Tomorrow, I leave for London on what is set to be a truly fantastic trip, visiting several different theme parks in France and Germany. However, this morning, something else is occupying my mind, and I'm struggling to shake it off. Today marks twenty-five years since the Hillsborough disaster, which saw ninety-six innocent Liverpool fans lose their lives. I should hope that you've all heard of this by now, especially given that fresh inquests are currently taking place in Warrington. If you haven't, then I'm frankly surprised, but here's a short explanation of what happened. The FA Cup Semi-Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was due to take place at Hillsborough in Sheffield, home to Sheffield Wednesday, on the 15th of April 1989. (The clubs had met at the same stage the previous year at Hillsborough as well, and crushing had been reported then.) The Liverpool fans were allocated the Leppings Lane End of the stadium as one of their areas, along with the North Stand. Nottingham Forest had the South and East Stands. This was considered to be controversial, as Liverpool had more fans wanting to attend, yet were given less capacity inside the stadium. However, this was apparently to segregate fans upon arrival and reduce the risk of hooliganism, which was problematic in the 1980s. The Leppings Lane End was a terraced area for fans, and had fences between the ground level and the pitch itself in order to prevent pitch invasions. It was also divided into different pens. Shortly before the game began, there were still an estimated 5,000 Liverpool fans outside the stadium trying to get in, and the decision was made to open one of the exit gates in order to speed this up. The fans rushed in, but a catastrophic mistake could have been prevented. The fans were not diverted into any of the other pens - they went down a narrow tunnel into the two central ones, creating a mass crush. The BBC conjectured that if the fans had been diverted into other pens, the disaster could have been prevented. The game had started at 3pm as planned, but was called off and abandoned just six minutes afterwards following a recommendation to the referee by the police. At this point, fans were trying to spill onto the pitch in order to escape the deadly crush, but the police were trying to stop them from doing so. The fences in front of the Leppings Lane End were torn down, and from then on, the scale of the disaster became clear. People were laid on the pitch to receive medical assistance. Advertising hoardings were torn down to be used as makeshift stretchers. People were pulled to safety by other fans in the West Stand, which was above the Leppings Lane End. Ninety-five people died on that day, with one other fan (Tony Bland) being kept on life support until a landmark ruling from the House of Lords in 1993 that his treatment could be withdrawn, despite the knowledge that he would die as a result of this. Of the fans who died, only fourteen made it to hospital. Forty-four ambulances made it to the ground, but only one was allowed inside. There was a police cordon across the pitch to prevent fans from mixing in the aftermath. Some Liverpool fans tried to break this cordon in order to get the injured to ambulances outside the stadium, but they were forcibly turned back by the cordon. And the whole thing unfolded live on the BBC, who were there filming for Match of the Day, and the events were shown on Grandstand. The majority of the victims were under the age of thirty. The youngest was Jon-Paul Gilhooley, who was just ten years old. He was the cousin of Liverpool's current captain, Steven Gerrard, who was only eight when this disaster happened. Initial inquests into the disaster came back with the verdict that at 3:15pm that afternoon, those who died could not have been saved. This was hotly disputed by the families of those who died, and an independent panel was set up to investigate what had gone on. The panel published its findings in 2012, and these were that Liverpool's fans were in no way to blame for what had happened. Rather, it was the fault of the police for failing to control matters that led to the two central pens being overcrowded and the deaths of the ninety-six. It was also noted that forty-one of those fans could have been saved if the response from the emergency services had been better. Many witness statements from police officers at the game had been altered, with negative comments about South Yorkshire Police removed. In the High Court, the original inquest verdicts were quashed by Lord Judge, and fresh inquests were ordered, which is where we are now. The Taylor Report into the disaster recommended that major stadiums be converted to all-seated by August 1994 in order to prevent such a disaster from happening again. It's true that no such disaster has happened since this fateful day in 1989, but I'd argue that it's not just because of this move. Lessons have been learned from Hillsborough when it comes to crowd control at football matches. I understand that there may well have been some issues since then with regard to crowd control, but nowhere near the scale of the problem at Hillsborough. Also, the Taylor Report recommended that each fan admitted to a stadium be given a designated seat. The one thing which disgusts me most of all about the whole thing is the conduct of the police. It's clear to me that if they'd done their jobs properly, and if they'd diverted fans into alternative pens on the Leppings Lane End Terrace, then these deaths could have been prevented. It's also noteworthy that a couple of years previously, another FA Cup Semi-Final at Hillsborough was delayed in order to allow fans to enter the ground safely. This request was made in 1989 by a police officer, but was denied. It could be argued that if this request had been granted, then deaths and injuries could have been prevented, although the two central pens were allegedly overcrowded before the decision to open the exit gate was made. Another recommendation was the removal of fences to avoid fans being crushed again. It's frankly shocking that such a disaster was allowed to happen, and I sincerely hope that it never happens again. There's another thing which was appalling. The Sun ran a front cover four days after the disaster with the headline 'The Truth', which alleged that fans had been pickpocketing victims, urinating on police officers, and also that some fans had beaten up a police officer trying to give a victim the kiss of life. These allegations were unfounded, and Kelvin Mackenzie, the editor at the time, has not offered a true apology for this. As a result of this headline, many Liverpool fans refuse to buy The Sun, and numerous newsagents across the city refuse to stock the paper. I'm not a fan of Liverpool, but I fully support the thousands of people who refuse to buy the paper on these grounds. Liverpool fans have adopted 'You'll Never Walk Alone', a song from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical 'Carousel', as their anthem, and it has effectively become the club's motto, appearing on their crest. It's also present on the Shankly Gates into the stadium, erected in 1982 in honour of the club's former manager Bill Shankly. This is a message for the fans of Liverpool FC, and particularly the families of those who died and have been fighting for justice ever since. You'll never walk alone in this. You've got the support of thousands of people in your quest to seek justice. You should not have had to wait this long until the truth started to come out. Even when the Hillsborough Independent Panel was set up in 2009, we didn't know the full story of what happened. Twenty-five years is an awfully long time to fight for the real truth, and I salute your tireless efforts to unravel the truth as to what happened. People you loved died on that day, but it is thanks to your efforts that they will never be forgotten. I don't know many people who have shared their experiences of what happened on that day, but I just spoke with my Dad. He got married to Mum three weeks before the disaster. They were in a shop looking at TVs in (I'm assuming) the Harrogate area, and it was there when they realised the sheer horror of what was going on. Dad even remembers the exact shop they were in when they discovered what was happening. I can't imagine what they were feeling. There's one thing I love about football, which is that in moments of tragedy, fans often disregard their loyalty to their clubs and support those affected by the disaster. As a side note to this, I remember seeing a video on YouTube of a Manchester derby close to the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, in which several Manchester United players were killed, along with others. In this particular video, scarves had been laid out on seats at Old Trafford in the appropriate team colours, and they were held up by fans during the minute of silence before the game kicked off. I was stunned by the way in which the City fans respected this silence - it was almost haunting. I know that this particular incident isn't directly linked to Hillsborough, but the same principle applies. I know so many fans of football who are recognising the Hillsborough disaster today, and who are also wanting justice for the families of the ninety-six fans who died.
I'm going to end this blog post with a song. It was recorded in 2012 by a collaboration of singers and footballers, with the aim of gaining the coveted Christmas Number 1 slot. It achieved this, and it was fully deserved. It's a cover of 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother' by The Hollies, originally released in 1969. This song is dedicated to those who died, and the families of those who died in their fight for justice. You'll never walk alone.
I think it's time for another one of these - it's been too long since I did a blog post.
When I last published one over a year ago, I was coming to the end of my second year of university, and was looking forward to my final year in Exeter. But oh, how things have changed since then. Perhaps the most important of these is the fact that I've left university. Yes, I know you may be shocked, but at least let me explain. I felt that my exams had gone well, but when I got my results, they weren't what I was expecting them to be, and I was asked to do retakes for some modules. After talking to my parents and lecturers, I decided that the best option would be for me to leave university and try something different. My main reasoning for this was that if I failed the retakes, I'd probably have to redo the second year, which would not have been ideal on a new university campus (the University of Exeter were moving the Law department based in Cornwall and merging it with the main one in Exeter), and seeing friends I'd made in Cornwall on their third year while I was stuck in the second again would have been very difficult for me. Also, if I'd passed, then I honestly don't think I would've survived the third year. Then there was the fact that the retakes were due to take place the week before I was moving to Staffordshire. It was a difficult decision to make, but I feel I've made the right one, as shall be further explained.
After spending nine years in St Dennis in Cornwall, my parents felt it was time to move on somewhere else, and I agreed that this was the right thing to do. I'd got to the stage where living in Cornwall was becoming more of a pain than a pleasure. Don't get me wrong, I love the county - it's probably the most beautiful place I've ever lived in, especially the five years I lived in St Ives in the west of the county. It was a real pain to get anywhere on public transport, which I particularly noticed when I was at university. From Penryn (the closest station to my university), it could take about five hours to get to London, including a necessary change at Truro, and occasionally another one at Plymouth, which was a pain in the backside. I also did some journeys to Birmingham, which involved changing at Plymouth, Exeter St Davids or Taunton (an incident happened involving the first and third of those stations which I'll be writing about later in this post), and they were lengthy - about three-and-a-half hours from Plymouth. Anyway, back to the move. The first possible move was to Doncaster in South Yorkshire. The four of us (me, Mum, Dad and my brother Peter) travelled up there to have a look around, and we were impressed with it. I would've said yes to moving there, and I think that at the time, my family would've said yes as well. However, we were in for a shock, as that move fell through. I was looking forward to moving there, and I know that a friend of mine would've as well, as she lives only 20 minutes from what could have potentially been my new house. Still, the process went on, and our next possibility was Teignmouth in Devon. I wasn't terribly happy with this, and my concerns were realised when I visited the area with my parents (Peter chose to go to college, as he didn't want to take time off for it). It just didn't feel right, and it just seemed too similar to the last couple of places we'd lived in. We were asked to move there, but turned it down.
And then in January of last year, the third possibility came up - Biddulph, in Staffordshire. I have a confession to make here. Once I got the details of this possible appointment, the very first thing I did was check how far the house was from Alton Towers, and I was thrilled when I found out that it was less than an hour between the two places. When I was living in Cornwall, it was at least six hours in each direction, and often necessitated an overnight stay before and after going, so to be living this close looked to be a massive bonus. The visit over one day, but we had a night either side in a Travelodge to make it less stressful. It went well, and the day after the visit, we went back down to Cornwall via a short stop at my grandparents' house in Devon. I was dropped off at the station in St Austell, but I asked that my parents stayed until my train had left, and if it were delayed, I was going to go back home with them and return to uni the following day. I got back to my accommodation (which was, rather conveniently, at Penryn station itself), and sat in my room for ages, awaiting a Skype call from Dad with an answer as to whether or not we would be moving to Staffordshire. It felt like ages, and was an extremely unnerving time, but it was probably less than an hour. When I heard the incoming call tone from Skype, I immediately saw it was Dad, and answered. We had been asked to move to Staffordshire, and my parents had accepted. I was not at all surprised that they'd accepted, as it seemed like a much better appointment than Teignmouth, and possibly better than the one in Doncaster. I'll tell you one thing, though. I was so stressed by the whole thing that if we didn't end up moving to Biddulph, I honestly think I would've ended up having to leave uni a lot earlier than I did, so to learn that I would be moving to Staffordshire was such a massive relief. I actually recall saying to Dad over Skype that I was glad the whole thing was finally over!
About a month after my last blog post, I went to PortAventura in Spain for a few days with some friends, and really enjoyed it. It was a worthwhile holiday, although given that I had uni exams a couple of weeks after the holiday, I probably shouldn't have gone. Still, it was a good way to recharge my batteries for a bit, even if travel there and back was provided by my least favourite airline - Ryanair. The weekend after my exams had finished, I went to Birmingham for a Eurovision party at the house where some friends of mine live, and that was fantastic. The off-licence on the other side of the road stayed open longer than it normally would just for this party, the amount of smoke pumped out of the machine could be seen from the other side of the road when the back doors had been opened to vent the room, and the lighting rig was mad - some of the lights were provided by a friend who used to do lighting for the BBC!
The following weekend was just as epic. I've been a fan of Muse for several years, and when new tour dates were announced for May 2013, I knew I had to get a ticket and go. It was at the Emirates instead of the usual London stadium choice of Wembley, but given that the Champions League final was at Wembley that same weekend, it made sense to go to the Emirates, as that was probably the next-best choice available in London aside from the Olympic Stadium, which was still undergoing changes from after the Olympics at that time. I was on my feet for four hours, as I'd booked a standing ticket, but the whole thing was fantastic from start to finish. Even Dizzee Rascal, one of the support acts, was good - I'd thought that booking him was a bad move, but he proved me wrong. And Muse? They were superb. It was absolutely worth the wait. The set list was almost perfect (I would've changed one or two things), and I'm desperate to see them again when I next get the chance. Oh, and I also visited the M&M Store in Leicester Square, which is fantastic. You can get Pic 'n' Mix M&Ms in different flavours and colours, with so many of the colours being ones which aren't easily available on the high street. It was expensive, but so worth it. As well as that, I did something I'd been meaning to do for a long time - travel the whole length of a line on the London Underground. Admittedly, it was only the Waterloo & City line - the shortest one on the system, at only two stops - but I didn't care.
A couple of weeks later, I was back in London again to visit Chessington and Thorpe Park. This was a last-minute decision, by which I mean I booked my train tickets on the Wednesday and left on the Friday morning, arriving (unsurprisingly) later than scheduled into Paddington on the Friday afternoon. Still, I had time for a quick run through Madame Tussauds, but I was further delayed before going into the 4D thing, which I felt was just a pointless addition. After finally getting out, I took the Tube to Holborn to meet Mike after he finished work, before taking a combination of buses, the Tube and the Heathrow Express to get to Heathrow, which is where our hotel was near for the next couple of nights. During that journey, I discovered hell. It's called the Central line between Bond Street and Holborn during rush hour on a Friday. After having some food in Terminal 5 (The Five Tuns does fantastic toasted bacon sandwiches, by the way), we then went to have a play around on the pods used to get people from the car parks to Terminal 5. It's all controlled by touch screens and guide channels. It's very bizarre, but so cool at the same time. Chessington was visited on the Saturday, and I was impressed. It's not a bad park, and it has some good rides, but there's a lot that needs to be done to make the place better. Thorpe followed on the Sunday, and wasn't too bad either, although we left after lunch and went to Legoland, as we'd done everything we wanted to at Thorpe. This was to be a mistake for me. I ended up bailing at Legoland to get the bus into Windsor and then catch a couple of trains to get to Reading and then on my train back home from there, instead of my original plan, which was to get a train from Staines to Reading. I was standing at the bus stop and checked train times from Windsor to Reading, and it dawned on me that I wouldn't be able to get back to Penryn that night. That sent me into frantic planning mode, and I managed to crash at a friend's place for the night, which I'm very grateful for. I had to spend another £50 on another train ticket the following day, but it was my stupid fault for not paying enough attention to the time!
Several weeks later, I then went abroad for the third time in less than twelve months, visiting Saint-Nazaire for a few days, but that was preceded by a few days in Germany, which saw me return to Europa-Park for three of those days. It was so good to return there, and take people who'd never been there around the place. Two of the days there were spent with Peter, including the only day of the year when the park's open until midnight, and the other was spent with Dad, who doesn't exactly do theme parks. Still, I was impressed that Dad managed to go on all the coasters apart from Euro-Mir. It took him a bit of persuasion to go on Blue Fire and Wodan, and a lot more to do Silver Star, but I think he enjoyed it. On the other day we were in Germany, we went for a drive around the mountains and went up a cable car near Freiburg. The views were superb, but it was a bit windy at times. Then as we were driving around, we came into Todtnau, and saw an advertising hoarding for what looked like some sort of roller coaster. It wasn't. It was an Alpine Coaster - or, to give this one its proper name, the Hasenhorn Rodelbahn. It's one of the best Alpine Coasters around, apparently, and I'd actually heard about it from friends on TowersStreet, so to just come across it was frankly amazing. It was an experience I won't forget in a hurry. As we were going up the mountain on a cable car, a thunderstorm struck, and we were sitting there in the cold rain for about five minutes until it started up again. We eventually got to the top, but were stuck there for what felt like a long time until the weather got better. Eventually, things started moving again, but when I got on to go down, it started raining again, and it ended up being rather painful at points. I'd originally planned to go down the mountain without letting my car brake at all, but given the weather conditions, I didn't think it was wise. For those who are wondering, this is a POV of this particular attraction. (All credit goes to the user who uploaded this video.)
We moved onto Saint-Nazaire, and this involved a very lengthy car journey of about ten hours across France. I'll be honest - there are places in France with more things to do - but we did find a restaurant by the docks in Saint-Nazaire that did lovely crêpes. We ended up having lunch there two days in a row! One thing that Saint-Nazaire is well-known for is its U-boat pens, used by the Germans in World War Two. Some of them are open to be walked through, and they were very interesting. There was an exhibition on shipping in one of the pens, which was good to visit, but for me, the best thing about them was the view from the top of the pens. This is my personal favourite photo of the entire trip, which was taken on my £60 point-and-shoot camera.
Coming home, we went on the ferry from Roscoff to Plymouth, which took six hours. It was a relatively stable crossing, and the food on board wasn't too bad, either. It was a good holiday, and just what we needed before heading home and starting to pack everything up before moving to Staffordshire.
We'd spent several days packing our lives into boxes. We were due to be leaving St Dennis on Monday 19th August, but the day before, we went to the farm in Devon where Dad's younger sister and her family live for a big family reunion. I was surprised by how many people ended up coming, but it was a lovely day, and the weather was fantastic. It was good to have one final day of relaxing with family before the madness ensued the following day.
The Monday went well, with everything loaded onto the lorries (yes, we had two, but one of them was a smaller one on the body of a Transit-type van) and away before about 4 that afternoon. The house was virtually empty, and it was emotional to wander around it and think that we'd spent the past nine years living there. When the time came to finally leave, I was almost in tears when I was hugging Daniel and Louise (my brother and his wife, who were staying in Cornwall), but I managed to hold it together. The plan was for me to drive the Clio to my grandparents' house in Devon, and Mum & Peter would go in the Golf. (Dad was joining us later, as he'd gone to let someone have a test drive in our Zafira, which was then sold. But that's complicated.) We'd then leave the Clio at my grandparents' house (Peter was going to be using it not long after moving while he came down to Cornwall again for a few days, and he'd then drive it back up via Bristol, as he was staying with some relatives for a few nights) and drive up in the Golf, stopping at a hotel overnight, before then coming to the new house and unloading everything from the lorry and unpacking it all. That went very well, but the unpacking took me four days, as I kept on getting distracted by the internet!
This marked the start of a new chapter in my life. After moving, I was encouraged by my parents to start applying for jobs, which I did. I found one at my local Sainsbury's and applied for it. The following day, I'd gone to Alton Towers for the first time that year, and while I was walking from the Dark Forest area towards the Skyride (I think), I took my phone out of my pocket and saw that I'd got a text from Sainsbury's, saying that my initial application had been successful and I'd got to the interview stage! This was unexpected, as I'd hardly ever got to this stage before on any job application, but I managed to book an interview later that afternoon, although I don't think doing that at a theme park was the best idea I've ever had. Four days later, I went for my interview, and it went very well. Much better than the one I had at McDonald's three years previously, anyway, although that one was just dire. The following day, I'd gone to IKEA in Manchester with Mum and Peter, as there were a few things we needed to get for the new house. I can remember this next bit very clearly. We were in the area dealing with window blinds, and we needed to call Dad to get some measurements for one of the windows. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to call Dad, and saw I had another text from Sainsbury's. This one was informing me that I'd been offered the job! Honestly, you have no idea how thrilled I was to have finally gained employment after trying for some time! When I saw that the text had come from Sainsbury's, and the first few words of it, my eyes widened. I then opened the message in full, and I was shocked, but in a good way. I honestly didn't expect to get the job, as I'd been unsuccessful in every other application I'd sent out, so to get this was fantastic, and such a relief. I had some admin stuff to sort out, and my induction was sorted for a few weeks after. I couldn't believe how quickly it had happened. Six days from application to being offered the job, and nine days from moving to Biddulph and being offered the job! I've been there for over six months now, and I can honestly say that it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I'm finally earning some money, and it's one of the best feelings ever. I also feel that I've become more confident as a person, what with having to deal with customer queries, and some of those queries aren't always easy. All in all, I do enjoy my job, and while I originally took it as a stop-gap solution while I tried to work out what to do next with my life, I can now see myself staying with Sainsbury's in the long term. The next big thing for me was probably my 21st birthday. Back in early January, the opening dates for Alton Towers were announced, and the park's final day of the season was to be Sunday 3rd November, which left me disappointed, as my birthday is a week afterwards. A few weeks later, I discovered some fantastic news - the season had been extended by one week, and was to finish on my 21st birthday! I was thrilled at the prospect, and planned to stay on resort for one night, which would be the first time I'd done it. It coincided with the Fireworks, and I can honestly say that they were the best ones I've seen at Towers. They actually had a story to them, rather than being fireworks going off to music, as had happened for the past couple of years. Perhaps the two best songs from that show were Coldplay's 'Charlie Brown', played about halfway through the show itself, and John Newman's 'Love Me Again', the first song played during the 15-minute pre-show. Both are linked below.
'Love Me Again' was just fantastic. Everyone I was with just started belting the chorus out and ended up dancing. Even I was dancing, despite being completely sober! After the show had finished on the Sunday (with the compulsory - for my friends from TowersStreet, at least - bobbing-up-and-down to Edvard Greig's 'In The Hall of the Mountain King'), I was taken by surprise when my friends started singing 'Happy Birthday' to me! I'll be honest here - it nearly brought a tear to my eye, as I was still caught up from the amazing show I'd witnessed for the second night in a row. After this, I went off to ride The Smiler again, and Nat very kindly asked if I wanted to go on with her by using a priority pass she got given. Well, she knew it was my birthday, and that I wanted to make the front row of Nemesis my last ride of the season, so I had to take her up on that offer! Nat and I then walked over to the other side of the park, where we met others who had gone straight to Forbidden Valley after the show had finished. Nat then went elsewhere, and I went on Nemesis twice - both times on the front row. After our first ride, we ended up leaving our bags in the cages in the station and ran around to the entrance in order to try and be on the last guest train of the year. Technically, we didn't manage it, as there were some people using special passes who could only be loaded onto the last couple of rows, but we got the last train using guests from the main queue, which was good enough for me. And my goodness, Nemesis was running superbly that night. Once we'd got off, we made our way to the entrance, and then walked all the way back to the hotels, as the monorail had stopped running by that time. Then followed a great evening of sitting in the bars and drinking. The best thing for me was that I had five drinks and didn't pay for any of them, as I had people buying them for me all evening! Well, it was my birthday, so I wasn't surprised, and it was free alcohol - what's not to love about that? About a month after that, I finally did something I'd wanted to do for over a decade. I went to Old Trafford for the very first time to see United play Shakhtar Donetsk in their final Champions League group game. The tickets that Dad and I had were in the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand on the northern side of the stadium, and they offered a great view, although it was a long walk up the steps to get to them. Phil Jones scored the only goal of the game for United, which we won 1-0. The best thing about it? It was scored in the goal that was right in front of us. I've been to several football matches now, and that was probably the best one. The tension I felt was nothing like what I'd experienced in the past when watching on the TV, and seeing that ball go in the goal was like hardly anything I've ever experienced. This was only the second time I've seen United play, and the first in over ten years. Seeing as I'm now much closer to Old Trafford, it's a lot easier to go to games, and I don't have to worry about getting accommodation sorted at all. I had some time off work in February, and decided to do something I'd wanted to do for a while - go to the Warner Bros Studio Tour in Leavesden and have a look at all the Harry Potter stuff they did. This involved me driving all the way down there (via a stop in Lutterworth on the Tuesday night), as trains to Watford Junction wouldn't have been convenient. I also decided to make it a birthday treat for Peter, who's studying Maths at Imperial College London. The tour was fantastic, and is on Stages J and K at Leavesden Studios. (Five points to your Hogwarts house if you can guess the reference.) There's so much to see there, and the tour starts off with a walk through the actual set used for the Great Hall. There are various other sets available to see, along with so many props and costumes, as well as videos explaining how they made things. On the backlot, they have one of the actual Knight Buses used in the third film, one of the Ford Anglias, the bridge seen in the third film onwards, Harry's home in Godric's Hollow, and Number 4 Privet Drive. It's not possible to look around Privet Drive, which is a shame, but at least it's there. We also got to walk through Diagon Alley and the shops surrounding it, which was brilliant. There's a bit right before the shop on the tour which is essentially made to look like Ollivanders Wand Shop, and each box has the name of someone who worked on the film on it. This could include anyone from a prop maker to the directors, or an extra to Daniel Radcliffe himself. It was great, but what came just before that was frankly astonishing. We've all seen the swooping shots over Hogwarts in the films. Well, they used a model for these and superimposed some stuff onto them when zooming in, and this model was present. When I turned the corner and first set eyes on it, my jaw hit the floor and tears started forming in my eyes. It was one of the most stunning things I have ever seen, and the amount of effort that went into making it was just astounding. Peter and I spent a fair bit of time walking around and trying to work out what bit of the castle was what. Spoiler picture coming up of the model.
The shop had loads of stuff. Books were available with different covers, there were wand replicas, DVDs, key rings, and so much more. The clothes looked very nice, but were disappointingly expensive. I wanted a Gryffindor scarf, but it was something like £25, so I decided against it. There was so much stuff there that I wanted. I'll have to go back! Since then, not much has happened, apart from Alton Towers reopening for the year a few weeks ago. I do, however, have something big which is happening in the next couple of weeks. I'M GOING ON HOLIDAY! :D Yes, I'm getting out of this country for about a week and a half, visiting France and Germany. Unsurprisingly, this trip will involve theme parks, and I'll be visiting six of them:
Walygator, Metz, France
Europa-Park, Rust, Germany
Erlebnispark Tripsdrill, Cleebronn, Germany
Nigloland, Dolancourt, France
Parc Astérix, Plailly, France
Disneyland Paris, Marne-la-Vallée, France (I'm counting Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios as one for these purposes)
I can't wait. Ever since this trip was announced last year, I wanted to go, even though I would have my university finals not long after returning. When I started work at Sainsbury's, I wasn't even thinking of going on it, as much as I wanted to. Eventually, I decided to at least do the Europa-Park portion of the trip, but this then led to me adding on Walygator and Tripsdrill. Eventually, I just thought 'Sod it', and decided to do the whole thing. The biggest problem was, perhaps unsurprisingly, getting it off work. I did manage to get it off work, and I thank the store manager for letting me go on this trip. One thing I'm looking forward to is travelling down to London. I've taken the decision to take the train, which I very much enjoy anyway, but this particular journey is different. I'll be travelling with Virgin Trains from Stoke to Euston in First Class. You might be thinking how on earth I can afford it, but the journey cost me the fantastic sum of £3.95. I can explain this.
Back in May, when I went to the Eurovision party in Birmingham, I was delayed for about an hour at Plymouth. When going between Truro and St Austell, there was a sudden downpour of rain, which damaged lineside equipment. I was due to be changing trains at Taunton as per my ticket booking, but was informed by the train manager to change at Plymouth, as the train I was due to be catching at Taunton would be at Plymouth anyway, and would be held for us to make the connection. I thought this was fair enough, and got ready to leave the train long before we got into Plymouth. When we arrived, my train was on one side of a platform island, and the CrossCountry one was on the other side of it. The doors were opened, and I sprinted across to try and open the closed doors. I should've realised something was wrong when the door buttons weren't lit. The doors didn't open, and the train left seconds later. I was furious, as were several other passengers, including one who needed to get to Bristol Airport in order to catch a flight to Ireland that evening, but that particular issue was dealt with by a member of staff. It transpired that the CrossCountry train could not be held due to the knock-on effects for other trains, which was annoying, but understandable. I was stuck for another hour until the next train to Birmingham New Street, but I informed those who were expecting me that I'd be arriving an hour later than planned. Eventually, my new train pulled into the platform, and I waited near it until it was OK to board. I got on, found a table seat, got my laptop out and purchased some WiFi access, which I had available while I was doing prep work for my never-started dissertation. After I got back to uni, I complained to First Great Western about this delay, and they wrote back to me, asking me to send my tickets to them so that they could see what they could do. A few weeks later, I went to our flat's post box and saw there was something for me. I opened it, and inside the envelope was a letter detailing what was and some rail vouchers for the entire value of the delayed leg of my journey! I was surprised that they were that much, and thought I'd use them to treat myself. When I got the OK to go on this holiday, I only had a few months to use them, and felt I wasn't likely to go anywhere again any time soon, so decided to use them all in one go. The vouchers were for £46.90, and the train tickets I purchased were £50.85, leaving £3.95 to pay. I'm definitely not complaining that my train costs are less than a day return from Penryn to St Austell!
So yeah - the past year's been an interesting one for me. I just hope I don't leave so much time between blog posts! And bring on this epic holiday!
