Mendip goes home for Christmas!

[hallelujah]

ZZ Top in the house!

[Mendip]

England is grim in winter. And Terry saying it's all about being at home has never spent boxing day with the extended family!

Doing well to last until Boxing Day!

It's raining again today, we're all crammed in me mum's house together with one sister and family... second sister is coming today with her family.

I'm driving every day, trying to keep everyone happy, shopping... and my old mum has mentioned my weight just one time too many!

Love them all, but could really do with a day off, sitting in my Korat garden with the dogs, a few bottles of Leo and a couple of Ya Dong chasers!

Bah humbug.

It's not yet midday and I'm having a sneaky cider in the garage and have just had a huge nip of Jura, that is supposed to last until Christmas Eve for santa...

[Dragonfly]

what is Boxing day, I am hearing a lot that term in England, wtf is that???

[Mendip]

December 26th, day after Christmas Day! And according to Wikipedia...


Boxing Day got its name when Queen Victoria was on the throne in the 1800s and has nothing to do with the sport of boxing.


The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor.


Boxing Day was traditionally a day off for servants, and the day when they received a special Christmas box from their masters.


The servants would also go home on Boxing Day to give Christmas boxes to their families.

[taxexile]

ZZ Top in the house!

more like hawkwind or uriah heep i would say.

[hallelujah]

December 26th, day after Christmas Day! And according to Wikipedia...


Boxing Day got its name when Queen Victoria was on the throne in the 1800s and has nothing to do with the sport of boxing.


The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor.


Boxing Day was traditionally a day off for servants, and the day when they received a special Christmas box from their masters.


The servants would also go home on Boxing Day to give Christmas boxes to their families.

For me, the best day over Christmas when you're an adult. All the pubs are open, loads of sport on the telly and plenty of parties to go to in the evening.

Love Boxing Day.

[Mendip]

^ I was hoping to watch Bristol City on Boxing Day, but they're away to Charlton so it won't be happening. To be honest the way the weather is maybe that's a good thing.

Today my plan was to take it easy and watch 'Jingle All the Way' with my daughter, to get all Christmassy... but it didn't happen. We needed a big food shop for Christmas Day, my sister wasn't looking like helping and no way I'd let me 84 year-old mum do it. So, movie cancelled, it was off to Weston-Super-Mare to go to Tesco. I guess December 23rd probably isn't quite so bad as Christmas Eve for supermarket shopping, but it wasn't much fun. But at least the sun was out - first day since we arrived it wasn't raining!

The kindest thing I can really say about Weston-Super-Mare is that it's a complete shit hole. It had its hey day as a seaside resort back in Victorian times, but has gradually declined ever since. This decline has been exacerbated by government policy of opening drug rehab centres at seaside resorts to take addicts from inner city London, Birmingham, Manchester and the likes, to get them away from their comfort zone and wean them off the drugs. Unfortunately these centres have a 90% drop-out rate, and the drop-outs decide to stay in Weston rather than go back to the inner city. The upshot is a town full of alkies, druggies and beggars. Welcome to Weston!

However... on the upside, John Cleese came from Weston-Super-Mare! But this is more than outweighed by Weston also producing Jeffrey Archer.

Since I last visited, this piece of modern art has been installed. You have to wonder why they bother... unless you can drink it, smoke it or inject it, the locals really aren't interested.



Weston high street, busy with Christmas shoppers.



There is little more depressing than an aging seaside resort in the winter time... the slotties...



A rank of closed up summer tourist shops, bedsits above.



Hey, hang on... what was that shop on the right... bladdy hell... he gets everywhere!



And of course... the Grand Pier in all it's glory!



Around 40 years ago, me and a few mates would get the bus into Weston-Super-Mare for a summer's day out. We used to wait until the tide was out and wade about in the mud under the pier looking for coins that had dropped down between the floorboards above. A good day could bring in 20p to 30p which would cover the bus fare and maybe get a fish and chips to boot!



Not many punters on the pier today, just a couple of jackdaws. Luckily the family didn't fancy going out on the pier.

[Mendip]

Another pic of the pier from the side. A Victorian masterpiece!

And my first compliment for Weston - the beach certainly had a hell of a lot less litter than the last beach I was on... in Rayong.



And a pic of the beach and the Severn Estuary. Two islands, Steep Holm on the left and Flat Holm on the right.



You may be wondering where the sea is... the Severn Estuary has the second largest tidal range in the world and 15 metres is common. Today it was 11 metres, but with a flat beach such as Weston, when the tide is out the sea disappears. You can just see the waterline with breaking waves about a kilometre away.



A problem with such a large tidal range across a flat beach is that Brummie tourists are constantly getting cut off by the incoming tide and needing rescuing. They seem to stop at the first place with a beach when heading south on the M5 from Brum - if they just carried on another 45 minutes to North Devon they could holiday somewhere nice.

Another pic showing the Victorian architecture along the north side of Weston Beach. Must have been nice 130 years ago.



A short walk along the seafront and we found this little kiosk... a bit optimistic on a chilly winter day I thought. What mugs would buy anything here???



Aah...



I'd had enough by now, so back to the car and Tesco...

Walking back, we passed Legends, Weston's 'Premier' nightclub... fancy a night out? Makes you wonder what the down-market clubs are like.



After a night out at Legends, how about a night at the Sandringham Hotel? Lovely sea views... with binoculars!



And on the way to Tesco, a photo that summed up Weston for me today. Even the street sweeper had given up! My daughter had just fed these seagulls her pot of stale popcorn from that shitty seafront kiosk.



And a final view of the art installation. Closed-up shops with bedsits above are the norm.



A high point for me... by this time I was busting for a piss. My wife says that the shop on the corner has a toilet! Had to laugh!

Bladdy shop was closed-up, anyway.



I don't want to sound snobby, but the trip to Weston just left me down. I know some people don't have choices, but I couldn't live there. Somerset countryside is beautiful but some of the towns really are depressing and awful.

Anyway, shopping done, out of Weston, I decided to stop for a quick pint on the way home.

The Whistling Duck in Banwell... bugger. At least it was The Whistling Duck a few years ago... this didn't improve my melancholy...



So, a pint at the Stag and Hounds it was. Used to be a good pub, but now a cheap (but successful) two for one eatery. Not my idea of a good pub, but I wanted an easy pint.



Just as my mood was improving, I looked across the road from the Stag. This used to be open fields when I were a lad...



It's all changing... bah humbug.

[Dillinger]

They seem to stop at the first place with a beach when heading south on the M5 from Brum - if they just carried on another 45 minutes to North Devon they could holiday somewhere nice.

Like where? That other shithole Breen Sands?

[Mendip]

^ They all get their cars stuck at Brean Sands. But it's nicer than Weston. They need to carry on a bit further!

Many years ago I was with a mate digging lugworms on Brean Sands while the tide was out, so we could do some cod fishing as the tide came in. A Brummie family came up and asked what we were doing.

"Digging worms"

"Why you doing that?"

"We eat them"

"Reeeaaaally? What do they taste like...?

etc etc... ha ha, it was too easy!

[Dillinger]

Quite believable. They all sound like a bunch of farmers down there

[Mendip]

Shouldn't go on first impressions! Still enjoying your curry?

[NamPikToot]

Nice Mendip. I'm not seeing Fish & Chips.

My abiding memory of Weston was actually Sand Bay and i can remember nothing more than it was 1976 and we came back to get the car but couldn't immediately find it which was odd given it was a bright yellow escort mk2 RS2000. We did find it eventually but it had changed colour. It was the year of the hot summer we had ladybird swarms. They really liked the yellow, the whole car, every inch was covered in them...a very weird thing and never went back since.

[Neverna]

As a nipper, I went on hoilday to Butlins at Weston Super Mare. I don't have any fond memories of it.

[Mendip]

^^ I used to stay a few miles from Sand Bay - I bought a house in the mid 90s and the rules were if it was your residence for 6 months you wouldn't be liable for capi8tal gains when you sold. During that time I often walked a mate's collie to the beach and had a pint in the Long John Silver, a decent pub you could take the dog in... but long closed sadly.

Inland from Sand Bay is now a mass of new housing - I think at one point Worle had the dubious distinction of being the fastest growing housing estate in Europe.

Oh, and don't worry... fish and chips are on the list. I'm getting so spoiled by my mum's cooking it's hard to fit in any extra-curricular meals!

[Mendip]

As a nipper, I went on hoilday to Butlins at Weston Super Mare. I don't have any fond memories of it.

I think the Butlins would have been down the coast a bit at Minehead. I've always fancied a couple of nights at a Butlins to see what it's like, but it's fairly low down the list tbh!

[Dragonfly]

thanks for the pics, very useful, so we never have to go there EVER !!!

[Neverna]

I think the Butlins would have been down the coast a bit at Minehead.

Yes, you are probably right. Perhaps they share the same tidal feature and that was what confounded my memories.

[Chittychangchang]

Butlins is at Minehead and Pontins at Brean Sands.
Great value kids holidays,although an endurance test for the parents.
I think you can get a day pass for a fiver Mendip if you want the holiday camp experience, the daughter will love it.
Loads of entertainment going on all day.

[Dillinger]

Perhaps they share the same tidal feature and that was what confounded my memories.

Yep. They both have long long sandy stretches or is it mud flats. Minehead absolutely stinks of something funny though

[Dillinger]

Ahh.... its the sewage plant


From September this year...

Butlin's Minehead (Image: Somerset Live)
Guests at the Butlin's Minehead resort have been told to stay inside after potential toxic gas was released in the area.

Residents have been told to keep their doors and windows closed following a chemical reaction at the Minehead Sewage Treatment Works site earlier today.

Trains in the area have been stopped because of what the fire service have described as a 'chemical cloud'.

Eight fire engines have been sent to the area, which is near the holiday resort, with police asking guests to stay indoors.

[Neverna]

Toxic gas is Somerset slang for rough cider farts .... allegedly.

[Mendip]

Yep. They both have long long sandy stretches or is it mud flats. Minehead absolutely stinks of something funny though

I feel that you're painting Somerset in a bad light!

To be fair though, Bridgewater absolutely stank for years until they closed down the cellophane factory.

Round our way we get the smell of the mushroom farm when the wind's in the right (or wrong) direction. I like that earthy manure smell though so it's no problem for me!

[thaiguzzi]

Mendip's great posts and pics #157 & #158,
told ya so.....
the word "depressing" kept popping up...
Not just WSM, pretty much SOP for the vast majority of the UK's towns, with a few rare exceptions.
The place is fucked, i would not want to bring my kids up there, "better education" - not neccessarily so, and lifestyle? Get fucked.
Fine if you can find the right town and village in some nice countryside and are wedged up, but otherwise, no way.
It's the open space and land i live on that i would miss, not counting healthier weather and the complete freedom from The Nanny State not intruding on my life.
Expats say they are leaving Thailand because of once a year Immigration hassles - i think they are stark raving mad.
HNY Mendip.

ps, WSM - went there only once on a M/C club run day out in the late 90's.
Northampton down to WSM at 100 mph in a tight pack, all traffic rules ignored, several bevvies on the seafront, and a ride back via South Wales getting split up, and getting lost on the way and taking several hours more.
Great day out (but, er families and family stuff was not involved...).

[Mendip]

Toxic gas is Somerset slang for rough cider farts .... allegedly.

Minehead sewage works has nothing on my scrumpy farts unfortunately... just ask the wife and nipper!