Compo 10,328 Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 I want to go to Mabo again! All this talk has brought me out in an unusually rampant nostalgia rash; the only cure for which is a trip to the seaside and a bag of chips. The last time I went to Mabo was to introduce my current SWMBO to the East coast. She is a Lancashire mill town lass from Notlob and is more familiar with Blackpool, Southport and Morecambe. It was in Autumn 1994 and I collected some seed from the Sea Buckthorn in the dunes just north of the town. We enjoyed a fish'n chip dinner in a café and a stroll along the beach. Those very same Buckthorn seeds can be seen here in my garden in Caithness the large gaps are due to storm losses during last winter: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plantfit 7,569 Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Nowt wrong with "Porty" Stu, we go there most Christmas times when we stay in Edinburgh, quite similar to Mablethorpe when you look at it, just one main street with a few smaller ones leading off, long clean beach with a the odd shop /stall selling bacon rolls, cups of tea and just one amusement arcade, nice walk along the prom, spent a few Christmas day hours on that beach and really enjoyed it,and like Mablethorpe the place seems a little lost in todays hustle and bustle and could do with uprading a bit but not too much so that it loses it's charm Rog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 I'm glad you like Porty, Rog and agree with all you say. I think it's an ideal place to stay when visiting Edinburgh and of course it has great childhood associations for me, being partly brought up a mile or so down the coast. There are some amazing shots of a crowded beach from it's halcyon days - especially Glasgow Fair week, and 'Edinburgh's seaside' has some great history I still love the place and it's nice to see one or two improvements slowly being made. The High Street has some very decent shops and the sands on the beach are cleaned regularly. A few nice businesses have sprung up on the esplanade too which is pleasing to see. I can recommend The Espy if you haven't already been there? I'm actually going up there on Thursday for a few days and I look forward to it. Sometimes I wonder if I might be tempted to go back and live up there one day and travel full circle back to the beaches of my childhood where I was so happy playing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pixie 162 Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 mablethorpes not too bad, I think in ways is prefer to live in a seaside town, anyways, I'm coming over to see you when we go for a day out down there, I also want rock sent to me on a regular basis. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compo 10,328 Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Send me an address and I'l send you and your other half a stick of rock from John O'Groats. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 I'd look out at the sea, as I did as a kid, and let the thousands of thoughts run through my head. There's something about the sea that lets your hopes and dreams manifest in your mind. Ain't that the truth. A myriad of dreams, other world's and a vastness that is truly mind-boggling. I can look to sea for hours and let my imagination run wild. I find it so soothing yet exciting at the same time. That's a really nice thought-provoking post, Michael, thank you. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Went to Skeg for the day on Sunday. The last beach I was on was at Sharm el Sheikh. Not used to a brown sea! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Send me an address and I'l send you and your other half a stick of rock from John O'Groats. Is that the Groats half Compo? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Charlotte1988 0 Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 I remember going to Mablethorpe as a kid. They had this really cool wooden arcade with a few pinball machines stuck to the wall and a carousel in the middle. My favourite thing in this arcade was this elephant thing where you paid 20p and the elephant went along a little track and a little cardboard box fell onto its back then it brought it to you and it fell down a slot and you kept it. The box was normally full of crap i.e. plastic necklaces, little cars...etc. It was the coolest thing ever. It went up in price, but now I doubt it's even there anymore no2 Anyone else know what I'm talking about? (I'm not the best at describing things, hehe!) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ged Ling 5 Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 I remember going to Mablethorpe as a kid. They had this really cool wooden arcade with a few pinball machines stuck to the wall and a carousel in the middle. My favourite thing in this arcade was this elephant thing where you paid 20p and the elephant went along a little track and a little cardboard box fell onto its back then it brought it to you and it fell down a slot and you kept it. The box was normally full of crap i.e. plastic necklaces, little cars...etc. It was the coolest thing ever. It went up in price, but now I doubt it's even there anymore no2 Anyone else know what I'm talking about? (I'm not the best at describing things, hehe!) Hey Charlotte... I remember that place ! , on the right hand side of the main street as you walk towards the beach, at one time there were Trampolines as well as a carousel... I think also at one time there were Dodgems inside, the room was very large, a few sidestalls around the outside and a cafe on the left hand side. The elephant used to go 'Inside a cave... and come out with your prize box on its back which then tipped off... I agree it was usually full of tat. The last building on the left hand side ( nearest the beach ) used to have a lot of older machines, including a 'Cowboy Quick Draw '... and my favourite... A Dalek that you sat inside. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 Sounds like Jackson's Radio Arcade? on the left just after The Book in Hand, they had all sorts of old machines inc one that the showed how an old power station worked, and another that renacted a prison hanging! also pure mechanical ones where you flipped a "ball bearing" into one of I think 6 "cups" 4 win 2 lose? and if lucky you won at one time a cigarette! this was about 1954. The arcade on the left corner of main st just before the pullover had machines I've never seen elsewhere, sizewise the were like laundrette drying machines, you put your 6d or whatever in and looked through like chammy leather covered opening where you saw movie film of rear view from turret of possibly a lancaster bomber with german fighters zooming i real footage ! Also on the front was ex wd joystick type of thing which moved a cross hairs sight and firing button which when pressed gave real heavy machine gun sound, the idea being you shot the huns down, a "mile omiter" type counter recorded your hits, the blurb on the front said actual machines used to train air gunners in ww2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trevor S 2,003 Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 Nice one Ashley! Brought back memories of rainy days at Mabo(was there ever a sunshine?)and down at the arcades. That tail gunner was played many times and was great fun. Also remember a vertical coin machine with a glass front and you used to flip a lever and send a coin around a spiral. Get the flick right and land in the right spot on the spiral and you used to get various amounts of pennies as prizes. The centre point paid the most. Great days! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 There was also non arcade fun to be had, actually don't recall much rain and most days spent on the beach or in the sand dunes golden sands end, depending on the tide there was defending your "castle" against the incoming waves, much spade work by a good few piling sand up (never did win) if i was coming in, or if going out damming the streams that ran from large pools left in hollows in the beach, a constant battle but if you got it right the pools would fill from higher ones up the beach and get really warm and deep enough to float in aided by a cheap plastic football everyone had (unless blown into the lethal spiked bushes in the dunes), or if rich a lilo! another pastime I 'd not seen before was kite flying, really cheap plastic sheet and thin wood, could be kept flying hours if wind was right. plus if feeling fit a walk north to the 2 ww2 pill boxes leaning over at crazy angles or even the bombing target picking up shrapnel, so long as the red flag wasn't flying! paradise! lol 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trevor S 2,003 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Too true about non-arcade fun to be had...especially the late 50s and in those same sand dunes you speak about. Did you use to stay at the Golden Sands Caravan park as well? Good to see you posting again - Have you tried to find that cave yet that I mentioned in Bargie Baiting? Should be very close to you and very easy to get down the path to the river level. Guess it would be a bu99er getting back up though! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jackson 301 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 ASHLEY, good to see you posting and such lively and interesting writing - especially when having creative fun with the sand. Thanks for sharing your wonderful, well written memories. PS: so well written, I have to keep reading - of course I've given you a tick. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Blushes! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jackson 301 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Even more; can you stand this? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beachbum 68 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 As Mabos raised its head again thought i might chip in with a few words, its so busy, which is nice, when we've had the good weather the beaches have been packed, even the donkeys have had to have re-enforcements, really nice on the front last Saturday, a buskers day, everything from bagpipes to penny whistles, on Sunday The RNLI opened its doors to the public, lots of money raised for a really good cause. Sept 14th-16th The Bathing Beauties Festival, a good W'end. Oct 14th the motorbike sand racing starts again, fortnightly til March31st. Has anyone heard if Jimmy87 has departed Nottingham yet, myself and the Beachwalker are waiting to meet him so that he can buy us a pint, or two 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compo 10,328 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Was it this place Charlotte? I remember the elephant machine. Been trying to find a picture but no luck. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compo 10,328 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Found this nice pic of the "Book in Hand" Ashley: 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compo 10,328 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Not the Elephant but another contemporary machine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compo 10,328 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 This was in the Pie-in-hand arcade in the 1980s 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jackson 301 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Compo: some lovely bits of nostalgia you've posted on 'Nottstalgia'. PS: Do you have a date please for: 'The Book in Hand Hotel', 1940's - 50's? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Didn't the Book in Hand have a serious fire at one time - maybe in the eighties/nineties? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ashley 288 Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 re a fire, yes then reopened as a rather seedy dark bar Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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