I always seem to be catching up with this silly blog! You may have noticed that I have severe apathy when it comes to updating it. Sorry!
Still, here goes with what's been happening of late…
Carla's family visit (Saturday 21 - Monday 30 July.)
Carl and Ethan, Carla's father and son, came over for a visit. We met them at Birmingham airport a full day later than planned as they ran into some trouble with connecting flights in the USA. Oh well, it was raining and grey all that Friday so they didn't miss much! The first weekend was spent at home doing stuff locally, as was the second. I was at work for two days into their holiday but one of those days Carla took them into Birmingham city centre to look around the shops. I think they got as far as doing the Bull Ring centre and china town. Ethan decided he didn't want to see the new "Harry Potter" flick, even though it was showing in 3D at the Imax cinema. On the Wednesday, we all went down to London to do touristy stuff there: The Tower of London, a trip on the DLR out to Greenwich, then a boat trip up the Thames to Embankment (near Westminster.) We didn’t have much time at the Tower, after getting to London at lunchtime and having a bite to eat, checking into our hotel etc. Still, it was a nice if brief visit. The place was full of scouts! Onto the river trip, which was wonderful! You get some fantastic views of the city from the river - even when it is grey and windswept. I really want to do that again! To finish off the day we had a meal in Wagamama (yummy noodles and vegan nosh!) and then went to Namco Station arcade in County Hall, so Ethan could play video games until his credits ran out!
Thursday was spent out at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey. What an impressive place this is! We had time to explore a great deal of the palace and its grounds. The staterooms are opulent and a little overwhelming. The whole place is very interesting. I particularly liked the display about King Henry VIII and the Tudor kitchens with plastic re-creations of 500-year-old food! haha. Great stuff. The gardens are beautiful as well. Very scenic, especially as the Thames flows right by there.
In the evening we went back into Central London and went bowling in Bayswater (as it was close to Paddington station) and then we got the train to Bath, so we had a few hours doing more touristy stuff there on the Friday. This included the Roman Baths museum (the commentary playing machines now include added comments from author Bill Bryson!), a tour on one of those hop-on hop-off buses, a nice lunch by the river, and a quick trip to the fashion museum. Bath is a grand city of primarily Georgian architecture, set in a picturesque valley of the river Avon. As the weather was nice that day, it was a great visit.
Over the holidays, I dug out my old Nintendo Gamecube system, which kept Ethan happy! He played my various "Star Wars" video games on it for quite some time. Its amazing to think that five years ago, this system was state-of-the-art, and now everyone treats it like its from the Noah's ark!
Oh, and on the last full day of their visit we went to see….
Transformers at the Nuneaton Odeon. Yep, Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg's big screen version of the 1980's toy and cartoon finally got released that weekend. I'd been buzzed about this film since it was announced, being a big fan of the robots in disguise. Well, I have to say I loved it! I came out of the screening with a big smile. Excellent sfx, remarkably funny script, good lead actors, particularly Shia LaBeouf. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially ILM's special effects guys. The only downside is my standard criticism of any Michael Bay film…his editing style takes some getting used to as everything moves at a cracking pace. Anyway, I think this is his best film, and we all enjoyed it so let's give it 9/10! I hope to see this again before it ends its run.
Oh, I have completed (yes! actually completed!!!) my Merlin "Transformers" sticker album. This was achieved by getting a few packs last week, some doubles from friends at work, and then buying a complete box on Sunday! Now I need to try and complete my "Star Wars Episode 3" album (oh where are you no 154?!)
Anyway, it was fun to see Carla's family, being hosts and do touristy stuff with them. Thankfully, all seemed to go well!
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