Batteries Not Included: May 2008

I've just come back after a week in the Isle of Wight. I would blog about all I did in that week but I really can't be bothered now, I have about 200 photos to choose from to blog and it's always a nightmare getting them here XD so I'll just type up what I wrote on, I think, the second day of the holiday:

The Isle of Wight is rather like a puzzle. By that I don't mean I've been all confused since I've been here or that I've been transported to The Da Vinci code. It's like someone has taken several, highly contrasting, chunks of the UK and crammed them all together. So far, I've been reminded of Great Yarmouth, Surrey, Wales, Cambridge, Southend, Cornwall and even central London =S.

The coastal parts are like any English seaside town. Where we're staying is like a slightly more posh and shinier Gt Yarmouth: Funny little shops and amusements; a pier that looks like it could go for a swim at any given moment, complete with a giant slide; trampolines that you can go on for something ridiculous like £10 for 10 minutes; beach-side cottages that are kind of shabby but lovely and sweet, steep little streets, lined with pubs, restaurants and places with names like "Chicken and Pizza Land". Classy.

But as you go futher in-land you meet the most gorgeous, empty, untouched countryside. Beautiful, misty hills in every shade of green and the occasional blinding yellow, where the oilseed rape fields are. Among all this are farms, garden centres, tea rooms, flocks of sheep, horses and cows and I even spotted a huge manor and the odd country mansion.

Then, just a few miles away you come to the main towns. Great concrete jungles: Matalans and Sainsbury's and a few streams and canals with sweet little bridges to remind you of the more countrified (my mum invented that word XD) areas.

So far I've been hugely amused by no less that 3 signs XD. The first was in an area called Apse. Well, the sign was all in the upper case, to read "APSE" and, quite inevitably, someone had modified the P. I wonder if it might have been given that name intentionally, for people to place bets on how soon it would be until the obvious graffiti would appear.
We also passed a pub, I think still in ARSE, er, I mean, APSE, called The Fighting Cocks. Enough said.
The final chortle-inducing sign was on a road deep in the country (Well as deep as you can be on such a tiddly island) on a windy road, "Heavy Plants Crossing". I'm still not entirely sure what it means but I can safely say I saw no obese chrysanthemums scrambling across that day.

Yesterday was beautifully sunny, warm enough for bare arms, making us feel we were officially on holiday.
Upon waking today, however, we were greeted by grey skies, the smell of fresh puddles and, to top it off, great claps of thunder, reminding us that we are still in the UK, thank you very much.