Ultra-Rapide Update in Passing!
Aug. 6th, 2006 08:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
Still at Mum's place, and I've been roaming around the North of England a bit the last few days.
First on the list, of course, was a trip to Alton Towers for my vital annual coaster dosage, since Washington state is so appallingly deprived of anyone with the cunning to build a theme park - if I'd a few tens of millions going spare, I'd build one and watch the cash roll in. Sadly, I don't.
New since I was last there was Rita, Queen of Speed, a truly hideous and uninspired name for a good bit of fun. (I'll bet the geeks who designed it were calling it Rita for Rapid In-Transit Acceleration or something equally dull while they were working on it, and it stuck.) 0-60+ mph in 2.5 seconds - I'll take that! It fires you off in a cloud of smoke, and the riders go all bug-eyed in the quick look you get at them XD If you're ever there, queue the extra for the front row - it's definitely worth it.
Another new one for me was the Spinball Whizzer - a Mad Mouse-style coaster with cars that spin like a waltzer as you go round too :-) Nothing dramatic in the speed or drop categories, but a whole lot of silly fun! And slightly different every ride because it depends on the way your car's spinning. Going down the helical loop sideways was a distinctly new experience for my stomach XD And of course we had to visit old friends like the Air, Nemesis and Oblivion, and even once on the dear old Corkscrew that I've been riding for just over twenty years now (hey, I was too young when she opened in 1980!), rough old bird that she is. The Nemesis is still the best ride in the park, and again, front row mandatory. But with Rita and Air taking all the attention, 30 minutes now will get you the front row even in August with the kids off school.
Friday, for a change of pace and to allow the dog to come too, we went to Brimham Rocks, a gathering of glaciation-shaped protusions from the Yorkshire moors. This was where I remembered that despite the lack of roller coasters, Washington State has spoiled me overall. Brimham Rocks was crawling with people and their annoying, screeching children. I've got far too used to hiking for hours and seeing maybe two or three other groups around. If I went back again, I'd definitely go in winter, and sod the weather. Still, the rocks were dramatic.
Next up was Lyme Hall, only it didn't look quite like that because scaffolding was covering a third of it while they repaired the roof. I have something of a history of going to see places with scaffolding on - Notre Dame, among others - but the park and gardens were still beautiful, and the interiors except for a few rooms where they'd packed everything away for fear of water damage. Beautiful clock collection. And Old Buildings! Old buildings are my friends, even under scaffolding. I miss them when they're not there.
Today was tramping the local moors with the dog again, checking out some of the places I've been visiting since before I can remember. They don't change much, except in the council's paranoia about being sued which means they fence off anything remotely interesting because it's 'dangerous'. Bloody vandals I call them - a warning sign that you entered at your own risk used to be good enough, and I don't see why it still isn't. It's my choice if I want to go parachuting, or scuba diving, or anything else that people die doing every now and then - why shouldn't it be my choice whether to walk in the disused quarry, or enter the abandoned buildings that have been standing perfectly well for eighty years?
Rant aside, there'll be photos of most of the above (not Alton Towers!), when I get back to a computer that's fully equipped with a nice screen and the complete complement of software :-) And tomorrow, I'm off to visit a succession of friends!
First on the list, of course, was a trip to Alton Towers for my vital annual coaster dosage, since Washington state is so appallingly deprived of anyone with the cunning to build a theme park - if I'd a few tens of millions going spare, I'd build one and watch the cash roll in. Sadly, I don't.
New since I was last there was Rita, Queen of Speed, a truly hideous and uninspired name for a good bit of fun. (I'll bet the geeks who designed it were calling it Rita for Rapid In-Transit Acceleration or something equally dull while they were working on it, and it stuck.) 0-60+ mph in 2.5 seconds - I'll take that! It fires you off in a cloud of smoke, and the riders go all bug-eyed in the quick look you get at them XD If you're ever there, queue the extra for the front row - it's definitely worth it.
Another new one for me was the Spinball Whizzer - a Mad Mouse-style coaster with cars that spin like a waltzer as you go round too :-) Nothing dramatic in the speed or drop categories, but a whole lot of silly fun! And slightly different every ride because it depends on the way your car's spinning. Going down the helical loop sideways was a distinctly new experience for my stomach XD And of course we had to visit old friends like the Air, Nemesis and Oblivion, and even once on the dear old Corkscrew that I've been riding for just over twenty years now (hey, I was too young when she opened in 1980!), rough old bird that she is. The Nemesis is still the best ride in the park, and again, front row mandatory. But with Rita and Air taking all the attention, 30 minutes now will get you the front row even in August with the kids off school.
Friday, for a change of pace and to allow the dog to come too, we went to Brimham Rocks, a gathering of glaciation-shaped protusions from the Yorkshire moors. This was where I remembered that despite the lack of roller coasters, Washington State has spoiled me overall. Brimham Rocks was crawling with people and their annoying, screeching children. I've got far too used to hiking for hours and seeing maybe two or three other groups around. If I went back again, I'd definitely go in winter, and sod the weather. Still, the rocks were dramatic.
Next up was Lyme Hall, only it didn't look quite like that because scaffolding was covering a third of it while they repaired the roof. I have something of a history of going to see places with scaffolding on - Notre Dame, among others - but the park and gardens were still beautiful, and the interiors except for a few rooms where they'd packed everything away for fear of water damage. Beautiful clock collection. And Old Buildings! Old buildings are my friends, even under scaffolding. I miss them when they're not there.
Today was tramping the local moors with the dog again, checking out some of the places I've been visiting since before I can remember. They don't change much, except in the council's paranoia about being sued which means they fence off anything remotely interesting because it's 'dangerous'. Bloody vandals I call them - a warning sign that you entered at your own risk used to be good enough, and I don't see why it still isn't. It's my choice if I want to go parachuting, or scuba diving, or anything else that people die doing every now and then - why shouldn't it be my choice whether to walk in the disused quarry, or enter the abandoned buildings that have been standing perfectly well for eighty years?
Rant aside, there'll be photos of most of the above (not Alton Towers!), when I get back to a computer that's fully equipped with a nice screen and the complete complement of software :-) And tomorrow, I'm off to visit a succession of friends!
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Date: 2006-08-06 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-06 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-06 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-06 04:27 pm (UTC)She's a border collie, previously my brother's dog and now more mum's. Completely lacking in brains, neurotic, and spent the first few days growling at me first thing every morning, like she'd forgotten I was the person playing ball with her the afternoon before ::rolls eyes:: She's sweet when she's not being retarded!
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Date: 2006-08-06 07:24 pm (UTC)Yeah, back in the homeland for a month or so, and busy as ever - where does my life go when I'm not looking?!
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Date: 2006-08-06 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-06 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-07 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-06 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-06 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-06 09:23 pm (UTC)Lucky person. I miss Alton Towers since you emigrated :(
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Date: 2006-08-06 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 11:38 am (UTC)