The events of recent days

I had a lovely birthday. We were up early to take advantage of a rare full day of sunshine and experience the thrills of Thorpe Park. Over the last couple of years we've talked about making the trip to Alton Towers, but that's just too far away for a day trip, so we settled on one of the local theme parks.
Legendarily, Chessington World of Adventures was the better of the two, having the better rides and the lovelier setting and animals and all, but over the last couple of years they've made an effort to put some better rides in at Thorpe Park, and so it won the honour of hosting my birthday trip!
It was great! In some ways I've lost some of my fear of rides. I used to be a big wuss and wouldn't try anything that turned you upside down or went too high or whatever excuse I could find. However this time I was willing to give anything a go, except Stealth. Stealth is a beast of a ride, rising 205 feet in the air and reaching 88mph. No way. Far too high! I got vertigo just looking up at it!
But the other rides were great fun. Colossus and Nemesis Inferno being highlights. The Tidal Wave was pretty good too, if only because on a hot day like Saturday getting drenched by gallons of water was a joy. There's a wonderful moment on that ride where you're at the epicentre of the explosion of water and it all just seems to be hanging in the air around you... before it all pours down on you. That was good!
After an exhausting day of queuing in the sunshine we went back to Chris's place for a barbeque. I ended up doing the cooking, but I'm not going to complain about that because it all turned out rather well. Even the chicken, which isn't the easiest thing to get right on the bbq!

I got some great presents and want to say a big thank you to everyone who joined us at Thorpe Park and all my wonderful friends who sent cards and texts during the day. It always makes me feel special you know.

Sunday was our uncool day, as we took Mum and Dad to see Genesis with us. To be honest, these days I'm beyond caring about what's cool and what isn't and I'm happy to like things just because I like them! So yes I rather like Genesis! Growing up with them, how could I not, really?
The show was pretty awesome really. The set list was designed to appeal to fans of all their many periods, which worked well. In fact I probably enjoyed this more than any other time I've seen them, because the set list was so good. There was stuff played yesterday evening that I never thought I'd hear them play live- The Cage Medley which was simply awesome, Ripples which was a huge surprise and starting with Behind the Lines (without the singing anyway) which was a brilliant barnstorming opener.
The songs were really well chosen, as they played a set that would keep fans of all their periods happy. The songs from the mid 80s stand up so much better live too!I was sad they didn't do That's All, and there were several other more unlikely songs I'd have loved them to do, but they were always the really unlikely ones! The only one I'd rather they hadn't done was Hold On My Heart, which is a bit dreary...They can certainly put on a show. Phil may not be cool, but he can work a crowd wonderfully. It's always good to see the tambourine theatrics again!So good stuff, and the second best comeback of the year!

And then a pretty ordinary week at work. I'm feeling pretty knackered after the weekend though, so I'm pleased that I'm off work and going down to Cornwall to stay with Grandma next week. Actually I'm really looking forward to that trip- it'll be restful and I'll be well looked after I know! I think it's important to make the effort to get down and see her, firstly because I love her to bits and secondly because these days I'm ever more aware that you never know how much time your older relatives have got left and I'd kick myself later if I didn't make the most of the opportunities to go and spend time with her before the inevitable. I've been more aware of that since Grandad died a couple of years back.

We went to see Dad's new place this week too. It's compact but rather nice really. It's a little flat above a garage, and is a whole lot nicer than i expected. I think he'll be very happy there- in fact he already seems to be happier! I couldn't live there because of the pitched ceilings which slope to heights that would make things difficult for me! I'm pleased to see him getting sorted. I was sure for a while he wasn't going to!