reflection of sky in the water covered beach at St Annes

Project 52 2022 week 35

Week 35 of the year and Project 52 has been a great week. Another few days away over the bank holiday. Another week of mostly good dry weather, until we got back home, and the end of the week has seen some rain each day, and cooler. The cardigan’s come out, and the slippers. The blanket’s on standby for the evenings.

On Sunday we went off to the north west for our last summer break, a few days in Lytham St Anne’s. We thought the OH was going to come too so booked a very nice 5* Apartment hotel using my Tesco Clubcard vouchers. In the end he decided not to come which was a shame and a bit frustrating. I was glad I did pay with my vouchers, so it only cost me the excess, which was probably less than I’d pay for 2 nights in a hotel. 

The accommodation was really nice, although too much as we don’t generally self cater when away. But it was nice to have a fridge and separate rooms as well as a lounge. N went in the gorgeous pool before tea. Then we headed to the free music festival across the road to get some tea. N wasn’t that keen on the music (and all the smokers – there seems to be so many more compared to the % where we are at home), so we wandered down to find the beach and the amusement arcades on the pier.  It was a late night for N, as he stayed up til nearly the end of the festival as we could still hear it even with the windows closed.

Monday was bank holiday. We stuck close around Lytham. We walked around the lake at Fairhaven, found out about the spitfire copy that overlooks one part of the lake. Then walked up along the coastline into Lytham. We went into the windmill to find out about the history which N thought was quite interesting. Walking back again, we did the crazy golf – the slowest round of mini golf as the family with teens 3 in front of us were sooooo slow. 

Lunch was in the lakeside cafe. They charged a ridiculous £9.50 for a panini with a small salad and coleslaw. It wasn’t even that good a meal. But after all the walking we definitely needed it. We mooched to the beach after getting back to the hotel, and checked out 2 of the arcades.

On Tuesday it was a morning of reminiscing for me. We headed to Lancaster. First stop was Williamson Park, where we used to take our revision for 2nd year at uni. We did the mini zoo and butterfly house, then headed into the city to do a Lancaster Castle tour. It’s still a working court, but was so interesting. When I was at uni you couldn’t go inside as it was still a prison back then. After lunch we headed back via the road I used to live down in my second year, and to do a drive around the uni. So much of it is new, including my old college which has all new accommodation blocks.

We spent an hour in the afternoon back on the beach. N was determined to walk out to the sea – it’s a huge intertidal zone, and we got there eventually.

Wednesday was time to go home. We started off visiting N’s favourite farm Youtuber Tom Pemberton’s farm shop. He was besides himself to walk round the corner and see Tom himself. Then I managed to persuade N to come to Shugborough National Trust on the way home. We had lunch, went round Patrick Lichfield’s former apartments, and the mansion itself. It was nice to get home. 

Yet again more trying to finalise the correct ticket type of the school bus. We think we’re finally there although it’s going to be a faff. A monthly Gold rider when there’s more than 20 school days out of 28, then a weekly gold rider or single tickets for the other weeks and days. So complicated and I can see it becoming a nightmare.

N also had football training. It looks like there’s lots of matches on, but football day might change. I’m glad I hadn’t already organised any private tennis lessons, otherwise there might have been clashes. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some in from half term once school and football has settled down.

On Thursday I just had a day at home. My plans for the afternoon were cancelled, so we played a board game, N went out on the farm, and I read a lot. I feel like I need a days worth of sleep to catch up on before going back to work, but that’s not going to happen.

Friday was a busy day, back to work. I found I had lots of meetings and catch ups, and I’m still missing people in the team as we’re going into our busy period. I’m a tad worried, and although it was meant to be a short day, I worked quite a bit longer.  

I also made a right cock up and forgot my car was due in before 10 for service and MOT. I’d had a reminder call yesterday, but my phone reminder popped up yesterday, and not the hour before, and my work calendar slot, weirdly didn’t have a reminder set up. N came in for lunch and mentioned it – thankfully, I rang them and they could still fit me in. 50 mins later I was back home with a courtesy car and back working again.

After I picked mine up again (with amazingly no work needed, phew!), I stopped off at the outdoor bar as the OH and N had gone there to meet some friends. It was lovely to see them, N was off playing football there with his school friends who were there too.

On Saturday it was an early nip into town to test out N’s new Hyperjar card in case we want to use that for contactless on the bus. Yes the saga is continuing. Others have been told they can use a cheap termly pass, but I’ve been told again it’s only within a boundary, so ours termly would cost £393 a term, but there’s a 3 week delay making it not worth doing (it only appeared as a ticket option yesterday). Even for a term it works out the same if not more than buying singles. It seems our catchment school bus over the border, only charges the equivalent of £50 a month. A termly pass here, works out over double that.

N’s team had their first (friendly) match of the season. They were missing 3 of their defensive players, but still had a fairly even match, drawing 1-1. And N came on as a sub in the first half and scored their goal. First goal for the team which is great for him.

reflection of sky in the water covered beach at St Annes

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8 Comments

  1. Sounds like you had a lovely last few days away before the end of the summer. Glad you managed to sort out the bus pass and hope it doesn’t turn out to be too complicated. Oops to forgetting about the service and MOT – so easily done though. Glad they managed to fit you in later in the day. Always good when there’s no work needed too. Well done to N on scoring the goal in his first friendly football match. #project365

  2. Sorry to hear that your husband didn’t make it in the end. I hear you with the smokers, I have noticed it more and more near us. Good luck fathoming the bus tickets, our local bus company has just gone bust, so I am on driving duty for the forseeable future

  3. I get so annoyed with bus passes for children ins schools, it should be free travel and it would release an awful lot of cars on the roads. Your holiday sounded lovely, shame OH couldn’t come away with you though

    1. I don’t mind paying, but it would just be good if there was a standard annual fee for all school bus routes whether they’re local bus services or not. It’s not like we’re travelling miles, it’s 6-7miles each way. I saw someone who lives Manchester saying theirs has gone up to £80 for 2 children for a monthly pass. I’ll be paying around £103 for 1 child. And proper county council school bus transport passes usually give a discount for the second child, but because ours is a local bus service, anyone with 2 kids travelling still has to pay full price for both. It’s just not consistent.

  4. We prefer apartment-hotels because they are more suitable to our needs, but they are definitely not for every occasion. It’s nice to have a weekend off before the school starts.

  5. It has felt much chillier. I wore a jumper out yesterday and my slippers are back on my feet.
    It sounds like you had a lovely break away. What a treat for N to see Tom Pemberton.
    The bus ticket fiasco sounds like an utter nightmare. I complain about the buses here but at leas the tickets are simple and straightforward. That is a good job N has the Hyperjar card as a backup.
    Well done to N with the goal! x

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