Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Oh I Do Like To Be.......

.......beside the seaside.

I was due to be putting my tired old legs up today while waiting for an Amazon delivery but they rang before noon to say the delivery would be tomorrow.  I mean Amazon rang, not my legs !  

So I was free for the day and being the last day of the current warm spell, known here as the end of Summer, I wanted to go out somewhere.  Rounding up Daphne, we headed first to The Wellington for an excellent carvery lunch and then after a bit of deliberation, it was off to the seaside.  

Bridlington to be precise; a typical British resort town on the East Coast which is normally a place I'd avoid like the plague.  Sorry Bob.

But Bridlington does have one thing going for it - a huge beach of Daytona proportions, although the only form of transport allowed on this beach are donkeys.

As it turned out, it was also a photographers dream location and I should get at leasat 3 posts from our visit there.  To get the ball rolling, this post will just focus on edibles.  And as you will see, I use the term VERY loosely.

First, crabs.  You always get crabs at the seaside.  Sorry, couldn't resist.


These little nippers were straight off the boat and most were still moving. One made it off the tray but landed upside down on the concrete dock. I pointed this out to the crabby man (!) and he placed it gently back in the tray, patting it's head and checking that it was comfy.

Well no, not really but as this blog may be read by kids, I'll say no more.

Some time later, after a walk on South Beach (which was just so similar to THE South Beach that it was spooky), we went back along the prom to North Beach. This involved passing a plethera of gift shops, fish and chip outlets, amusement arcades and, for the want of a better term, sweet stores.

One of the staples of sweet stores at the seaside is rock. Edible rock. And as I'd not had a stick of rock for decades, I wanted some today.


The stick I eventually bought was much bigger than any of these as I wanted a classic with the town name running all the way through it. But while in some of these stores, what concerned me was that they'd taken 'amusing confectionary' to a new low level.

If you are easily offended, then look away now.

If you are easily offended, what the hell are you reading my blog for in the first place ?




Mind you, with my long hard stick of rock grasped firmly in my hot sweaty hand, I guess I was in no position to complain !!

One of the stores made me think my GPS had taken us to Cock-a-knee land as it sold items not normally seen north of the Watford Gap. Maybe I just don't go to the seaside enough.



Gives a whole new meaning to the expression "a price on your head.
"
And finally, for this initial post, I've leave you with a photo which evoked memories long forgotten. I'd never seen such a variety of sweets in glass jars like this since I was a wee bairn growing up in N. Ireland. I mean I know many corner shops still have them but surely not in such quantities anymore. It was a joy to see and this was only a small part of the display.


Crabs, rock, whelks, phallic inspired sweeties and not a 'Kiss Me Quick" hat in sight.

This is Yorkshire and we know what people want !

5 comments:

Debby said...

Gives a whole new meaning to 'wee Willie winkie'!

I like my crab in a bread bowl...preferably in SF!

Daphne said...

It was like going back in time, with all those traditional foods. In fact the whole place was like a trip to the 1950s - apart from the Rude Rock, perhaps! I felt rather sorry for the crabs - - but that wouldn't stop me eating the cooked ones though. By 'eck, it were a Grand Day Out all right - thank you!

jay said...

Poor crabs! It's a wonder PETA weren't out there - but wait! They only concern themselves with the cute and fluffy, don't they?

I love sweetshops like that. They're springing up here and there, you know. We have one on our city, just devoted to sweets, many of them in jars just like that. And the lady who owns it is enthusiastic and lets you try stuff too! It's a very, very dangerous place to be in, I can tell you!

Jennytc said...

Maybe they're setting up in competition with Ann Summers. ;)

Kate said...

Awww, wonderful post. But I feel so sad seeing the crabs with prices on them, 'tho'... So ... poignant, somehow.

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