Top Hats and Spats

Do the two have to go together?

I just realised I've never worn spats!

Does anyone still wear them as a regular item of clothing?

In Fusion?

Well I had forgotten how many people in Britain enjoy queueing at theme parks and especially how nice it is joining a queue in Blackpool Pleasure Beach!

Me, James, the best man, a Norwegian plumber and the stag boy himself, set foot in various parts of the PB early on Saturday morning and immediately joined a queue for that most institutional of white knuckle rides, the Grand National. It's not the big dips that get you, it's the very deceptive little ones near the end when you're sure you're going to smack your head on the bridge!

We lost our Norwegian friend from Wales after lunch in the aptly named Star (you need style to break a plastic fork on fish and chips!) so four of us chased steeples and were revolutionised by Irn bru before James, SB and his dad indulged in 13 holes of golf while BM Stu took some air.

The Space Invader 2 was opened by Doctor Who on the same day as Matthew was born, coincidentally, and then again according to one of the signs, exactly five years later, again by Doctor Who! Was he engaging in some clever kind of time travel and is that why it's called Space Invader 2? The queue started outside the log flume ride and half an hour later we were barcoding ourselves in - only to realise that the queue proceeded for another half hour inside up a series of inclined ramps and steps until we were faced with a sign saying '60 seconds to launch' and ten minutes later by another one saying 'thirty seconds to launch' - proving that Doctor Who was not the only one to indulge in a bit of time travel here!

But the best queue of all was the one for In Fusion (not good for Dads, I'll take some pictures, I thought, but then remembered I'd got a new card in the camera with over 1Gb so decided to take some video instead.) That queue disappeared out of site and assuming that we'd spot him on the way up because of the red hoody, waited till he came in site and took loads of video footage from the prime vantage point the two of us had taken up. Then we waited for him and the NP and BM to reappear - waited and waited - and in the end went to look for them in the shop.

'Where r u?' I ttxtd him.

'About to go on - in the front' came the rply.

Quickly James and I hared back to find our prime position still free and set cameras to repeat the exercise - only they're a little shorter than the first lot as I was worried the batteries were giving out.

Pictures are here and on facebook, the video clips on Daily Motion.