Sun Sets on End Pier.

24th December 2008. Having missed out on the 'before it burnt down' photo of Fleetwood Pier, I decided to make sure I wasn't caught out with the one at St.Annes. This is the seaward end of the pier with another bit in the distance (possibly part of a old mooring for pleasure steamers).Now all we need is for someone to light it up.....

Says it all, really.

4th December 2008. The snows have meant that I have had to walk into work these last few days. Taking a short cut through Padiham, I spotted the alteration to the town sign. However, it does seem very appropriate....

The Mother in Law said to me....

...I'm going to dance on your grave. Good! I said, I'm being buried at sea! 22nd November 2008. St.Annes Promenade Gardens. Statue of Les Dawson, comedian, tv celebrity and resident of the town, Famed for stand up comedy, characters Cissy, Ada, Mother in Law jokes and, of course, Cosmo Smallpiece. Crap playing of the piano was his speciality.

Dropped it!

16th November 2008. Blackburn Boulevard. Another in the ongoing series of public street statues. This little boy is trying to pick up his dropped teddy bear.

Berrocca is wonderful!

12th November 2008. Those rather nice Berrocca people sent me the above goodie box this morning. It's apparently designed to help me not be stressed when doing this blog and is full of calming things such as a stress ball, electronic bubble wrap and a little man to stab with a pen (even the pen is supplied!) - loads of fun! 

I haven't quite reached the need for the Panic Button yet but the fizzy vitamin tablets (with branded glass to fizz them in) are quite good and highly recommended! 

If you want some goodies too, then check out http://www.berocca.co.uk/bloggerrelief/ see if they will send you some stuff. 

If anyone from Berrocca reads this, then I'm off to Sainsburys to stock up on bundles of brilliant Berrocca fizziness!! (please send more stuff).

Didja like that?

29th October 2008. Notlob town centre. Statue of, probably, the most famous thing to come from Bolton (apart from the M61), Fred Dibnah.

Knocker down of old mill chimneys and television personality. Famed for insight into Victorian engineering and building achievements, and his subsequent demolition thereof.

No more pier anymore.

Almost completely disappeared, not much remains of Fleetwood Pier. The beach looks very different as you can now see all the way from the Lifeboat House. Whilst having some sentimental values for the locals, I think it has to be said that the pier was an eyesore and the beach is much improved without it.

Dora Doing Exploring.

26th September 2008. Helium balloon caught in the bushes, discovered on the way to play ball whiz with Claudius. She had gone off exploring somewhere else 24hrs later.

Welcome Home,

15th September 2008. Following on from the Scarborough Belles, the next in my series of civic statues! Fleetwood promenade; mother, daughter, and dog look out to sea to welcome the returning fishing fleet. They'll have a long wait, though; the trawler fleet died about 30 years ago.

From the front...

15th September 2008. Promenade side of Fleetwood Pier. Damage to bar, food outlet and amusements.

One week later...

15th September 2008. Demolition underway to clean up Fleetwood Pier following the fire. From certain angles on the promenade there appears minimal damage but from the beach it's obvious where the fire took hold.

Flagging it!

13th September 2008. Just outside The Aquaduct, Ewood. The lamp posts all now celebrate that this is 'the proud home of Blackburn Rovers FC'.

New season, new husband??

23rd August 2008. The first good game of the season is usually a good time to spot any changes that have been made over the Summer. Apart from the scoreboard being broken, the major change seems to concern the woman a few rows in front of us mim seems to have part exchanged her old husband for a more balder one. Either that or the old one has finally managed to escape...the game was THAT interesting! Match Result: ROVERS 1 (Roberts) Hull City 1 (SoF).

16 Albert Street, Fleetwood.

22nd August 2008. The house with the white door was once the home of Jane Couch AKA 'The Fleetwood Assassin' - former three times Women's Boxing Champion of the World (2 x Welterweight & 1 x Lightweight). She was born in one of the upstairs front bedrooms. Sadly, the council have not issued a blue plaque.

How unlucky is that? #2.

15th August 2008. West Cliff area of Whitby. Taken out by the Luftwaffe this time.

Caedmon's Cross.

15th August 2008. St. Mary's Church, overlooking Whitby. Commemorating the monk Caedmon who invented rock n' roll apparently. Resident of the nearby abbey, our hero used to regularly visit the local nuns and keep then entertained by singing prayers to them (yeah, right.....) using psalm music. Never having being done before, he is credited as being the father of English song. ....and we all thought that was Ozzy.

St.Mary's Church.

15th August 2008. Whitby. Alcove to the side of the church which tells it's own story, really. I think incest may be involved but, there you go....

West Beach Whitby.

14th August2008. The sun is shining,the surf's up and the horizon is all to cock. Nice sandcastle though...

The Wellington, Scarborough.

12th August 2008. Usually pubs are called The Wellington in honour of the 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, and his battle honours, most notably at Waterloo. This one, however, takes it's name from the twin engine bomber designed by Barnes Wallace complete with suitable sign showing them being 'bombed up' prior to giving the Reich a good pasting.

Not quite London....

13th August 2008. Stone lions at Hornsea. Originally intended for display on the plinths at the (then) newly built Trafalgar Square in London, they ended up back in Hornsea after rejection. I think there was a problem with scale when they were finished and delivered to the Capital.(A sort of Spinal Tap/Stonehenge moment).

RAF Carnaby

13th August 2008. Lancaster Road on the Carnaby Industrial Estate. A perfectly straight, two mile long road which is now home to commercial units. 65 years ago this was a wartime Emergency Landing Ground for crippled bombers limping back from raids over Germany. Literally the first bit of clear ground once the North Sea had been crossed. Other roads on the estate are named 'Halifax', 'Wellington' and 'Merlin Way'. 

Anne Bronte's Grave.

12th August 2008. Once of Haworth, Anne Bronte lived in Scarborough until she died aged 29. Her grave is the best tended in the graveyard of St.Mary's Church in the town. She used to have a house on the site of the Grand Hotel.

Hairy Bob's Cave.

11th August 2008. In the Castle Dykes area of the North Bay of Scarborough is Hairy Bob's Cave. Not sure exactly what it is, but it looks like a fallen piece from the Castle, maybe as a result of the naval shelling received during The Great War. Anyway local vagrant, Hairy Bob, used it as a store/place to hang out....hence the name. If you look closely you may be able to spot a Hairy Bob,

The Diving Belle.

10th August 2008. At the seaward end of the harbour jetty in Scarborough you can find The Diving Belle. Not only a play on words, but the first of a series of public art works planned for display around the town. Designed to reflect the role as the First Seaside Resort, all have a similar theme. This fiesty young lass is about to take a header into the North Sea. The lighthouse is behind her, whilst in the far left background you can just about make out Scarborough Castle.

The Bathing Belle.

10th August 2008. The second in the series of Scarborough Belles is outside the Brunswick Shopping Mall in the town centre. Dressed in old style bathing attire (the Victorians were good at building bridges but crap at bikinies) this Belle is entering the water in a more restrained way...little toe first.

In the corner of some Yorkshire field.....

9th August 2008. Garrowby Hill memorial near York. Finally tracked this down after years of searching. It marks the point of impact of a Halifax bomber which crashed on a training flight in heavy cloud during the last war. It basically flew into the top of the hill. All of the crew were killed along with the driver of a milk wagon which was travelling along the road at the time. How unlucky was that? No traffic for miles in any direction and the one vehicle there is gets taken out by a heavy bomber.

Dam Busted!

26th July 2008. The earth dam across the entrance to the new marina bas been removed to allow barges in and out. The canal water was muddy, as a result, for quite some distance in either direction but it is gradually clearing as the stuff settles. A few barges have already moved in and there are several more moored up along the canal towpath, presumeably waiting to take up their berths. The official opening is August and there is still some work to do on the facilities building but it looks as though it is now 'operational'.

Another ferry!

20th july 2008. The Stenna Pioneer moored after just arriving from Belfast. The old Isle of Man Steam Packet passenger terminal buildings, which had fallen into disrepair in recent years, have now been demolished and the area has been covered with tarmac. It's a visual improvement and, although it looks like a pay and display car park, it is actually an extension of the Ferry Company's holding compound for traffic for the Irish Sea route. 

Not what was planned, but still.....

20th July 2008. Fleetwood Tram Sunday. The North Euston Hotel was built to be the terminus of a direct rail link to London. A place where people spent a night before catching the ferry to/from Ireland. The railway never came but this engine finally did on the back of a low loader. Oh well....

Blackburn Fire Engine.

20th July 2008. Fleetwood Tram Sunday, in front of the North Euston Hotel, we spotted this old Blackburn Borough Fire Tender. We went for a quiet trip to the sea only to discover that the town was rammed with folk due to the event. Lots of classic vehicles, especially buses. The main street was closed off and packed with stalls and a fun fair. Helen picked up a couple of rare Ty Beanies from a 'all Beanies a quid' stall. Good day was had and we even saw the Lifeboat launched (with resultant rescue at sea) and an escape from arrest (with humorous Benny Hill style chase).

PS. Not sure who the fat little girl is on the left....I'm sure she wasn't there when I pressed the button. A bit scary, really.

The elusive Lion!

9th July 2008. Been looking for this for a while. The Larkhill/Bastwell area of Blackburn was once home to The Lion Buildings, and featured a carved lion on top of the retaining wall. The area has changed much and most of the wall has been replaced, but a small section remains with the lion still there.

Claudie in the field.

6th July 2008. Claudius in rare stationary mode. White blob to the upper left is a horse from the Barden Lane Stables, which is the field behind. 

Marina Facilities Building

6th July 2008. The water level in the marina basin is now at canal level and everything is looking good for the planned August opening. Finishing touches are being made to the car parks and landscaping. The main building is nearly complete externally, bar the roof.

Officially NOT a fat git!

A few weeks ago I was prompted to try out the 'health machine' in the Boots store with the loving encouragement of "...and don't break it you fat git!" ringing in my ears. 

It basically weighs you, works out from your height how fit you are and then gives you a printout that all the family can laugh at.

My first go resulted in an 'Oh My God!" moment and an instant decision to lose a few pounds.

The photo tracks my progress, although the machine in the Burnley store seems to have been calibrated for hobbits (which is about right for that town).

A check on the bathroom scales verifies that the weights are somewhere near (usually a couple of pounds lighter as I can strip off in the bathroom but they seem to get upset when I try that in in the store....), whilst nobody understands the Body Fat% figure, which is a shame as I seem to be good at that.

The diet I followed was fairly simple and easy and lost me 2 stones (and 4 inches from the waist) in around a month. 

Highly recommended for fatties who want to see their toes again!

It was basically one piece of meat or fish per day (8 ounces if you want to be exact, but I wasn't that specific), two eggs and as many fruit and vegetables as you can stand, but not potatoes.

Also on the 'not' list were sugar and milk in tea and coffee (not a problem for me anyway), no chocolate biscuits or sweets (or anything else nice, really). 

Bread, pasta and other carbs were also out.

Plenty of cranberry juice and water and also caffeine free Peppermint Tea to replace coffee. I don't think the tea bit was really necessary, but it seemed to add to the 'something different and healthy' feel of the diet!

Nothing at all to eat after 8pm.

This started out as two meals a day, but I have managed to work it down to just one midday meal.

For the first three weeks I seemed to be dropping a steady half stone per week, the final 'push' below 13st took a little longer for some reason but I now seem to have settled around the 12st 8lb level for the last couple of weeks whilst returning to more normal eating, but maintaining the one meal a day rule.

Of course weekends are now 'free' and we indulge a bit with the English breakfasts and chips at the seaside, but the weekly regime seems to nullify the effect of this and I am not losing as much now and am within the guidelines printed on the tickets so I am officially not a fat git!

Bald...maybe.

Marina from behind.

7th June 2008. View of marina from canal bridge. Water is slowly being pumped in. Car park for barge owners is to be in the foreground.

Filling up!!

5th June 2008. The marina is now being filled. It is a slow process...I thought they would just let all the water in at once and let it find it's own level. But apparently that would empty the canal in seconds. Which would have been entertaining to see! Instead it will take a week or two to complete with the cut being topped up regularly from Foulridge reservoir.

No more Yates's anymore!

25th May 2008. Making way for the new town center shopping mall extension. Larkhill flats to the middle and Thwaites brewery on the right with the curved roof of the Market House in front of the flats. Taken from top of Church Street looking towards Salford (ish) and showing 'street furniture' (concrete balls and iron sculptures which look like a creature from Half-Life).

Marina entrance

18th May 2008. The concrete sections for the entrance to the marina from the canal are now in place. The actual marina basin is still dry and the walkways are quite narrow and a good test for vertigo. The canal can be seen to the left and the edge of Pendle Hill just about creeps into the right hand side of the picture.

Marina Open Day!

18th May 2008. The new marina held an open day for the locals to go and have a look at what would result from all the digging and mess that had been going on. I think that they were hoping to be a bit further along with the construction, though, as there wasn't really much to see. 

As Paul so eloquently put it, "Call this an open day? There's Jack Shit here". 

Apart from a bloke handing out leaflets (who may, indeed, have been called Jack Shit.....I didn't ask him) and the chance of a brew in one of the workers portacabins, it was a poor do. We soon retreated to the nearby Barden Mill Shop and bought some fizzy cola bottles and jelly beans.

Photo shows some of the berths, electric hook up points and, in the distance, the stonework that will become the facilities building.

Fleetwood Lighthouses

12th May 2008. The two inland lighthouses at the end of the channel leading from the Irish Sea to the Wyre Estuary. The trick is to position your ship so the the taller lighthouse (in the distance which looks smaller in the photograph) is directly above the shorter lighthouse in the foreground. 

Then you are in the middle of the channel and won't hit the sand banks. Fleetwood is the only place in the British Isles with three lighthouses, the two in the photo and 'The Wyre Light' which is out at sea and looks like a wreck. 

To the right is the Nautical Training Department of the Blackpool and Fylde college. Behind that is The North Euston Hotel. Named in expectation of the business from London to Ireland that would use the port. The business never came.

Claudius

10th May 2008. Claudie in rare stationary mode on canal towpath.

Rovers Refresh!!

3rd May 2008. Blackburn End Lower Tier. Getting there early enough to nab the lucky (and free) parking place means food is courtesy of The Club's catering department. Foot long hot dog and bottle of Lucosade Sport for £4 equals dinner for some! Match Result: Rovers 3 (Santa Cruz 2, Roberts) Derby 1 (SoF).

P.Eastwood Ltd.

20th April 2008. Side of The Swan pub, Burnley. Renovated advertisement for long defunct, local transport firm. Previously the colour had been weathered from the sign which, I feel, gave it a more atmospheric look. Whilst now freshly painted and showing all the detail, it seems to lack a bit of authenticity. The alleyway leads to the gaol (to the left).

Click for Details!

20th April 2008. The Swan pub, St. James Street, Burnley.

Blue plaque gives the details of the gaol which is still behind the pub. Clicking the photo should make it bigger and, therefore, easier to read!

Burnley Gaol.

20th April 2008. Behind The Swan pub on St. James Street in Burnley town centre. Now used as a storage building for the pub, this is the old town gaol, complete with barred windows. In its day, there wouldn't have been any glass behind the bars to keep the elements from the scoundrels inside.

Datsun Cogs!

19th April 2008. Tails the cat and Claudius the dog share a moment (and a chair).

Mucky Bridge post match.

19th April 2008. Heading back to the car after the game. The bridge carries the Blackburn to Manchester railway line and is known locally as Mucky Bridge. Probably because it was less than clean. It's still was. Now pedestrians only, it used to be open to traffic and various idiots would decide to drive their cars through it in the immediate aftermath of a home game. Oh, the friendly banter between driver and fans as the door panels were kicked in..... 

Match Result: Rovers 1(Santa Cruz) ManUre 1(SoF - goal coming from a corner (taken by a differenf SoF) which should actually have been a goal kick (after being put out of play by a third SoF). 

Not like the mancs to benefit from dodgy decisions given by a bent ref. against The Rovers........).

Scouting About

11th April 2008. Outside Nelson Library. Formerly named Marsden, the town changed its name to Nelson as a result of the Lord Nelson pub in the middle of the town which was (and still is) the only notable thing about the place. 

People referred to The Lord Nelson when they spoke about Marsden and gradually the pub name took over.

Interestingly, if a similar 'popular reference' for the town was used nowadays, the new name would be 'Shitole'.

Anyways, outside the town library is a statue to commemorate the Boy Scouts from the area that fought and died in the Great War.  

Now I wasn't aware that boy Scouts were called up during the war, so this came as a surprise to me (but not as much of a surprise as it would have been to the lads that joined the Cubs in order to learn a few knots and start a camp fire, and ended up with the 'Clearing German Machine Gun Nest' badge).

Obviously this is where the idea for The Hitler Youth came from for the second leg, though.....

A Tower Eyeful.....

10th April 2008. Taken from the Central Pier, Blackpool. The Tower marks the much famed 'Golden Mile'. Not sure to what it refers as the beach has long been home to the sewage outflow pipe from the town and is anything but golden.

The shops and arcades along the sea front have also lost much of their glister and several have closed and been boarded up.

Not so much a 'Golden Mile' but more a 'Slightly Rusty 300 Yards'. 

Still, it's not a bad afternoon out every five or so years (provided you can avoid the drunken groups of Glaswegians, Stag, Hen parties and also sidestep the numerous pavement pizzas which lurk around the entrances to the lap dancing bars).

Eric Bartholomew

9th April 2008. Promenade, Morecambe. Bronze statue of the town's most famous celebrity: Eric Morecambe. (Thora Hird and Victoria Wood must be a bit miffed although, arguably, the latter isn't dead yet). 

Eric took a new surname from his place of birth and his comedy partner initially used his own hometown as an alias too. 

'Morecambe and Leeds' didn't work, but 'Morecambe and Wise' did.

Although not being too great a photo due to sun glare, it is quite a rare shot. This is because at almost every other time of day or night the statue is flanked by at least two people also doing the 'Give Me Sunshine' pose.