So the next day Stephen and I had to think of something to do. Our default idea was going for a walk at Reidale Hill in the 'countryside' if the weather was good, and it was, so we made our way for the walk. We stopped at Sainsbury's on the way and got lunch, and I bought ten pounds worth of my favourite English-car-air-fresheners-that-you-can't-get-here.
We had a walk and saw some pillboxes (old underground fortified caverns that were used to house vehicles, people, animals and tools during the war). It was a really nice day and quite warm too. After we had a walk for about 40 minutes, we decided to go and find an early lunch and have a drive around. On the way, I remembered that there was a theme park (two, as it happens) near Uncle Jon's house, and I'd never been there. And I love theme parks. And we don't have them in New Zealand (no, I'm sorry, Rainbow's End DOES NOT count). We thought that it was probably too late in the day to go there, since we didn't have tickets and didn't know how far away it was. Then we thought f*** it, let's do it! So we went home and had lunch and looked up Thorpe Park and saw that the tickets were 33 POUNDS EACH! It was a little ridiculous especially since we only would have about 2 hours once we got there but we thought, well how often am I here? We should just do it! So we started driving, all excited.
Upon talking about money and if I really had enough to spend nearly NZ$80 on half a day at a theme park, I was interrupted by Stephen. Not unusual, however this interruption was to let me know that he had a bloody parking fine and it was due to be paid today and f*** he didn't have it on him and f*** we'll have to go home and get it and f*** I hope they don't charge me 120 pounds instead of 60 pounds because it's already 2 weeks since I got it.
O well, I said, I don't mind. So we drove home and Stephen paid the ticket over the phone and he got it for the cheaper price too. (Don't you think 60 pounds is a little steep for a parking fine though, London?!)
So off we went again, our potential time at the park dwindling as we drove. Also, Stephen hadn't driven there before (his licence is relatively new), and of course I hadn't either. Eventually we got there and Stephen tried to sweet talk the girl on the desk into giving us cheaper tickets cos it was after 2pm on a weekday:
Stephen: So it's 33 quid each to get in?
Girl on desk: Yeah, 33 each.
S: I don't suppose there's any way you can let us in for cheaper? *sweet smile, wink wink*
GoD [huh, how ironic]: No, sorry. O, but if you go down the road to the gas station you can buy a packet of crisps [tee hee] for 99 pence and it's got a half price voucher on the back!
S and me: silent wails of joy.
So off we went to the service station and sure enough, bought a packet of disgusting cheese things (that we ended up throwing in a bin) with a 2 for 1 voucher on the back. So we got in for 33 pounds! Cool huh! We were stoked.
However, once I got into the park, I was so freaked out. All I could think was, my god, I am way too old for this. But Stephen reminded me (and kept reminding me) that this was MY idea and I was GOING TO GO on the rollercoasters. The first one we went on was Colossus. It didn't LOOK that big. But I guess I should have realised that the name was probably trying to hint at something. It was on this ride that I diagnosed the type of rollercoaster bit that I don't like... high, ground facing drops. Corkscrews = fine. Turning downwards drops = fine. Superloops = fine. Backwards drop = possibly even fine. But ground facing drop = not good. This is where I close my eyes, hold my breath and wonder the hell what I was thinking. Take a look at the video at the link, it will make you dizzy. It makes me smile... but at least the steep drop was over right at the beginning, cos the rest of it was pretty cool. On the video you will see the slow corkscrews at the end, they were great.
However, because of that steep drop, I was really beginning to think, well, maybe I am just too old for this now. But Stephen pulled me along. He tried to make me go on Stealth, but having discovered that steep drops are what I don't like, I decided this probably wasn't such a good idea (take a look at the pic on the link to see what I mean). So we went on Nemesis Inferno. The video on the site doesn't do it justice, although you can imagine I was pretty freaked out when you peak that first hill at the very beginning of the video. However, because it was a steep turning drop, I was fine! I was actually smiling! You can't imagine how good it made me feel that I wasn't too old for rollercoasters! ;) Also, this was my first coaster where your legs hang free i.e. you dangle from the track, instead of sitting in a car on the track. So I was a bit freaked out about that but it was so cool! (So cool that we decided to go back and do it for a second time later on).
Then we tried X: No Way Out. This is where Stephen discovered what he doesn't like about rollercoasters. Going backwards. And being in the dark. I thought it was pretty cool though. That was when we did the Nemesis again, then we had to leave cos we had a dinner date with Uncle Steve.
So I think it was about 4.10pm and we had to drive to G&G by 6 for Uncle Steve to pick us up. Uncle Jon had said "Get onto the A1 from the M1 and follow that and you'll be right at Grandad's. Hmph, easy, we said. Driving driving driving, hmm, there's not much traffic considering it's rush hour. Houses. Bigger houses. Houses and lifestyle blocks. Lifestyle blocks and farms. Farms and farms. Sheep. Cows. Sheep and cows.
Hmm, Stephen? Are we going the right way?
Hmm, Claire, I don't think we are.
If you want to know where we ended up, search for Baldock on a map of the UK. If you want to see where we were meant to be, search for NW7 3BD. If you want to see where we came from, search for Thorpe Park. Interesting huh? So we had to giggle at ourselves, but also we were a bit stressed cos of our dinner date.
However, somehow, we managed to get to G&G at about 6.05pm, I think. Amazing. Now Stephen knows how to get there from his house :P We had a lovely 4 course dinner at a fancy Chinese place with Uncle Steve and Sandy. I met Sandy's dog too, she was lovely.
I miss them!
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