It's that time of the year when we go away to celebrate our anniversary, and at eight years I have been with Mandi twice as long as any previous relationship thus breaking my usual routine of four years and finished. Not sure how we've managed but I must be doing something right this time, or she is. We can't do a full week away this year due to various work commitments, but decided on a short stay in Blackpool mid-week. Last night as we were packing it occurred to me how 21st century packing seems to involve more chargers than clothes. As we both have the same make and model of phone we can get away with one charger, although I feel this will cause the problem of one of us having less charge than the other, then we both have a different MP3 player charger to pack, and we are taking the laptop to watch movies and also because we both like to empty our phones of pictures and videos at the end of the day to save space so we need the lead for that too.
The journey to Blackpool was as uneventful as ever, especially as I slept for most of it, although we arrived about an hour late. We still had an hour and a bit before we would be able to check into the hotel but I insisted on having a walk to find it as I can't relax until everything is in place. Not knowing where the hotel is something I need to rectify, and even though we couldn't check in for ages they usually let you leave your cases there. Luckily we were able to check in straight away and freshen up before heading out for fish and chips. If you are ever in Blackpool and in the mood for a nice fish and chip meal then I can heartily recommend Pablo's just opposite the South Pier. They had some kind of daytime offer on, presumably because it is out of season and they need the trade and the food was excellent. Most of the promenade was closed down for winter but there still seemed to be plenty going on and we found some lovely pubs including one called The Albert and The Lion. It was late in the afternoon and we wanted to go back to the hotel to change but I insisted we go to this pub later as I wanted to know for sure if it was named after the poem (although the poem is actually called The Lion and Albert). Mandi hadn't heard of it so I played it on YouTube when we got back. After a shower I laid down to watch The Simpsons and fell asleep for a couple of hours before heading out to the Blackpool night.
To the delight of the comedy nerd within me, the pub is indeed named after the poem and has an imposing model above the stairs of a lion with two feet sticking out of its mouth, this would be a weird thing to come across if you didn't know the poem.
The pub itself is so nice that you don't even realise that you are in a Wetherspoons until you take a look at the food menu. All around the walls are pictures of various music hall artists and lines from the poem that gave the pub its name, I wonder how many of the people in there knew the significance of the pub.
If you study the photograph you will see that the hotel wasn't being dishonest when it advertised a view of the tower.
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