Monday 16 May 2011

Blue Moon!!!!!!!

On 16th May 1987 the SKY BLUES won the F.A.CUP having beaten Bolton Wanderers, Man Utd (!!!!!!) Stoke City, Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds Utd on the way. Keith Houchen scored a diving header in the match, a goal that has been described as one of the top ten goals ever to be scored at Wembley (whoop whoop)

(I just needed to get that in first!)

Being F.A.Cup day this Saturday, I thought it appropriate to wear my commemorative tee shirt!! PUSB PUSB!!!





Bro and neph got their hands on a couple of tickets!



Basically Bro would have gone to any length to get just one ticket..anywhere in the ground. The last time Man City won a trophy was in 1976 when they beat Newcastle Utd to win the League Cup, an outing our family went to (even though Dad, God bless him, bought seats in the Newcastle end!)

N.B.THE PRICE!!



(Great overhead kick by Dennis Tueart!)

Here's the Neph all ready for action!



They saw David Gold... this was before he sacked Avram Grant.























Did you get the jist?? Man City won (one-nil)...he was a happy chappy!

So a good couple of months for Bro because he won a bottle of rum for having his letter printed in April's edition of Wisden!

Sunday 15 May 2011

The Great Salford Swim 2011

It wasn't the best of days, weatherwise, to swim a mile in 14
degrees water but there was no stopping these swimming enthusiasts! Husb and I were full of admiration for them all. The Great Salford Swim was superbly organised, just very, very, very cold.



Matt Baker and the 5 times Olympic Champion "ledge" Ian Thorpe were commentating from the quayside, they didn't look too warm either but they were both exceedingly handsome. We expected the Thorpedo to be bigger, and our first reaction was to look at his feet which seemed quite a normal size too.

Thorpey has announced his retirement-from-retirement

after visiting the Aquatics Centre in London and is now training for the 2012 Olympics... but Matt couldn't persuade him to join in the race...





The Pixen had entered the sub 30 minute wave which was the fastest wave of the day, here they are warming up.




Ian Thorpe started them off with a ready steady go and they plunged into the water with admirable courage and enthusiasm. They had been warned quite emphatically beforehand that if anyone hadn't made it to the half way buoy by 15 minutes they would be pulled out. This was because the men's elite swimmers were starting their race at 2.20pm.

No pressure then? !



There was live coverage on BBC2 that afternoon, we saw some very high tech cameras and have since watched the programme, it was excellent.



Here is the Pixen (top right) swimming along Mariners Canal, easily distinguishable from all the other wet-suited, orange-hatted, heads-down mass of swimmers (!) by her Livestrong yellow armband and the pink flashes on her shoulders.




SHE DID AN AMAZING TIME OF 23 MINS 20 SECS, A MINUTE FASTER THAN LAST YEAR!

11TH FEMALE TO FINISH....WHOOPIDOO!!

40TH OVERALL...........WHOOP WHOOP!!




David Carry, Olympic swimmer, mens elite group.




Mens elite group.



Tom Allen , ex Upton High School, did a fantastic swim, coming 4th in the mens elite, lost his purple hat though, a "one to watch" for the future!!
(He recently won the European Juniors Open Water 5km Championships.)
(Stuart Clamp has high hopes for him in the 2012 Olympics)



Pixen deserved more than a medal after the drama of this weekend.

The clutch went on her journey home, resulting in an embarrassing 70 mile rescue and tow. Undeterred and determined to swim, she caught the next train home which nearly ended in disaster when she missed her connection. (Friday 13th?? YES IT WAS) Today the weather was cold and wet and we had to do battle with the Manchester funrunners too, some of the roads were closed.

But hey, she got her medal and was 11th female to finish.

FANTASTIC!!

and SHE LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT, ESPECIALLY MATT AND THE THORPEDO.

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

I think we all would have liked another day in THE BAHAMAS but we had a flight to catch, flying home from Fort Lauderdale in Florida and as it was an evening flight we had time for a look around before going to the airport.

Fort Lauderdale is 23 miles north of Miami, on the Atlantic coast and is home to over 5 million people. We were taken by coach for a drive along the coast which to me lacked character because it was just like a motorway of sand... miles and miles of it!





Fort Lauderdale is sometimes known as the VENICE of AMERICA because of its massive and intricate canal system. It is also a major yachting centre with over 40,000 resident yachts and 100 marinas....its an amazing place (but I'm sorry, its not like the real Venice)(!)





WOW! Some of the boats were obscenely massive...






We had lunch at a very swanky hotel (shame about the garlic vegetables, I'm still getting over the smell, Urrrgh) which had very posh lifts..



a lovely pool...



..and a fountain with huge koi carp...



This may look like a petrol station but it is a bank... a drive through ATM




The afternoon was spent in a mall ("maul") (c'mon, folks, get the American drawl)...a clean and modern shopping centre with Dillards and Macy's and other horrendously priced retailers.

It was so not the Choaks!!

(Poor Husb, he only wanted a Carrier bag from Macy's!!) ( Failed!) It was a fabulous place and I can't imagine what the rent on some of these shops must be.








I picked up a couple of fitness mags for the flight home (well you know how fanatical the Americans are about fitness)but really I wanted a photo of this gorgeous floor!



View from the plane, coming in to land at Heathrow...WE DID IT WE DID TT!!!



We had 2 hours in London before catching the train home which was just enough time to see Gary Lineker and Dustin Hoffman in Selfridges, and I'm SURE it was Theo Walcott too,

this is what to do with your trainers...(Nike shop)



Whoop whoop!




It was a brilliant holiday which did us both the world of good, I just wish I could tell Dad all about it.

We have now "raised the bar" so ....."where next, Husb?"

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Princess Cays, BAHAMAS

The Bahamas! The Bahamas! I kept saying that!!
I still can't believe we visited THE BAHAMAS!

Princess Cays is a luxury day resort on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas for exclusive use by cruise ship passengers and is privately owned by the Princess Cruise Lines. The fast facts in the link below made me smile...

Population...0 (or up to 3,000 when a cruise ship stops by)
Best time to visit....January to December.

PRINCESS CAYS

Princess Cays

As the island is surrounded by coral the Sea Princess dropped anchor 2 miles out and we were taken ashore by lifeboats where we were welcomed by the playing of Caribbean music.









I couldn't wait to get in the sea!
















Snorkeling was fabulous, the water was crystal clear and really warm.





(Next stop-Fort Lauderdale, Miami) (N.B. Hartlepool!! Christopher Columbus)



We caught the sun that day! It was brilliant!



PRINCESS CAYS

Princess Cays