Let's revisit the previous days' events first :
- Cousin's 21st party
- England game
- Lauren leaving for home/taking pictures
- Finding out TCWSTT deleted the pictures
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From Monday 28th until Wednesday 30th my part of the family (5 of us) stayed at our aunt and uncle's house and it was pretty enjoyable.
The weather was great, lots of beer to be had, played some golf with my dad and brother which is worth mentioning.
Where we played golf was beside a bar my dad used to work in (the course and the bar were at one time a joint business but is no longer)
My dad, brother and I were looking forward to having a round of golf and then going to get some drinks from the bar but disaster struck, mainly for my dad, as we found the building was due to be demolished.
I knew my dad was quite upset by this, it also showed in his game coz he didnt play too well on the course.
You see, this building is really important to my dad coz he was living above it when he met my mum for the first time, would be nearly 20 years ago now, i think.
He didn't show much emotion but you could tell he was pretty unhappy to say the least at the site of the building. He took a few pictures of it and drove off saying nothing more than "It's a sad day when that bar goes bust"
Later he drank lots of whiskey...
He let me have some tho :P
Anyway, not much else happened while in London. We did book our last-minute holiday from there however, 1 day before we actually set off (my mum, sister and I) and we departed pretty early on the Thursday morning (1st July)
The journey was pretty unevenful too except my ears hurt like hell coz of the pressure, normally when coming into land. Any of you guys get that? Oh, its awful :/
So not long after we landed, we arrived at our hotel and the apartment was ok but coz we got this last minute deal rather cheap, who were we to complain about the standards?
Well we had a little moan but it really wasnt anything special. The toilets i didnt really like, the room only had one light so it was quite dark. The beds weren't too comfy either, and the complex's computers were, to say the least... shit lol. I just tried away from them and avoid hassle tbh.
Here are some pics of the apartment :
There were four pools in the whole complex we were staying in and our closest one was the quietest and probably best of them all :
(bit cloudy there)
The local shops also sold this beverage which you may recognise :
Doesn't tatse as good as you might think, Homer has crap tatse in beer :P
Due to being worn out after all our travelling we just had a lazy few hours, explored the complex, found there was FREE BEER on tap at the complex's bar and played some cards.
Games of cards became a nightime ritual, with the family game of Monkey being played at least 3 times a day, i would guess :P
These games also were played with a beer in hand as a little nightcap :P
We always called it a night after playing cards.
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The next post really goes into how Lanzarote itself actually was so watch this space :)
Sorry again for the delay on this post, next one should aarrive quicker.
Oh and, im not bothered too much about the comments, its just for posting about something like this (over a few separate posts) you really need to read all of it to get into it, if you know what i mean. I can't really tell who is reading if not many comment. But anyway, just as long as i know people are reading ^__^
Blah, couldnt quite phrase tht the way i wanted to and i can't really be bothered trying again :P
Hugs,
Rowan
P.S There's still a few hours to vote on the Queen poll. Go for it even if you don't like or know Queen very well lol
Hi Rowan,
ReplyDeleteYes, I’ve had that altitude pressure problem before. It’s aggravated if you have a cold or if you are having allergy symptoms. There are ways to help with the symptoms: wide yawning going up and holding your nose and using your lungs to put pressure on the inside going down. The problem comes from the pressure not equalizing on both sides of your eardrums via your Eustachian tubes.
The apartment and the pool actually look quite nice to me. Thanks for the photos.
Nothing much better than free beer!
Thanks for this nice post. I am enjoying hearing about your trip adventures.
Best wishes,
Brian
Rowan I'm reading and enjoying and I just got to vote on your poll again - lappy is sick and at the doctors so I've had to use my old computer again - it says I haven't voted and let me vote again, so who am I to argue.
ReplyDeleteTake care Stef
Rowan,
ReplyDeleteI'm reading it.
Oh, you'd like more?
I know your Dad's sadness - it's a reminder that he's getting older, that time is marching on. Not nice.
Yeh, I get pressure problems too when flying - and diving. I use Brian's tricks to overcome them. Years ago they used to hand out barley sugars just before take-off, sucking on them helps relieve the pressure.
I've stayed in plenty of hotels and resorts in my time. In that time I have found just one that suited all my needs. It was a B&B. It did have enough towel rails to hang everyone's towels on. We could hide all our suitcases. How long have they been designing these places?
The apartment looks really cool - and aircon if that's not cool enough. I presume there were 2 bedrooms somewhere, or else it would have become v. cosy.
You must be a master at Monkey by now, even with the handicap of free beer!
Queen poll: you left off Made in Heaven, their last album. You'd never guess that Freddy was almost incapacitated by AIDS. So I voted for Other.
Looking forward to Lanzarote
r.jimlad
That's a weird hotel room. I never stayed in one like that. The ones we stay in are bigger. You will see next summer. The pool look like a lot junk laying around it or was that just stuff they have there?
ReplyDeleteI already voted for the Queen Album I liked, so it is kind of cheating to do it again. I am sorry the place your dad meet your mom is being torn down. I did ask my mom and dad where they meet and they said Harvard so I think that will be there a while longer.
Airplanes there is a secret take chewing gum with you. Chew it going up and coming down and it stops that from happening. It happened to me one time when I didn't have gum going up and it really hurt till they popped. I got some from mom going down. She thought I had some going up.
I don't know what Monkey is. Leave the beer alone you don't need it. But I seem to be getting in trouble for saying that so do what you want. Hugs JJ
Hello Rowan
ReplyDeleteI can sympathise with your dad - I found a web site a while ago with lots of pictures of my home town as it was when I was primary school age, and it just underlined how much has changed over the last 40 years or so. Not all of the changes are negative, of course, but seeing things as they were, and then comparing with the present day is often a salutary experience.
I always look on the discomforts of flying as a small price to pay for the benefits of the destination, and the Canaries is a destination with major benefits for me, although Gran Canaria rather than Lanzarote has always been my particular addiction. The local Canarian beer is a bit on the iffy side, but when I'm out in the sun, I have to admit anything cold and alcoholic will do!
Love & best wishes
Sammy B
I already voted on your poll, hehe. I agree with JJ, though, leave the beer alone :-P Yawning and chewing gum work for me when I fly, gum better than anything else.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
-D
[Part One of Two]
ReplyDeleteHey Rowan,
I may not always comment, but you can depend on the fact that I always read your posts. Sometimes it is a day or 2 after you wrote them if I'm really busy. Of course I get more of the comments that way, and if I read it b4 very many comments, often I will go back later and catch up on what everyone said.
I have no idea about the Queen album, there are a few songs by them I do like, but the main one is Bohemian Rhapsody. So whichever album that one came out on would be my favorite. Even for groups or singers that are my favorites I tend to only get their "Greatest Hits" albums. But there are often 1 or 2 songs that I really love by them that don't make it on that album, so I look around for a similar but different album of their top hits, and if I still can't find it only then do I buy the original album. What aggravates me is when I get what I think is a great collection of some singers popular hits, only to find they are only remakes or some secondary recording they made around the same time. Only rarely is that one better. I like to hear the version I'm used to from the radio.
The place you stayed looked better than you described it, tho sometimes one has 2b there to either really appreciate or properly unappreciate a place.
I think I had read somewhere that someone had come out with Duff beer, but I don't think I'd seen it anywhere. Fancy it being over there in Europe, but not prevalent over here. Sounds like Billy beer. Billy Carter was Pres. Jimmy Carters bumptious brother (about like Homer) and was always embarrassing the White House. I was way younger than JJ but I still remember something about him. Once, in full view of the press, he got off a plane and peed on the landing gear. He made some kind of controversial deal that resulted in Billy Beer being made available to the world. From what I read, it was about like Duff--not the best.
JJ, if you read this, you are right about the beer. As a teenager, I figured what I didn't start I would never have to stop, and would never have the problems associated with it in the meantime. Besides I figured I was nutty enough sober, and also went too far and embarrassed myself too often as it was. I didn't want to contemplate what I might be like drunk, or have to try to figure out what I had done and try to fix it later. So I never drank, and still haven't till this day. You don't miss anything except possible trouble at the time, and headaches the next day. However if/when they come out with little nanites in 30 years or so, that self-replicate and go thru your bloodstream and fix damage to cells, specifically to brain cells and liver, as the damage occurs, then I will do it, but not till then.
To be continued...
As for motels again, I must say I tend to like inexpensive ones. Here in the states, except in the large touristy areas, you can often find little mom and pop places that are clean but dated (and charming sometimes in a rundown way) for $29.99 to $40 a night. There is one I've stayed at a few times when I got stuck in Laredo, TX. It's a small, clean little place, ran by Mexicans, for $29.99 a night, within walking distance of fast food. These little places that time (and the Interstate Highways) passed by are still there, and struggling on, in and outside small towns all across the U.S. They're kind of like the youth hostels of Europe, inexpensive and nowhere near the big tourist attractions. But, tho you can't really bycycle across the U.S. (unfortunately), if "someone" (and their boyfriend-ahem) ever wanted to buy a couple of cheap motorcycles a couple of years or so from now, and stay for mostly free at state parks, and cook their own food over a campfire at nite, and get showers in truckstops (for $10 shared) and stay in a cheap motel once in awhile, it would be a nice cheap way to see "the real" U.S. some summer between college semesters. There's a lot you can do over here for free or not much $, if you know where to look. But you'll never see it advertised, there's no budget for that. Disney type stuff that IS advertised, is only about 1% of what is really here. If you've ever watched the animated movie "Cars", you'll see what I mean. That movie was a tribute to Rte. 66 and the small town America, that is still here, and is unadvertised. Thing is, there are 10,000 "Rte. 66's" over here. One could travel their whole life and never see all of smalltown America, to say nothing of Canada which is also gorgeous. I'm just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteTill next time, G
room did look basic and it was last min booking.
ReplyDeleteanother one who`s not familiar with the monkey card game its a family thing I guess.
not seen that beer on sale before not over hear probably tastes like cat pee as it looks cheap `not that I know what cat pee tastes like ` just a figure of speech. can see why your dad was gutted it`s a sentimental thing .
would of spent quite some time in the pool at the hotel love the water just chilling supping endless beer. ah the life:). by the way love to chat email me