The Return of Upstairs Downstairs!

So, after a gap of 35 years, the doors of 165 Eaton Place have been opened again. If some of you are unfamiliar with this address, then you clearly haven't watched enough Upstairs Downstairs!

Upstairs Downstairs was first broadcast between 1971 and 1975, it ran for 68 episodes, broken down into 5 series.

The original concept for the series was based on idea dreamt up between Jean Marsh, who went on to play Rose Buck (the House Maid) in the series and Eileen Atkins, who unfortunately did not have a part in the original series (due to stage commitments). However, in the new series Eileen Atkins gets to play; Lady Maud Holland.

Having seen all 3 of the new series, Eileen Atkins is a delight to watch and really gives a full blooded colonial performance as Lady Holland, which sets the mood and time period perfectly. I am really pleased that Dame Eileen Atkins (I keep forgetting she is a Dame), gets to play a part in the new production, as it was her baby after all.

Being a huge fan of the "classic" series, I was concerned that a re-hash of an old favourite might be cause for great concern, I mean how can anybody top the stoic professionalism of Gordon Jackson as the staid and upright Butler; Hudson?

And what about the comely charm and homely, motherly appeal of Mrs Bridges, ably portrayed by Angela Baddely?

However, in the 2010 series Cook and Butler are back in action below stairs, this time it is Mrs Thackeray and Mr Pritchard, played by the lovely Anne Reid (Dinnerladies, Coronation Street etc.) and Adrian Scarborough (Gavin & Stacey, Midsomer Murders etc.). In fact Adrian Scarboroughs' performance as Pritchard was outstanding, he is fast becoming one of my favourite character actors.

Of course, the new series and the old series would not be the same without the inimitable Jean Marsh and although her portrayal of Rose Buck in the new series was, I think, a little understated, I do see great potential there, for a complete new series, perhaps taking over from the likes of Downton Abbey as the flagship period drama for the BBC.

We will have to wait and see.

Celebrity Who Wants to Get on a Coach Trip and Come Dine With Me and a Masterchef, then Get Me Out of Here!

Right, that’s it! Celebrity Coach Trip has pushed me over the edge! Am I that out of touch, that I only knew 2 out of the 8 “celebrities”. And they were the Chuckle Bothers!

I think all this Celebrity and Reality TV malarkey has got out of hand. Back in the day, you knew who the celebrities were, they generally appeared on your TV screens on a Saturday night and entertained you. The likes of Bruce Forsyth, Larry Grayson, Morecambe and Wise, Val Doonican etc. These were proper celebrities. People who had a discernable talent and could showcase that talent on our screens.

Today we have to put up with freaks who become celebrities, due to the latest round of “Reality TV”!

Well I have news for you Big Brother, locking twelve unhinged, talentless, egotistical wannabe’s in a “house” is not reality, in fact it is as far from reality as you can get.

For me reality TV started and ended with the remarkable; Fred Dibnah. His “fly on the wall” documentary showcased his talent and as a result he became a minor celebrity, but he never became egotistical about it, he never became unhinged and ended up in The Priory, no he got on with life and displayed a remarkable talent, common sense and level-headedness, that we could all learn a lesson from.

So, I am harking for the past? Yes, I guess I am.

The problem is we now live in a world saturated with multi-media content. We have more TV channels than you can shake remote control at.
We have online content, downloadable content, streaming media, podcasts, iPlayer, iPod.
We have a myriad of talent shows churning out “so called talent”, don’t get me wrong some of these shows are OK, but there are just too many. And OK some of the contestants have a gift or some kind of talent, but Jedward and Wagner! Pur-leeease!

We have 24 hour news channels, 24 hour music channels, we have repeats of re-runs, we have channels and channels +1.
We have all kinds of unsavoury channels with lithe young ladies bobbing up and down whilst on the ‘phone to some dirty perv’ (so I’m informed).
Where’s Mary Whitehouse when you need her?

I believe we have reached saturation point and it’s time to wind it back in a bit. Stop making these talent shows, which just churn out more minor celebrities, who end up going on another show whose title begins with; “Celebrity”. It’s all wrong, it’s a self perpetuating roller coaster of drivel!

Be warned, any show whose title begins with “Celebrity” won’t have any in it, it will have a load of unhinged, talentless, egotistical wannabe’s (copied from earlier). What it should have, is a health warning; “May contain nuts”!

Footnote; Mrs Dave actually recognised one of the so-called celebrities on Celebrity Coach Trip, as he had recently appeared on Celebrity Come Dine With Me!
Says it all really.

Our Remarkable Holiday to the USA. Part 7

Hollywood and Home.

Leaving Pismo Beach and the crafty Kraut behind, we ventured off, yet again in the coach, for pastures new. Only this time we knew this would be the last trip.

First port of call was the County of Santa Barbara and more specifically the small city of Solvang. Solvang actually means “sunny meadows” in Danish. Having a Danish name is not surprising really when you consider that the city was originally established as a colony by Danish settlers back in 1911.

Over the years it expanded and as a result the city is now just like a mini Denmark, with its Danish lifestyle and architecture. It is also a very popular stop on the Californian tourist trail.

The weather was superb again and the sun was shining down on us, which made the last day more bearable.

Next stop, clearly another hit with the tourists was; Santa Barbara Mission. We stopped here for a photo session, with its beautiful architecture, pretty gardens and picturesque setting.

It also provided us with the opportunity, for the whole coach to sit on the front steps of the Mission for a group photo.

It was a fun moment when a coach-load of cameras was placed on the ground and we took it in turns to take photo’s with each others’ camera.

It just proved another point, of what made this holiday so special for us. Originally the thought of coach load of strangers seemed daunting, but this bunch were just so friendly, they really made our time there extra special.

Next stop was Santa Barbara itself and the first real opportunity to do the one thing we had to do whilst on the west coast and that was to have a paddle in the Pacific Ocean!

There’s a lovely beach down by Stearns Wharf, which gave us the ideal opportunity to throw off our shoes and have a paddle. OK so the ocean was cold, but it was the Pacific!

After which, we walked along Stearns Wharf, which is a big pier and picked up the obligatory ice cream and enjoyed the bright sunshine and the wonderful coastal views. Followed by a trip into the local Subway store for lunch, then; “everybody back on the coach”!!

We then took Highway 101 east towards Los Angeles and Hollywood our last stop before the tour ended.

We rolled in to Hollywood and parked up just around the corner to Hollywood Boulevard. So it was just short walk to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Centre, where you can get great views of the Hollywood hillside sign.

It was really hot as we strolled along the Walk of Fame spotting all the stars’ stars. We took the opportunity to go up in the Kodak Centre to take photo’s of the Hollywood sign, then back to Grauman's Chinese Theatre, to look through the various hand prints outside on the sidewalk (see, I didn’t say pavement).

Little Miss Dave found the Harry Potter cast, which made her day, I had to settle for Tom Hanks. Mrs Dave was content with the Elton John star.

Then it was back to the coach, but we did manage to squeeze in one last gift shop for some more souvenirs.

From Hollywood, we toured around Beverly Hills, but they have banned the Tour Bus’s from most of the private roads, so we didn’t get chance to see Posh hanging out Becks’ smalls on the line.

And that’s it! The coach took us back to the hotel, from where we caught the shuttle bus to LAX airport and our flight home………….

Our Remarkable Holiday to the USA. Part 6

The Pacific Coast and Gerry Bashing.

So we left San Francisco, with the sad and inevitable knowledge that the holiday was nearing its end. One more full day of travelling down the coast and an overnight at Pismo Beach, then it would be back to Los Angeles.

Still, it didn’t detract too much from the spirit of the day as we travelled the misty coast road, which is Highway 1, towards our next stop which would be Monterey.

Between San Francisco and Monterey there is one hundred plus miles of coastal road, dotted with small towns, some fairly exclusive looking places as well. Also along the way are secluded sandy bays and high cliffs. We passed through the city of Santa Cruz, before reaching Monterey Bay and the city of Monterey itself.

It was still fairly dull in Monterey as we parked up alongside Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck and his novel of the same name. (No, I haven’t read it either).

This was a short stop, for coffee, leg stretch and a toilet break, before piling back onto the coach and heading towards Carmel which boasts having Clint Eastwood as a former Mayor. It’s a really delightful place with small houses and many golf courses surrounding it, including the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course.

We returned to Monterey for lunch and sightseeing, which was by now bathed in glorious sunshine. We took advantage of the sun and strolled out along the pier and ate in a lovely fish restaurant at the end of it, where we could watch the sea lions lazing in the sun.

After lunch we headed off again, this time in the direction of Pismo Beach.

Pismo Beach was going to be our last hotel for the holiday, although some of our coach party would overnight in LA before departing.

As we pulled into the hotel Thierry (our French Tour Guide) informed us that we would all get a complimentary drink in the bar that night and vouchers for free breakfasts in the morning!

We like vouchers!

Although we were weary travellers we took advantage of the late afternoon sun and spent an hour in the pool and spa.

We changed for supper and made sure we stopped off for the complimentary drink in the hotel bar, which was only a pokey affair that would close at 9pm, so no late night session there then!

We wandered out into the warm evening air, looking for somewhere to eat close by. After such a tiring week or so, we couldn’t be bothered to go far, so although we were slightly over dressed for it, we ate at Denny’s, which was just across the road. You can’t beat a Denny’s for good, decent, calorie laden food, which is also cheap!

After slowly meandering back to the hotel, I popped into their Business Centre (an office with two PC’s and a printer), logged onto British Airways website and booked ourselves in for the flight the next night and printed out the Boarding Cards.

The holiday was definitely coming to an end. (Can you sense an air of sadness in this? Can you?).

We slept well and woke (yet again) before 6am so that we could get the cases packed, ready to be loaded onto the coach.

We armed ourselves with our Breakfast Vouchers and headed for the restaurant. Well I say restaurant, probably café, would be a better description.

There was a small semi circular self service section, where you queued to pick up your various breakfast items and a load of tables opposite, although clearly not enough to seat all of the hotel guests.

As you may remember, we were on an exclusive English speaking coach, but throughout the week we had been shadowed by, or should I say we shadowed another coach which was exclusively German. And it seemed that throughout the week, although we would sometimes set off first the Germans would always beat us to the next destination.

It soon became apparent that the Germans had beaten us to breakfast as well, although I didn’t see serviettes laid out on chairs to reserve them, I wouldn’t have put it past them!

Being British we dutifully joined the queue and collected out trays and hot drinks, myself at the front followed by Mrs Dave and Natasha behind. It was a slow moving queue, so you had to adopt the; “shuffle, shuffle” approach, just taking little steps until you reached the next section.

Pick up tray, shuffle, shuffle. Fill cup with coffee, shuffle, shuffle. Add milk to coffee, shuffle, shuffle. You get the idea.

As we rounded the corner to shuffle into the cereal section, I could sense a presence to my left, which was clearly not Mrs Dave. I glanced to my side, no that’s not Mrs Dave, she’s not that big.

As I glanced up, this body seem to go up and up and I had to crane my neck to catch sight of the head on top of this massive body.

He, for there was a beard, was clearly a German. I’m not sure whether it was the Hitler haircut or the letters; N, A, Z & I tattoo’d on his knuckles that gave it away. I’m joking!

He was wearing lederhosen.

Now, I’m not saying he was really, really massive, but I was strangely drawn to him, probably because he had his own gravitational force, pulling me in! He was like a little planet, he had already attracted several boiled eggs, that were orbiting him!

I’m still joking.

Anyway this big Kraut, had managed to slip unnoticed in front of Mrs Dave and he was clearly intent on getting to the fried food section as soon as possible.

Well I was having none of it!

I stopped doing the “shuffle, shuffle” and just did a “shuffle”.

Ah! Eggy bread (or whatever they call it in the States). I’ll have some of that.

I “Shuffle”.

Kraut tries; “shuffle, shuffle”.

Ah! Hash Browns. I ‘ll have one of them.

I “Shuffle”.

Kraut tries; “shuffle, shuffle”.

German hand reaches out over my tray space, and grabs a hash brown.

I tut loudly, throw him a glance of disdain and “shuffle”.

Kraut tries; “shuffle, shuffle”.

Ooh! Sausages. I like sausages. I take my time with the tongs and pop three onto my plate.

I replace the tongs, Krauty sees his chance, sticks out his fat arm with his German sausage like fingers on the end and goes to grab the tongs, but in the process pushes me.

Well, I’m not standing for this! I grab my tray and turn to him and shout;

“I know what! Why don’t you go first, as you clearly haven’t grasped the concept of queuing in an orderly fashion”! And I took a big step back.

Immediately he dives in, grabs as many sausages as the tongs will hold, mutters; “thank you” in a German accent and waddles quickly  off, probably to rejoin his Wife Helga and their youngest son Adolf, who are here on vacation.

I shout after him; “ignorant Kr…….”, but decide to emphasise the word; “ignorant” and not say Kraut for fear of an international debacle.

And to top it all there was no bloody bacon!!

I slip off the end of the shuffling queue, pour a couple of glasses of orange juice and look around to see how Mrs & Little Miss Dave are doing. They’ve nearly shuffled around to the end as well.

Just as I was looking, a waiter came out with another bucket of bacon, which he empties into the hot plate. So international relations or not, I dive back into the queue, grab a handful of bacon and slope off to eat breakfast.

If it’s good enough for the Krauts!!


PART 7

Our Remarkable Holiday to the USA. Part 5

Desperately Seeking Karl Maldern.

After the majestic beauty of Yosemite National Park, we over-nighted in the city of Modesto, before an early start to San Francisco.

As we headed west to San Francisco, the weather changed and the famous fog was apparent. It’s not actually fog, but the Marine Layer mist that hangs over the city, the majestic product of sea spray, wind and the Central Valley heat. (I Googled that last bit!).

As a result the temperature dropped and it was decidedly nippy for those of us who had decided to wear shorts that day.

As we drove across the Bay Bridge the cityscape came into view and you could see the hills that San Francisco is built upon.

We took the morning driving around taking in some of the sights of the city, with the various architectural styles. And as Thierry (our Tour Guide) said, in his rich French accent;

“look out for zee delightful Victorian arses”.

“You see zee lovely arses, no”? “Wouldn’t you like to live in zemm”?

(Read it with a French accent, it’ll make sense).

We sustained a couple of mishaps whilst on the City Tour, firstly the coach suffered from a flat tyre, so we had stay at the side of the road, waiting for the San Franciscan equivalent of Kwik Fit to come out.

“Do not worry, hees will only beez 15 minoots” said Thierry

And sure enough an hour and a half later we were on our way. (I’ll give you 15 minoots!).

Secondly, Mrs Dave had a slight accident which required the application of a plaster, and this shows the kindness of the folks on our coach.

Thierry took the microphone and said;

“Does aneebodies have zee plasters, weez has a small cut on zee hand”.

Within seconds, all manner of lotions, potions, plasters and first aid kits were handed round, so much so we could have opened a small branch of Boots in seat numbers 40 and 41!

Anyway, the necessary treatment was applied and Mrs Dave lived to fight another day. Bless ‘em all!

(Please note the injury was sustained after a trip on the sidewalk (note the Americanism) and not whilst changing the bus tyre, I just want to make that clear)!

We visited the Civic Centre Plaza in the centre of the city, with it’s majestic buildings and various statues and then swung out towards the Golden Gate Park and the bridge itself.

We didn’t actually cross the bridge, but parked up at the Visitor Centre.

To be honest, the bridge itself didn’t really do much for me, don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely bridge, as bridges go, it’s way up there.

To my mind though, it’s on a par with the Severn Bridge from an engineering perspective, it’s just that the Severn Bridge hasn’t been marketed the same.

What impressed me more was the history on display at the Visitor Centre, the statue of the engineer who built it; Joseph Strauss and the cross section of cable used to suspend the bridge deck.

OK, OK, the bridge is impressive. Yes it is an architectural delight, but the thing that got me excited was; it’s the Golden Gate Bridge!! That means we’re in San Francisco! (Excuse me while I go off on one of my; “I can’t believe we’re in the US moments”). Thank you.

At lunchtime we went down to Fishermans Wharf, to catch the boat at Pier 43 and a half(!). The boat took us on a cruise around the bay, going underneath the Golden Gate Bridge (yes, it is impressive from underneath as well and it looks a lot bigger close up) and then around the island of Alcatraz.

Also by this time, the sun was out, the fog had cleared and it had warmed up quite nicely. (I was quite glad that I had put my shorts on!).

That afternoon we took the coach to our hotel, for a quick wash and change, then out again! (Yes, it was a very busy holiday).

We took the California Line Cable Car to Chinatown where we wandered the streets looking in the various shops, before entering a restaurant for an evening meal. No surprises for guessing it was a Chinese. And a cracking meal it was too.

After which the coach picked us up and drove us off to the Bay Bridge, where halfway across you come to Treasure Island, an island (no surprises there) in the middle of the bay.

We pulled up in a deserted parking lot and looked back across the glistening waters of the bay, to see the beautiful cityscape of San Francisco, with its lights shining in the darkness. Another lovely sight to behold.

Next morning was a lie-in! We had a free day to do as we pleased. This day mainly consisted of shopping! Plus riding up and down the hilly streets of San Francisco on the magnificent Cable Cars.

These trams (don’t call them trams, they don’t like it) are pulled around the streets by clamping onto underground cables. It’s a fascinating system dating from the late 1800’s. Luckily we managed to squeeze in a visit to the Cable Car museum, on the corner of Washington and Mason, which was very interesting, for me at least!

Later on we ventured back to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, to sample the famous Clam Chowder in a sour-dough bowl. Lovely.

As the afternoon progressed into evening, the fog came in and quickly enveloped the higher parts of the city and we were racing back to the hotel, to beat the fog, before it swallowed up our hotel too.

Pretty soon, the fog was laying heavy over most of San Francisco, so we decided to stay in the hotel to eat, which wasn’t a bad idea, considering the size of the meal we got.

You gotta love American portions!


PART 6

Our Remarkable Holiday to the USA. Part 4

Compare and Contrast.

As Vegas disappeared in the distance behind us, we moved off along Highway 160 towards Pahrump, (that's what the town is called!), where we would pick up Highway 190 into Death Valley.

The hustle and bustle of Vegas, turned into the stark, rugged, barren wasteland of the desert.

The enormity of the place is almost beyond description.

Death Valley, is an area of natural extremes, it is the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level. However, travel 76 miles west and you get to Mount Whitney, which is the highest point of the contiguous States with a height of 14,505 feet.

So you can go, in a very short time from blistering desert heat, 46° when we were there, to a mountain ski resort! Although, there was no snow, apart from a couple of small pockets near the summit.

If you want to get an idea of the vast area and the rugged landscape just look at some satellite images of the area, it is outstanding.

We stopped off at Furnace Creek, very apt name for it considering the heat, luckily there was an air conditioned shop, so we stayed inside for as long as we could.

From Furnace Creek, we headed west along Highway 190 until we joined the 395 which would take us up and out of the valley to Mammoth Lakes and the Mammoth Mountain Inn which would be our stop for the night.

The Mammoth Mountain Inn is just like a typical Austrian / Bavarian ski lodge, including the bar (Yodlers), which is where we ate that night. It had a wonderful atmosphere, with a roaring log fire and the food was really good too.

 

In the morning we set off again, this time descending into Yosemite National Park.

Again this was to be a day of outstanding natural beauty, with stops at idyllic, picture postcard locations.

Again, if you want to see how outstanding Yosemite is, Google it or take a look at some of the photo’s, totally amazing, totally breathtaking, and totally awesome.

I can’t really put into words the sights that presented themselves to us, after each twist and turn of the long winding roads, another unbelievable sight came into view.

Of all the days of our tour, these two were the quietest.

No jokes in this part of the Blog!

These were amazing days and something I would love to do again, you really have to see it to, believe the amazing contrasts.


PART 5

Our Remarkable Holiday to the USA. Part 3

Stars, Stripes and Stereotypes.

So, we trundled out from LA towards the State of Nevada and the rolling desert plains. Oh look there’s a Joshua Tree and another, and another. Eye Spy can get very boring, very quickly in the Nevada desert.

Only one small hiccup whilst out on the road, the coach decided it wasn’t going to change gear, up or down, which was slightly unnerving as we slowed right down on the uphill bits.

Clearly we couldn’t continue, so we pulled over as much as we could, onto the hard shoulder and the driver killed the engine. We sat there in virtual silence for 5 minutes, silence apart from the massive trucks thundering past us, shaking the bus from side to side.

The driver then fired her up again and we were off, changing gear, no problem.

See, believe us when we say; “have you tried turning it off and on again”? It works!!

The Nevada Desert is pretty much empty, then all of a sudden Vegas appears out of nowhere. Now it is a stupendous place, we passed along a couple of streets on the outskirts before hitting; “The Strip”, or Las Vegas Boulevard to give it its proper name.

We cruised along the Strip, passing all the huge casino / hotel complexes.

 

There’s the Luxor, a huge Pyramid with 4,500 rooms and 120,000 square feet of casino.

New York – New York, with its faux New York skyline, with the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.

And all the other big names; Caesar’s Palace, The Mirage, Paris (with its half scale Eiffel Tower), Planet Hollywood, Trump Towers etc.

These are really incredible places, massive complexes filled to the brim with attractions and gamblers.

Towards the end of the Strip came Circus Circus, which opened in 1968, some of the colour had been bleached out from its big top style roof, and to be honest it did look a bit dated, however, it was going to be home for the night, so make the most of it.

We pulled into the underground garage which could easily swallow up 20 coaches, and as we stepped from ours we were hit by the oppressive heat, even in the shade of the garage the heat was all around us, so we quickly collected our cases and shuffled into Reception where we would meet our new Tour Guide.

Las Vegas was a convergence point for our tour, we had travelled from LA with a mixture of nationalities on the coach, but we would be joining a tour which would be English speaking and the others from our coach, would join a German tour.

See, even in America, they know to keep Brits and Fritz separate!

We filed into Reception to await our meeting with the new Tour Guide and get our room keys. Our Guide was to be a jovial chap called Thierry, who spoke English as only a Frenchman could, thoughts of ‘Allo ‘Allo spring to mind.

There was only 5 of us waiting for him, so he quickly handed out keys, documentation and showed us the salient reference points in the hotel.

After which this small group of tourists headed for the lift, so there was the 3 of us and an elderly couple in the lift, a charming couple they were too.

He introduced his Wife to us, in a broad Australian accent;

“This is my Wife; Ann, and I’m Bruce”.

“Come again”?

“Ann and Bruce”?

“Surely not”?

“You couldn’t get more Australian even if you were wearing a brimmed hat, bedecked with dangling corks and a koala in your case”!

“You haven’t got a koala in your case, have you”?

I didn’t actually say that, I just reciprocated the introduction. As I say they were a lovely couple who we would chat to on and off for the rest of the week.

We found our room and set about having a quick wash before heading out to explore Circus Circus.

How can I explain my first reaction to where we were staying? Well, if you have ever stayed in one of the Haven Holiday camps in the UK, it’s just like that, only a million times worse (or better, depending on your viewpoint).

It’s everything under one roof. Sunshine in doors, and a lift to all floors.

There’s row upon row of blinking and beeping slot machines, there’s gift shops, bars, restaurants, franchised eateries, cafes, entertainment. The giant Adventuredome Theme Park…………….

“What did you say”?

Yup, that’s right, in the middle of the hotel is a huge dome containing a theme park. A proper full size roller coaster and a log flume, and not just a 4-person log, but 16 people per log! And loads more besides. Absolutely incredible!

However, the downside to this, for me anyway, was the constant noise, the thundering roller coaster, the chinking and blinking slots, the constant chatter of the thousands of people there, it was a bit much, too much noise, and very tacky.

Sorry Las Vegas.

Still we met some interesting people. As well as the Aussies and the French Tour Guide. There were the….. how can I put this carefully?

I know I’m big boned, OK I’m fat!

Well some of the Americans took the biscuit! In fact it looked like they took the whole bloody packet!

Crikey some of them are big!

Now, I spotted at least 3 species of obese people;

There were the ones that knew that they were big and were happy with it, they were generally the cuddly Mom’s who would bake apple pie and leave it on the window sill to cool, eat it when no one was looking and bake another one, they were nice and friendly.

Then there were the über fat ones, so big that they claimed disability and rode around on mobility scooters. If you weren’t quick enough they would clip you around the ankles with their scooter, as they zipped to the next Krispy Kreme Donut stand.

If you were really unlucky you would get squashed between two of them, as they rode in pairs down a corridor, their ample belly rolls, cascading down the sides of the scooter seat!

Then there was the fat family of; Mom, Pop and all the (little) huge kids.

Generally Pop and the boys would be dressed the same, their bulky, no necked, huge shouldered frame, hidden by a massive white t-shirt which hung, straight down from their massive American Football type shoulders, to the tops of their knees, then the vertical line continuing in the form of shorts reaching mid calf.

To all intents and purposes they looked like a family of Honey Monsters, in search of their next bucket of Sugar Puffs!!

Everything in America seems to be big, casinos, hotels, people. Oh and food!

In the afternoon, we stopped in one of the cafes that was next to the gaming floor.

Little Miss Dave had a Hot Dog, I had a Hot Dog with Cheese and Mrs Dave had Nacho’s and Cheese.

Well, Natasha could’ve worn her Hot Dog as a scarf it was that long. The same with mine, although I had what was classed as cheese on the top, it was actually cheese flavoured custard, a gloopy concoction that looked like several hundred Kraft Cheese Slices had been melted and poured over my foot long dog.

Mrs Dave had the same Cheesey Custard on her Nacho’s.

OK we were hungry and at first it didn’t taste so bad, but after a pint of Cheesey Custard the room started to spin, so we thought we’d better retire to our room and lie down!

Later on, as the sky darkened and the Strip lit up, we wandered off to take in the sights of Las Vegas, boy it was hot, but very impressive with lights everywhere, they must have one huge bill!

Plus if the prospect of climbing stairs in that heat scares you, there are escalators all over the place, including outside!

After a couple of hours taking in the sights we ventured back to Circus Circus to get a meal, after the Cheesey Custard, Mrs Dave thought a light snack of jacket potato with steak strips would fill the gap. What turned up was a potato the size of a rugby ball with half a cow grated on top.

They like ‘em big in America!

We were late going to bed that night, but it didn’t matter as Las Vegas does not sleep. Neither were the couple in the next door room! That certainly was not snoring keeping me awake, unless of course they were watching one of the “special channels” on the TV.

Viva Las Vegas!!


PART 4