Birthday Funday!

Getting old kinda sucks

Every year about two weeks before my birthday I get the gloom.  Another year older... I know it's just a number but sometimes it just doesn't feel like that, especially when on your actual birthday you'll be in London at a conference talking EU and Higher Education policy.  Uggghhhhh.  I made a flying visit to the capital racing up after work on Wednesday, I saw my friends for the briefest of brief catch-ups then headed to my brothers new place on the Northern Line.

The next day (my actual birthday) I sat in a conference centre for five hours to discuss paperwork, EU policy, and listened to the world's most boring speaker from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills it was as exciting as it sounds.  Plus point?  A decent lunch, silver lining and all that.

Birthday Fun Day - rescheduled.

So for weeks Sarah has been listening to me whine on about my birthday and how it is almost always a complete wash out and she insisted we had a Birthday Fun Day on the Friday.  Now anyone who lives in Devon may not agree with what I have classified here as a 'fun day' as 'fun' but here we go...

Trago Mills was our first stop, a friend on Facebook posted a status describing Trago Mills as the Dismaland of Devon - true and false in equal measure.  It's is the shittest place, it's falling apart at the seams but OMG you can get the BEST tat there without having to rummage too hard either.  We stocked up on tacky as all hell Christmas decorations, baskets to take to the woods when we go foraging, craft supplies, kitchen supplies and cacti... so many cacti.  We also stroked (slightly harassed) the animals in Pets Corner naming one of the goats Babs, she (probably he actually) was adorable and now I want a pet goat.

Next stop?  Asda.  Yeah you heard me, we don't have an Asda where I live and Sarah wanted to pick up a copper french press (they were out of stock) and a cream vintage style kettle (they were out of stock) and if she could find some Marmite flavoured nuts all the better (they were out of stock).  It wasn't the best stop on our day of fun, but we did class things up by eating Ginsters sat in the car, in the car park whilst passing comment on those around us.

Then it was Hobbycraft to stock up on wool (I'm making a blanket at the moment), try on freaky animal masks, and pick up cross stitch supplies for Sarah's current craft project.  Basically our Birthday Fun Day involved a lot of shopping and it was awesome, there were other stops on our day of fun but I've been prattling on for some time now.

Upon reflection

So there we go, another year older, another year wiser.  It's been a tough year and I've learnt a lot of life lessons I'm hoping the next 12 months will be slightly kinder for me, my friends and my family.  Things I have gained are some awesome friendships that I completely and utterly treasure, some new hobbies that I'm good at, an 'above and beyond' award at work in recognition for the work I've been doing, and an appreciation for how normal, everyday life is a great thing especially when that has been disrupted for a time.

Day trippin'

The problem with being impatient

You've probably all heard about and seen a load of photos on social media about Banksy's Dismaland in Weston-super-Mare?  Yeah me too, so Sam, my friend Mel and I decided to take a road trip to Weston to take a look.  Both Mel and I had tried to get tickets online but they sell out super quick, one time I was entering my payment details and they sold out whilst I was doing that, I was pretty pissed.

You can get tickets on the door so we thought we'd give it a go, we rock up and there is a pretty substantial queue... it'll move quickly we thought, it will be fine.... Sam went off to explore and came back with the exciting news that we could expect to queue for at least three hours.  Yeah, yeah Mel and I thought, as if!  So we carried on whilst Sam went into town to get crisps and snacks, after an hour we'd moved less than 100 metres, well fook this, ain't nobody got time for that no matter how good it's supposed to be.

Kitsch wonderland

Giving up on the queue was actually a big relief, we skipped off into town ready to buy pasties, ice cream and fish and chips!  Sam had found a shop called 'proper job', best cheap shop ever!  I purchased neon orange washing up brushes, yes that's right you heard me, so much joy whilst washing up now.  Happy days.

But we all know that it's the Grand Pier arcade that's the real winner.  My favourite moment of the day?  Watching Mel shouting "fuck off, fuck off" to a bunch of Care Bears in a claw game cabinet, sadly none of us came away with a prize but perhaps an increased risk of diabetes from all the bad bad food.

This girl was pretty happy with the Big Ben penny pusher, I lost 50 pence worth of 2ps, not happy about that.

Chips by the seaside could we be any more British?  Sam was getting tired and tetchy by this point so we headed back to the car via a weird pick 'n' mix shop with skull lollies, liked the look of them but DID NOT want to eat them, bleurgh.

I'll be making an appointment with the dentist now thanks

Just being near all those sticks of rock made my teeth ache but there is no denying Weston-Super-Mare is a riot of colours, sounds and salty sea air.  I tried again on Saturday to get tickets to Dismaland but failed, ah well nevermind.