Sunday 31 October 2010

What's Been Going On?

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.

Early on Tuesday morning I drove up to the North East of England to visit Newton Aycliffe library. I was a little worried at first because when I arrived at the library all I found was a large pile of rubble. It seemed that the old library had been knocked down that very morning... fortunately, all of the books, computers and librarians had moved out a little while ago and were now housed in a temporary library a short distance away, so all was not lost. I spent and hour or so talking to a group of keen young readers 8+ in the morning and then met a big group of younger readers and book lovers in the afternoon. After the library sessions I drove back down to North Wales and had pizza for tea... Yum!!!

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.


Monday 25 October 2010

Robots In The Library

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.

Today I'm busy catching up on lots of bits and pieces and also getting down to some writing. I've not written very much over the last few months and I'm eager to get going. My head feels as though it is packed with ideas and stories and they need to get out and on to the page...

Wednesday 20 October 2010

St Joseph the Worker

Tomorrow I'm visiting St Joseph the Worker RC Primary School in Salford, Manchester... so here's a big hello to everyone there.

Earlier this week I was at St Mary's RC Primary School in Middlewich, Cheshire, for a couple of days and had a great time.

Last night I met up with Rachel, my eldest daughter, who celebrated her 20th birthday on Monday. Rachel is at Lancaster University studying fine art... We had a meal at the Plough in Galgate, had a couple of games of pool, then wandered around the university campus chatting for a while. A really good night.

Today I've been busy helping my brother in his kitchen... he's busy redoing the floor so I was giving him a hand. I'll add some pictures to this diary entry very soon... but my phone is playing up at the moment and doesn't want to talk to my lap top... very annoying.

Sunday 17 October 2010

Hello to...

St Mary's RC Primary School in Middlewich, Cheshire where I'll be on Monday and Tuesday of this week, and a big hello to everyone at St Joseph The Worker RC Primary School in Salford... see you on Thursday.

Today I've been at the University of Staffordshire, in Stoke, with Laura and her friend for the open day. Laura is still making up her mind about which University she wants to go to next year.

Think I'll be having an early night tonight.

Sunday 10 October 2010

Ten Pin Bowling

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.

On Saturday I had a great time with Vicky and Connor... We went round the shops then went Ten Pin Bowling together. I haven't been ten pin bowling for ages so it took me a while to get the hang of it again. We had three games and had loads of fun. We even had time for a game of pool before dinner...

Pizza!!! Yum !!!

Thank you both for a lovely day...

Next week I'm visiting Burton On Trent Library - so here's a BIG HELLO to everyone that's coming along to the sessions there - then later in the week I'm at Sandiway Primary School in Northwich - HELLO to you tooCheck Spelling.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

A Big Hello To

Luke Bennett and everyone at St Michael's Primary School in Lichfield...

I hope you're all having a fun book week.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Book Week

It's been a busy few days with school visits and spending time with family and friends... and it's not going to slow down for a while either... today, Rachel moved back to Uni. (Why is it that the lift only stops working when we have to empty the car and carry loads of boxes up to the fourth floor grrrrrr)

This week I'm out and about again... so for a start, here's a big hello to everyone at Westfield Community Primary School, Boarshaw Primary School, and Audenshaw Primary School.