Maz’s Holiday Diaries: Isle of Wight Edition
I have actually been back from this holiday for almost a month, I just couldn’t be bothered to finish writing. 
Anyway, after getting a prompt, and wanting to write a couple of decent(ish) entries, I decided to pull my finger out and finish it. It’s quite long (and probably boring, sorry).
Monday
I had to get up at 4:45 AM Monday morning (as opposed to my usual time of 10-ish). We left our house at 6 AM an boarded our ferry at 7 AM.
I had a terrible stomach ache all morning and felt sick at first. But after we had breakfast in some café I felt OK, nausea-wise. My stomach was worse after eating though. Some guy in the cafe was crying, which was a bit weird. 
After breakfast we went into the town centre (I’ve forgotten what the town was actually called). I almost bought a new mobile phone, but didn’t. I bought a CD though. 
We arrived at our holiday park between 10:30 and 11 AM. We didn’t do much, just looked around at all the amenities and the views. In the arcade, there was a little machine dispensing bouncy balls (!), which my sister really wanted one of. As my dad twisted the little knob thing the fire alarm went off and we all had to vacate the buildings. We originally thought we’d set off some sort of shoplifting alarm (in an arcade!?).
We decided to go swimming a couple of hours later, and about a minute after we actually got in the pool we had to get out again because there was a bat flying about. Seriously, the longest any of us could have been in there was two minutes—my aunt hadn’t even gone in. After we’d got dressed the lifeguards were still flapping about trying to catch it with a net, and it had crapped in the pool! 
We finally got into our caravan a while later. It was smaller than I thought it would be—although it was still a big one.
Tuesday
We went to a place called Blackgang Chine, which is almost like a theme park but it’s not really. You just kind of look at the things there, but there are a few activities thrown in such as a rollercoaster, a water slide and a maze. It’s quite a nice place to go to even if it’s not overly-exciting.
While we were there I broke my glasses. >_< I was in the toilets cleaning them (the glasses, not the toilets :p) when they broke clean in half. 
I couldn’t go around without them and we were too far from the holiday park to get my other pair (luckily I took both pairs on holiday) so my mum went into a shop and got tape to tape them back together. Everyone (my family) said they looked OK and that the tape ‘looked like a silver pattern’, which I didn’t really believe but it was better than nothing. I later saw in the toilets in a pub that you could definitely see that it was tape. 
On the way back we went to the ‘Isle of Wight Pearl’, which is where you pick an oyster from this little pool and they open it up and you have the pearl that’s inside. They measure and value it, and give you a certificate of authentication. My mum, aunt and I all got one; my aunt’s was cream, 5.5mm and worth £17 ($34)—which is hilarious as the thing itself cost £16 =)), my mum’s was also cream, 7mm and worth £23, and mine was blue, 6.5mm and worth £48 ($96). Result! We all bought jewellery for them to go in. My mum and aunt bought a gold necklace clasp for theirs, and I bought a silver one for several reasons: a) I prefer silver to gold, b) it was cheaper—I’m not made of money dontcha know , and c) it was the prettiest thing there, and d) they only sold silver neck chains. Plus the darkness of the pearl looked nice in the silver clasp.
When we got back to the caravan I found I was sunburnt on my arms and half my forehead (one half was covered with my fringe).
Wednesday
Wednesday we went to Alum Bay. It’s a beach, which has The Needles on it (in it?). There are two ways of getting down to the actual beach: a chair lift or stairs. The last few times we went there (when I was 11 and younger), I went the stair way. This time my mum and I were going to go the stair way again, but my dad told both of us that the other wanted to go on the chair lift (the bastard). So we did, and we both shat ourselves. It was really high and they wobbled. Despite the fact my dad bought return tickets for us all, we (my mum and I) decided we’d go up the stairs to get back up. On the beach itself there was not much to do but sit or go on a boat out to the Needles. We did both. The boat ride was OK until we stopped to view the Needles and it really rocked which made me feel sick.
Then we went back up, my mum and I on the stairs, and everyone else on the ski lifts. We tried walking up them quickly to beat them up there but there’s so bloody many of them. We were so out of breath when we got to the top. Up there we ate then did what most people go to Alum Bay to do—fill a glass/plastic bottle with coloured sand. The sand at Alum Bay is several different colours, and in one shop you buy a container to fill with the sand in stripes or any other pattern you’re artistic enough to make. My mum did a plastic cat, my aunt did a potion-bottle shaped thing and I did a light bulb shaped bottle.
We got back in time to go swimming, but when my dad and sister went down to see if the pool was open yet, it was closed again because there was another bat in there. The lifeguards said we would have to wait at least 45 minutes, then they said even longer, because they were waiting for the bat nurse. (!) Eventually we got told that it was going to be open for 45 minutes. The pool wasn’t great, though we knew that. It’s quite small, but it has a slide.
A while after we finished swimming, we had a barbecue. Now, when I say barbecue, I mean we used a tiny, throwaway one, which we had on the grass outside our van while we sat inside eating. Our van was the first one into the main part of the camp (there was a big area where there were privately owned caravans and fields for tents) so every time a car went past people stared.
Thursday
On Thursday we went to Robin Hill. I remembered Robin Hill from over ten years ago and remembered it as boring. It wasn’t though. It was mainly walking and looking at the scenery but there was also a couple of theme park rides. There was one of those pirate ship things that swing that my dad and uncle went on, which was funny as they were the only adults on there without a child. We watched a falconry display which was pretty good, but the birds swooped low over the audience and we had to duck so they didn’t fly into our heads.
The best part was a ride-type thing which is called ‘Toboggan Run’. You sit on this dish thing with a brake sticking out, to go around a giant silver slide. You have to hold on to the brake or you will fall off. I went on with my sister—you can go on with another person if one is a child (although she’s almost the same height as me and doesn’t really look like a child). She sat in front and controlled the brake. At the beginning you’re pulled up a hill. It’s quite high and I’m shit-scared of heights. To top it off, my sister was sat between my legs and I had to really clench my muscles to keep on the dish, and use all the strength in my back to stop myself from falling backwards off the bloody thing. It went up slowly too which a) prolonged the pain in my legs and back, and b) made the ‘OMG this goes really high’ feeling intensify. I had to hold on to the brake to prevent myself falling (in addition to holding myself up with my legs and back) which, when you pull on it, slows you down, and when you push it, makes you go faster. So my holding onto it was slowing us down even more. We reached the top and finally: WHOOSH! We went down/around much more quickly. There were signs everywhere to tell you to slow down, and at every bend (there were a lot) we had to lean to that side so we didn’t hurt ourselves. It was fun though, despite the fear of flying off into a surounding woodland area. I screamed a lot, which was mainly to make my sister laugh, which it did.
Friday
We came home on the Friday. Our ferry didn’t leave until 3 PM so we had time to kill. We went to a ‘proper’ beach first, for my uncle’s sake. It wasn’t that exciting but there were a few cute shops along the coast. Then we went ice skating. Well, when I say ‘we’, my dad, aunt and uncle didn’t go because of injuries and just not wanting to. The problem was though, I could not get my skates on properly. No matter how I tied them up either my feet or my ankles/calves hurt, a lot. I went ice skating a few times with friends a few years ago and never had any problem, but this time I did. I must have managed to get around the rink about three times before eventually giving up. I was really pissed off because I really like ice skating.
Finally we had to get on our ferry to come home. It was a good holiday (so hot :o) but it was nice to get back to our pets. Aw.
