Churches, More Eurovision and Winter Gardens

Almost a week since I had any thoughts.... almost true! Been at work all week so brain not functioning! A fantastic sunny Saturday off meant we ventured into the wilds of Lancashire only to find one of the most amazing churches hidden off a main road route. Churchtown near Kirkland, Garstang has the most amazing Catholic church dating back to Norman times. It has a charming vestry built c1570 which is showing signs of age (it is listing but this adds to its charm). We later went on to Fleetwood and Knott End, coming back via Cockerham and the coldest church yard in Britain! St Michael's has an amazing view over Morecambe Bay (including the lovely landmark of Heysham Power station).

The weather has turned into real wintery drearyness so we came home... sounds like a story you write as a kid.

Got home to find some Eurovision DVDs :-) also got a lovely find off Ebay this week, a handbill from Morecambe Winter Gardens from 1949, with the wonderful inclusion of the phone number.... Morecambe 8.

Hopefully we won't be snowed in on Sunday so we can get out and about again.

Eurovision, Holidays and Winter weather

Sunday, one of the two days to get out and about and it's snowing/raining/windy/sunny.. keeps changing, except how chuffing cold it is. We decided to stay in and plan our holiday :-) Can't wait, Kent here we come. All planned out, well we've planned the places we would like to visit.

I've also found some great Eurovision DVDs online so have been having a spending frenzy. The rest of the afternoon will be spent watching the fantastic 'Towering Inferno' :-) What joy.

Bowling, Fridays off, Priories and Prawn sandwiches

Thursday night was a night out from work, bowling at Morecambe then a meal at the Platform (Former railway station on Morecambe front) afterwards. Great night, great company and I even got a strike... fair enough after the end of the game so it didn't count but I DID get one :-)

Friday was my day off for working Saturday - it's great! Love having a week day off, Part time with full pay would be even better... Ok pipe dream. It did at least give us the chance to have a sedate wander round Cartmel Priory

Cartmel Priory, Cartmel, South Cumbria (Feb 10th 2005)

What a fantastic piece of Mediaeval churches left in the country, Henry VIII didn't get his hands on it because it was the only place of worship. Shame the weather didn't let us take some nice photos... but of course, I did get lots.

Next Friday off will be a wander somewhere else.... not sure yet where but the Hoad Monument near Ulverston would be a good choice.

Before we came home, we had a brief trawl round Tesco in Barrow to get some food (Ended up with a Prawn mayonnaise (low fat vers of course) and a wander around a video shop.... with bugger all in it.

Nice day off though, well relaxed. :-)

Gina G, Couriers and holidays

So, Gina G is in line to represent the Uk at Eurovision for the second time.. if she gets through of course, in honour of the best line up in the UK final for almost 10 years I have updated the Eurovision pages.
http://www.gshield.freeserve.co.uk/esc/esc.htm

Couriers.... well, so much for next day delivery! 'It' is supposed to be here by 5pm.... it's now 5:34 and no sign/card/phone call to say what's going on.. .I can feel a moan coming on. Not as much as the other day when I tried to cancel my Vodaphone account... talk about interrogation!

Only 5 more weeks til our break :-) can't wait... watch this space.

Need to check Ebay :-)

oh yeah Mobile phone....

The new mobile turned up on Thursday morn, as promised, so well done Dial a Phone.
A brilliant Siemens SL55 which is working superbly... apart from a lack of reception in the county... Cumbria is lovely but not great for mobile phones in an emergency, don't fancy running up Helvellyn just to use the b*****y thing!

Crazy Frog, Eurovision and Special K diets

What about that Crazy Frog? Love it? Hate it? It's brilliant stuff, so simple but soooo funny... or is that me?!?!? My niece and nephew love it, good taste kids ;-) There is a link to a site to view the video on my welcome pages of the website.

www.garyshield.com

And so I jump from singing frogs to Eurovision.... no offence to any French readers. So Gina G is trying again for the UK, Jordan is giving it a go and so is the fantastic Javine. With the right song Gina could well win it, as long as she sings it well but Javine could be the best thing to happen for ESC UK history for many years... lets see what happens on March 5th...

Back to work on Monday morning.... no castle/historic visits this weekend, it was a weekend of family visiting and food. For the first time in 8 months I can fit in me jeans :-) That Special K diet works wonders... Diet updates to come - 4 stone lost between us so far.....

New Mobile and ESC!

Most exciting news of the week!!! Getting a new mobile phone on Thursday! Cant wait, the old brick will be relegated to the rubbish... or my nephew might like it... it's done well.
I walked into a table while it was in my pocket after owning it for 2 days has limited it's appeal, its had a crack on the screen eversince.

Other exciting news is the update of the Eurovision Song Contest pages on my site. Love the contest, can't wait til May for the 50th contest. One day we will get to a final - want to soak up the atmosphere.

http://www.gshield.freeserve.co.uk/esc/esc.htm

Douze points.... that reminds me, I'm waiting for a music DVD from Israel :-)