We've just been on another busman's holiday, this time to Blackpool for the illuminations. What happened was that my 8 year old daughter wanted to see the 'world famous' Blackpool lights, so on a rare Sunday off we jumped in the car and headed West.
We started at the Pleasure Beach, which event on a damp and miserable day was doing well, it must have one of the largest concentrations of rollercoasters in the U.K. I have to say that they do know how to charge, for a while now I have been thinking that some of the prices on fairgrounds in this country are getting a bit steep, but they pale in comparison with Blackpool, nothing seemed to be under £2, including the basketball game which was £2 for 1 ball!
After exiting the park we walked along the 'Golden Mile' towards the tower. The whole area looked like a combined decision was made by everyone about 25 years ago to let the place decay. With the exception of the new McDonalds restaurant (which being franchised has to meet certain levels of cleanliness etc) everything looked like it hadn't been touched up or maintained for years, paint was peeling, letters were missing from signs, neon lights were only half working, all in all I came away feeling thoroughly depressed.
After waiting 3 hours for the lights to switch on, my daughter turned to me and said' Is that it?', nearly 15 years ago, the Sunderland illuminations were far superior to the current Blackpool lights.
We started at the Pleasure Beach, which event on a damp and miserable day was doing well, it must have one of the largest concentrations of rollercoasters in the U.K. I have to say that they do know how to charge, for a while now I have been thinking that some of the prices on fairgrounds in this country are getting a bit steep, but they pale in comparison with Blackpool, nothing seemed to be under £2, including the basketball game which was £2 for 1 ball!
After exiting the park we walked along the 'Golden Mile' towards the tower. The whole area looked like a combined decision was made by everyone about 25 years ago to let the place decay. With the exception of the new McDonalds restaurant (which being franchised has to meet certain levels of cleanliness etc) everything looked like it hadn't been touched up or maintained for years, paint was peeling, letters were missing from signs, neon lights were only half working, all in all I came away feeling thoroughly depressed.
After waiting 3 hours for the lights to switch on, my daughter turned to me and said' Is that it?', nearly 15 years ago, the Sunderland illuminations were far superior to the current Blackpool lights.