It’s Been a While…

Posted on November 3, 2022 by suzie81speaks

Back in July I acknowledged how much my working life had taken over and decided that I needed to break out of the little work / sleep / work / sleep bubble I had created for myself. Thankfully, I have been able to do just that, but this hasn’t freed up much time or improved my ability to sit down and actually write about it. In a desperate attempt to catch up, here’s three months of life experiences in a single post, just in case I don’t get the chance to write another one for a while.

I have still been able to do my regular reviews at the theatre which I look forward to. It’s a great way to spend the evening – a lovely team, great building, and when you get a show that absolutely blows the roof off, it leaves you with a buzz that can last for days.

One of those shows has been Bat Out of Hell. Within the first five minutes when I saw it in January I knew that I was watching something special, despite that fact that I had absolutely no idea what was going on for some of it. Just like my RENT obsession that developed some years ago, I have fallen equally in love and decided that I absolutely had to see it again. So, I booked The Bloke and I tickets to see it at The Winter Gardens in Blackpool and a hotel room for the night.

It’s been a few years since we last visited, so we set off super early to avoid any potential M6 traffic hell, and found ourselves stood on the pier on a dull, but very warn day at 8.00am. For the rest of the day we were shameless tourists – we went to the top of the tower (during which The Bloke mustered up enough courage to actually walk on the glass), won prizes on the horse racing game and played on the 2p machines in the arcades, ate junk food and bought snacks from a shop where the guy behind the counter was actually wearing a bullet proof vest. And then we saw the show, it was amazing, and I was so overwhelmed that I cried on the way back to the hotel. It was just fabulous, even with the drunken men who decided to sing so loudly that two rows physically moved to get away from them.

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Suzie and The Bloke Go to Blackpool

Posted on May 27, 2019 by suzie81speaks

Blackpool Tower

The Bloke’s cousin turned 21 this week and we were invited to her birthday party last weekend… in Blackpool.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to the Vegas of the North, but I’ve always had a soft spot for it. We visited many times during my childhood years – on a clear day it was possible to see the famous tower in the far distance from my home and we had a yearly outing to the Illuminations, where my sisters and I would be in competition to win the coveted 20p for being the first person to spot the tower on the way. Of course, my mum felt guilty about giving just one of us money and so we would inevitably each get the money, but it remains as one of my happiest memories. Continue reading →

A Day Trip to Blackpool

Posted on August 10, 2015 by suzie81speaks

This weekend, I went up north to visit my mother, and she suggested that we have a day trip out to the coast and visit Blackpool.

Ah, Blackpool. The Las Vegas of the North, that is, it would be if you replaced the glitzy Vegas casinos with crap B&B’s and amusement arcades. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the place. As a child, we visited often to see the illuminations, and over the years I’ve attended various hen parties and performed in the pit at Grand Opera House for different shows.

The Tower and the Comedy Mat

For me, Blackpool Pier is the Sharknado of all tourist destinations. It’s so awful that it’s fantastic, and every stereotype of the North can be found at every turn. The ultimate place for a cheap and raucous hen/stag party, the pier is littered with large groups of drunken people in varying degrees of fancy dress and thousands of screaming children being shouted at by angry mothers. There’s a permanent smell of cooking oil, chips and doughnuts in the air, and you can’t walk more than ten paces without seeing an arcade, a tribute act or a place to buy a crap penis shaped present with ‘Blackpool’ written on it as a souvenir. The buildings are old and decaying, and even better, the town’s water system has been infected by a dangerous form of bacteria, so we had to ensure that we were careful and bought bottles of water from a supermarket beforehand.

It was one of the best days out I’ve had in ages.

My mum and I had a competition to see who could spot the iconic tower first. I won, with my prize being the 20p my sisters and I were given when we were children. I tried to reason with her that, with inflation, it should have been more like £20.00, but she wasn’t having any of it.

Selfies at the end of the pier

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and as soon as we got to the seafront we relaxed and took in the views of the beach. We walked along the pier for hours, spent ages looking through the large Comedy Mat on the floor, won games and wasted lots of money in the arcades and then treated ourselves to a meal at a restaurant on the way back. Steve from Steve Says had set me a challenge to find the tackiest present possible, and I found this the ultimate pink pen with a picture of the Tower on it. Fabulous.

It was absolutely packed – it seemed that most of the North had had the same idea as us – but I didn’t mind. It was nice to see lots of families spending time together and joking around, taking pictures of their children on different rides and getting ice-cream on their faces.

The famous Coral Island amusement arcade

Some of my favourite comedy quotes

Smelly Balls, anyone?

People like to write their names in the sand…

The thing about Blackpool is that it’s crap, it knows it, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. I love the atmosphere every time I go, and most of all I love the people. When I visit London, the residents will quite happily barge others out of the way without a second glance. In Blackpool, you’ll get an apology, a friendly joke and a ‘have a good day.’ People will have a friendly chat with complete strangers, and it’s one of the best qualities of northerners. We are what we are, there are no airs and graces. What you see is what you get.

And Blackpool is exactly that: what you see is what you get.

What about you guys? Are there any places you visit that are just so bad they become amazing?

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