJ.....*shudders*


The 18 hole pitch and putt where many summers of my youth were spent....although any type of golfing is not my forte.


Ahh, the beach...would be nicer if there were less shingle, kinder to the bare foot also cause holy crap does it pinch, alas, way back when, the groynes where placed wrongly and the sand was covered by the irritating little stones.


The Royal Norfolk Hotel...actually quite old....has been around for at least 150 years (so older than the popular entertainer Bruce Forsythe....just) and at one point was run by members of my family....should have paid attention more in class since my own mother recently wrote a book about the history of this place.


This here be the infamous Bognor pier.....any decent British seaside resort wouldn't be seen dead without a pier...in its day it was a hub of activity with amusement arcade, an entertainment pavilion, docking area for a paddle steamer and home to the world renowned Bognor Regis Birdman Rally (people in silly costumes hurling themselves into the freezing water in the name of charity....more likely insanity) .......these days however......


not so much...years of neglect and some heavy duty storms have serious dilapidated the town piers' ability to be....well.....a pier.


Even as a kid in the 80's the pier was much longer, though largely cordoned off due to it's collapsing into sea potential....


now at low tide you can walk right past the end of the dang thing....doesn't stop kids jumping off it at high tide...though the Birdman, for the first time in 29 years, was moved to a nearby town last year.


The view looking West
The view looking East
The crazy golf opposite the pier....one of the few family entertainment activities the town has to offer, along with.....


various ex-fairground tosh, a bouncy castle and....


The seafront train...ahh yes, because donkey's are so 1970's (concerns of PC-ness and the growing child obesity epidemic notwithstanding)....Eco the Engine is mainly used by the folk at Butlins who find the half mile walk along the prom into town too strenuous.

The bandstand...in which I don't think I've ever seen an actual band


This is progress....two brand spankin' new apartment blocks have been built...a snip at a £150,000+ (although I would love me one of the penthouse suites ta very much...expectin' that lotto win any day now)


As mentioned just now.....Butlins...formerly South Coast World...which was also known some years ago as....erm....Butlins....It's the main reason folk visit Bognor Regis. A chap by the name of Billy Butlin invented the holiday camp...the structured way to have a holiday (I refer you to the TV series Hi-De-Hi to get an idea) and figured Bognor and ideal location to stick one in 1960...and so it was, bringing with it chalets, Redcoats, swimming pools (indoor and outdoor), an oddly shaped pavilion, fun fair and thousands of tourists from up north with their spawn.....easily identified by men with beer guts in regional football shirts drinking Stella and gorging on Fish 'n' chips, women in ill fitting strappy tops with lobster red shoulders drinking Stella and gorging on fish 'n' chips and usually accompanied by half a dozen miniature versions of said adults, but with added snotty noses and ice cream smothered faces....going by the name on Tiffany, Britney, Courtney, Alfie, Harry and Jack


Below the oddly shaped pavilion where the Redcoats perform as well as the latest X-Factor rejects...oh yeah...Butlins is one classy place....There was once a Stargate convention here, but no advertising in the town itself meant I missed out, specifically on meeting Paul McGillion, Rachel Lutrell, Gary Jones and Dan Payne, amongst others...grrr, arrg


Anyhoo, next up Hotham Park...without which there would probably be no Bognor Regis...It's a humble park created way back in the 1780's by Sir Richard Hotham who hoped to create a space for folk to relax and visit whilst taking in the healthy sea air....It worked and thereafter Bognor became quite the tourist attraction.


Home to various scenic paths, a play area, miniature railway and boating lake (see above, though neither was in action yesterday), the park has seen some changes over the years...it was closed to the public for much of the 1940's, took a hit in the Great Storm of 1987 and at one point had a fun little theme park Rainbows End (of which I remember very little.....bar a Snow White and Seven Dwarfs singing model thing....like I said 'very little') and pets corner (my mothers generation) ...these stood disused and overgrown for many, many years until recently when a £2.2 million rejuvenation has once more opened up the park....though, it is still a work in progress, but a pleasant enough way to spend a summers afternoon.


This brings me to my toughest challenge of the day......


And fyi second row, far left...aka lemon/lime squeeze-up.....so there you go...my virtual tour of my humble abode of the past 29 years....and after all this pounding of the pavements the only thing left to do was head back to the beach for a very non-virtual paddle in the pleasantly warm sea.

Cool as Ice

It's national ice cream week...yup, I'd never come across this one before either, but I like to be able to do my bit where ever I can....anyhoo, those lurverly people at Del Monte have come up with a fabulous idea...remember this:


I know...take a moment if you need too...well you can now have one of your very own to lick...in ice lolly form:


Hmmm...not too sure about the likeness, but I'm willing to give it a go....in Cranberry, Blueberry or Pomegranate....yum!

24 Degrees C (somewhere in the 70's for those awkward people across the pond)

It's gone all Summer all of a sudden...British weather does have a habit of going from uber cold to uber hot overnight. I actually got my legs out for the first time this season, disbarraging looks from cocky teenagers be damned. I strolled along the prom, I know I'm an actual cliche, with my ham 'n' cheese sarnies and punnet of grapes for some people watching and relaxation while attempting to return some colour to my two crappy summers worth of skin tone...currently representative of eggshell white....hopefully said colour will be a little less lobster red and a little more sun kissed bronzed....although after today's excursion my nose is leaning slightly more towards crustacean coloured than I would have hoped for.

In all, apart from the moment I got sun cream in my eye (holy cow, does that sting!), it was a very pleasant day and I've just finished tucking into a huge bowl of choc and mint choc chip ice cream with a crushed digestives and lashings of dark chocolate sauce....nom nom nom

The forecasters predict more of the same tomorrow so I'm off to find some kind of basting liquid (cooking oil eg) for optimum sizzle potential.

Also, found this today.....lords sake, is it July yet:




Oooo, I hear you say...properly can't wait...mainly since it's been so friggin' long since Torchwood (and more to the point Mr. GDL) last appeared on our screens....In related news, well it isn't really but it's in the weird category so try to stay with me....the other night (and by night I mean 3.30 in the am) I was settling down for the night and noticed some daylight outside...we are approaching the longest day afterall....so I had a look out the window, clear skies were dotted with a few twinkly stars (those which you can actually see due to light pollution anyhoo) and suddenly a large bright white light streaking across the sky...I watched for a full 10-15 seconds as the.....'answers on a postcard'....disappeared behind some low cloud at which point the light intensified and went out....I'm thinking some kind of meteor breaking up....was uber cool though and witnessed by only me and the early birds.

Daily Show - Scamalot

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Scamalot
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

So, MP's are thieving, lying bastards who squander taxpayers money...who knew. Loving the Jon Stewart reportage, since I'm fairly certain I'm sick and tired of the relentless British coverage...apparently it's the only thing which has been happening in the world...that and Katie Price and Peter Andre's break-up...excuse me while I go sue the newspapers for wasting my time.

Cat-in-a-box....

Well suitcase actually, but quite cute in a 'cat's are slightly demented' kinda way

Sit Rep

So, here's the thing, what with the various ailments and general non-employment status, and therefore virtually zero funds, I appear to have mucho time on my hands and am struggling to come up with anything remotely constructive to do with my time.....for example I watched all 7 Police Academy movies over the weekend (the first one twice.....with and without the commentary on)....and I'm not even that bothered with 5-7, since Steve Guttenberg was absent, but 'had' to view them anyway in a slightly OCD way....sheesh, could my life be any more couch potato....basically I'm in a rut...a bed hogging, Internet surfing, tube watching, non-daylight seeing rut of which is non-condusive to having any kind of actual participation in 'normal' human behaviour.

I've tried looking for clubs, courses, hobbies, events....any kind of social gathering (preferably involving very little funds) to insert myself into, in an attempt to get some motivation going, alas my little town seems to be under 10 or over 60 orientated in terms of such things (bridge and girl guide clubs being a dime a dozen....along with quilting circles, luncheon clubs for those who have to remove their teeth to eat and baton twirling for ankle biters....seriously Bognor appears to be going for the Twilight Zone award of 1965), which has left me frustratingly in limbo and slowly going out....of....my....mind with boredom, and lack of motivation is one of my worst vices.

So, what do I like to do....apart from the aforementioned sedatory activities.....um, writing (thought the muse has a nasty habit of vamoosing whenever it damn well pleases), walking the countryside (kinda dependant on weather and transportation...buses suck round here), the supernatural, researching (pretty much anything) and....um I'm sure there's more, but my sedate mushed brain is not so much with the co-operation at present.

Anyhoo, I'm sure soon I'll be able to partake in something extraordinary which will vastly improve the content of this little part of cyberspace....until then any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, because as of this moment....I got nothin'

Da-da-daaaa....Captain Chaos

Sad to hear the passing of Dom Deluise, his films were a huge part of my childhood....and that laugh...

Tickle Meeeeee!

Came across this yesterday which I found fairly chucklesome:

Today This Blog is Brought to you by the Letter.....

It's safe to assume that the current situation of back muscle hissy and the inability to do much of anything is slowly driving me insane...well, in comparison to the regular insanity of the everyday life of me.....which is a scary thought now isn't it.

I've watched many, many films over the last few days...none of which were really that fantastic, though I did laugh until a little bit of wee came out while listening to the Chipmunks singing in Alivin and the Chipmunks....grown ups making their voices go all squeaky and then singing 50's pop hits is strangely finding my level of amusement. I've also, in the last 2-3 days, watched: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People ("Oi, Orlando, you used to be British"...ah, Simon Pegg, bless), Madagascar 2, Bedtime Stories, Marley and Me (bawled like a baby towards the end and then cringed like a presidential aide of George Dubya when he ad-libbed during a speech at the final coupla scenes...bloody Hollywood), Slumdog Millionaire (well since the whole freakin' world seemed to be harping on about it...quite right they are too)...and finally, in a moment of utter madness (I mentioned the 'slowly driving me insane' thing right?) High School Musical 3 *shudders*.....which is just truly awful....serious bunkum with no redeeming features what-so-ever, there should be some kind of injunction against Disney spewing forth such an irritatingly nauseous group of tweeny Stepford's upon minds, like, barely able to speak in, like, actual sentences.....just....Urgh....come back Annie, all is forgiven.

Having gone through Paracetamol and Ibuprofen gel I've now graduated to Voltarol Diclofenac Potassium...which, truth be told, sounds not unlike something more commonly found in the Star Wars verse, but with a little less Yoda and a little more pamphlet warnings of possible nasty sounding bodily side affects.....good times.

Springtime Sickness

They say that things happen in threes and that certainly seemed to be the case recently in the house...I had a particularly un-fun filled week feeling all disorientated and hewy thanks to a inner ear virus, just as I put in a full recovery from that mum fell ill with a nasty bugger of a bug which produced much projectile vomiting (thank god the parentals have their own bathroom) and a trip out from the doctor when the sickness hadn't abated nearly 24hrs after it started...seriously, 20 plus Technicolour yawns in a day..... it's a family record (of which, due to being a rather sickly child...I hold most). Just as mother was returning to normal, nearly a week later and fast approaching the chocolate gorging festivities...poor old father succumbed to a completely unrelated bodily hissy, equally as uncomfortable and also needing a house call from...er....House.

So, in the space of a little under a month I think it's safe to say we've all used up our sniffly duvet day allowance...that is until I got out of bed this morning and appeared to have pulled a muscle in my back (yes again, and in the same place too) whilst taking part in the, oh so, strenuous activity of flushing the toilet.....merely a twinge at first before I walked home from my computer course, hoping the exercise would help....now I can't even put on my own slippers....grrrr arg!

Though on the plus side it's not like I have any pressing appointments or activities in my diary, such as a marathon, mountain trek or abseiling the Spinnaker Tower.....nope, not me.... I can't even reach across to my bedside table where my leftover Cadbury Easter egg is currently mocking me.

The day wasn't a complete loss however...on the walk back from town along the seafront, in the glorious sunny sunshine (I know it's almost becoming a heatwave...if you consider 16 degrees C warm enough to fall under the term 'heatwave') I witnessed a small child learn the hard way that pressing the 'on' button to a beach front shower thingy whilst standing directly under the nozzle leads to a drippy outfit and exasperated mother situation, though ultimately for those passersby baring witness it proved highly amusing.

In other news....The first of the Doctor Who specials was over the Easter weekend....the cast and crew went all the way to Dubai to find a desert to stick a red double decker bus in for the storyline. Overall it was a fair episode with several unnecessary characters and others perhaps needing some more screen time...namely the fly-like aliens. Like Michelle Ryan as the aristocrat thief and her Mary Poppin's like Bag-o-Stuff, could see her complementing the Matt Smith version of the Doctor but for now she's a interesting one off companion.....overall though I'm thinking the trip to the desert, the behind the scenes episode was almost more interesting than the episode itself due to the problems which occurred, was perhaps an indulgence of Russell T's which in retrospect would probably be better spent of the finale......next episode will air some when between September-November time and John Simm will most definitely be turning up in the Christmas finale according to sources.....a Master/ Doctor face off....nice.....And finally a taster of the next special:

Anyone for a Roast?

Some pictures from my little jaunt up Cocking Down yesterday afternoon....which left me salivating over thoughts of a Sunday roast with all the trimmings...can't imagine why

Hmmmm, mint sauce

Happy Days

There was definitely a sense of summer-ness in the air today...not a cloud in the sky this afternoon and the sea was dead calm as I walked along the front. Seasonal shops and promenade stalls were open and doing brisk business selling ice creams and there was even a (very small) fair and other attractions setting up along the front.....bouncy castles, boat swings, the BIG slide and "the Astroliner" (which I have never seen before along Bognor Prom and looks a bit tacky but it apparently promises to simulate an authentic 'lift off' into space....hmmmm, let's not and say we did)...So, anyway I love days like this and the weather man is even promising a run of this type of atmospheric lush-ness....for at least the next four days anyway, so I perhaps see a South Downs walk in my future, if I can get dad, aka taxi, to give me a lift up there.....I wanna see the lambs!

In other news, something else got me all "hairs standing up on the back of the neck" excited today:



How good does that look...and it's on in 1 week and 2 days *does happy dance*

Because Bedraggled Pets Are Funny

As it says on the tin:

And Finally........

(Any one else get the feeling the owners of this last one were found a week later buried under a ton of kitty litter, with a fur ball lodged in their throat?)

Something for the Weekend

The inner moppet wobbly has abated, finally, but the weather outside has taken a decidedly dodgy turn being all grey, damp and somewhat blowy...joy...that'll be spring then. So, I've been a ponderin' as to what the heck to put in this 'ere space of interweb.....and so I bring you the TV Theme Tune Lyric Quiz....tis a flashy name which took me all afternoon to think up, can you not tell.

There's 25 shows to identify, some easy, some less than so and I've taken into account that many folk who peruse my pages are from that other land across the waters...so no excuses for getting stuck....There's no prize, but for the knowledge that you a are a smarty pants....who perhaps watches a tad too much television....but then what does that make me...ahem....moving on....the Quiz:

1. The indisputable leader of the gang

2. Some day the mountain may get them, but the law never will

3. It's true I hire my body out of pay

4. In my opinionation, the sun is gonna surely shine

5. Making your way in the world today, takes everything you got

6. Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool

7. Feet's too big, don't want ya cos your feet's too big

8. TV's, deep freeze and David Bowie LPs

9. Life is such a sweet insanity, the more you learn the less you know

10. It's like a kind of torture to have to watch the show

11. I could be wrong now, but I don't think so, it's a jungle out there

12. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me

13. Some people stand in the darkness, afraid to step into the light

14. The hooded man

15. Facing mirror images that were not his own

16. There's four directions on this map, but you're only going one way

17. Home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs and wanderers

18. On my way to where the air is sweet

19. Someone is smilin' right at me, wait that someones talkin' to me, hey, I gotta a new friend

20. Muddles and fishin' and wrestlin' and fishin', the day would come quickly when they would be men

21. Can't stay for long, just turn around and I'm gone again

22. And he's a gentleman, a scholar, he's an acrobat

23. Might solve a mystery, or re-write history

24. For beneath the surface, lies the future

25. No phone, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury

Oh go on then....for bonus smarty pants-ness:

26. Flippin' like a pancake, poppin' like a cork

So there you go, that should keep you busy for a little bit....I'll give you till Tuesday to figure them out and then I'll give the answers, and no cheating....I have eyes and spies everywhere!

procrastination fodder

While I still have an inability to walk far without causing some kind of mass destruction of inanimate objects due to my inner moppet dizziness I continue to languish within the confines of my bed (room) and therefore am getting up to not a lot....I did come across this which made me chuckle:


And Lori's blog provided a link to this killer of a few minutes of my day http://cpbintegrated.com/theherofactory/ and here's mine:

Sicknote

It's a gloriously sunny, almost, spring day outside...lawn mowers are working double time and entire families are out and about using transportation which isn't a car and apparently having oodles of fun. I however am bedridden, albeit a quite comfy and fully gadget equipped bedridden. As of last Thursday I was feeling absolutely fine...I passed the first module of my ECDL course with a respectable 97% and ate a double chocolate muffin in celebration, neither of which struck me down with any kind of affliction. Shortly after dinner I began to feel very oood (blame Doctor Who) indeed...imagine, if you will, being a passenger on a small fishing vessel rolling around a force 8 gale sea during a cream pie eating contest....and you get some indication as to my recent constitution.

Technically it's one of two things Labyrinthitis (which is not an allergic reaction to the sight of David Bowie in Spandex) or Vestibular Neuritis...the symptoms of which are very similar and both to do with the inner ear....if you ask me however it's a severe case of sea sickness...whilst being on dry land. And mine was/is apparently a severe case as for the last 48 hours I haven't been able to even sit up in bed without feeling as if I'd recently returned from a particularly heavy drinking session....so, no driving of heavy machinery for me for a bit...Oh and to make my world equally as enjoyable the I am apparently allergic to the anti-nausea medication the Doctor (no not that one) prescribed so I'm having to ride it out the hard way...bucket-o-fun.

Any activities for the bored, bedridden and chronically dizzy would be greatly appreciated as I can only watch The Goonies so many times in one day.

I Got Nothin'.....

Hopefully I will find something inspirational and/or profound to waffle on about soon, until then some funnies: