International Market Returns To Skegness!

Based right in the middle of the main shopping area in Skegness, an international market makes a welcome return to the resort. From today, 30th April through until Sunday 3rd May, this popular event will be available to the visitor and local alike. The list of produce and products that are available is:

Mediterranean Foods

Traditional Spanish Paella

German Bratwurst

Spanish Leather goods

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Jerk Chicken - Oh Yes!

Egyptian Textiles

South American Handmade Garments

Handmade Gifts gift 4 the soul

Staffordshire China and Ceramics

Traditional fudge

Fragrance house

Revive Products

Staffordhshire Handmade Garden Furniture

The Gourmet Sausage company & Traditional Pulled pork

Mariusz Kiec Garden products

French Crepes

Amazing how I always seem to focus on the grub!

Why not pay a visit if you are in the area. I can heartily recommend the Jamaican Jerk Chicken!

Skegness 10K Doubles Up - Fantastic!

I took part in the inaugural Skegness 10K during the winter. It was fantastic to see it actually take place. I was contacted by Skegness Coasters Running Club originally in 2013 and we tried to get the race up and running, so to speak, then. Unfortunately we were looking at a course that included roads within the town but Lincolnshire County Council Highways were very intransigent with regard to road closures and the idea died a death.

Luckily, The Coasters are not the type of club to give up and they finally organised a race for 2014 which ran out of the rear entrance to South View Caravan Park and meandered around the roads there, through some lovely Lincolnshire countryside.

The inaugural race was limited to 200 runners. It was really well organised with Chris Chittell, better known as Eric Pollard from the popular Emmerdale soap series, starting the race.

Chris Chittell - Eric Pollard from Emmerdale

Such was the success that this year the number of entrants allowed to run has increased to 500, a direct reflection of all the hard work put in by the team of organisers. That means that there is going to be plenty of room for competitors of all abilities to join the race this year.

The race this year will take place on Sunday 15th November and will start at 10.00 am. There is plenty of excellent hotel accommodation within the town for those of you that might want to take part but need to travel.

So come on. Take part in the 2015 Skegness 10K. Skegness, as they say, Is So Bracing so keep moving in November to keep warm!

Don't suggest you copy Jolly's Running Style!

Further information and sign up can be had by viewing
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/events/viewevent.asp?sp=&v=2&EN=90085&ms=


Hope to see you there and don't trip over me on the way past!

Mother And Babies Doing Well

I have just seen a Blackbird with its fledglings in the back garden. Already? Is this unusual I ask myself? It is not even the end of April yet and this bird has manage to rear a clutch to the point of fledging!

Well done Mr & Mrs Blackbird: an inspiration to us all.

Women's Magazines - Hate Them!

Now I have always had a thing about women's magazines. Full of flim-flam and celebrities and young lasses that look like stick insects, pretending that they don't diet and pretending that all women can look like that. It is just a world that us blokes do not understand.

A couple of examples of what I mean:

Dunno why I picked one in Russian!

But now I have found one that I am really, really not happy with!

My wife came home with this:

Now it looks innocent enough doesn't it? But oh no. Believe me it is really dangerous and insidious.

Women's Running. The operative word there is WOMEN'S! Not MEN'S but WOMEN'S. Why do I feel so strongly about this particular rag? Well let me just tell you.

My wife and I are into a bit of running. She is much more competent than me but then again she has the advantage of youth! In six weeks time we are going to be doing the Woodhall Spa 10k. A nice little jaunt in the Lincolnshire countryside thought I. Nowhere near as difficult as the Lincoln 10k that just about ended my stint on the earth. Nothing too strenuous. 

So what is the problem? Well I will tell you. In this blooming magazine is a Training Regime for Improvers! It is a regime that lasts for 6 weeks after which you do your next 10k. 6 weeks? You getting the picture? Oh yes WE not SHE are going to be taking advantage of this wonderful regime apparently! My protestations "That it is for women out of a women's magazine" are cutting no ice. Oh no. We are now both IMPROVERS! I look forward to the improvement!!!!

Bloody womens magazines. Hate them!

New Jewellers Comes To Skegness

It has been announced that a Warren James Jewellery Outlet store is coming to Skegness. The store will open in the Hildreds Centre. This is another excellent bit of progress for the town.

The Hildreds Centre, owned by New River Retail, really has become a gem in the middle of the town and is a credit to those who manage it locally. The handmade displays throughout the year are a delight for children and parents alike and are well worth a visit just to see them.

Love to see Skegness becoming busier and better!

Bradford Fire - Bantamtrek 2015

Just been highlighted to me by a friend who is a Bantam supporter that the Barnsley City kitman John Duckworth is walking from Sincil Bank to Bradford's Valley Parade to raise money for the Bradford Burns Unit in memory of the 56 that died in the Bradford tragedy and the survivors who were treated at the unit. 

For more information on the Bradford Tragedy please see my earlier blog http://steveodare.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/bradford-fire-remembered.html.

John Duckworth Bradford CIty Kitman

You can give to this great cause in one of two ways: 

https://www.justgiving.com/Bantamstrek2015/ 

or by texting BANT56 with the amount to 70070. 

If you can, please give. The guy is walking 73.6 miles in aid of this worthy cause and deserves all the support we can give him. 

Many thanks. 

Steve

A Real TESCO Rip-Off

Now I know this might sound a bit petty, but come on TESCO!

Went in to buy some salad today and noticed that full cucumbers were 47p each. Very reasonable thought I. Problem is they were pretty large so I thought I would buy just half a cucumber that they had on sale.

A cucumber for those that don't know what one looks like!

But hang on. Half a cucumber was 35p. Now how does that work out?

Now I am no Maths Professor but if a whole cucumber is 47p then half of one should, reasonably, be 24p. So how come they are 35p? That is virtually a 50% mark up. Just for cutting a cucumber in half? Really? I should coco.

No I suspect some retail guru will be able to tell me why this is really okay and is not ripping off the customers but it would need to be a bloody good explanation to turn me!

After 20 Years - Goodbye Old Friend

After 20 years what have I done? I didn't realise I would miss you so much. I didn't realise how central you were to my life. Now I know.

Yes. Yesterday I took delivery of a new bed and said goodbye to my old one. After 20 years of good and faithful service it is now heading to the recycling in the sky.

This new one is nowhere near as friendly. Smells all wrong and feels all wrong. We are going to have to get used to one another. Iron out the kinks and get along.

I feel very sad about this. Getting rid of my old bed.

In a few weeks time I am changing my car which i have already ordered! If I feel this way about my bed then what am I going to feel like about that?

All change. What am I doing? I think I need to remember this ancient Chinese proverb:

"When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills". 

Is this post really about changing my bed? You know I don't really think it is!

Save The NHS - Is That It Labour?

So Labour is again trying to frighten the children by telling them that there is only two weeks to "Save The NHS". What utter nonsense. Cast your mind back and it was not that long ago they were telling us there was 72 hours to "Save The NHS". Well the NHS was saved and not by Labour. It was saved by the Conservatives driving the UK economy into a place where there is the money to really "Save The NHS" * billion pounds of it to be precise.

And what will Labour do to "Save The NHS"? They promise to train 1,000 more nurses. Good plan but would that really "Save The NHS"? No of course it wouldn't.

Funny enough. Between 2010 and now the number of nurses in the NHS has increased by approximately 1,000. Does Milliband tell us that? NO! Does Milliband tell us that there has been an increase in medical staff, doctors, midwives, nurses and health visitors, of approximately 6,000 in the last 5 years? again NO!

This Labour propensity to try and frighten people to vote for them by telling them the NHS needs saving in a given time period is really so infantile as to be worthless.

Surely you, dear reader, do not actually believe it do you?

Skegness LIDL Closing For Refurbishment

LIDL will be missing from our town for 6 or 7 months. An excellent store from a company that has gone from strength to strength over the last few years. Look forward to it reopening with a bigger store and greater range of products. Really going to miss the Bratwurst though.

Please see the following for news of the reopening date: http://steveodare.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/skegness-lidl-reopening-date.html

Nationalists Hard Done By?

We are hearing an awful lot from the Nationalist Parties for Scotland and Wales. Both appear to be trying to convince us that they are very hard done by and need a "fairer deal". They would have us believe that they are being seen off by the Westminster government when it come to funding.

The below is taken from a Parliamentary Briefing Paper that gives the latest figure for spending per head of population in the 4 countries of the Union.

In 2013/14, public spending per head in the UK as a whole was £8,936. In England, it was £8,678 (3% below the UK average). This compares with:
 Scotland: £10,275 (15% above the UK average)
 Wales: £9,924 (11% above the UK average)
 Northern Ireland £10,961 (23% above the UK average).

As can be seen the figures show that the English are the ones that are hard done by. The only country to fall below the average as a whole and the lowest funded country altogether.

Don't let the whinging of the Nationalist Parties make you believe that they are some how done down. The very opposite is the truth. 

Bradford Fire Remembered

We have now reached the 30th anniversary of the horrendous Bradford City fire in which 56 football fans met their end in terrible circumstances. 54 from Bradford City and 2 from Lincoln City. On what should have been a day of celebration for the Bantams fans 11th May 1985, the day when they received the league trophy, there was nothing but horror and despair. The horrors still live within many people who were present on that day.

Yesterday, there was a minutes silence before Lincoln City's game against Eastleigh to pay tribute to those that lost their lives and those that were affected by it. It was impeccably observed by all in the ground both Lincoln and Eastleigh supporters.

You really could have heard the proverbial pin drop. The depth of feeling relating to this tragedy was evident as there were several supporters near me in tears.

The 56 will never be forgotten along with all other football supporters who set out from home to watch a match and never return to the bosom of their families.

Just HIV or.........?

I read with some disgust the comments by Nigel Farage regarding people with HIV not being able to come to the UK.

In my view there are only two possible reasons for him to say such an awful thing.

The first is that he is concerned about the time and resources that people with HIV can require from the NHS. Now if that is the case why has he just picked on HIV? Why has he not talked about Chronic Diseases such as Diabetes, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Heart Disease, Stroke or Arthritis? All of these disease are hugely more prevalent than HIV amongst the worlds population and take up far more of the NHS resources.

The second is that HIV and those suffering from it is something that he feels the world should actively discriminate against? To me this is more likely. Sad isn't it?