On Saturday night Vicky and I went into Chester to have a look round the Christmas Market... Mulled Wine, Roast Chestnuts, A big Wheel... Lovely. There was even an ice rink but I didn't have my skates with me...
On Saturday I spend the day as a Living Book at Fleetwood library in Lancashire. Over the last few years I have visited loads of libraries in England, Wales and Scotland and have talked to thousands of people - sharing stories and talking about books and writing... but being a living book was a little different.
There were a few Living Books available in the Library on Saturday... the idea being that each Living Book (or person) was someone that had an interesting or unusual job, hobby, knowledge or personal experience that they could share with others. Members of the public then came along and made a reservation so they could spend a little time with the book of their choice. I was kept busy throughout the course of the day and spent time with people of all ages... including keen young readers that were interested in books and reading, older people that were interested on writing books for children and even a primary school teacher that had called into the library to return one of my books that she had been reading to her class.
Just had an exciting start to the day by chatting on BBC Radio Lancashire about the importance of libraries. I hope I managed to say something that made sense and that I didn't just waffle on. It's always the case that you think of other things to say when it's too late though...
I've been struggling to keep up with my blog and just about everything else for a while but I think I'm finally catching up... so here's a little update on what I've been up to over the last few days or so.
On Wednesday morning I drove to Blackpool with Vicky and Connor, met up with Deanna and then had a great day acting like tourists in town. We had planned to spend the day at Blackpool Tower and the Tower Circus, however, as it was half term the tower was incredibly buy so instead, we walked along the promenade and onto Central Pier where we clambered aboard the big wheel. The wheel has been on the pier for a good few years now but I'd never ridden on it before. Definitely worth a go round if you visit the town. 
After the Big Wheel, we spent a couple of hours in the Waxworks - including the Chamber of Horrors. This is Connor with Del Boy and Rodney (dressed as Batman and Robin from an episode of Only Fools and Horses). There was a whole section of the waxworks set aside for James Bond... I thought this one of Daniel Craig was particularly good. The chamber of horrors was pretty good too as it had a few live actors wandering around to give people the creeps.
We called in a a noodle bar for some lunch, visited my mum and then went to pick Laura up from the Sandcastle Waterpark. We were planning on driving through the illuminations but the traffic was horrendous and it would have taken us hours... so we decided to park the car, get some chips and have a little walk through them. We were all ready with our chips when it started to pour with rain so we made a dash back to the car..... soaking wet. Despite a few changes of plan through out the day we all had a great time.
On Thursday we went to Snugburys, near Nantwich, for some of their delicious ice cream and to have a look at their latest straw sculpture... this year, a giant meerkat. Take a look at their website and you'll see some of the other sculptures they've made.
On Friday I met up with Laura and we drove to Lincoln so that we could visit the university on Saturday morning for their open day. Laura is planning to go to university next year and study graphics... so far, Lincoln looks the best.
Tomorrow I'm off up to the North East of England to visit Newton Aycliffe Library in County Durham... Here's a big HELLO to everyone that's coming along to the sessions there.
Tomorrow I'm visiting St Joseph the Worker RC Primary School in Salford, Manchester... so here's a big hello to everyone there. 
This has been a busy week, visiting schools around the area and driving here and there, so it was nice to have some free time on Friday and Saturday. 
Pizza!!! Yum !!!
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Luke Bennett and everyone at St Michael's Primary School in Lichfield...
Had a lovely time yesterday with Vicky and Connor at the Southport Airshow, where even the rather damp weather couldn't spoil the day. I've seen the Blackpool Airshow a few times and always imagined Southport's to be pretty much the same, however, it's much bigger and stretches over two days, with things going on all through the day over the weekend. 
aeroplanes and display stands, watched the West Lancashire Dog Display team in action, a parachute team, and of course the amazing Red Arrows. 
After a bit of lunch and a wander round the shops we made out way back to the car at tea time and there were still planes thundering overhead beneath the dark clouds. Just found out that today's airshow has been cancelled due to severe weather through the night which has caused flooding... we certainly went at the right time.
This morning I'm in the house writing, and this afternoon I've got a shed roof to fix, a bit of rollerblading with Rachel to keep fit and then another walk this evening with Deanna. Hopefully the sun will keep shining and make all this possible.