13 September 2016

Weekend

Lioness at  Knowsley Safari Park
Boo!

It is unlike me to let three days pass by without blogging. I imagine that a few regular visitors will have been wondering where I had gone. But fret not cuddlebugs, I am not lying on a mortuary slab or languishing in a hospital bed with my limbs in traction. Nor was I arrested for singing "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You" at the top of my voice when swaying home from the pub last Friday night.

No my friends. The truth of the matter is that I have been somewhere with Mistress Pudding. Though somewhat ashamed and embarrassed,  I shall admit that we have been over to... Lancashire. An involuntary shudder has just rippled down my spine but there - I have said it. Lancashire. The red rose county of George Formby, of Uncle Joe's mintballs, Eccles cakes, wooden clogs and second rate cricket. We were there principally to attend an evening wedding "do" at Aughton just north of Liverpool.

Throughout the weekend, the weather was very kind. We visited beaches at Formby, Crosby and Ainsdale plus the "Dream" sculpture at Sutton Manor near St Helens and the animals at Knowsley Safari Park. We packed a lot in, staying at the Liverpool North  Premier Inn but didn't venture into the centre of Liverpool itself. Been there done that.

We are now back in Yorkshire breathing fresh Yorkshire air. I am happy to report that we have not contracted Lancoitis. This is down to good fortune as well as meticulous personal hygiene throughout our sixty hours in Lancashire. Now, how about some more photographs?
Ainsdale Beach near Southport
"Another Place" -  Crosby Beach
"Dream" at Sutton Manor
Man and dog at Crosby Beach

32 comments:

  1. Well, you were away for a very good reason so you can be excused for not blogging. The beach looks very cool!

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    1. Thank you for your understanding Red.

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  2. The man and his dog look to be really enjoying the sun.
    The lioness seems to have certain reservations about whether the lunch she is looking at will be worth the trouble.

    Alphie

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    1. You have a keen pair of eyes Alphie! Like a hungry lioness.

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  3. I always enjoy your photos Mr Pudding, not bad for a Yorkshireman.

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    1. "Not bad for a Yorkshireman" is high praise indeed.

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  4. As I'd been away from Friday morning until late Sunday night with little opportunity to look at blogs, I am actually glad there were a few less posts to catch up with yesterday morning.

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  5. Lancolitis indeed! All that angst just because Henry beat Richard. Get over it! Seriously though (the fact that the Red Rose won isn't serious) you visited some of the beaches of my youth. I was impressed and moved by 'The Dream' when I visited which I see fro my blog post at the time was back in 2009. Tempus fugit.

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    1. "Dream" was well worth the little diversion. I am sure you know that she sits atop the site of an old colliery and I like that aspect of her presence as well as her size and simple beauty.

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    2. Yes Neil. I knew it was on the site of a colliery. In fact its was one of the largest in the area and was still going strong long after I left the county.

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  6. Anonymous9:49 am

    I'm a long time reader of your blog and missed you.

    Funny, it's the same, whereever we live, in all countries seem to be some "animosities". But usually one day we find out, there are a few amenities everywhere ;-)

    P.S. Finally I opened an account to comment on my favorite blogs. Please excuse my bad English, hope you understand what I wanted to say.

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    1. Where are you Kaki? Thanks for calling by and leaving your comment. Of course when I speak ill of Lancashire I may just be joking!

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    2. Anonymous11:12 am

      I know you do! ;-) Otherwise I wouldn't have said that. I'm German, learned Englisch at school ages ago and love your island.

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    3. Your name doesn't "sound" German to me. Are you sure you are not from a remote island in the South Pacific?

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    4. Anonymous12:58 pm

      LOL ;-) No, just a mix of shortcuts. But South Pacific...I could imagine a holiday there...or Yorkshire, of course :-D

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  7. Isn't it fantastic the way blogging makes connections all over the world ?
    Glad you have a nice little break YP.

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    1. Yes it is marvellous Helen. Through blogging we get to know other people in a different but no less valid way.

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  8. Well done! Now that you have ventured that far west, some day you should take your life in your hands and penetrate the wilderness into North Wales!As long as you have a few words of Welsh, the natives will be perfectly friendly. ;)

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    1. Ooo err missus! "Penetrate the wilderness" sounds vaguely rude... or perhaps its just the way my filthy mind works! I would visit Wales again but I am aware of the terrorist activities of The Sons of Glendower. It rather puts me off.

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    2. The latter, definitely!

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  9. LOL -- I think I saw that same man and dog at Crosby when I was there. Or maybe just lookalikes.

    Every time I hear Lancashire I think of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life": "Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire...and though the holes were rather small...." etc etc etc. One of my favorite Beatles songs.

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    1. At first I thought The Beatles were for teenyboppers but then I heard the Sergeant Pepper album and I was hooked.

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  10. I was wondering about you, but guessed that you and the wife were off having an adventure somewhere!

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    1. Well you were right Jennifer! Do you possess "special powers"?

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    2. Clearly, yes. :)

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  11. I love all the photos that you have shared over the years of Crosby Beach. The man and his dog looking out to sea and sky, each deep in their own thoughts is a wonderful photo. Wonder if he is thinking some of the same thoughts as "Another Place" has been for all these years?

    Happy you two are back safe and sound in Yorkshire!

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    1. Shirley spotted that contented older man before me. I snapped him cunningly using the rear viewfinder of the camera so that he wouldn't know I had captured him. Yes he was looking out to sea, just like the iron men. In a sense, we are all doing that.

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  12. Being a 'yellow belly' (although living in Yorkshire since 1987) I can happily go to Lancashire - and I do love their tasty farmhouse cheese.

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    1. You are more liberated than I am Mrs Weaver! How can you nibble their inferior cheese when you live so close to Wensleydale? My wife is also from Lincolnshire. Her belly is lemon coloured. How would you describe the colour of your belly? Primrose? Buttercup? Banana?

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  13. I, too, have been missing in action, to a degree...but I didn't go to Lancashire! I didn't go anywhere, to be honest.

    When I was little I loved George Formby...he was so much fun. A name from the past that I'd not thought about for a while.

    You deride Lancashire...but it would appear you had a most pleasant visit.

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    1. With your eagle eyes you diagnosed my contradictory character. In other words - you got me Lee!

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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