Conway 5 - Llandudno- an ice cream and a free airshow over our house/ Carpe Diem

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Ziggy the car found herself sitting on the promenade in Llandudno. The sun was shining down on us and it was a lovely day . We were eating icecreams . I had just walked over to the small shedlike shop on the beach and stood in the queue waiting to buy an icecream . That is what you do at the seaside . Covid restrictions were in place but I did not know what they were . I queued at one window which turned out to be the one where the icecreams were dispensed once you had purchased them from another window . Chocolate Chips and Vanilla what more could we want ?

There is something about the seaside that is fascinating . . Watching the colours of the sea which reflected the grey of the sky perfectly in the distance but was blue right under our noses . What is it about the seaside that we yearn for? What is it that we love about it ? Is it the freshness of the air? The smell of the sea and ozone perhaps? The way that the breeze comes in off the sea? I wasn't sure but I knew we were going to enjoy ourselves . It felt a long time since we had been to the seaside . Was is Skegness or Mablethorpe ? No it was neither . We had found ourselves following the River Dee estuary a few weeks ago . The muddy silted up Dee which was as clear as a bell as it passed our home . We had followed the same road today. The estuary looked muddy and brown . Silted up to the extent it coudl not be used for ships. The Wirral over the other side and further in the distance Liverpool . We could pick out the bulky shape of the cathedral as we drove . The sea air cleared our heads and we felt good for it . There were walkers on the beach . Parents with their children . The elderly locals who enjoyed living by the sea. We felt that they were very lucky as we were today sharing the seaside with them .

Out at sea there were boats . On their way to Ireland dodging through the wind turbines far out to sea . The waves rolled in and we were just mesmerised as a tiny boat came by. It was on its way back to Llandudno having taken a whole load of tourists out to see the coastline . It reminded us of Greece or of Italy . The Mediterranean even . With a little imagination we could almost be there .

So what brought us to Llandudno? A sunny day . Feeling fed up with renovations . We needed a break . We had to visit Mochdre to look at gas fires . So gas fires were the excuse to set Silly Sat Nag and drive out in Ziggy . Sadly Gabby stayed at home . Carpe Diem - sieze the day . The words of Homer came home to roost today . How many times do you wake up and not sieze the day? When it is cold outside or raining it is easy to stay in bed longer and lose the day. Today was I guess one of those days . I could have stayed in bed . I could have got up late . Instead we did what we always do and get out of bed at the usual time. Carpe Diem - do something new . I suppose if I pushed myself going to look at a gas fire would be a new experience . Carpe Diem - get outside . So that is just what we did . We set off to Mochdre.

The drive to Mochdre was ordinary . The schools are still open so not many children about . Mochdre - the village of pigs . Apparently named after a story about pigs from the Old Welsh tales The Mabinogion. The showroom was open . Covid friendly with hand sanitizer at the ready and masks required . It is only a few weeks before Boris will announce that things are back to normal and we no longer need to wear masks , we no longer need to distance ourselves from our neighbours . We can make those decisions for ourselves . To mask or not to mask ? That will be the question. Along with hugging returning , hand shakes being permissable and everyone returning to work . All apart from Scotland , Northern Ireland and Wales who will make up their own rules . We were shown around the showroom by a lovely lady . Wood burning stoves ? Yes we would love one but have no chimney and it would require a lot of special plasterwork to the walls to maintain safety from the heat . Electric ? Yes they look lovely but they seem more a feature than functional . She switched a few on and we were rewarded with different methods of producing a life like flame . We felt the heat . No they were not for us . Gas then? Yes that is a possibility . They look more realistic . They are easy to use but they still did not give the warmth nor the ambience we were looking for . We had intended coming home with a few brochures but turned left instead of right and the road took us to Rhos on Sea. Then to ever so genteel Llandudno with its Victorian housing and Victorian hotels which normally would be full of holidaymakers . So that was why we found ourselves outside the Lifeboat Station on the promenade eating an ice cream and watching the tide coming in.

So that was the day we had seized . Well not quite . As we sat at home we heard a noise . An airplane and a rather noisy one at that . I could not see it at first . Just that roar and then they came into sight . Two airplanes high up in the sky . A display team practicing for an air show . They had taken off from Hawarden airport and had flown overhead . Round and round they went . Soaring high up and then looping the loop. Occaisionally they came low over the house . Blue and red smoke emitted from the planes as they undertook a free aerobatics display . They performed movements where the smoke made up hearts in the sky. They flew so close they almost touched . Every time I thought they had finished they came round again . Sometimes so high they were just specs in the sky . Flitting about like motes in my eye . I was never sure if it was them . Then they would swing round and fly low. I was being treated to the best airshow I had seen and it was all free thanks to the Strikemaster Display team . The BAC 167 Strikemaster I read was British jet-powered training and light attack aircraft. It was a development of the Hunting Jet Provost trainer, itself a jet engined version of the Percival Provost, which originally flew in 1950 with a radial piston engine. What a treat . I was mesmerised watching the aerobatics. What a fitting end to a perfect day . But of course there are always the spoilsports . The crew were praised for their display over our tiny village . Many were mesmerised too . I jokingly invited them back to the skies over Bangor on Dee only to receive the response that someone had complained about the noise . So they would not be back for a while . Carpe Diem - I felt I had certainly siezed today . It had been a good one

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Comments

[jackieandchris2011]

Llandudno and Fires
We went to Llandudno for the first time, for a week in the Spring! and loved it!! So much to do around there! Snowdon, Bodnant Gardens, Anglesey, Conwy Castle, Great Orme - it was great!! We went for electric fire in the end as they were most enviromentally friendly - we would have to have a gas pipe put in for a gas fire and wood burners are hard work!! We use the gas central heating most of the time but the flame is ok on the electric fire - we put it on occasionally and it functions well - a bit noisy though! Hope this helps!