Cracking weekend. On Friday evening a rabbit arrived (see what I did there?) and Edward went into murder mode. We’re babysitting a black bunny for friends but can’t wait to get rid of it because our Jack Russell is now demented with jealousy and rage. He’s whining and is locked out of rooms he normally has access to and has killed two mice and a rat this weekend in our garden as practice.

Toddled off to Alton Towers on Saturday morning and arrived in a hail storm! Checked into the hotel then caught the monorail over to the theme park. Guest relations were very VERY good to us and gave us priority passes to ALL the rides (instead of just Rita - Queen Of Speed as promised on the phone) which meant that we walked straight onto every ride that day. The park was packed as the Easter school holidays started this weekend. The hail storm lasted 15 minutes and cleared the air and then the sun crept out and stayed with us for most of the day. Rita was stunning. She has a real rib cage busting launch followed by tight banked corners and three out-of-seat air-time pops. The whole thing lasts about 30 seconds and is pretty relentless until the brakes at the station. The ride looks great sitting next to the old corkscrew and is another winner for Alton Towers. The rest of the day was spent riding our old favourites and giving marks out of ten to all the family guys.



In the evening we ate at Flambo's restaurant (authentic Carribbean cuisine! Not). Twas top tucker though, and all-you-can-eat too, so we were like pigs in mud. Washed it down with an expensive wine which made us feel a bit less trailer-trash. In the bar afterwards we were entertained by a comedy/singing duo who very wittily changed the words of classic soul songs to feature remarks about various Alton Towers rides breaking down (I wondered if the management were aware of this). My bf buys great gifts and this weekend was one of the best. Ta love!



On Sunday evening we went to see Depeche Mode re-open the new Wembley Arena (Englands Madison Square Garden! (copyright ITV news)). There are now dancing musical fountains outside the arena but not much has changed inside. The building does seem warmer and there are more alcohol sellers but the same old two-mile queue to take a piss remains. Our ‘industry’ tickets were great, next to the guitar tech desk and very close to the stage. DM did a great mixture of the new album and the old hits and the stage set was very futuristic and shiny (unlike Dave Gahans on-stage rock-god act). At times it was like the Mick and Keef show with Dave and Martin leaning against each back-to-back and then Dave dropping to his knees to ‘worship’ Martins guitar. He also had this annoying habit of shouting “OH YEAH” and “THAT’S RIGHT” and “COME ON” in the middle of songs like what Def Leppard might do. Apart from that though it was all thoroughly enjoyable and bloody loud.
£15 to park the fucking car and you can’t add a few more toilets!!!