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Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Scarborough 2009 Extended EditA week in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, plus a quick visit to Whitby.
1:55 The Grand Hotel.
2:12 The Tavelodge.
2:35 Parlour Tea House and Tramway / Fernicular.
3:18 View of the South Bay, harbour and castle.
4:12 Scarborough harbour and lighthouse.
5:55 The foreshore shops and amusements.
6:06 Yes, that is a blue Police Box on the left.
6:57 Luna Park funfair, next to the marina.
7:52 The Coastguard Station on Marine Drive.
9:03 Scarborough foreshore shops and amusements at night.
9:54 A ride on a fernicular up the cliff on the South Bay.
11:07 The Valley Bridge on Scarborough's South Bay, near The Grand Hotel.
13:19 "Hello from Scarborough 2009", on the beach at the South Bay.
13:46 The Spa, viewed from the footpaths on the cliff above the South Bay.
14:18 The Spa fernicular station.
14:55 The Clock Cafe.
15:06 The pirate galleon.
16:00 The path leading to The Italian Gardens.
17:45 The Italian Gardens.
18:24 A squirrel in The Italian Gardens.
19:21 Rock pools on the South Bay while the tide is out.
20:13 The Spa.
20:30 Scarborough Town Centre.
20:57 The Town Hall.
22:41 Steps from the town down to the beach.
22:58 An old house... looks Tudor era to me.
24:29 Donkey rides on the beach.
25:00 Seagulls.
26:43 Looking down from the Castle Hill.
27:52 Scarborough Castle walls.
28:12 The North Bay.
29:57 Scarborough Castle.
30:22 The Sealife Centre.
30:36 Marine Drive.
31:00 Gulls nesting on the cliff along Marine Drive.
32:40 Murals on the buildings and walls leading up from the beach to the town.
33:14 A visit to Whitby.
34:08 Crabs.
35:10 A steam powered bus -"Old Glory".
36:19 The very steep hill up to Whitby Abbey.
37:36 Whitby Abbey.
38:06 Back down the hill, taking the path instead of the steps this time. It's so steep it's almost scary.
39:10 Window shopping in Whitby.
39:40 The swing bridge.
40:15 The drive back to Scarborough from Whitby.
43:29 Seagulls on the beach, back at Scarborough.
All music is royalty free from http://incompetech.com/
Steve Benway 1:31 AM [+] (0) comments
Monday, August 10, 2009
I've uploaded a new page for that Scarborough video, including an index, so if you'd like to know exactly what you're looking at while watching, go check it out.Steve Benway 6:51 PM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Our holiday in Scarborough.Steve Benway 12:11 PM [+] (0) comments
Monday, August 03, 2009
We're in Scarborough for the week, staying in the Travelodge, directly opposite The Grand Hotel, where we usually stay.I'm blogging from my laptop, with a Vodafone mobile braodband dongle, and as is becoming the case more often these days, the speed of the connection is very impressive.
We got here mid Sunday evening, and went for a bimble around the town. Now, unlike most holidays, where I make like a Japanese tourist and photograph everything, this time I'm videoing everything.
So, when we get home, expect to see one or two videos on youtube, and embedded in this blog
Labels: holidays
Steve Benway 2:52 AM [+] (0) comments
Monday, September 08, 2008
I turned 40 last week (tuesday).How'd that happen?
I had the week booked off work, coz no way I was gonna spend my 40th there, and apart from my birthday itself, when I spent much time playing with new toys, I've spent most of the week being extremely busy.
Busy doing what?
You may well ask.
Photos! Lots and lots of photos. Well... 86, to be precise.
So it took an absolute age, but I've finally got my collection of Scarborough photos sorted, processed, pages done, and all uploaded.
Go take a look, then check out the ads down the side of the page and book a holiday there, or something ;)
Steve Benway 3:13 AM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
This will be quite a mish-mash of a post, as it covers several topics, spanning the past couple of weeks.So first off... the techie stuff.
The notebook pc.
Over the past few months, I've been watching with some interest, the development of the Asus EeePC.
This is a very small, light, and low cost laptop that's quite taken the market by storm. It has a solid state storage system, as opposed to a hard drive, built in webcam, no optical drive, and runs linux by default, though it's possible to run windoze on them. Later models offer more storage, and windoze as an option.
The idea of the EeePc has always been that they're for those who want a 2nd, low cost machine, to be used mostly for surfing the net, or while on the move.
For me, this sounded perfect. As much of my time on my main pc is spent simply browsing, wouldn't it be nice to be able to do this downstairs, where I could chat with Andrea while I surf?
The downside of the EeePC has always been the rather pathetic storage capacity, as even the later models, with increased capacity, only offer 20gig, much of which is taken up by the OS.
To be honest, this was never going to be enough, so I held off buying one.
Now market forces being what they are, as soon as other manufacturers saw what a success the EeePC was, they started building their own mini-laptops, along similar, but slightly improved lines.
So, not long ago, the MSI Wind hits the market, offering all the advantages of the EeePC, with much improved storage and CPU.
Shortly after that, they license this design to PC World, who produce what is basically the same machine, rebranded as the Advent 4211, and £50 cheaper.
This is the point where I decide "£179.99 for a perfectly usable notebook sounds like a good deal to me."
Now, having a wife who knows a great deal about getting online bargains and discounts, I bought mine at an even lower price, which was nice.
The mobile broadband
Already having mobile internet access on both my MDA Pro, and my mobile phone, I know how useful it can be, and also how fiddly and frustrating it can be when trying to do stuff on such small devices.
Now, the techie media has been making an amount of noise about the latest "mobile broadband" offerings for pcs and laptops, from all the main mobile phone companies. So when 3 started offering Pay As You Go mobile broadband, I decided it would go very nicely with my new notebook, being especially useful for holidays and suchlike.
I duly went and bought one from the local 3 shop, and hey presto.... absolutely rubbish!
It failed to recieve a 3G signal... ever! Then on the very few occasions it was able to get a gprs 2G signal, it was from Orange, and with an amazing bandwidth of 0.02k/sec.
Web page loading time was not a factor. They never loaded.
Needless to say, the 3 mobile modem went back to the shop for a refund.
Next I decided to try offering from Vodafone. This uses exactly the same modem, though it's on contract, instead of pay as you go. £15 gets you 3gig of data per month. Perfectly adequate for someone who only wants to use it when on holiday or whatever.
So when I get it home and install it, guess what? Nothing!
This time however, it's not down to a crap service, but simply that my sim hadn't been activated.
Now I've been using it for a few days, I can tell you that at home, I only receive a 2G, gprs signal, despite what the woman in the shop said I'd get, but even this is not terrible. 50k/sec, which is slightly better than you'd expect on dialup.
While away for the weekend (more on that soon), I got a solid 3G and 3G+ signal, and saw speeds up to 225k/sec, which was really quite impressive.
The Weekend Away
We just spent a long weekend away, staying at The Moore Place hotel, in Aspley Guise, just outside Milton Keynes.
The plan had been to visit my mother, do some shopping in the city centre, and maybe fit in a visit to Bedford.
However...
We arrived on Saturday afternoon, and were both rather shattered, so napped until 8pm, when we had a table booked in the hotel restaurant.
The mushroom soup was both fascinating and impressive, but while the chicken main course that I had was great, the vegetarian offering was definitely not to Andrea's taste.
This left her with a very nasty case of what we assumed at the time was indigestion, but later events have led us to believe we were both suffering from a stomach bug.
After the meal, we played chess in the lounge, as they just happened to have a set there. I'm guessing not many guests bother with it, as we seemed to attract an amount of attention, just by playing it.
After our game, I took some night shots of the pond and waterfall, outside.
On Sunday, we woke late, watched the grand prix on tv, and then went to a restaurant in Milton Keynes.
£40 for 2 burgers, chips and salad seems pretty extreme to me, though they were seriously good burgers... and we didn't actually pay that much, as most of the bill was paid with Tesco Deals vouchers. Andrea's bargain hunting pays off yet again.
Then the bug struck again. Very soon after leaving the burger place, Andrea was hit with the most extreme indigestion, and only 4! Rennie indigestion tablets stopped her from being sick.
After Andrea's stomach had settled enough, we went and visited my mother, who seems to have settled into her new home very nicely.
When we got back to the hotel, we munched sandwiches for tea and watched tv, till bedtime.
Trouble is, I woke up at 4am, feeling kinda wrong.
At first I couldn't put my finger on it.
"Aha! Indigestion.... I know that feeling. A Rennie will fix it."
Nope. Still felt like shit.
Another Rennie?
Nope... still felt bad,
The next one after that seemed to be doing the trick... right up to the point that I was repeatedly sick.
Next morning, we checked out at 11am, and had planned to go back into Milton Keynes, to do the shopping we hadn't yet found time for, but I was still feeling pretty rough, not to mention drained, so we just came home instead.
Labels: computers, holidays, hotels, phones
Steve Benway 2:42 AM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Where to start, where to start?Well, minor incidents aside, which are remembered with amusement now, (I won't list them, to save embarrassment for anyone concerned), everything went pretty smoothly.
So by 12 noon, on the 26th July, 2008, Andrea and I were married :D
Our rings are definitely something apart from the usual.
Mine is black zirconium with a gold inlay.
Andrea's is white and yellow gold with a Celtic rune inscription.
After the reception, we headed off to Scarborough.
For the first couple of days, the weather was largely dominated by a sea fog, only clearing occasionally... though when it did, it was seriously hot.
Now if you're at all familiar with photos I've posted from a previous visit to Scarborough, you may notice something a little familiar about this pic.
Amazingly, we found ourselves in exactly the same room we were given a year and a half ago, when I proposed to Andrea. We didn't ask for this room, or make any mention of it, so we were utterly flabbergasted to find ourselves in it again, and given the occasion, it seemed completely fitting.
After the first couple of days, when weather cleared, giving us blazing hot sunshine. This, and an urge to go shopping prompted me to buy some new clothes, rather than borrow an iron for the linen stuff I'd packed. I found myself sporting a somewhat tongue in cheek colonial look, just for the hell of it.
It's funny how differently people treat you, when you dress up a bit.
One of the attractions we found was this little miniature railway, which led to the end of the south bay, a couple of miles from our hotel.
At the end of the bay was a small pool, fed by a stream, where Andrea had a shoe floating under a rock incident. She was saved from hopping home with only one shoe by a little girl with a fishing net.
This matched for comedy value my own earlier mishap, when I incorrectly scratched the date on our parking token, and landed us with a £25 parking ticket. I pleaded stupidity at the council offices, and they let us off the fine.
I could go on for hours about the wonderful time we had, but instead, I'll just post a few photos.
You can find more of my photos from our honeymoon on my flickr page.
Steve Benway 9:38 PM [+] (0) comments
Monday, November 05, 2007
Last weeks news was a 32 inch High Definition Sanyo tv to go with the PS3.Much visual coolness.
This weeks news...
Blackpool.
Steve Benway 1:54 AM [+] (0) comments
Monday, July 30, 2007
Predictably, shortly after sorting out our email problems, our isp threw a serious wobbler, and refused to function at all.This was unfortunate timing, as it came a couple of days before we went on a short break, so till now, no-one has known why my cam and chatroom have been dead, emails haven't been answered, etc.
So anyway... the city of Hull has been generally recognised as the worst place in England.
We decided to find out if the reputation was warranted, and booked a few days in The Quality Royal Hotel, right in the heart of Hull.
These photos might suggest that the place is as bad as people say it is, but there's more...
And then when you begin to explore the surrounding area, there's still more...
Click the images for larger versions.
So, the hotel was absolutely fantastic, and is highly recommended, and as for the reputation of the town... no warranted at all, as far as we could tell.
Labels: holidays, hotels, photos
Steve Benway 9:13 PM [+] (0) comments
Monday, January 29, 2007
Most wonderful weekend ever!As planned some time ago, we went to Scarborough, and stayed at The Grand Hotel... a Victorian hotel that when it was built, was the largest in Europe.
The place is very quirky and slightly odd, seeming to be trying to stay true to its history, while functioning on a tight budget in a modern era.
So while the architecture is very grandiose and impressive, the actual decor is either looking rather tired, or somewhat dubiously chosen. What is it with all that blue? Certainly not horrible... just peculiar.
The staff were *very* good though, being both friendly and helpful.
Our room was quite an odd mishmash too, combining a victorian feel, with some later art deco furnishings, and plenty of that ill advised blue. The floor boards added real comedy value too. Creaky? Yup. Much fun.
This probably makes it sound like it wasn't really much good, but that would be doing the room an injustice. While quirky, it was very comfortable, had a warm atmosphere, and the most awesome view.
Looking south, we could see down the beach, and had a great view of the Victorian bridge spanning the valley...
...while looking east, we could see out over the harbour.
At dinner that evening, it appeared we'd been upgraded, as while we'd got our room at a bargain price, we were dining in the hall reserved for premium guests. Yay!
The experience was actually a little confusing, as the soup starter, which was absolutely wonderful, was served to us at our table... while the main course was self service from the carvery, and turned out to be a little unspectacular.
For what we were paying though, it was excellent... just slightly bemusing.
On saturday morning, before breakfast, and while Andrea was still asleep, I went for a walk with my camera.
It was very cold, but the sun was just rising, and there were some very dedicated surfers already on the beach.
I walked along the beach towards the town and took a wander round the harbour.
Time was getting on and I needed to find a florist, so I headed into town (or so I thought), only to get completely lost, and end up at the very top of the hill by the castle.
Though I hadn't actually planned to be up there, and I'd already been out much longer than intended, I couldn't help but be impressed by the view, and how The Grand completely dominates the bay.
Anyways, I made my way back down into the town, and after asking for directions several times, I finally found a florist, from which I bought every last red rose they had.
On returning to the hotel, Andrea and I went down for breakfast, and I have to say, this turned out to be quite excellent.
Then to the serious business of shopping, and some very specific shopping it was too. We must've checked out every jeweler in Scarborough, but it was worth the walk.
Rather than walk directly back to the hotel, we went down the hill and took a walk along the sea front, which for January was surprisingly lively, and then along the beach.
So, as we walked along the almost deserted sand, under the lights of the seafront, and in view of the impressively lit Grand Hotel, I took Andrea's hand, dropped to one knee, and said "Andrea.... Would you do me the honour of being my wife?"
She said yes. :D
Having already bought rings together earlier, Andrea knew I was going to propose... and it was the whole point of the weekend in Scarborough, but the actual moment... it was very special.
We exchanged rings. Andrea's is gold with a diamond cluster. Mine is a white gold ridged band with 6 diamonds embedded around it.
We headed back to the hotel, where I presented Andrea with the roses I'd bought in the morning, (the hotel staff were fantastic and went to some trouble trying to find a vase for them, though after much searching, a water jug served the purpose finely), and we drank the best champagne I've ever tasted, in some very nice glasses... a lovely gift from friends and colleagues of Andrea's.
The next morning, before breakfast, I went for another walk with my camera. I'm still learning how to get the best from the thing, so while some shots that should have been excellent came out blurred, some are as breathtaking as the views themselves were.
Scarborough has sunrises that make getting up early compulsory.
After another great breakfast, it was back off up to our room to pack. Checking out was at 10am, and we were pushing it, but it's hard to hurry to leave such a great place.
Just before we left the room, we paused at the window to watch the surfers on the beach.
Yup.
Best weekend ever.
And best of all.... We're engaged!!!
Labels: holidays, hotels, photos
Steve Benway 6:00 AM [+] (4) comments
Saturday, December 30, 2006
So then, now all of that's done and dusted... Christmas, and the run-up to it.On the 21st, Andrea and I went back to Milton Keynes for a couple of days, mainly to drop off pressies for my family, but also to do a spot of shopping.
As it's a damned long journey, we figured it'd be better if we stayed the night in a hotel, and while we'd initially booked a room at Newport Pagnel services, at the last minute, Andrea managed to get us a room in The Cock Hotel in Stony Stratford.
This was ultra cool for two reasons.
Firstly, Stony Stratford is my absolute favourite place in the whole world, and at Christmas, with all of the lights up, the place is absolutely magical.
This pic really does the place no justice at all, but you get the idea.
Secondly, we've stayed at The Cock Hotel before, and though on that occasion, our room was a little shoddy, we really liked the atmospehere of the place. So this time, we were thrilled to bits when we got a vastly better room for an absolute knock down price.
As you can see, the room was a decent size, with a double bed, decent sized sofa, HD TV, and wonderful decor and general ambience.
Now if that was all, I'd have been impressed, but the view from the window was really good too. Maybe if it hadn't been Christmas, it'd have been a little less impressive, but as it was...
This was the view looking directly out and down, while looking up the street a little...
So that's the run-up... what about Christmas itself?
Great day.
The build-up to Christmas is always pretty stressful, or at least, I find it so... so the fact that Christmas day was a really chilled and relaxing day was a real bonus.
With Andrea's 3 offspring all in attendance, it was a full house, with much food, drink, pressies, and tv. Just how things should be.
What did Santa bring me?
Among lots of other really cool stuff, top pressies were a Colecovision (early 80s games console... expect to find details in my Consoles And Computers section in a week or so), some books on photography and historic buildings, and Top Gear DVDs which repeatedly caused me to wake Andrea, coz I kept laughing at them, watching with headphones while she slept.
Yup... top Christmas.
Labels: Christmas, holidays, hotels, photos, Stony Stratford
Steve Benway 9:12 PM [+] (0) comments
Friday, September 01, 2006
We've just returned after several days in Lowestoft, near Great Yarmouth.Predictably, there are new photos on my flickr page, of which, these are a few examples.
Steve Benway 5:22 PM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Wales then.I was gonna blog while we were there, but my pda blogging software didn't want to co-operate.
So now I'm too lazy to write a full account, and am just gonna do my usual thing... post a few photos and tell you to go look at the rest on flickr. Click that animated flickr link image down there on the left, or click the images here.
Steve Benway 1:45 AM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, August 13, 2006
We're off to wales in a bit under 24 hours.I'm not sure of the exact details, but since both Andrea and myself are pretty much in full on night mode lately, we're gonna set off some time tomorrow night, to arrive in wales some time in the early(ish) hours.
I've no idea what to expect, though the brochures make it look very nice. The weather may be a bit iffy though. But whatever... I'll have my camera with me, so expect lots of pics... assuming I get round to posting them.
Oh yeah. I've managed to run 2 cams at once on this pc, so frequently, if my camerades cam shows as online, the other one will be too. There's also gonna be a mobile one up and running soon too, from my pda/phone... so you can expect 'holiday cam' in the not too distant future. (I've actually run this already, once or twice, but it's only been useable for those in the same chatroom as me, since I havent got it setup right yet).
Labels: holidays
Steve Benway 4:12 AM [+] (0) comments
Thursday, July 27, 2006
There are a few new photos on my Flickr PageHere's just one of them.
I'm using flickr just to preview new pics... not posting all of the best ones. Everything will be going into the photo gallery on my new site, when I get the time to finish it.
That's proving quite hard though, coz I'm taking more photos than I can keep up with... going away for a week in Wales soon, and that should be a real photofest.
Steve Benway 4:09 PM [+] (0) comments
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