A Drive Through The Illuminations

It's been years since we did it. Driving through the famous Blackpool Illuminations, that is.

Last night I was dying to get out of the house and find some fresh air. A day either peering at a computer screen or talking on the telephone had left me feeling a bit cooped up.

I suggested a ride out into the countryside and Fran countered it with a suggestion we go shopping but we could go to the Asda in Fulwood, north Preston. So a compromise and we set off around 7:00pm taking all the back roads through Elswick to Broughton then cutting down the A6 to just past the M55/M6 junction and then across to the Asda.

We bumped into Rachel and Katie in Asda and caught up on a bit of news, then zig-zagged up and down every single aisle - oh joy - because we had no idea where stuff was.

Fran claimed she was disappointed because she had wanted to go to look around the clothes section and it was closed off. There was someone watching over me after all... It was daylight when we went in. It was pitch black when we came out.

So I headed back for the A6 but then turned left towards Preston until I hit the old Blackpool Road and we drove through Lea and then left through Warton and Lytham, then along the front at St Annes and so to Squires Gate at the start of the Illuminations.

By the time we got to the Pleasure Beach we had joined a crawling queue of traffic. This surprised me a bit, I didn't think the Illuminations were that popular these days to have such a queue mid week, but obviously they still draw visitors in.

So we stayed mostly in first gear and inched our way along the Promenade, seeing all 3 of the current illuminated trams - the trawler, the warship and the wild west train.

I turned off at the Gynn, just before the large standing tableaux along the cliffs at North Shore. They are best seen on foot and we'll go another night.

But I had had my fresh air, mingled a bit towards the end with exhaust fumes. It also struck me as we drove along the Golden Mile how the smell of frying onions has totally disappeared, such a shame! In the 1970s and 80s until the yellow M and Burger King arrived, burgers were griddled in their scores and kept hot by piling them on their ends in a heap of fried onions. They were put in a bun with or without onions and you added ketchup and mustard to taste and they were gorgeous! You wouldn't have dreamed of putting salad or pickles on them in those days but they tasted fantastic.

I don't often do burgers these days and if I do it has to be as a meal, not in between meals. As a teenager calories used to bounce off me. Now they cling on hard and fast...

I was driving of course so the photo is an old one. But interestingly for the past day or two it has been the one getting the most hits at Flickr, where you can see a larger version.

Flickr have recently changed how this works. Follow the link then click on the photo. It will be shown on a black background but then you will see a link for view all sizes.