Sunday 16 November 2014

Blackpool memories.

I always groan at the hype used by the Strictly Come Dancing people when they go to Blackpool.

For me Blackpool is not the golden place. It was the nearest seaside town to Rochdale so that was where we went on holiday after my father was demobbed.

When my children were very small I took them there because that was where my mother had gone to live.

She actually lived in Bispham which is a cut above Blackpool itself and we did have some lovely holidays building sand castles and riding poor broken down donkeys.

But Blackpool itself is noisy. The golden mile is brash and as the children got older it was somewhere to avoid taking them at all costs.

It was very hard to explain to my mother why I chose to bring them to Cornwall in the long summer holiday, so we had to spend time at Christmas and Easter there in order to keep the peace!

As a teacher we took coach loads of children to sample the delights of Blackpool and this always included a trip to the Tower where I have danced with another teacher on the famous floor to show the children how it was done!

Memories flood in as I watch Strictly and they are not all good. The zoo used to have some poor moth eaten specimens I always felt sorry for! The illuminations deserved a yearly visit because they were always spectacular! But as the children reached their teenage years it became a place to avoid at all costs....there were just too many temptations and distractions.

I hope it's changed ...a bit..I am sure all the rules on safety have left their mark on it...but I can't see me going back there ever again...so watching the hype on Strictly is the closest I'll get.

...Which suits me fine...

 

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