Saturday 28 July 2012

Well It's Finally Summer!

Hard to believe it's finally stopped raining & it's warmer. Guess what? I've got a cold! How in the world does that happen when I've gone all winter without one? 


Well never mind we've got our holiday tickets, we're off to Orlando with my daughter & family in 3 weeks. It's not really my kind of holiday, well I don't think it is but we decided to go with them. Now I know a lot of people have said it's fantastic & we'll love it but I'll reserve judgement until I've been. I met a lady who works in our Marks & Spencer cafe (I'm a regular there) who came back from Orlando in June. She said it rained for 3 weeks and was cold. I thought the USA was having a heatwave then but apparently they weren't in Orlando. How awful is that to spend a fortune on a holiday & the weather was no better than it was at home.


Everybody has said how cheap it is there but have to say I don't believe them. The holiday alone isn't cheap never mind transport, then there's the food & the park tickets. 


Crumbs you need a mortgage to buy Disney tickets! Universal park tickets are much cheaper and to be honest that's really where my grandchildren want to go. Probably hard for people to believe but they aren't interested in Disney at all. They are Harry Potter daft but it seems stupid to go to Orlando & not go to the Disney parks. My husband isn't interested in any of the parks at all but he wants to see their reaction to Harry Potter's Wizarding World. 


We've been looking on YouTube at Olivander's Wand Shop where my granddaughter wants to go. She's determined to get picked to test a wand. They apparently let a group into the shop & choose a person to test a wand. Now one problem will be she's only seven & quite shy so I doubt she will get picked. I can see us going back every day for a fortnight to that blessed shop!


The other problem will be when she discovers that the wand she gets isn't really magic. She already has one she got for Christmas but that one doesn't do real magic, only the wands from Olivander's shop do real magic apparently. Here's how she thinks it will work.







Another disappointment will be when she doesn't see Daniel Radcliffe, (the actor who plays Harry Potter for those who are not fans). She is convinced he lives there and no matter how many times I tell her he's an actor & he doesn't live there, he lives in London, she just doesn't believe me. 


Me? I don't expect magic, I just want somewhere warm where I can relax, read and swim every day. 

The End of a Reign & the Passing of an Era

It's the day that most of us have dreaded even those who are not royalists.  Many of us grew up with her and have seen a long momentous ...