London

On the 27 we went to London for the day. I managed to stay up late the previous night, reading The Black Sun by James Twining (brilliant book!), so I was pretty knackered when we had to get up early and head on down for London. Had a great day though. We visited the British Museum again, and I have to say, it's one of the real must sees in England. The statues they have there are stunning, and I mean stunning. It's also incredible to think how they ended up in London, because most of them came ages ago and so probably came on wooden ships with sails. I know there's a bit of a thing about we shouldn't really have nabbed stuff from other countries, but I asked the guide about how these humongous statues ended up in the Museum, and she said that the British consul was asked by people at home who were concerned to see if the government would let them take the statues to Britain because the local people were mushing them up for mortar. So it's probably a good job they did take them. And it does mean that in going to the one museum (if you have the time), you can wander through its galleries and get a glimpse of life in just about every part of the world. Next on the list was lunch, which was okayish, but the chicken pie was too salty for my liking (and the portion was a bit small too :( ). Anyhow, after that we were going to the Tower Bridge museum, but when we got there we realised it would entail heights (which I'm really not good with) and didn't actually seem all that interesting, so we tootled along the side of the Thames on a bus, until I saw this pretty amazing cathedral (not St Paul's; it was a really really old one, as in founded pre-William the Conqueror) and we got off and had a look round and a drink. Then James insisted that we had to go on a Tube journey just for the sake of going on the Tube (the fact that we'd used it to get to the Museum apparently wasn't good enough for him). Mum and I got off a bit earlier to go back and have a look at some bookshops we'd spotted earlier--we'd already had a look in Hayles, which was quite amazing, so we then went in a couple of others too. And yes, I did buy some books--three to be precise. My own copy of the novel that kept me up the previous night, and two non-fiction. Then we had tea, at this fantastic Italian. We were looking for somewhere to go, and we'd seen a couple of places with pizzas sat around looking a bit limp, but then we walked past this place where the chef was stood pretty much in the window spinning pizzas around. So we went in there, and I had some fantastic pasta with mushrooms (and nibbled some of Mum's pizza too :D). Then we tootled home on the train. A long, long day, and pretty exhausting, but great fun too.

Monday 27th July

We went up to the RAF Museum in Cosford on this day. Mum stayed in the caravan, cos she was feeling a bit off colour, but James, Dad and I went up. It was a bit off a drive, but it's a fantastic museum. If you're ever anywhere near, you really should go take a look. It's not just all aeroplanes either. Well, there are a heck of a lot of aeroplanes, ranging in size from this tiny little man-carrying kite used by u-boats in the Second World War right up to a mammoth transport plane, the three V bombers (Victor, Vulcan and Valiant), a Pave Low helicopter which only came out of Afghanistan last year... The Cold War gallery is amazing. For a start, it's in a pretty noticeable building. For seconds, inside is an amazing selection of aircraft (that's where the V bombers live), integrated with displays explaining different aspects of the Cold War, from MAD (mutually assured destruction), CND, the Berlin Airlift (looking at it, that has got to be one of the most spectacular aerial operations ever. The sheer quantities they were taking in! And the number of aircraft--one would land ever 90 seconds at the height of the airlift!), the differences between East and West, and so on. There were a couple of tanks and cars mingled in with the aircraft too.

If the Cold War gallery isn't enough reason for you to visit, there's a brilliant hands on exhibit called Fun 'n' Flight, which shows the practicalities of all the various aspects of flying. I didn't go in this time, it was pretty busy, but my brother did and he definitely enjoyed themselves. There's also a brilliant collection of Second World War aircraft, all with nice labels telling you what they were etc, and information about the particular craft on display. They had an example of the only jet-propelled aircraft ever used operationally. It looked pretty cute, but apparently was tricky to fly and liable to explode due to the volatile nature of the fuel... They had a Spitfire of course--everywhere seems to have them for some reason ;), and a development of the Lancaster Bomber which is virtually identical apart from the fact it's bigger. Then there's an incredible display of model aircraft. Actually, there's two displays of them, in different places (I'm sure there was only one the last time we went, presumably the collection did what my own is doing and kinda grew). It's great because it lets you see the aircraft that you no longer get to see such as the old biplanes etc which being made from wood and canvas were not exactly easy to preserve, and you can see how they look like in comparison to other ones. Quite impressive.

Sundday 26th July

Well, this was the day we moved to Birmingham. When we got there, I just wanted to stay in and read, especially once it started raining. My parents and brother went off to the transport museum round the corner, then because it was raining when my mum came back (she got tired), she insisted I went round with raincoats for my dad and James. Found James, but couldn't find my dad--apparently he'd gone home pretty much the same time I arrived. I didn't find it all that interesting to be honest--old busses really aren't my thing. But if you fancy seeing a bunch of old busses and milk carts and whatever, it is quite an impressive collection. Anyway, I gave James his coat and wandered back to the van. James did not come back for ages, so Dad went round to rescue him. Apparently, he had the bright idea of sitting on a little kids chair. And my brother is not exactly a little kid--he's bigger than me (not too difficult I admit). So the chair kinda collapsed. He went up to my dad and said 'my bum hurts' or words to that effect. Couldn't help but laugh when I heard the story...

Saturday 25th July

We stopped in the caravan in the morning, mainly cos Mum had a cold and she wasn't feeling so good. So we figured to head up to Birmingham instead of down to Bristol like we'd originally planned the next day. So we sat about and read/watched tv/ did some of the distance learning course I'm doing on the Old Testament. We went into Cheltenham in the evening, because Mum wanted to go to a garden. And plus we'd seen this ace model shop, but I hadn't had a chance to go in, so naturally I had to persuade my parents that would be a good idea. I've finished my massive helicopter see, so I need a new challenge, and my birthday's coming up. After much looking around, I settled on a Dakota, which comes complete with stand and paints and glue and brushes (definite bonus as my brushes are rather tatty now). It's about a hundred pieces--for obvious reasons I don't have the box here to tell you exactly. Looks good fun at any rate.

We had a nosey round the parks and that which Mum wanted to do, stopped in one for a drink, and that was about it for our last day in Cheltenham. Oh, we packed stuff away a bit in the evening too, ready for departure the next day.

Thursday 23rd July

[I am now writing this from notes, albeit brief notes, and from memory, rather than typing up what was actually written. It was only a couple of days ago though, so hopefully I won't have forgotten anything important.]

Today, we went to Gloucester Docks. Mum and Dad fancied the Waterways Museum. James was being obstinate, and I quite fancied a soldier museum, but it didn't look so good when we got there, so we all went into the Waterways Museum. The first thing we did was go on a boat ride, which was very good fun. Forty minutes, and the captain gave a fantastic talk about the canal, the boat, and the general history of the area. The boat we were on was requisitioned during the Second World War, and was used first as a harbour patrol boat, then to help evacuate soldiers from Dunkirk. And then came the really interesting bit: during the Blitz, she was used as a floating ambulance. The theory was, the roads got too clogged up, but it's a bit harder to clog up the Thames, so that's how she served during the Blitz, complete with nurses on board. After the Blitz ended she went back to being a harbour patrol boat, and then it was back to her original owner and she was later sold to the museum. The other very interesting thing involves a popular children's nursery rhyme: Humpty Dumpty. (Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, All the King's Horses and all the King's Men, Couldn't put Humpty together again). Popularly depicted as an egg, this seems a rather nonsensical rhyme. But when you discover that Humpty Dumpty was, in fact, a siege gun constructed by Royalist troops trying to get into Gloucester, it throws a whole new light on the matter. The troops were laying siege to Gloucester, and they got fed up of waiting for them to run out of food. So they decided to a siege gun to help knock a whole in the wall, so a bunch of men (a forlorn hope, as the advance party was known), could run in and open it up for the rest of them. Because, allegedly, the siege gun they constructed looked like a particular politician, they named it Humpty Dumpty. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you like the Parliamentarians/Roundheads), when they fired the first shot, it blew up and was unfixable. Thus was born the rhyme about Humpty Dumpty.

After we'd looked round the museum, and my brother had cheered up because there was a water bit demonstrating locks that you could quite easily use to cause a bit of a tidal wave within the simulated canal, we went out into Gloucester. I had a look in an Antiques Centre, because I felt like it, and it's sometimes on Bargain Hunt (yes, I'm sad, I quite like to watch it while I'm eating dinner if I'm at home). Anyway, it was kinda fun and I was tempted by some stamps. Yes, I collect stamps. Or some rather fun looking postcards which illustrated aircraft from the First World War. But then Mum texted me and said they'd found that there was a The Works down the road, so I tootled off down there. I love that shop, but they've closed the one in Preston :(. And there I discovered to my delight four Osprey Aircraft of the Aces books for £2 each! So I had to buy them. And then we popped up to the Cathedral, which was pretty impressive, and ancient (built shortly after the Norman Conquest--William the Conquorer and his nobles had a bit of a thing for building Cathedrals and Monastries). However, I suspect it had rather suffered under the Parliamentarians, who as well as fighting the king were also vandals/iconoclasts, and decided that it was a terrible sin to display lots of pretty statues. I think there should have been statues in all these little holes, so it looked kinda forlorn. And that was about it I think, other than coffee/coke/ice cream in MacDonalds cos Mum was a bit knackered and the Cathedral cafe had been a bit noisy and overcrowded.

Wednesday 22 July

I wonder what I'll call these posts. Maybe I'll just go with the dates. Hmm, we shall see [as you can see, I'm going with the dates].
Anyway, we went into Cheltenham today. Had a bit of a wander anddid a spot of window shopping. We saw the Wishing Fish Clock, which was supposed to be quite something, but it wasn't that impressive really. Then we went back to the van for lunch and a rest cos Mum was knackered and Dad's foot was hurting. He's managed to get a little fracture in it, apparently usually caused by lots of walking and common among army types. Hmm... Not exactly a perfect description of my dad, although he has done a fair bit of walking recently with me. Before his foot started hurting at any rate (and of course, that was a couple of months ago and he's only just gone to see the doctor).
Anyhow, after that we tootled back into Cheltenham, and after much lostness we found the museum. Good fun, it was a nice place. Mum insisted we all do a quiz. Naturally I picked the aviaton one, but it was mega hard. And there was only really one plane on it.
Their furniture stuff (arts and crafts movement) was pretty impressive. There was some stuff about hte Boer and Crimean wars too, I got to see the rifle type they used in the Boer War. It just helps you visualise it a bit more. It's all well and good being told they used such-and-such a rifle, which changed to this one, but it's much better to see them 'in the flesh'. I mean, the text book didn't even tell you if they were breach or muzzle loading (aka whether you had to stand them upright and drop the bullet and a bit of powder in then shove it all down with a stick, or whether you could just put a cartridge in a bit at the side and pull the trigger).
I think that's about it for Wednesday :).

Tuesday 21st July

Well, here begins my paper based blogging enterprise. Technically, today is not the 21st of July. But we'll ignore that little fact. [It wasn't when I wrote this either, this is a pretty much word for word transcript of what I scribbled in a little red notebook].
Today (aka Tuesday--2 days ago), we set off on our summer hols. The weather was about what you'd expect for the start of the British school holidays. Grey, drizelly, and not all that pleasant for my poor dad who had to tow our super-size caravan along the M6 then M5. I sat in the back and read--finished off Agent Zigzag and then launched into Churchill's The World Crisis, which is not exactly what you'd term light reading. I did manage a fair bit, despite being distracted by spaghetti junction in Birmingham, and an inability to focus on the book for too long. It was rather small print, and rather a heavy volume.
So we got here. Here being Cheltenham, right by the racecourse. As in, about 10m from the actual course, with a nice view out onto it. Unfortunately, no races while we're here. Although there are Pony Club folk, so there are horses and ponies in some of the further fields. There's also a fair bit of squealing kids.
We tootled into Cheltenham for a drive round, doing our best to ignore JAmes who thought the site was 'how shall I put this? Awful.'. He was being a grumpy git, there's nothing particularly wrong with the site, though the bog block is not so warm and nice as it could be and is a fair trek (by choice so we had a good view). It's clean enough though, don't get me wrong.
Cheltenham was quite nice. We went into Iceland [frozen food store]. I tried to go in Bernado's Books, only it closed at five and guess what time I wndered in. About ten to five. so I tootled into Iceland and then we went back to the caravan.
A word of warning: don't get bananas from Iceland. We got some and they were BAD. Thankfully, I didn't bite into mine, because it smelt wrong. They were brittle in the middle too. We reckon they'd been frozen. Yuck.

Swaledale Marathon!!!

I can't believe I didn't post about this! Last Saturday, I was in the Yorkshire Dales, to do the Swaledale Marathon. Apparently it's one of the hardest walks there is, and I can well believe it. There are three official climbs, but there are more hills than that. I counted an extra two. I didn't manage to finish it, but I did do 17 miles out of 24, which included two of the official climbs. Really enjoyed it, even if it was utterly exhausting. The countryside round there is so beautiful. It was almost like stepping back in time, the only signs of human habitation were often dry stone walls, even when we were way up on a hill. And one of the most incredible bits was right at the beginning. We were about half an hour into the walk, going up this massive hill (which we'd been walking up from the start...), and I turned round to grab a bit of breath back, and I looked down and way way below I could see the car park where we'd left from, and the cars were so small they looked even smaller than my brothers toy cars, like they were about a centimetre long each. It was stunning to see just how small we really are when you put us into context against nature. Absolutely awesome.

Cambridge

I was on holiday in Cambridge for a week (well, couple of days there, couple of days in this other little place on the way there, and a day in London via the train). Really enjoyed it. That's why this blog is so hopelessly behind me... I have a list of books that I've not yet written about, which is nineteen books long, and I haven't said anything about what we did in Cambridge etc. Never mind. I shall catch up, eventually.

Cambridge was pretty awesome. It's an amazing city, and some of the colleges of the university--incredible! King's College is probably the most famous of the lot, and the architecture is mega impressive, but there are a lot of other really old buildings. Went into the Cambridge University Press bookshop, it's the oldest site in Britain which has continuously had a bookshop on it. Something like 400 odd years, which is pretty impressive, you have to admit. Looking round the colleges, I think I'm going to apply to Jesus College. It's a tiny bit out the city centre, maybe five minutes from the middle (Cambridge is a pretty small city, and no cathedral either just like Preston), got really big grounds, and a very impressive looking array of old buildings. Plus dinosaur statues outside...

The university library apparently has to add two miles of shelves every year to keep up with the influx of new books. That makes my ever expanding selection of books sound pretty modest. It's a copyright library, so they get a copy of everything published in the UK.

Anyway, that was Cambridge. Good fun visiting, and I really enjoyed the open top bus tour. And there are bicycles everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Probably because a) it's mega flat, and b) if you're an undergraduate at Cambridge University you're not allowed to have a car.

Holiday

Hmm, well, I've been so busy writing about books that I've read I haven't actually written about my real life. Oops. That was the whole point of me starting this blog, so I'd keep a diary. Instead, I've been rabitting on about what I've read and what I've been writing...

Anyway. We went away in the caravan to stay in this site near Bolton Abbey. Very pretty. Right out in the sticks, but they were pretty sticks. Didn't do a whole lot cos mum kept getting tired and we had to stop. Although I did find loads and loads and loads of bookshops. And also bought myself two videos, which is kinda weird for me cos I don't normally watch TV/films. Prefer reading. But I love Top Gun. Don't know why it's a fifteen, maybe the version I saw on TV was dumbed down a bit or something. Anyhow, I've based a story off it, which just shows how much I loved that film. The other one's an adaptation of The Hunt For Red October. Since it's a pretty decent book, I figure I'll give the film a chance too.

Easter was fun. Went to church in the morning, said happy Easter to everyone, ate eggs. Um, not a whole lot else. Not on Easter Sunday at any rate. My life sounds really boring. It's not, honest.

Hello! I'm back! And I'm alive!

Hello, hello, hello, I'm back! Had a great holiday, but the broadbandy stick thing wouldn't pick up the right broadbandy signal (don't ask me for the details, I don't really understand them myself...). Anyway, I read a lot (as you'll see as I frantically try to write reveiws of all the books I've read whilst still trying to read more and also type up the story stuff I did and do the homework I didn't take with me). Anyway, we went to Bury, stayed in the caravan. Went round the various towns. Attempted to do the regimental museum and art gallery with mum while James and dad did the tram system (my brother is train/tram obsessed). The museum was closed, but not looking at all like it, and was no longer gonna be there either, and the art gallery was pretty rubbish, scarcely deserved the name. Bought a lot of books and have had to reorganise my book shelves a little as a lot of them were non-fiction. Um... What else? Relaxed. That was about it.

Hello

Hi. I'm currently in Bury. Well, not when I'm writing this, but I will be when it appears. Because I'm using that clever little schedule post thing. So this will appear while I'm away in the caravan. I can make a couple of guesses about it now. James will snore. Dad will snore. Mum will probably snore. I won't sleep well. I'll lie about in the middle of the night and feel bored and annoyed. James will wake everyone up really early. But for all that, I'll probably be having fun.

St John in the Vale

So I'm sure you're all dying to know what I did while I was away. No? Well, I'll tell you anyway. Buster and Norma took me down on hte Saturday, and once we arrived and got settled into our rooms (I was in a six room), we went up to the top of the hill and played a netball/basketball/wrestling type game, which was great crazy fun. Then we had tea, and did the first part of the Search, and stayed up until about three in the morning in the end. On the Sunday, we had breakfast (I was on making duty) and then did a bit more of the Search and then went into Grasmere for a treasure hunt using cameras. Great fun, even if people may have thought us a wee bit crazy. Next thing we did was a pamper session, BBQ, talent evening and bonfire. Some people slept out on the hill all night, but I didn't want to climb back up again in the dark. Then Monday we went on a hike after cooked breakfast, which took ages to clear up from, and then we went on the hike and I got soaked because I kind of forgot to take waterproof trousers with me and it was throwing it down... But the next thing was go back and have a shower and do not much until we did the Search again in the evening. Tuesday we did a bit more of the Search, cleaned up, and came home. It was my birthday too, so we had birthday cake at lunch time, and I had a great time.

Leeds

So, we went to Leeds on holiday over the weekend. The hotel was really nice, four stars, right in the centre, with a swimming pool (which my brother used, but I didn't).
On the way there, on the Friday, we called in at the White Rose Shopping Centre, and I discovered that I really have grown out of Build-a-Bear with regard to choosing new clothes for my teddies that came from there (I have two: Blondey and Samkin), and I wouldn't really want to make a new one, I have enough teddies to fill a room...
We went to the hotel then, and then mum was shattered, even though she'd just been travelling in the wheelchair, so Dad, James and I went to explore Leeds city centre. We went to a Chinese for tea, and I had this seafood platter thing, which was huge, and full of different fishy things, and I hadn't a clue what most of it was. Tasted good though.
Then Saturday, Mum was really feeling grim, so Dad dropped James and I off at the Royal Armouries Museum and took her home. The museum was absolutely fantastic, I loved it. James wasn't as interested, but he liked the drama things they were doing throughout the day, as did I. They had a team of actors who brought the stuff to live, and they were really, really good. It was just a shame that the rain meant the jousting was cancelled. Dad came back and picked us up and we went back to the hotel, then to Pizza Express for dinner. Just about James' favourite restaurant ever. It's all right, better than Pizza Hut in my opinion, but it's not really, really fantastic. It's nice, don't get me wrong, I just preferred the other two meals we had.
Sunday, we went to Tropical World, which was really good. They had all sorts of creatures roaming free, and you could feed the fish. If you ever get a chance to do that, go for it. It's hilariously funny. Immaging feeding really big birds that can't move around properly, and then immagine feeding birds with smaller beaks than the piece of food as well... Twas amusing. Then, TGI Friday's for tea. Burgars and fries, yum! Maybe not healthy, but certainly tasty.
Breakfasts were good too. The hotel had a really nice buffet selection for breakfast, so we were eating two main meals a day, and pretty much skipping out lunch...
Anyway, that was my holiday to Leeds in brief.

Whoo! Off to Leeds!

So, we're actually going on holiday this year, to Leeds. Maybe it's not the greatest place in the world, but it sounds quite fun and we're staying in a posh hotel and using up loads of dad's hotel points. He's a platinum customer with the hotel chain. Having a travelling dad has its perks.

Holiday

Yeh, I figure I perhaps ought to write a little about my holiday. It was fun.
There was a neat bookshop in Carnforth, however you're supposed to spell that, I don't know, and they had Biggles books, so I got Biggles in Borneo. James went swimming near enough every single day. I didn't go swimming once. I don't like it, don't like wearing a swimming costume, don't like the smell in my hair, don't like swallowing the water and then feeling ill.
We went to Kendel, and I finally got a new pair of trainers that actually fit, because I didn't have any that properly fitted, one pair was too small, one pair considerably too big. Mum did a lot of staying in the lodge. Sunday James and Dad came back home, so Dad could take the trailer to church and James could go to his mate's party, and Mum and I played about nine games of Scrabble, most of which I won. Went to Lancaster too, just me and Dad. I usually get on quite well with him. James doesn't always. We came back early, on Tuesday, for some reason. Not really sure why. We ate in Truck Haven twice, the food was really good. Oh, we went to Grange-Over-Sands to feed ducks, and I got a fox beanie baby and Dad nearly had a mental breakdown, but it's really cute. He's called Sly, and he's sat on my desk next to me, smiling at me. The ducks at Grange are really cool, there're all different sites.
There were some funny birds that lived round the lodge. They're called Oystercatchers (think that was it), and they have these huge long yellow beaks, but otherwise they look a bit like seagulls or magpies.

The Lodge

The lodge was really big. It had four bedrooms, all of them for two people, so my brother and I both had our own rooms, which was good because he snores like crazy and it stops me sleeping. It was a caravan really though, a giant mobile home, way bigger than ours. It was great fun, really nice inside, really homely.

Lost in the Lake District

When we went to the lodge, there was this other place with lodges, and we went in there because it was on Avril's map, but it wasn't the right place with lodges. There seem to be loads of them. It took us ages to find it, so it was a little frought, especially because according to my dad we'd all brought way too much stuff. I think James had, he took three suitcases, and he forgot his jeans, but I really didn't take that much. Anyway, to make dad a bit happier I've had a bit of a clear out of my room now. We watched this thing on CBBC, about these kids with rooms full of junk, and it was over a hundred kilogrammes of stuff. Having said that, they included books in with the junk, and I've got masses and masses of books, which my dad says he doesn't mind, and books are heavy. I have three big bookcases, and a small one under my desk, and they're all full and I need another one soon...

Going away!

Going away to the Lake District tomorrow for a week. Can't wait. Unfortunately, it means I won't have a computer, so no blog for a week. I might write something out by hand for each day and stick them up here when I come back though.

Stupid boat company

Well, we were going to go away in the boat after all, but then my dad got a call yesterday and they said that the boat company has gone bankcrupt and so we can't go away in the boat after all. I was really looking forward to it, cos I want to live in a boat when I'm older. We might be going away in the caravan to the nice site at Bridge North instead, it's a pretty awsome place. There're peacocks wandering around all over the place and there's a lounge where my mum can sit if she isn't feeling that well, and then there's a lake and a nice walk round it. Bridge North, the town it's near, is really pretty too. There're two parts to the town, seperated by a cliff with a railway thing that goes up the side and connects them together.
I've got stomach ache and my mouth is hurting and I'm in the school library with the prospect of double French looming up on me. Oh well. I've survived before, I can survive again.
Mrs Flemming came and talked to me outside Physics to say that she'll put me in the same desk for all of my exams, near the back in case I need to go out and I'll perahsp be able to have a break if I need it during the exam and still get the full time writing. I'll try not to use it, because then it'll feel kind of like I'm cheating, but it'll be nice to have the extra security that I'll always go in and know exactly where I'm sitting and I won't be at the front with loads and loads of people behind me, watching.
I'm babysitting tonight which'll be good I guess. I've written part of a story to read to Molly and Joe, but it's not quite finished yet. I'll try and get some of my Distance Learning course done too. I'm not sure whether I'll carry on after this module, it's kind of hard work and stuff, but I guess during the summer when I won't have ought else to do I'll be able to get plenty done. Think I only have about two assignments left to do, or maybe just one even.
I'm really tired, but I don't sleep well at all. Gradually getting better though. Managed to only wake up once last night, round about four 'o' clock. Took a while to get back to sleep, but that's just because of the stupid brace causing me pain. Oh well. Can't be bothered writing any more, I'm all rambled out. See ya.