Showing posts with label train. Show all posts
Showing posts with label train. Show all posts

Friday, 22 April 2011

Train Times

so once again i find myself apologizing for the lack of posts, i genuinely meant to write a post yesterday night but i ended up playing on the Wii so i forgot... i'm sorry!

i had a gorgeous day today though, met my mum and my godmother for lunch + ended up hanging out with my cousin Mandy, my big sister Nikki + her boyfriend Boris as well, in my fave cafe 'the alpine' (of course!!!)

i also bumped into some old friends from college which was nice since it's been aaaages since i last saw them!

anyway that all doesn't matter nor does the fact that i've been absent for a few days because i'm posting NOW which is the main thing

so on Wednesday i got up bright and early, caught a lift into Douglas with my dear mama then walked through town towards the train station because i went on the steam train to Port Erin!!!!


i'll start from the beginning . . .

it was a truly gorgeous day, the sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and for once it wasn't even windy or blustery which is practically unheard of for the Isle of Man!

i'd arranged to meet my friend Jenny for the day since she's home from University at the moment but she had a hair appointment in Port Erin so i thought, 'why not get catch the train down to meet her'

yeah like i need an excuse to go on the train!!!

it was such a nice day though, on my way to the station i walked right along the Harbour and took a few snaps of the pretty boats and the gorgeous blue sky/sea




since the weather was so lovely the train was quite busy so i shared a carriage with an old local man who was on his way home to Port Erin + a lady from England, visiting the island with her little grand-daughter on their way to Port Erin beach for a picnic


the little girls name was Hannah and she pretty much became my best friend for the entire train ride! she was so sweet, she liked to say the phrase 'super duper' a lot (you can see why we got on!) and her favourite colour is pink! she really was a total little sweetie, here she is posing in her snazzy pink sunglasses (note the entirely pink outfit also)


we had great fun counting the sheep, cows, horses, ducks, pheasants and donkey's we saw in the fields as the train carried us southwards towards Castletown and eventually on to Port Erin

i really love this time of year, everything is so green and lush, it was great seeing so much of the beautiful Manx country side


when we pulled into Port Soderick we stopped next to the other train running that day, on its way back towards Douglas


so naturally . . . i took a few more pictures from my carriage window


it was a gorgeous engine, gleaming and utterly super duper + i've always love the IOM railway company logo/emblem


after that we carried on to Port Erin where i said my goodbyes to my fellow passengers + the lovely little Miss Hannah (who gave me a big hug, bless) before heading off to say hi to my other friend Sarah who runs a hair salon called 'cuts both ways'

it's been months since i last saw her so it was nice to hang out for a bit, before we left for her lunch break i snapped a shot of her gorgeous salon, it's full of antique furniture, pretty wallpaper, little chandeliers and baroque style mirrors! love it . . .


Jenny was still getting her hair done in another salon so i tagged along with Sarah to the beach where she was meeting another friend + her three lovely little kids


the sea was just so blue! it was beautiful, i've always liked Port Erin as a town but i really loved visiting it on Wednesday, it was so sublime 


we sat on the beach for a while and i could not get over how busy it was! the place was packed . . . well, it was 'packed' for a Manx beach anyway!


Jenny turned up eventually so we chilled on the beach some more only with the added bonus of delicious Italian ice creams, the weather was perfect and i could have happily spent all day relaxing on that beach (and i'm so not a beach person!)

anyway, we actually spent the rest of the day mooching around cute shops in Castletown + Tynwald but unfortunately my piece of **** camera decided to give up on life while on the beach and it is now completely and utterly 100% broken!

i did NOT drop it in the sea or in fact drop it anywhere at all but despite this and despite 2 years of careful treatment it has decided to give up on me at last!

the good news is this means i get to buy a flashy new camera

the bad news is . . . i can't really afford to get one!

so this means that for the immediate future i'll have to take all my photos using my rubbish phone so apologies for the 'even crappier than usual' quality of the photos in posts to come!

* * *

in other news . . .

Easter times ahoy!

this afternoon my mum called me into the kitchen where i found this delightful little display waiting for me on the kitchen table


these are my yummy Easter treats, an egg from my cousin Mandy, an pretty 'princess' egg, a bag of my fave chocolates + the gorgeous 'Bernie' Bear from my mum

love them all! i haven't eaten any chocolate since January so i look forward to scoffing these goodies on Sunday

* * *

i also had a 'business meeting' today, now i can't really go into details about it (yet) but i can tell you that it's super duper exciting news for me + my arty stuff

the only problem is it's going to create soooooo much work for me i think i'm going to need an assistant!
hhhmm . . . too bad i can't afford to hire one! anyone fancy being my assistant for free?!

anyway it's fun times ahead so stay tuned dudes and dudettes!


ok i'm off to cook some food now, goodbye my lovelies, hope you enjoy your weekend wherever + whatever you're up to

that's all folks . . .

◕‿◕ ★ xX

Monday, 28 February 2011

Home Sweet Home ♥

so I realise it's been a few days since I last posted anything on here, the reason i've been so absent is because the past few days have not been all that great for me :-(

I was really ill on Friday night and what with travelling home all day Saturday, I kind of struggled to find time to recover.

I'm happy to be home but I still don't feel very well! It's really starting to get me down so I do apologize for lack of posts, i'll try to resume normal blogging times as best I can this week, promise x

anyway, I also realised that I nevet told you about my day in Birmingham!!!

zut alors et mon dieu! How could I forget!!!

well fear not my little daffodils, i will tell you all about it now...

so last Thursday myself + my mum got up bright and early and caught the train from Coventry (train traaaaaaaaain!!! i love trains) to New Street station in Birmingham to meet my Auntie Maureen for the day 


here's my auntie + me waiting just outside Selfridges ready to begin our day of shopping


+  shot of the Selfridge's indoor Bullring entrance...


this entrance leads to the food hall so naturally we had a little mooch around the lovely cake stalls, i spotted the most darling selection of cupcakes and other yummy treats, now you're not really allowed to take photos inside Selfridges but a lovely guy working at the cake stall kindly let me take a quick snap of the cakes while he turned his back


aren't they divine!!!

we spent most of the morning in Selfridges looking at all the beautiful shoes and handbags on the top floor, I even took my lovely cream Chloé Paddington over to the Chloé section to visit all of it's pretty relatives (I told you handbags sent me loopy! That last sentence is proof enough!!!)


now I wasn't feeling particularly bright and breezy, I still had the vile sore throat but that was NOT going to stop me from the Birmingham times no way josé!!! 

I was obviously feeling worse than I thought because I didn't go on a massive shopping binge like I normally do!!!

despite being surrounded by my fave shops (like the Disney store... where i would gladly live)


In all seriousness... I didn't get that much stuff!!!

it was a beautiful sunny day, cold but bright so when my mum + my aunt wanted to stop for lunch I decided to pop up to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in Victoria Square to sneak a peek at my fave Pre-Raphaelite paintings (you can read more about the Pre-Raphaelites in an old blog post here - Super Sunday #5)


the square was packed with people just realxing in the sunshine, super duper times, i snapped this quick shot of the town hall as i made my way across the square


most of the classical galleries weren't too busy but it was packed in the contemporary Galleries, I guess half-term brings out the best in people since most of the place was filled with parents and their kids! i stuck to the classical galleries... 


however it hardly mattered, because since i'm such a massive art nerd I was in and out of the place in 25 minutes


what can I say, I just happen to know my way around their galleries pretty well!!!

the rest of the afternoon was spent mooching around shops in the Bullring

so what DID I buy I hear you cry???

well weirdly every single thing I bought that day was cupcake themed...

do NOT asky why because I honestly don't know!!!

all I do know is that when I got back to the hotel to look at my purchases, only then did I realise that they all were cupcake themed!

I have clearly gone quite insane...

so we have some rather super duper cupcake bunting from Paperchase...


cute right! i thought so too, rather super duper sweet...


i also got some cupcake stickers + a strawberry scented cupcake air freshener (don't ask, I thought it was pretty...)


to be fair it IS pretty... i'm just not sure what to do with it yet!!!


my mum bought me this lovely cupcake wrapping paper (which i have decided to wrap the giveaway prizes in, enter now if you haven't already - Giveaway )


+ another cupcake money box for my room


and last but not least, the one non-cupcake related thing I bought, a super duper prettyful (sort of) nautical themed big Hello Kitty plush


isn't she adorabubble!!!

quite the mini kawaii shopping spree i'm sure you'll agree!!!

* * *

in other news...

those of you that visit the blog regularly will have noticed the addition of some new buttons at the top right under the colourful blog header

these 'pages' are just something i'm experimenting with, not too sure if they'll remain permanent fixtures as of yet

at the moment all i've added is an 'about me' info page, a giveaway FAQ and a page giving some info about 'Where I Live' in case any of you wanted to know anything about the Isle of Man

there are some photos on there + a basic summary of Island related stuff, check it out if you have time

and for all the Manxies out there that read my blog, if i've made any mistakes on the I.O.M page or if there's anything YOU think I should add to it, drop me an email or leave a comment and let me know + i'll fix it asap :-)

* * *

that's it for now, i'm heading off to work on my HND essay (it's all about Children's Picture books so I am literally surrounded by picture books at the moment!!!)

until next time,

That's all folks...

◕‿◕  xX

i honestly haven't a clue where i'm up to on the list of countries!!! so if anyone can think of a country i haven't said a farewell to yet, let me know!