Toffee Crunch I think

A typical view of the Douglas Harbour - Tower of Refuge (built by Sir Edmund William Hilary) on the left and the IoM Steam Packet vessel Manannan on the right

With less than 24 hours left of my holiday it is difficult not to be in a reflective mood on what must have been one of the most challenging weeks of my life. Although let's make it clear, I think that we had a great holiday in the Isle of Man, it was just quite a challenge getting to the end result.

We decided early this year it would be nice to spend a week or so in the Isle of Man. We hadn't been for a long time (sorry Mum and Dad), the last time we visited it was Christmas (very cold and wet) it's a great island with lots to do and see, and we were sure the kids would love it. So off we went to the Isle of Man. I believe that it is OK to tell this story now, but I have been reliably informed in future not to blog about going on holiday as people could read the blog and then decide to burgle the empty house. This id not concern me too much as I'm not really sure that more than 4 people know about the blog and atleast 3 don't even live in the UK. If we do get burgled in the future I'll know who has arranged it and I'll be onto Crimewatch Ba Bags!

Travel
I'm not that keen on travel normally. The 'work me' completes an inordinate amount of travelling per year on flights to far flung corners and also countless hours driving the roads and motorways of the UK. But then again the 'work me' has the luxury of travelling alone (most of the time) and an Ipod with headphones. When you add three young children, Christof, Ruby (the dog) and Martha (the cat) the whole travelling experience takes on another few dimensions.

We left home on Saturday morning at around 7.30am and arrived all in one piece at the cottage in Fleshwick at around 3pm. So far so good. After unpacking we went shopping for food and supplies. This was not a good idea and I am quite confident nearly got all the kids deported from the Island due to intolerable bad behaviour in Marks and Spencers. In review I think that the parents were probably to blame as our children seem to suffer from some form of starvation based behaviour disorder. I will look this up on t'internet later. Anyway, after sugar and carbs had been consumed by the kids things calmed down a little and the rest of the day as we enjoyed even a short trip to the beach before bedtime.

Bedtime
I hate bedtime along with the kids. We had seven on this holiday and they got progressively worse, up to the peak on Thursday evening. Although by the time Dave and Judy arrived we had talked them down from the 'roof'.

An Isle of Man Horse-Tram on Douglas Promenade. We never managed a ride on one of these, although Granma and Granpa did sponsor the the kids a Horse/Donkey each

Beaches

The Isle of Man; as it's name suggests; may be surrounded completely with water, but there are not too many good sandy beaches. Port Erin and Peel were the best we found, but that is not to say that there are not a lot of good beaches. There are lots of very good beaches.

Due to the exceptional weather over the week we spent everyday on the beach. Playing in the sand and paddling/swimming in the sea. This being my 36th year on this earth I was surprised that the last time I remember I really spent any reasonable period on an Isle of Man beach was 1982. It's not an enjoyable story.

After spending all day on Douglas beach (without anything in the way of modern suncream) I arrived home back to my Nana's house with a very red back. The back got progressively worse over the period of the evening and I have a vivid memory of not being able to go to Cubs because of my burnt back and having to put the hair dryer on 'cool' and my Nana aiming at my back for the evening.

Anyway, the beaches we spent time at were good, clean and quite busy given the time of the year. Even Douglas beach was OK given the circumstances. Although I will write to the Isle of Man Tourist Board and suggest they remove the seaweed from Douglas beach. This is not a middle age rant, purely an observation that would make the beach easier and nicer to access and enjoy.

Only thing that may have caused an issue was the on going question of whether Jellyfish actually sting. Fortunately we never found out the answer personally, but from the sobbing in Port Erin I think that the live one's sting, yet the dead ones don't.

A dead jellyfish on Peel beach doing nothing but minding his own dead business.

I Scream

During the entire holiday we must have single handily sponsored the Manx ice cream industry, with a little help from Dave Burnett and Granma and Granpa.

Without a doubt the best ice cream to be found anywhere in the British Isles has to be Davison's http://www.davisons.co.im/index.php/our-flavours they have an extensive number of flavours, which only confuse and compromise your ice cream purchasing experience, but which ultimately never disappoint. Throughout the week various flavours were tried and tested, then re-tried and re-tested with different cones and toppings, and some were even triple re-tried TWICE just to be sure. The result at the end of the week was as follows:

Anya - Bubblegum, chocolate waffle cone, with a chocolate flake

Bucks - Malteser or Cookies and Cream, chocolate waffle cone, with a chocolate flake

Juan - Any flavour with a cone (not for long)

Christof - Not sure really, maybe mango or chocolate orange with a normal cone

Me - Toffee crunch (aka - Hokey Pokey) with a normal cone

Whatever the result I have finally managed to put to rest the ghost of Manx Ices. Manx Ices got me to where I am today and helped Silverdale to the height of popularity back in the Day. If only someone would spend a bit of money and put some investment back in Silverdale s i am sure it would be a happier and busier place for it. Come on Davison's. maybe I need to email them and the IoM tourist board.

Eating and drinking
Don't eat out in the Isle of Man.

It's not that the food isn't good. some of it is fine and a little pricey, but mainly because the kids would gain more satisfaction from eating cardboard with ketchup on it.

I know there is not intentional malice, but every meal we ate out was a little tarnished.

Favourite places are:

http://www.bushys.com/ - great beer

http://www.niarbylcafe.com/ - great food and views

Greens (Vegetarian Restaurant)North Quay , Steam Railway Station, Douglas, Isle Of Man IM1 4LL01624-629129

with a special mention to the island's first Queenie festival, which I thought was well organised, quite diverse and well attended attended by locals and the odd tourist. Try your sea food.

http://queeniefestival.com/

I think everyone enjoyed the holiday in the Isle of Man. I know the kids enjoyed seeing their grandparents and I'm sure this is reciprocated. The weather was great and it was great to see Dave and Judy. Whilst we didn't really do too much I think that we did more than enough, and everyone went to bed tired.

The cottage was exactly as I remember and it was great fun to be back there again.
While I am sorry to let the side down on not eating 1 single toasty during the trip I blame this completely on the kids. Although on the plus side there's plenty to look forward to next time. ............................