A Grand Day Out

We had a lovely, lazy morning and went out about lunchtime to pick up Dr T's mum to go for a spin in the country. We had a good look around Louth and generally caught up with all the news in the family. The wind was strong but the sun was bright.

Later on we headed back to Grimsby to look at an area of town that has recently been 'regenerated', which means for a section of a shopping street that has seen much better days, the council have put in fancy paving stones and arty street lamps. We got out to have a look and came across a wonderful new venture. A couple have taken a disused Kwik Save store and turned it into an indoor skate park.

I was curious and ended up having a delightful conversation with one of the founders. He said that within four weeks of opening the local police had come by to say they'd seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of anti-social behaviour (in an area of England known for very high rates of anti-social behaviour). He said the kids moaned when informed the place would be closed for Christmas Day because they wanted a place to try out their new Christmas gifts. On Boxing Day they had 97 kids. One of the lovely things is that kids from the best and worst parts of town come and are all equal there - they judge each other by skill level and are keen to learn from each other. I thought the skate park was fantastic and I look forward to hearing about its progress. Before you ask, I did ask the founder for a photo but he declined politely. Evidently he dislikes having his photo taken and wouldn't agree to the local paper taking his photo either. He was happy for me to blip the ramps and whilst it's not much of a shot, it meant the most to me today.

We rounded off the day by picking up Dr T's father so the four of us could see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I fell in love a little with the film and we all enjoyed it thoroughly.

Goodnight lovely blippers. x