luckykaa

It's my birthday!

Had an early start because we'd booked an early-bird train ride up mount Snowdon but we were also checking out. So, woke up early and attacked the presents. Presents included t-shirt, experience day, vintage cinema serial, and socks from flickums , and some nice shirts from parents.

Cleaned up, packed up car and headed to the mountain. It's a shame the weather wasn't good. Apparently on a good day you can see all four nations, but it was not a good day and so could only see the bit of Wales that was at the top of the mountain. Still, I enjoyed the train ride up. And there was some nice scenery on the way.

And that was the end of the holiday. So drive home and was delighted to see a huge pile of parcels! Unfortunately on 3 of them were for me and two were things I ordered. Still at least I got one more present.

Wrapped up the evening with a trip to a Teppanyaki place. This is where the chefs cook the food in front of you and do cool stuff like juggling an egg on a spatula and flipping chips into customers mouths! And setting the hot plate on fire. I went for the taster menu and ate way too much food! Then I had dessert. I also used this as an excuse to test drive one of my new shirts, and Flick took the opportunity to road-test a corpse bride dress.

Inspired by the dress, we wrapped up the evening with The Corpse Bride.

I like to go away for my birthday. Decided to do a mini break to Wales. It's cheap, and we can get there in 90 minutes. Or 2 hours if traffic happens.

Still, we arrived, via a nice farm shop (In Wythenshaw - really must go back), found the airB&B we're staying in, ate and tried out the hot tub.

So that was day 1.

Day 2, the plan was to go to the Snowdonia mountain railway. We arrived and saw that it was ludicrously expensive and sold out. Huh. Wasn't expecting that... Kind of a downer since this was the main thing I wanted to do. So we decided we'd head to Llandudno where there's a cable tramway. We parked. There seems to have been a Honda Goldwing convention...  Anyway we only had 90 minutes of parking so we had food and decided to park closer to the tramway, then drove to the tramway... where there was a queue round the block. I think the last week in August might not be a good time to come here.

Decided to give up and head to a farm shop. That was a lot more successful and ended up with the purchase of some tasty food and drink. Headed home and I went to the beach whole flickums had a nap. The beach was about a mile away. And the tide was out. Also very cold. But I did at least step into the water.

Not a very successful day but we did spend a decent chunk of time chilling in the place we're staying which is kind of what I want to do.

It's a very nice place we're staying. in. It has a hot tub! Also has a smart speaker.

Today was a washout.

Holiday is turning out to be a bit of a disappointment.

Also the level crossing by the hotel hates me.  Barriers always go down as I get there and stay down for 5 minutes.

Day started off okay. Went to the beach. Flickums insisted on buying me a unicorn cake ice cream, so we went back to Rhos-on-sea. Also insisted I demonstrate sandcastle building so bought me a bucket and spade (actually 2 buckets - one castle shaped and one bucket shape - and 2 spades). So I constructed a castle. 6 towers around the bailey and a motte with a keep at the top.

Then on to Anglesey. I wanted to do a quick stop at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch just to say I had. Station itself was closed but had a photo outside. There's really not a lot else there. Just a shopping centre. We went in and had lunch at the cafeteria, where I was served by the world's slowest staff member. Still, just 10 hours later the two people in front of me had been served and I finally got to order.

We were hoping to spent the rest of the day looking around Anglesey before going on a puffin island cruise, but it was cancelled because of the weather. Nothing else appealed.

Went to Conwy. Visited the city walls. Considered going to the castle but it was fully booked.

Looked for Fairy Falls but couldn't find it. Have since found that I was actually only about a mile away.

Decided to stop and Llanrwst. Thought it might be an interesting market town but was a bit of a dump where most of the shops were closed. Nice teashop and a river there but that's about it.

Went back to hotel. Wi-fi here is a bit intermittent.

Also, I got a call from an agent yesterday, but talking at the time was difficult. Said she'd email and arrange a time to talk, but didn't.

So, accomplishments today involved building a sandcastle and visiting a closed station.

Decided this year's holiday would be a short break to Wales. Pandemic means that actually being allowed to go away and be allowed back is not that likely. Plus I'm not that keen on spending time in a plane right now.

North Wales looked nice. Various interesting places to visit and some seaside towns. Plus it's a pretty short drive from home. Although really what I wanted was the chance to spend lots of time lurking in a pool and hot tub. So I booked a Hotel and Spa.

After a couple of weeks of really hot weather, we have gloom and rain. So not an auspicious start.

Get to the hotel. Can't check in. Also Flickums is feeling decidedly grumpy. Was hoping to leave her in room to mellow. She seemed happy to let me explore while she waited in car though. Mood seemed to improve with some alone time.

Set off to find some lunch. The Toad looked promising. The Toad was closed. Really not off to a good start. Still, found Rhos-on-sea, which is a nice seaside town with nice seaside cafe and had some tea, then sent towards the sea to pounce along the beaches.

Flickums wanted to buy me a unicorn ice cream but I was full.

Went back via Conwy. It's a walled city! I really like city walls for some reason. Had a meander around town, and returned to hotel. Seems none of the spa facilities are open. Sigh.

Also not much of a view.

On the plus side, they did provide the picture of Marina Sirtis I requested for a Marina View.