Who’d have thought that going to a theme park in the middle of winter could be fun? I suppose it helped that it wasn’t totally freezing, just a bit on the nippy side. I think the thing that really makes it, though, is the company you keep on days like today and I couldn’t have had better company for keeping the place cheery and fun than my Godson whose idea it was to go in the first place.
Gulliver’s Land in MK is the place I took him the very first time we went out together on our tod. He was probably not a lot older than 5 or 6 and Gulliver’s caters perfectly to that age, with a large selection of Alton Towers-lite rides that are fun and a little scary but largely all appropriate for the post-toddler age group.
Now pushing 11 and with me lolloping up through my 20s it occurred to me that it might not be as intensely amusing as the last time we went, but if anything we had more fun today than we had last time, despite the larger half of the park being closed off due either to the wintry weather conditions or the low levels of staffing.
We managed to amble around the park for a few hours of festive fun, queuing for almost nothing and having a whale of a time on just about everything (altough the Might Mouse roller coaster was neither mighty nor really a roller coaster so much as a large figure of 8 with a train on it). In fact, many of the rides were incredibly dull, but I haven’t laughed so much and so solidly for quite a while.
Dodgems with only two people is an interesting experience, as is riding the same mini-whirly-pirate ship four times in a row, although ride of the day has to go to the back-to-back teacup rides which left us both staggering around the park like Santa getting off his sleigh at the end of a globe-trotting 24 hours of non-stop sherry and pies. Mind you, if we’d had the pies they wouldn’t have been safe in our stomachs (images of the Red Dwarf “food escape!” slipping into my head…).
And, ironically for a theme park – which are, at the best of times, renowned for their escalated prices within the boundary walls – we actually found the city’s cheapest pick-n-mix, which delighted not only the two of us, but also K when we arrived to pick her up from work with her own little bag of goodies.
After a quick cuppa back home, we then assaulted the arcades in the snow dome and whittled away even more time and pocket-heavy change doing everything from shooting zombies to playing mock-basketball before running Li’l R home.
We made a quick dash to Tesco for a few last Chrimbo bits before heading across the road from ours to see a friend and her mum for a little festive cheer with mulled wine and assorted Christmas treats (pigs in blankets, anyone?) and to have cuddles with not-so-little Baby E.
Having wedged herself in for firsties on E this evening, I have taken the executive decision that K has forfeited her rights to first cuddles with Sebby G, my cousin’s newborn, when we see them tomorrow. Although I suspect I may end up in a fist-fight with my mum over him, I know that I have dibs on first cuddles between us to at least.
I can’t wait!
PS – today also saw the internet debut of Live Life Then Give Life’s latest video piece, which I directed, shot and edited to highlight the varying attitudes to Christmas from different transplant perspectives. You can check it out here.