Childhood revisited...

Backblipped 12.09.21

What a lovely day :-)

An early rise.  Andrew was up and off to have breakfast with Alan, Ally and Christine at their cottage.  They were heading off to Blackpool after lunch but before lunch Ally was making a lamb curry for dinner.  She brought all her own spices with her.

After lunch D and I headed off to Bispham, a place that holds so many happy childhood memories for me.

My gran's brother Alex (my great Uncle Alex but just known as Uncle Alex) lived there and I spent many happy holidays with my grandparents staying at his house and playing on the beach at Bispham.

Today we parked at Little Bispham and headed along the lower promenade walk to Bispham enjoying the sea, sunshine and lovely warm air.  It took us about 45 minutes each way and all along the way I was regaling David with stories of the many childhood adventures I had on those long hot summers.  

One story involved my friend Heather and me paddling at the waters edge and getting cut off by the incoming tide!  We only became aware there was a problem when we heard lots of people shouting and we looked round to see them on the other side of a body of fast flowing water and realised we were standing on a rapidly diminishing piece of sand!  

We were being told to hurry up and wade though the incoming tide to safety so we hiked up or skirts and waded into the rather scary looking water.  It was very fast flowing and getting deeper and deeper and we both almost lost our footing more than once!  As the water reached our buttocks we stopped worrying about keeping our skirts dry and used our arms to help keep our balance instead.  A wise decision!  We were also carrying our shoes and Heather dropped hers and could only watch as they were swept away from her.

When we finally made it to the safety of the beach we were hysterically laughing.  A shock reaction I think!  Other than some cuts on our feet where we'd had to walk across some rocks, we were fine but got a big fright.  It was a lesson learned.

Today as we made our way along the prom, every so often there were deposits of sands on the tarmac, which I negotiated by taking my chair through the thinnest looking bits.  That was fine till I ploughed through one section, only realising it was deeper than I thought when my wheels came to a complete halt!  Stranded again!  Thankfully without an incoming tide! lol  All that was required this time was David to switch my chair to manual and drag me out!  What a hero :-))

Thankfully the majority of my memories were much less dramatic :-))

Sandcastle building, Ashursts the ice cream shop, getting my first proper  "grown up" haircut (layers and a fringe!) days in Blackpool at the Pleasure Beach and going on all the rollercoasters (couldn't do that now!) and getting the tram to Fleetwood, the ferry to Knott End and being picked up by my (second) cousin Marilyn (uncle Alex's daughter) and her husband Denis, and going to stay with them for a few days in the lovely village of Pilling.  

By the time we reached the lower prom at Bispham I felt quite emotional.  So many memories.  I was transported back to running down the stone steps in my rush to get to the beach and my gran yelling at me to be careful as the stones could be slippery.  I swear I could smell the tang of Ambre Solaire sun oil....yes oil!  A brown greasy liquid that was the scent of summer as far as I was concerned :-))

As we made our way back to the car, the tide was going out and I wished I was able to get down onto the beach.  But that said, I was incredibly thankful to be able to get along the promenade.  Without my wheels that would have been impossible.  This was also my first proper walk with Lola and the fact it took place where it did, make it extra special.

We were back home at 6pm.  Just enough time to freshen up and head along to Alan's cottage where Ally was just getting ready to dish up the amazing lamb curry she made this morning.  OMG!  It was absolutely delicious! 

After dinner David and I headed back to our cottage to put our feet up and relax.  The rest of the gang were heading back to Blackpool for a massive firework display.  They popped in when they got back, all of them hyper and wearing gloves with flashing fingertips!  They looked hilarious!

We all went to our beds tired but happy.

P.S. Some of the things mentioned I have included in my pic in extras.  The larger of the photos is the stretch of sea wall where this photo was taken.  The original sea wall has gone now and been replaced with the newer one but I knew exactly where the photo was taken.  I could feel my grandparents all around me and in the sea breeze.  All that separates then from now is time.