A trip to see Blackpool Zoo this morning and to see Blackpool Illuminations this evening each side of a full day enjoying other attractions such as the Model Village, taking a Landau to Central Pier for donkey rides. The lights were amazing, but the traffic congestion limited our enjoyment of them. Massive flooding in Bangladesh kills over 100 and renders more than 1m homeless. The right-wing press is rousing opposition to the Post Office monopoly after the postal strikes and the EETPU dispute with the TUC comes a head at congress tomorrow whilst the fight against drug traffickers takes place in the Channel.
Woke up after a better night to find my condition much improved. After I had jettisoned some bedcovers and open the windows still further, I had got my temperature right and slept better. We stayed in our rooms for quite a while as I caught up with my journal and we gathered ourselves together for the day. All down to breakfast together which was quite a nice experience as it was far less hot and crowded than dinner. This morning, we drove to Blackpool Zoo and enjoyed a long time looking at this park and its animals. It is very well run by Blackpool Borough and keeps the roomy animal enclosures very tidy and hygienic. The ‘Animal Kitchen’ is open to view and the numerous attendants are always cleaning out the animal pens and removing old food, droppings and causes of infection. We saw giraffes, elephants, monkeys, penguins, seals and many others and the weather, though breezy, was at least dry and even the sun shone now and again. After this visit, which incorporated ‘elevenses’ and lunch as well, we went off to Blackpool’s ‘Model Village’ and enjoyed walking around and seeing the model houses, buildings and people that make it up. It is quite sheltered from the wind and we could sit in a central grassed square and relax as the children went around again.
This afternoon, we drove again to the seafront car park by South Pier and this time caught a horse-drawn Landau to the Central Pier – a longish trip costing £5 for the five of us. Then we went on Central Pier itself and put the girls into a children’s play compound where we sat and relaxed, buffeted by the strong breeze but warmed by the sun. Then we gave the girls a couple more rides on donkeys and they could have continued all afternoon if we let them. These animals always look a little bit doleful and crestfallen and one lady asked how often they were given water and rested; and then tackled a youngster about them being dragged along by the bit. I think they are okay and would not exist for this vocation anyway. Provision of freshwater troughs by the peers would be an advantage however. Back to the car by Landau (£6 this time) and thence to the Norbreck Castle Hotel. After dinner, we took the Range Rover and went to see the lights. This was quite a trial as the seafront promenade is closed to southerly traffic at weekends we had to take a detour inland and join the trail from the south of the town. Then the traffic along the illumination route was at a standstill and in four lanes. It took some two hours at least to drive the length of the lights with the lines crawling at best and stopped at worst. At least it was quite a spectacle – the best display of the best lights in Britain. There were half a dozen themes – Flowers, ‘England Entertains’, ‘Party Theme’ etcetera. Then all the popular characters were portrayed – Disney ones such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck etcetera, then the Worsles, My Little Pony, Teddy Bear’s Picnic and all the others the children know and love. All of this backed up by strings and displays of cycling and flashing lights which must take a power station of electricity to keep going. We only got home at 11pm and all fell wearily into bed. The news today is of massive flooding now taking place in Bangladesh with its capital Katar, cut off. 100 people are dead and a million homeless. This, as the relief operation in the Sudan is only just getting organised. Around the globe, tropical storms that hit Mexico caused 90 mph winds and flooding. The world’s climate is certainly in an unstable phase. The scandal over the Iraqi oppression of their Kurdish rebels with mustard and nerve gas is becoming daily more apparent but no international agency can intervene in a so-called ‘internal conflict’. The Post Office strike spreads ever wider as the right-wing tabloid press screamed for the ending of the Crown’s monopoly of the mail. The whole thing could be a Thatcherite conspiracy to achieve just that aim. The TUC conference convenes in Bournemouth tomorrow with the move to expel the EETPU which the TUC’s opponents say will lead to the organisations breakup. Customs officers are fighting ever-more-public campaigns against the drug traffickers. First a boat was chased and apprehended whilst crossing the channel and then a helicopter intercepted another in a second incident. Though too late to help us in Blackpool, the pressure is rising and the weather is forecast to improve.