This is not a dress. This is a sacred robe of the ancient psychedelic monks

I had the extreme good fortune of spending Saturday in Blackpool over the weekend. It was Beverley's bday and she wanted to take me, her parents, her two brothers, one of her friends on a car trip to the fair at Pleasure Beach and for the lights along the main strip. It is not the kind of place I think I ever would have seen if I was not seeing Beverley, and I do not think it does attract alot of tourists... but that is a guess. It was definately very busy but it looked like it was mostly english.

The order of the day was fairy floss, blackpool rock, bright lights, rollercoasters, screaming kids, tired parents, casinos, strip clubs, short skirts, drunks and fish and chips. It is enviable how they have managed to fit so much into one street. It is not so much that there is not room on the street but more that there are Discount Shops selling sweets and fairy floss next door to a strip club and packs of drunk girls in tiny skirts and cowboy hats dodging kids running along the strip loving all the novelty shops and lighting. Judging by the reputation of the place though it does not always go without hitches. Alot of the restaurants have big bold signs in the window saying "Couples or Families ONLY".. an obvious sign of trouble with hens and stags in the past. I did not see too much outlandish behaviour.. except an old man throwing up on the footpath while I was walking past him and another drunk running up to cars stopped at traffic lights and rubbing his bare arse against the windows.

The highlight was definately the Big One..


it is an old ride but it was just good fun. It climbs to just over 200 feet and drops down in what must be an almost vertical line - really fun. There is another one there called InFusion which is a little more daunting since there are no carriages, your feet dangle and you spend more time upside down but my hands went numb on that one from all the blood leaving my upper torso.

We did not even drive to the end of the lights, they seem to go on forever, it may help that the traffic crawls along at around 10kms/h...