Yoho, yoho, a pirates life for me

Today I had a really fun day out with my family. We spent the day at Robin Hood's Bay, on the North-East coast of England. It's a lovely small town with small, second-hand book shops, cosy cafes and the occasional black jet jewellery shop/fossil museum/chocolaterie. So basically, what I'm trying to say is ... this is an epically photo-heavy post!

Emma digging into scampi, fish & chips

After a lovely stroll through the village and peering into the cute little shops, we stopped for lunch. Traditional fish & chips of course! What else can you eat at the beach? I directed dad to the one I stopped at last time as they were really good and we got a fish and chips each, whilst Emma and I went half-and-half on scampi & fish & chips. And what better place to sit? Then watching the waves and people playing cricket on the sand.



The village from the beach.



We had fun pulling silly poses on the little island rocks.

My sister actually seriously injured her leg at Leeds Fest the previous Friday. So whilst she was in A&E getting stitches from a guy who got excited about the fact the blue plastic thing he found was a pair of scrubs & wanted to wear them whilst teaching others (I kid you not), she was missing Muse play. Needless to say, when she called up the house late on Friday with the rain pouring down outside her tent & she was in tears about getting stitches, I freaked.

This is also the reason why a lot of the pictures here are people walking. Because she walked like a pirate with a wooden leg, which was hilarious to the rest of us. So we did pirate impersonations all the way down the beach and back. She wasn't impressed, so threw seaweed at my dad.



Ah the age old question, do I push him/her/both off the rock or not?
(Neither of them seem to be able to decide.)



Aka, where my father fulfils his unknown (even to himself) desire to be a Bond Girl
and my sister is a praying on the loo with a wooden leg. Nice.



I just act a bit mad and jump around a lot. I can fly!



Mums like hugs. Even if their daughters are patronising idiots.



Emma goes to sneak up on my father, who had so far managed to escape some of the madness.

Sick of being teased for walking like a pirate, we take pity
and they have their own three-legged race.



After that, the tide began to come in quickly, which meant I had to get out of there sharpish if I were to remain clean and dry for the theatre that evening and not get stranded.



Aka, Sarah showcases her ninja moves once more.



Me: What are you. some sort of diseased, ugly turtle?
Emma: No, I'm a dinosaur. Rawr!







As soon as her back was turned, we started throwing pebbles/small boulders in the water. She only realised when a large splash got her jeans wet. That's how we bond in my family. :)

What the camera doesn't show is her trying to throttle me
10 seconds later and me stamping on her foot in retaliation.

Left to right: Me, dad, Emma. Mum made the smart decision to 'observe' and photograph.

One game my family and I love to play at the seaside is a variation on the classic 'chicken'. We all pick a rock of similar height and distance from the sea, or at least ones which will submerge under the rising tide at the same time and wait for the tide to come in. The one who flees first looses and the one who lasts the longest, wins. It's as simple as that. The only question is, do you wait long enough and win? Or scarper first and save your feet from getting wet. Your choice.

I'm probably the most stubborn member of my family and so won by balancing on the tip-toe of one foot whilst the other two fled for the big rock (on the left in the photo). It's fun and a good laugh. Especially if you're spectating (like my mum) and you can throw things to get us off balance (small pebbles, shells, bits of seaweed, big rocks - in the surrounding water so that they splash us).



Emma eating again. Are we seeing a theme here?



After that we walked back up and into the village for a lovely hot drink and a sugar pick-me-up. Two pots of tea, one coffee, a coke and three chocolate & caramel shortbreads later we hit the road back to York so I could go see Peter Pan at York Theatre Royal.

On the way back we got to see the heather on the North York Moors at its best. It was like driving through a sea of purple. It was beautiful, like a purple version of the poppies in The Wizard of Oz.