We have...been to the seaside, admired puffins, won big time on a penny push machine, been on a boat, got a new kitchen, lost a dearly loved cat, there must be something else? Now what is it? Oh yes, that’s it, the whole entire country has gone Olympics mad. We went to the most hot ticketed event of the entire games, New Zealand v. Belarus football match.
The Puffin bit
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| The best puffin photo we took |
Puffins are very small and hard to photograph. I had an idea I would be able to sit and draw one...not a chance. Darting around, getting mixed up with other sea birds it was hard to even photograph one. But - it was so exciting, none of us have seen puffins before, so if felt like a great achievement to spot some. We were also delighted by the gannets, less enamoured by the smell and satisfied the weather was really kind.
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| A Lancashire Belle on the Yorkshire one! |
The boat bit
All aboard the Yorkshire Belle, I'm actually a Lancashire Belle, but I kept that quiet and they let me on anyway. The YB is a lovely little boat commissioned by the RSPB to take enthusiastic twitchers out to see the sea birds that hang out at Bempton Cliffs from the sea side perspective.
Encouraged by the fact that all the women volunteers had puffin earrings, we were hopeful of actually seeing some. We were not disappointed, there were more sea birds than you can actually shake a bit of seaweed at. We had seen them earlier from the cliff side, but now we could see loads of puffins bobbing along on the water.
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| Maisie with 'winnings' |
The winning bit
In NZ you don't really have the traditional sea side gambling opportunities that amusement arcades offer. Not wanting Maisie to miss out on an important part of her upbringing - beginner gambling, we ventured into an arcade on Bridlington's seafront. After converting a pound coin into 2 pence pieces (it's used to be a penny in my day - 100% inflation) we were all set to fritter it away.
We were delighted when Maisie won a lovely dolphin keyring. Who said gambolling doesn't pay.
The home improvements bit
We have a new kitchen, it's vey exciting and a million times better than the old one.
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| r.i.p. Weka (on the right) |
The sad bit
We were all fairly traumatised by the loss of our lovely little Weka cat. He was unfortunate enough to be hit by a car. Such a lovely cat, adored by the whole family he was even great mates with the dog. He was a regular on walks with the dog and would dash in between his legs and taunt him a little on the way.
He would always find a patch of light or a warm spot to sleep. He had a bath tap water habit and would explore any box bag surface he could find.
The unavoidable olympics bit
After various people had finished jogging round the countryside with a torch, it came time for the Olympics. However, Leanne had secured tickets for a footballing event which took place before the opening as there are so many fixtures to get in. We went to see New Zealand verses Belarus at Coventry City f.c.
It was a great atmosphere, chatty security guards, entertaining crowd warm up by throwing giant balls into the crowd which we were expected to have a game of keep up with (Maisie's favourite bit!) and exhilarating football. Several 'Great British' waves and a pie.
I lied about the free gift.
