Week in North Wales

We have just returned from a really lovely week in Llandudno.

We stayed in a really lovely place near the West Shore. Having been to LLanduno a thousand times before I was surprised to find out that there was another beach at the other end of town!

The house we stayed in didn’t look the prettiest, perhaps, on the outside, but on the inside it was really lovely. It suited us perfectly and we were very happy there.

The West Beach is like the opposite of the most popular North Beach. It feels very uncommercialised. There was one cafe, one pub (The Lilly) and that was about it. But the beach was beautiful, with views over to Conwy and over to Anglesey. There were some incredible houses facing the beach too. You could see right up the Great Orme. We will definitely be spending time there again in the future.

We enjoyed walking along the beach every evening and enjoying a drink at The Lilly. Absolute bliss.

Of course, over the week we spent a lot of time in Llandudno. We walked the promenade, visiting the Life Boat Centre. We walked up the pier. I bought some whisky! We went on the Llandudno wheel. There is something very unique about Llandudno Pier.

On our last day we drove up the Great Orme. I have not been up there since I was a child and had forgotten how amazing it is up there – great views and great activities. We bought lunch before heading up and enjoyed eating it in the sunshine, looking over towards Angelsey.

During the week we visited one of my favourite places in the world – Conwy. Conwy is a special place for me. We had a couple of holidays there when I was a child and we all fell in love with the town. We enjoyed walking round the shops. We tried crab fishing, but it was freezing so didn’t last long. We saw the smallest house in Great Britain and saw the lady who runs it being interviewed for the TV. We had lunch in a lovely cafe on Lancaster Square and bought prawns on the harbour front. It wasn’t the best weather so we didn’t go up the walls or walk to the marina, but maybe we’ll do that the next time that we visit.

We visited Anglesey. First we drove up to Benllech – what a beautiful beach! We then drove over to Beaumaris. This is a beautiful little town. We last visited in the summer of 2020 and the effects of covid cast a shadow over it. This year it was great to see it busy and thriving! On our way home we stopped at Bangor. We have been there a few times, thinking that it might have improved, but, alas, it was still very rundown.

During the week family joined us which was brilliant. The weather was dreadful on the Wednesday and so we went to watch the Super Mario Bros Movie which was great!

After a challenging few months, the holiday was exactly what we needed. I’ve attached a few pictures.

Lego Food Costume Minifigures

The full set

I have been collecting Lego food costume characters for a while. I have 14 different characters in my set, although three are ice cream figures.

Recently Lego have taken to describing the characters as gender neutral, so ‘carrot costume’ rather than ‘costume guy’ or ‘costume girl’. So I will try to keep gender neutral for these costumes too.

Working from left to right the characters are:

  • Carrot Costume – from Collectible Series 24, out in 2023
  • Popcorn Costume – from Collectible Series 23, out in 2022
  • Hot Dog Costume – from Collectible Series 13, out in 2015
  • Chocolate Cake Costume – from Build-A-Minigfigure, Lego Store exclusives, out in 2022
  • Corn on the Cob Costume – from Collectible Series 17, out in 2017
  • Chilli Costume – from Collectible Series 22, out in 2022
  • Pizza Costume – from Collective Series 19, out in 2019
  • Ice Cream Costume (Green) – from 60328 Beach Lifeguard Station, out in 2022
  • Ice cream Costume (Blue) – from 60314 Ice Cream Truck Police Chase, out in 2022
  • Ice cream Costume (Pink) – from 60314 Ice Cream Truck Police Chase, out in 2022
  • Peas in a Pod Costume – from Collective Series 20, out in 2020
  • Banana Costume – from Collective Series 16, out in 2016
  • Strawberry Cheesecake Costume – from Build-A-Minifigure, Lego Store exclusives, out in 2023

My favourites are: Hot Dog Costume (it’s iconic!) and Chilli Costume (love that box of milk).

Best Songs of 2022

There have been some cracking songs out in 2022. I have narrowed a list down to my favourite 20. It’s a random selection, so sorry.

20 David Guetta & Bebe Rexa – I’m Good (Blue)
I have always been a fan of Blue – the Ice Pop Instrumental version, specifically. It was great to see the song getting another chance to take on the charts in a new version by David Guetta. I have had to download the clean version so that I can play it in the car with the kids.

19 Tenchi, Shaggy & Embody & Moss Kena – It Wasn’t Me
Such a brilliant fun remix of a silly song that came out 21 years ago! This is fab.

18 Harry Styles – Late Night Talking
A great some from Harry. What a year he has had!

17 Lewis Capaldi – Forget Me
Lewis Capaldi songs are always brilliant. He didn’t fail with this one.

16 Nathan Dawe & Ella Henderson – 21 Reasons
Such a good dance track.

15 Topic, Robin Schulz, Nico Santos & Paul van Dyk – In Your Arms (For An Angel)
For An Angel is one of the most underrated dance songs ever. So it was a delight to get a reworking of a classic.

14 LF System – Afraid To Feel
It has been brilliant to get dance songs back at the top of the charts again. This is an instant classic.

13 Lizzo – 2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)
Much was made of Lizzo’s other tune About Damn Time. That was fab, but I love this one. It’s fun and underrated.

12 Eliza Rose & Interplanetary Criminal – B.O.T.A (Baddest Of Them All)
Another dance chart topper. This one is great. I haven’t been fortunate enough to hear this on a night out, but I bet it goes down a strom!

11 Shouse – Won’t Forget You
Such an earworm. And with loads of remixes it was hard to escape this from my playlist.

10 Sam Smith – Love Me More
A Sam Smith classic. Somehow they release mellow, easy to listen to songs that are brilliant.

9 Sam Ryder – Spaceman
After Sam’s performance on New Year’s Eve, I have to include a couple of songs from him on the best of list. He is awesome.

8 Mimi Webb – House On Fire
I thought it was funny how she was able to sing this outside the Queen’s house in June.

7 Sam Ryder – Somebody
Somehow this was even catchier than Spaceman.

6 Purple Disco Machine & Sophie and the Giants – In The Dark
I love Purple Disco Machine. This is one of his absolute finest.

5 Harry Styles – As It Was
As soon as it was released it was clear that this was going to be a phenomenon. Brilliant!

4 George Ezra – Anyone For You (Tiger Lily)
Oh my word this was a classic. It is up there with George Ezra’s best.

3 Latto & Mariah Carey & DJ Khaled – Big Energy (Remix)
How this was no a bigger hit is beyond me. This is a fricking awesome tune. Although DJ Khaled’s new watch that he mentions at the end annoys me, thankfully it doesn’t detract from the awesomeness that is this song. Amazing!

2 Joel Corry & Tom Grennan – Lionheart (Fearless)
I could have flipped a coin to decide between 1 and 2. Lionheart is just awesome. It wasn’t a smash hit but I think there’s still time for it to experience success. It is one of the best dance tunes of the 2020s so far.

1 George Ezra – Green Green Grass
How could it be anything else. I love this song. It gave us a funny moment at Buckingham Palace and it has had our family singing along every time we’ve heard it. A perfect pop song.

Holiday in North Norfolk

We had a brilliant week away in North Norfolk.

The journey from Cheshire to Wells-next-the-Sea is a long one. It took around six hours, including stops. We had a quick lunch stop in Peterborough on the way – that seems like a city worth visiting at some point in the future. After settling into our cottage for the week in Wells, we had a quiet night with fish and chips.

The following day we tried to go to Wells beach but the car park was full by 10am. So we set off to find a different beach. We eventually stumbled upon Brancaster beach. What a beach! One of the best beaches we’ve ever visiting. The sea was so shallow we walked for miles and miles in the water. There is a brilliant little shack selling food and drinks. In the evening we went out for a few drinks. We managed to make it to maybe three pubs before they all started to close (weird).

The next day was a Sunday and the heatwave was in full flow. We set off earlier for Wells beach and managed it! We had a really lovely time on the beach. The huts are just beautiful! In the late afternoon we went for a wander round the shops and for a drink.

On the Monday we set off on a long drive to Lowestoft to visit Africa Alive. We had fond memories of a couple of previous visits and always thought it was the best zoo we had ever visited. On this occasion we felt like it had become a little neglected and didn’t enjoy it quite the same.

On the Tuesday we went to King’s Lynn. What a gorgeous town! We really enjoyed looking around.

On Wednesday the weather wasn’t the best. We drove to Swaffham. I am not sure what we expected but we found it a little underwhelming. Nice, but just nothing spectacular.

On our last day we went to Cromer and had an absolutely brilliant day. Cromer was really nice and we enjoyed the shops, the pier, a steel drum band, getting spashed by the waves, the ice cream, the arcades and the golf. It was a fantastic day out! We called at Sheringham on the way back and loved it. We were a bit disappointed in ourselves that we hadn’t visited there before.

We set off home on the Friday after a breakfast in Fakenham before spending hours on the road. The traffic around Nottingham was horrendous.

We had a brilliant holiday!

‘I don’t want them to win anything’

Inspired by Alexej Behnisch’s tweet, here’s my order of ‘I don’t want them to win anything’ preference:

  1. Manchester United – I hate it when they even win a match
  2. Manchester City – I club built on money, not love
  3. Chelsea – I don’t hate Chelsea, but it will take me a while to out the Abramovich years out of my mind
  4. Arsenal – I still haven’t recovered from the end of the 1990 season
  5. Everton – Not much chance of them winning anything at the moment though