Phoenix from the flames and Dollarama taxi woman.

I want you to take a look at a couple of photos from the 1980's...

Me Gareth and Chris

Mum, Rascal, Chris and me (in pink jumper)

So there's probably a year or two between the photos. Both were taken whilst as a family we were on holiday in our wonderful old caravan. Both photos also have another thing in common - Me - looking like I am the moodiest, most pain in the bum, upset with the world, arsehole child. There is a reason for that look - BECAUSE I PROBABLY WAS! I was definitely moody and an arsehole, but hey I have grown up now and that's all changed (Yeah, I know! haha)

Back to the point - Holidays, when I was younger seemed to be when most photos were taken and in nearly all of them I look like a twat. (Sorry for the language kiddiewinkles) I genuinely remember loving family holidays so I don't know why I always looked like this between the ages of 6 and 16.

Maybe because my two brothers aways seemed to be having more fun than me. Maybe I just didn't like having my photo taken. Maybe I just have a face that looks like a slapped arse. Maybe its because I was on holiday and I didn't have enough money to hang around the amusement arcades playing games all day (and the fact that dad always parked the caravan in a sit about 2 million miles from the nearest civilization?) I loved visiting amusement arcades in Skegness and Southport and remember my favourite games being Hyper Sports where you bash your joystick to run and jump and a space invaders type game called 'Phoenix'.

Now in Phoenix, you shot at birds (Phoenix's?) which moved around the screen dropping their 'droppings' on you. If you got lucky and shot the birds between their legs, they split in two like an exploding egg. You could also maim them by shooting off a wing here and there. I remember the noises being almost painful screeches and the final big baddy was a spaceship with a force field you shot through to destroy the alien inside. I loved it and never got to play it enough.
If you never saw it then take a look at this....a video of someone playing the actual game...

 Amazing.

So you wonder - what the hell has this got to do with today? Why mention this old game, moody holidays and an even moodier child beast?

I mention this because tomorrow, me and Buffy (The less moody person in this marriage, even with pregnancy hormonal mood swings) are flying out on our yearly winter getaway. You may remember we originally planned on Mexico, but because of Zika virus we had to change our plans...so I can now reveal that we are headed instead to.......Phoenix! (See. it was all related!)

There is another reason for the moody photos though another thing in common. That is because already this holiday has me in a mood.....
Firstly, when I checked in online earlier today I mistakenly picked March in stead of May as the expiration date of Buffy's passport. After an hour waiting for the phone to be answered by Westjet they told me the change could only be sorted out at the airport - so I headed there and got it done in 5 minutes luckily, but wasted a whole hour because the website doesn't have a button to change details if you make a mistake - I wonder if that's so you have to pay when you get a name or something more important wrong!? Bastards!!!!

Secondly ,the  reason we get away at this time of year is to escape the never ending winter. Its been below freezing since early October now and the last 6 weeks of winter are so much easier when you come back from a warm, sunny holiday by the pool. Only, the weather in Phoenix doesn't seem to be playing....take a look at this....

Phoenix weather

Today, in Phoenix its about 28 degrees C. Then as you see it drops this week to 19 and rain! Then heats back up next Sunday - the day we leave! FFS!!!!
I admit there is still a 45 degree swing from the minus 25 we have here in Winnipeg to the 20 degrees we have there, but we would love a couple of days by the pool in the sun!

We will make the best of it though and hope the forecast isn't as bad as it seems - But if it is,  I hope we get a huge storm and I can post a photo of us swimming in a pool with some cool storm clouds above instead of Sunshine. Maybe if its too bad to be outside, I can find an old style amusement arcade with some 1980's video games in. You never know, I may even get to play Phoenix, in Phoenix.

If that doesn't work out then maybe we will try something else to escape the rain....
I thought about this earlier today whilst picking up some stuff for a bit of DIY in the kitchen.

I needed some green painters tape to hang up a sheet and an old shower curtain over the kitchen doorsways, to stop dust getting all round the house as I am sandpapering the ceiling in the kitchen before painting it to get rid of some rough bits.

I nipped out to get the tape from a Dollar Store where everything is cheap! Anyway, as I came out I saw a woman loading dollar store bags into a taxi - So she shops at a Dollar Store a lot - she had at least a dozen bags  - but gets a bloody taxi there and back!? Whats the point in saving a few dollars if you are going to get a bloody taxi home with the shopping? Bloody hell woman!! 

So I thought, if it rains, maybe we could have a fun day in Phoenix checking out the dollar stores - riding taxis between them all and maybe do them all in a day. Wow, that would be fun and if we could be the only people ever to do it - We might get on TV or have a street (or Dollar Store) named after us....then I saw how many dollar stores there are in Phoenix...

Dollar stores in red

Yep, I was disappointed too, there really aren't as many as I hoped. Maybe we should go for the arcade idea after all and then maybe a bar....hahaha 

No matter what happens, we re getting away for a week. The weather, no matter what it does wont be minus 25 degrees and we can lie in bed all day if we like, with no work to do!

Its going to be fun and thats a damn promise. I will have fun if it bloody kills me. We have a little day trip planned in the week and we are so looking forward to getting away. But before we do I should finish the work in the kitchen - I cant really leave it like this can I?

.

OK, I should finish that off shouldnt I..... I'll get on with that now and update you on Phoenix later in the week...

Be good, be warm and be stay out of the rain!!