Day 654 - New Years Eve 2021

Day 654...

And we have reached the last day of 2021, another year that will be remembered for all the things we couldn't do rather than what we did manage to do. Another year dominated by the 'pandemic' and its restrictions.

But for today we had a steady start to the day with breakfast at our hotel before taking a walk out to explore Bournemouth. As this was Ethan's first visit we wanted to show him around a little and headed to the sea front. We took a windy and grey walk along the beach towards Sandbanks for about a mile or so before heading back towards the town centre by way of the West Cliff zig zag path. The path took us from beach level to the top of the overlooking cliffs.

With a good walk completed we headed to our favourite coffee shop for some refreshment before taking Ethan to a small anime and manga shop that we had discovered on our previous trips. 

Next we drove over to Molly and Dans place as Ethan had not yet seen where Molly is now living. Molly and Dan were able to give Ethan the grand tour before we headed back to the hotel.

This afternoon we took another walk into the town centre as Ethan had decided that he wanted to buy a few bits he'd seen earlier. We also decided to grab a late lunch at a Greek restaurant as although we have plans for this evening we didn't know what time we would be eating!

With our appetites filled we headed back to the hotel once more for a little chill out time before heading out for the evening. Time for me to apply some make-up and write this blog.

We are heading out to spend New Years Eve with Molly and Dan at Dan's mum's house. We will be ordering a take-away and I have some sparkly wine to take with us to help see in the new year.

I hope that everyone has a safe and fun new year's eve however you choose to spend it and let's hope that the coming year is a better and brighter one. One in which we can put all of this covid nonsense behind us and get back to living life as we once did; free to do what we want, when we want, with whom we want and with no restrictions or draconian measures forced upon us.

I started writing this diary when the 'pandemic' began and I faced my first day at home on March 19th 2020 little could I have imagined I would still be writing this now! It would be lovely to think that in 2022 I could continue to write this just because I wanted to rather than out of a desire to mark this strange world we find ourselves living in. 

We have had moments this year when things started to feel more normal and it would have been easy to forget that there were still restrictions in place. The constant reporting of cases, the shadow of being identified as a close contact, masks and then no masks and then back to masks, vaccinations and now boosters, travel restrictions and expensive tests to get in and out of the country the list goes on. So while we may have been lulled into a sense of almost normality at some points this year we never got our true normality back. We have continued to live with the cloud of coronavirus and all the fear and doom mongering enjoyed by our press and government. What felt like conspiracy theories in the beginning now feel like reality; ever changing messages and rules that only seem to benefit those in power, the extremely wealthy and big pharma while the rest of us cling onto whatever, and whoever, we can to simply keep ourselves sane.

See you all in 2022!

xx

 

End of 2020

Day 288...New Years Eve...

Well here we are at the end of 2020 and I don't think any of us could have predicted how this year would turn out this time last year.

Today has been another quiet day, especially as we are now in Tier 4! The morning was spent updating my online grocery shops...I like to have two booked in advance...and then getting on top of the laundry and ironing!

Just around lunchtime we took a short walk out over the fields which gave me the opportunity to try out my new wellington boots that had arrived today.

I must admit that I was a bit dubious about getting welly boots as my experience in the past had always been of ill fitting boots that felt like buckets on my feet. But with walking as often as we now do it seemed the sensible approach to take. Simon had bought himself a pair of Hunter boots a few weeks back and was really happy with them so I had tried to get myself a pair but after weeks of trying and never being able to find my size in stock I decided to look elsewhere. 

So these are Lakeland Active Helston boots and they fit me lovely and were cheaper than Hunters! They adjust around the calf of my leg and are made of neoprene so are soft and warm. So our walk out today saw us going over the fields for the first time in a few weeks and so far I am very impressed...feet were warm and dry, boots were comfy and easy to walk in and kept me upright!

This afternoon has seen me catch up on a little TV, make a start on my next jigsaw and Simon has taken over the kitchen table with electronics for his R2D2 build.

As I type this I am about to get ready for this evenings New Year celebrations...there will be no hosting of a party, or going out to celebrate instead it will be a table of food and an evening of board games!

Molly and I have made a trifle of sorts as we have made it with chocolate sponge soaked in a combination of Disarono and Cointreau rather than the usual vanilla sponge and sherry...should be interesting to try! Although we still have cream to add on top...so I'll share photos and a verdict tomorrow!

So as I stop typing to enjoy (not sure that's the right word!) the last few hours of 2020 I notice a lot of people online sharing their 2020 stories and trying to find the positives over the last 12 months. I admire those that can find the positive and don't get me wrong I have my own positives but there was also a lot not to like about 2020...obviously!

We have over the past 12 months embraced the time that we have had together; we have adapted and resolved to 'carry on'; we have dealt with sorting our 'other house'; we have re-discovered the countryside on our doorstep; we had a couple of lovely weekends away at the beginning of the year; we have learnt to appreciate the 'normal' things in life that until now we had taken for granted; Molly and her fella have survived despite everything and are going from strength to strength; small gestures from friends have meant the world, opportunities to see friends have been taken (safely of course) and enjoyed; we have educated ourselves and kept a breadth of all the information out there, from all sources and are becoming more sceptical as the days go on...and on!

But amongst the positivity that we can find we have to also admit that this has been the strangest of years, probably the most worrying for a lot of us, at times depressing, confusing, making us angry and frustrated, plans spoiled, life halted, liberty and freedom stomped on, anxiety levels rising and concern for those around us.

So let's hope that 2021 can bring about some change for the positive, that the powers that be can get their act together and get us out of this mess one way or another and we can all get our lives back to normal so that we can live them to the fullest. We take hope with us into 2021 because what else can we do except hope for things to get better.

I wish you all the happiest and healthiest of New Years, take care whatever you maybe doing.

xx

Out with the old and in with the New!

Here we are nearly at the end of one year and the beginning of another.

The run up to Christmas was a mixture of last minute shopping, present wrapping and catching up with friends. We finally got around to seeing friends Phil & Lauren who we had met for the first time during our visit to WDW this past Summer.  We had met during a WDW Radio Meet of the Month at Blizzard Beach and discovered that we only lived just over an hour away from each other!  It really is a 'small world after all'!

I then spent a few hours chatting with my good friend and podcast co-host Michelle as we recorded our second official podcast for the Disney Dream Girls podcast.  We talked Disney Dining plans and took a tour of the New Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom...go on have a listen :) find us on i-tunes and subscribe for future episodes!

Christmas Eve is a special day in our house as it's our eldest's birthday so to celebrate we had a trip to the local cinema where we divided and conquered...the boys saw the next installment of The Hobbit whilst us girls saw Frozen - which we both loved! Fabulous music, beautiful storytelling and enchanting animation; a winner all round.  We finished the day off with a gigantic chocolate cake!

Christmas Day was a day for family as we all came together to celebrate the season, exchange presents and eat too much food.

Our Boxing Day (for any non-British out there this is what we call the day after Christmas Day, it has its origins in days of old when servants who had to work Christmas Day would be allowed home the following day carrying boxes of gifts)...anyway this Boxing Day we jumped in the car and headed a couple of hours South to see some more friends made through our love of Disney to partake in a BBQ!  Yes that's right a BBQ in the middle of Winter...thankfully the food was brought inside to eat so we all stayed nice and warm. A big thank you to Mark and Tara for providing the hospitality, food, drink and Disney based games :)

The last few days have been a lot quieter and have given us all the time to relax and chill out and enjoy a few days not doing very much at all!  Although Michelle and I did manage to get together to chat all things Disney and prepare for our next podcast, I even had a few lessons in audio editing!

And that brings us to today...New Years Eve...and the end of 2013.  We have an evening planned at my best friends New Years Eve party which should be an evening of fun, laughter, food and drink and I can't think of a better way to see one year out and another year in than spending it with people you love and care about.

I don't know what 2014 will have in store but I do know one thing it will be shared with friends and family who mean the world to me.  So wherever you are I wish you all every happiness for the year ahead, I hope the year is filled with dreams come true and spent with those you love - see you in 2014 and whatever it may bring xx

Disney Memories

So there I was catching up on podcasts and found myself listening to The Minnie Minxes Episode 27 all about Downtown Disney at WDW and heard a passing reference to Pleasure Island...to which all on the show admitted to having never been there whilst it was still open.  This led to Simon and I screaming at our 'generic mp3 player', 'but we have and it was great!'  So here is a little trip down memory lane...

Pleasure Island was the nighttime complex at Downtown Disney and was in operation from 1989 to 2008.  We had our first taste back on our first visit to WDW in 1991...

1991 - leaving our motel, ready for a boogie!

1991 - having a beverage outside 'Mannequins'

The complex was a mix of clubs, restaurants and shops.  The clubs were designed to meet a variety of music tastes as well as comedy and included the infamous and much missed 'Adventurer's Club'.  Back in the early 1990's we were much more interested in the music scene and regrettably never got to experience the Adventurer's Club or the Comedy Warehouse as we were too busy having a 'boogie' ;)  I think Mannequins was probably our favourite place; the revolving dance floor was great fun!!

Leaflet - 1991

Partial inside of leaflet - 1991

Pleasure Island also had the unique feature of celebrating New Years Eve each and every night...

Me & my brother celebrating 'New Years Eve' - 1993

It was a great place to get a bit of 'adult' time and a change of pace from the theme parks. I do miss the club element and some of the more distinctive shops that were there but things change and we have to move with the times...I'm now excited to see how Downtown Disney changes into Disney Springs!

Who remembers the neon Jessica Rabbit?? Where is she now??