Monday 30 April 2012

Dinosaurs Roaming Torquay?

Nigel couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw this dinosaur outside Dinosaur World in Torquay, it was like all his Jurassic dreams come true!
Clash of the Titans
It was also a very opportune opportunity for Darrell to take some completely natural shots for our scrapbook and possibly a calendar for next year.
Torquays Dinosaur World And Nigel duly obliged by running through the whole gamut of his best facial expressions ……
Dinosaur World Torquay
…. nonchalant ….
Dinosaur Wolrd Torquay.
Torquay Dinosaur World
….. stolid….
Dinosuar World in Torquay
…. devil may care …
Dinosaur and Chips Torquay
With all possible poses exhausted Darrell and Nigel called it a day on their Britain's Next Top Model type photo session, which is when Nigel spied this poster outside the chip shop …..
Dinosaur and chips
…. And though both curious and slightly tempted …. Darrell and Nigel decided that on this occasion dining on Dinosaur and Chips was almost  tantamount to cannibalism …… what are they like?

Sunday 29 April 2012

Eyes Down …. Look In

The clubhouse on Darrell and Nigel’s holiday park is small and friendly and so Darrell decided that it would look very rude not to partake in a little bingo in the evening, whilst also enjoying his and Nigel’s usual Vimto and Monster Munch night cap ……
Playing Bingo
But as he hadn’t got a proper bingo dabber and was only a novice, Darrell opted to play with just one book, much as he admired those players who can mark several books at once, Darrell knew his limits and with his concentration and Nigel excitedly “helping him”  one card at a time was certainly enough ……
Bingo.
Needless to say Darrell didn’t get a full house, he was sweating on 22 (two little ducks ….. quack, quack)
Bingo board
But on their way back to their chalet, Darrell and Nigel in buoyant mood, made up their own bingo calls, resulting in much robust merriment …… 35 – car’s in the drive, 42 I need a p***, 84 wet bathroom floor, 53- stung by a bee ….. what are they like?

Saturday 28 April 2012

Darrell Helps Nigel To Learn Stuff …..

beach Huts at Dawlish Warren
Darrell, as promised, phones me after tea each evening to tell me what he and Nigel have been getting up to during there they’re their Sun £9.50 holiday in Dawlish Warren …. and it seems that the beach huts are helping Nigel to learn his colours …….
dawlish Warren beach Huts
….. Darrell runs up and down and then stops outside a hut and Nigel has to guess what colour it is, the game is also providing Darrell with a robust exercise regime to counter act all the candy floss and ice cream!
Teignbridge beach Huts
Anyway, Nigel now knows his reds and yellows, but still has problems with his blues and greens.
Outside Geralds Dawlish Warren
Darrell has also tried to use this poster to explain the correct use of   “their”, “there” and “they’re” to Nigel, but thus far he has only drawn  a quizzical blank expression ……. small steps! Nigel was more interested in the three man dingy, as he calls them!

Friday 27 April 2012

A New Addition To Nigel’s Rigorous 5 A Day Regime ….

Before Darrell and Nigel departed for their Sun £9.50 holiday to Dawlish Warren someone ……. without any thought and due consideration informed Nigel that you can eat seaweed!
beach At Dawlish Warren
I just hope that if Nigel becomes mahoosively bunged up or the reverse,  that aforementioned person feels a strong sense of responsibility and guilt …… Edible seaweed
It seems that after robustly consuming ALL les fruites de la mer that the beach at Dawlish Warren has to offer Nigel’s seaweed of edible choice is bladderwrack, which he says in it’s raw state has a very palatable salty fishy flavour ……………. yewwwwie ……no nom nom!!
Max 6 knots.However, Darrell informs me that there have been certain noticeable consequences to this new addition to Nigel’s rigorous 5 a Day regime ….. to put it as delicately as possible …… Nigel has been bottom burping popping off at a phenomenal rate of knots ……
Max 6 knots
Good grief ….. I fear the worst!

Thursday 26 April 2012

Come Dine With Me at Chalet No.109

Chalet at Hazelwood
Darrell’s and Nigel’s chalet is OK but it has to be said, not as nice as others we have stayed in on past Sun £9.50 holidays, however on the other hand the grounds certainly make up any disappointment in the chalet decor …..
Dawlish Warren Hazelwood
…. as directly in front of the chalet is a lake with fishing allowed and geese, lots of them!
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And so when Darrell and Nigel come in from their days out they both like to sit on the chalet step and wait for the geese to waddle over to them …..Approaching Ducks
….. much to Nigel’s great excitement.
Dawlish Warren Ducks
…. And it is due of this aforementioned excitement that toast has not been on the chalet breakfast menu all week …..
Hungry Ducks in Dawlish Warren
….. because as fast as Darrell has purchased their Warburtons seeded batch, Nigel has fed it to the geese …..
Outside chalet at Hazelwood Holiday park
…. so hot buttered toast and marmite have been replaced by Rice Krispies or Bran Flakes (both of which were rejected by the geese) …. but Darrell mused that seeing Nigel’s little face light up with his love for all creatures great and small more than makes up for a slightly grumbly tummy in the morning!

Wednesday 25 April 2012

All The Fun Of The Fair At Dawlish Warren

Amusements Dawlish Warren
It didn’t take Darrell long to hit the 2p machines at the beach amusements….. he had been robustly saving all his 2p’s in his piggy bank as soon as we started collecting Sun £9.50 holiday tokens especially with his first slot machine “fix” of 2012 in mind!  What is he like?
pEPPA PIG
Fortunately, Darrell’s secret vice pleasure hasn’t rubbed off on Nigel who is more interested in all the rides……
LADY AND THE TRAMP
…… though at first he wasn’t too sure about the carousel, adventurous as Nigel is, when you are that small those horses look rather big …
Carosell Dawlish Warren
…… but Darrell showed him the way …….
Fairground ride dawlish Warren
….. and then it was only the lure of the candy floss that could get him off …… and the promise of hearing what “the Mouth of Truth” had to tell him ………
The mouth of truth
…… Darrell pretended to put in a coin and then put on a creepy yet wise type voice …… saying “Wooo hooo hooo  Nigel …. wooooooo …. my powerful physic senses tell me that you are feeling wearisome from all your fairground activity, me thinks tis time for your bedddddddddddddd and slumber!!”
Tripadvisor
….. and Nigel swallowed went along with it ….. such was the power of the Voice of Truth!
The Mouth of Truth might also have added that the 2p pot that Darrell had secreted about his person as a souvenir was actually stealing ……and thus very, very, wrong and we shall be posting it back upon their return!

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Building Sandcastles On The Beach At Dawlish Warren And A Little Disappointment

Naturally the first thing Nigel wanted to do as soon as he and Darrell touched terra firma in Dawlish Warren was to go to the beach and use his bucket that Dianne in Florida sent him for Easter to make make his first sandcastles of the year.
Building Sandcastles Dawlish Warren
Nothing fancy ….. Nigel doesn’t really have an artistic bent ……
Sandcastles Dawlish Warren
……. just proper honest sandcastles plonked any which way, and Nigel is a happy boy.
Sand Castles at Dawlish Warren
Darrell had to admit to being a little disappointed in the beach, though the sand displayed excellent properties conducive to the making the aforementioned sandcastles it did not, despite several forays over the week, yield an abundance of holey stones ……
holey Stone Dawlish Warren
…… in fact it yielded only one, which, though a little let down, Darrell mused must make this holey stone extra specially special!

Monday 23 April 2012

A Spooky Holiday Booking Coincidence!

How spooky, in a Derek Acorah type way, that Lucy, our new temporary boss, just happens to be staying at Dawlish Sands directly across the road from Hazelwood where Darrell and Nigel are staying ….. at exactly the same time ….
Dawlish Sands
All three are slightly unsure of the protocol involved when/if bumping into your boss/colleagues in a holiday type situation, so it has been decided best that they all keep their heads down and wear disguises if necessary …..!! However, as Lucy is more likely to frequent the watering holes of Exeter during the evenings thus rendering her incapable of spending many daylight hours on the beach due to her need for recovery, it was felt that any chance meeting would be minimal!

Dawlish Warren Bound

As I was on call for any emergency rush photocopying at school during the Easter holidays, it was decided that Darrell and Nigel should go on our first Sun £9.50 holiday of 2012 and head robustly in the direction of Dawlish Warren…..
Bucket and spade holiday
….. and one of the first things to be packed was Nigel’s bucket from Dianne …
Bucket and Spades akimbo
There was NO way he was leaving it behind.
Back seat map readers
I made sure that they were belted and safe in the back of the car, where Andy had put Darrell in charge of navigation …….!!!
Farewell
As I waved them off I imagined the mayhem adventures that lay ahead of them (and the peace, calm and tranquillity that lay ahead of me…..!) and hoped that Nigel’s travel sickness wouldn’t present too many problems of a frequent stopping type nature on their journey!

Sunday 22 April 2012

Tight Lines?

We are very fortunate as the grounds of the school where we work doing rush photocopying and laminating are very beautiful and Darrell and Nigel are oft to be found there wandering and musing during their breaks now the weather is improving …..
Wolverhampton Girls High
Recently I have heard them discussing the possibility of there being any fish in the lake pond…
Thoughts of Fishing …… and if there are, whether Andy would lend them a couple of his rods and reels for a bit of rod dangling after work ….
Wolverhampton Girls high ducks
But there are defiantly a couple of ducks living there (with a tennis ball, probably from a rogue and robust shot from the tennis courts) ….
Feeding the ducks
….. so Nigel is planning on saving the crusts from his sandwiches and taking them down to feed the aforementioned ducks next time he is on photocopying duty.

Saturday 21 April 2012

We’ve Got A Nest!

Nesting Birds in old fishing net
Darrell spotted it first ….. he said that he “thought” he had seen a tiny brown bird going in and out of our old fashion fishing basket we have hanging in the back garden …….
Bird Hide.
…. but wasn’t sure…..
Bird Hide
So he made a makeshift bird hide on the porch and sat for several hours  with a flask of tea and …… watching ….
Birdspotting
….. and his patience was indeed rewarded and we do indeed have a pair of yet undiagnosed unidentified birds living in our aforementioned fishing basket!  How totes birdtastic of a nesting nature is that?
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Naturally, Darrell is now very protective of “his” fledgling family…….
wicker fishing net
….. and has told a very excited Nigel in no uncertain terms that poking is totally unacceptable, but, if he is good, he can be in charge of putting the bird seed out each day…
Nest in old fishing basket
….. a task he has embraced, and now endeavours to tip toe and whisper within the nests vicinity, bless him.
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Spring is a very wonderful time, and we are honoured that the birds have come to nest with us. They have chosen a very safe spot to have their babies ….. no nasty cats will ever find them there!