ice cream – Pete's Blog

It was my birthday last Saturday. It was also my nephew’s wedding down in London. We had such a great weekend, shared with our “little” boys and their partners and with the wider family. The sun shone the whole day and Dominic and Louise were clearly having the best time. I do love a good wedding.

But because we were celebrating the wedding, my birthday had to take a bit of a back seat. I was given some fantastic presents and cards, but I waited till I got home on Sunday to open them. I had to buy my own cake (caterpillar of course) and I decided that like the king I would have an extra birthday – on Wednesday. For the past few years I have found that I love a selfish birthday, where I go off on my own and choose my own adventures, this year I went to Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

It is term time and most children are still at school, so the theme park was not too busy, despite amazing weather. I could get on all the rides with barely any waiting. I rode The Big One, Icon (twice), Revolution, Infusion, the Big Dipper, Avalanche, Steeplechase, Launch Pad, Nickelodeon Streak, Rugrats Lost River, Wallace & Gromit’s Thrill-o-Matic, The Ghost Train and the Chinese Puzzle Maze. The only thing I bottled out of doing was Valhalla, allegedly the best water ride in the world, but one where everyone I saw was getting completely soaked.

So if the kids are at school, who goes to Blackpool Pleasure Beach in mid May? The answer seems to be three categories. There are parents with pre-school children, coming to try out the little rides. There are groups of school kids, where a teacher has somehow persuaded the head that it is a good educational experience to go to a theme park. And there are thrill seekers like myself, taking advantage of the lack of queues. In particular there was a group of Belgian roller coaster fans, who travel the world trying out the rides.

What a great week and what a great way to celebrate my birthday. I topped off the day with a visit to Notarianni’s, a famous Blackpool ice cream parlour, where I picked a sundae made with strawberries, vanilla ice cream and chocolate and pistachio sauces. Yum yum.

When I was a child, my birthday was my second favourite day of the year after Christmas. I would look forward to the surprise presents, the party food (jelly and ice cream), and being treated as the special one in our family of six. These days, now aged 58, there is always a risk that my birthday will be a disappointment. After all, I have all the “stuff” I want, so any surprise presents are difficult to choose, likely to be a let down, and take up needed space in our narrowboat.

Mandy, my wife, was particularly stressed about the day because she couldn’t think of what to do. So this year I took control, determined to choose my own best birthday.

There were a few presents after all, which had been very well chosen. A bottle of Arran 10 whisky from my youngest son, and some chocolates from my Mum, neither of which will not take up space for very long! And a board game all about narrowboating from one of my brothers, which is unusual and great fun.

But what made the day was the things I chose to do. Instead of moving the boat, we stayed for the day in Devizes, a lovely small market town in Wiltshire. Firstly we went out for breakfast. I had my favourite Eggs Benedict, and a real cup of coffee (normally I have decaf). Then I took the dogs for a long walk through the countryside to a farm where I had read they make excellent ice cream. I was not disappointed with my salted caramel brownie sundae, while the dogs had a special doggy ice cream. Coming back to the boat I chilled out for a while, doing a bit of baking (cornish pasties and banana walnut bread since you ask) and then went to visit the Wadworth brewery, which makes one of my favourite real ales – 6X. They weren’t doing tours but I sat outside in the sun, talking to the locals, and quaffing two 1/2 pints and three 1/3 pints so that I could try their selection without getting too drunk. Mandy then joined me and we went out to look for somewhere to eat, but in the end we just had another drink and came back to the boat to eat the pasties, and watch a lightweight Nicholas Cage film.

I went to bed, feeling really good. I think in future I will always plan my own birthday, and get what I really want.

What about you? Do you prefer surprises and to be treated by others, or to choose your own delights?

Tag: ice cream

Who would go to a theme park in May?

How to enjoy my 58th birthday