Blackpool Here We Come

By Clair Gibson

When Judi says she’s never been to Blackpool, her best friend Chris decides to put it right and organises a works day out.

Chris, Judi and Tom start their adventure in the Tower, before working their way down the promenade to Madam Tussards. Join them as they ride donkeys down to the pleasure beach and throw themselves on every white-knuckle attraction they can find.

They expected sun, sand and drunkenness. What the girls didn’t expect was to find love against the backdrop of Britain’s most loved seaside town.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clair Gibson
• Release date: May 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311580559

Clair Gibson

Clair Gibson currently splits her time between Glasgow and Manchester and sees writing works of fiction as her true venture in life and is currently working on her next offering.She has nine books available -Another Chance at LoveFat Bottomed GirlsBlackpool Here We ComeLeft BehindAll for HerYours, mine & the truthStifado for twoThe price of friendshipBroken returnSee her blog for details of those and new works in development

Book preview

Blackpool Here We Come

Clair Gibson

This is a work of fiction.

The characters of this book are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Book cover by Clair Gibson.

Copyright 2013 by Clair Gibson.

All rights reserved.

I license this eBook for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it for your own use your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

To Jo & Paul for the classic one-liner that started this creative process, for unwavering friendship and for never ending encouragement.

I hope this makes you both smile.

Chapter List

Chapter 1 - Running with an idea

Chapter 2 - The three amigos

Chapter 3 - Fear of the eye

Chapter 4 - Cast back in time

Chapter 5 - Waxy fun

Chapter 6 - Vera the wonder donkey

Chapter 7 - A diet coke moment

Chapter 8 - Shake Rattle and Scream

Chapter 9 - Not on a kids ride

Chapter 10 - Donuts to go

Chapter 11 - Arms Up

Chapter 12 - Queasy tummy’s

Chapter 13 - Traumatized

Chapter 14 - Double Dipper

Chapter 15 - The Big One

Chapter 16 - Ride them horses

Chapter 17 - Emergency chuckles

Chapter 18 - Flying high

Chapter 19 - A certain charm

Chapter 20 - Soaked again

Chapter 21 - Too much for some

Chapter 22 - Prejudices gone wild

Chapter 23 - George’s delight

Chapter 24 - Time to talk

Chapter 25 - Revelations

Chapter 26 - The morning after

Chapter 1

Running with an Idea

What do you mean you’ve never been to Blackpool? Chris wailed a high-pitched shriek, as she spun her wonky chair through ninety degrees, to face a bemused Judi.

I’m serious I’ve never been.

How is that even possible? Chris looked at her long-time friend and co-worker gob smacked with the revelation. Everybody’s been to Blackpool at least once. How have you reached the ripe old age of fifty and never been?

Judi lifted her cappuccino and slurped the extra chocolate from the froth. She tried to relax back in her office chair but ended up leaning on the side of the desk. Yesterday she had taken the arms off it after they caught and ripped her sleeve and she still hadn’t adjusted to the lack of support. I don’t know, we never got around to it, and I’m only Forty-nine. She stressed her age with a wry smile.

Did you not take the boys when they were young? Chris turned her seat back towards the desk and picked up her own cup filled with a smooth skinny latte. She sipped the hot liquid and looked back across at her best friend. I mean, what about long weekends, you know the typical Glasgow September weekend or day trips to the Pleasure Beach to ride the coasters, that kind of thing?

Nope.

No? Good god, they missed out.

Judi giggled at the suggestion and tried to explain. They didn’t get into theme park rides until they were much older and visited with their mates. We did camping holidays, then when they were older, we took them to Spain. Her pale blue eyes portrayed the happy memories replaying in her mind’s eye. So, we never got around to going plus it’s got a bad rep of late.

Chris tipped her head to one side acknowledging the sentiment. Yeah, I guess it has with all the hen and stag nights but it still has that British seaside charm and rollercoasters to die for.

Judi smiled, placed her coffee cup back on the desk and turned back to her computer screen while still talking. Yeah, you can’t beat the charm and the smell of the sea, not to mention the tacky souvenir shops and food stalls selling processed sugar in all its forms. She tapped her password into the keyboard and watched as the screen booted itself back into life before mumbling, Be nice to see it once, I suppose.

As Chris turned her back on her friend and unlocked her own computer, an idea popped into her head. Five minutes later, she emailed around their team of thirty to ask who was up for a day trip to Blackpool. She used the excuse it was not only a great opportunity for team bonding but also a way of celebrating the three special birthdays in their little team that year. In her own mind, it would also get Judy back out there in a social setting after her divorce.

Within the space of six months, Judi turned fifty and had become a recent divorcee, George would be sixty and the youngster in their team, Heather would be twenty-one. An hour later twenty people had said yes to the general idea. Some asked if wives or husbands could come along, some asked about children and extended relatives. By the following morning, they reached an uneasy consensus that wives or husbands were okay but not children. Although supposed to be a team bonding experience, many had requested that they did their own thing through the day and met up at night. It seemed to suit the majority and so, with a definite number of thirty-five souls on board, Chris made definite plans.

***

Eight weeks later, in the silly early morning hours of the chosen Saturday, Chris stumbled out of her taxi and across the road to the front of their office building. In the parking bay, right outside the main revolving doors, sat a white fifty-two-seat coach. Easy enough to distinguish, emblazoned with the hire company’s logo on a thick red stripe that ran from front to back underneath the windows. A guy who she assumed was the driver, leaned against the sloping metal handrail, outside the office doors, taking a slow drag on his cigarette and coughing in between puffs. Chris nodded to him before climbing the steps up on to the coach. Then she nodded to another guy, who wore the same uniform as the driver, sat in one of the two front seats.

On board several faces she recognised looked up but a subconscious count told her, there were nowhere near the thirty-five people who signed up for the trip. She looked down at her watch to see it said a quarter to six. There were still fifteen minutes before their proposed departure time.

Hey you’re here, Judi yelled and waved, attracting Chris’s attention.

Chris walked to the back of the bus having seen the long dyed blonde hair and smiling blue eyes of her best friend. The two of them were chalk and cheese, but shared the same offbeat sense of humour and in days gone by the same dyed hair colour. Now Chris’s was short, and she had stopped colouring it weeks ago, in a few more it would go back to its natural brown colour.

I bagged us the back seat, plenty of room to sprawl out and sleep if we need to, Judi said in triumph.

Good and I brought the munchies. Chris held up the bag, filled with crisps, chocolate, juice and sandwiches.

Judi put her nose in the air took two sniffs, grinned and asked, Is that bacon I can smell?

It will be a little cold by now but yeah, bacon and sauce.

Brown?

Why, yes. Chris dug around in the bag and found the aluminium wrapped sandwiches. She took one of them and handed it to Judi. Here.

Oh, you’re too good smells incredible. Judi took great care peeling back one edge of the aluminium before sinking her teeth into the sandwich. Oh, this is perfect, mmmmm, and it’s still a little warm.

Chris handed her a napkin for the sauce.

What are you two munching? The girls looked up to see Tom walking down the bus towards them with a big grin on his face. Got any for me?

Course I do. Chris fished around in her bag and brought out another two packets.

I might have known you would have commandeered the back seat, bellowed the strict authoritarian voice of their team manager, Vera. What is it with you three? You’re always together, the three amigos? Chris shrugged her shoulders and pulled a face of I don’t know. Vera turned away from them but snapped back. Did you take a roll call?

What are we in nursery school? Chris shrugged her shoulders and held her arms up in the air. No, I didn’t take a roll call. I arrived a few minutes ago, I was about to enjoy breakfast.

Well, you are the organiser. Vera stood with her weight on one leg, leaning to the side and her hands-on hips, emphasising her disgust and waiting for a reply. She was the team manager in every sense of the word, and just because it was a team day out didn’t change that fact.

Chris handed her sandwich to Judi, stood up and thrust her hand into the rear pocket of her jeans. She pulled out a folder piece of paper and walked down the aisle towards Vera. Here, you‘re the organ grinder, I’m just the monkey, but I can tell you this much, there’s more people to come yet.

Chris turned away, pulled a face and shook her head from side to side, mimicking a clown as she walked back to her seat.

Stop it you, Judi said, laughing as she handed the sandwich back. Seriously.

What, she asked for it, the little bloody Hitler. It’s bad enough when we’re in work storming about telling people what to do. I‘m in my forties not five years old. There’s a right and a wrong way to go about telling people you want them to do something!

Chris settled down into the back seat and stretched her tall, willowy frame. She ran her hand through her short mousy brown hair and took a deep sigh. Sorry, she knows how to annoy me.

You got any more of these sandwiches? Tom asked changing the subject. His face smeared with brown sauce. They‘re fantastic.

Yeah I have, and napkins. She handed him another packet and a few pieces of kitchen roll. Is that what they call us?

What?

The three amigos?

Just the bosses, I assume, Tom mumbled as he shovelled more bacon into his mouth. Something to do with that temporary boss we had last year, she said we were a bad influence on each other and joined at the hip. Bloody liberty if you ask me, only time we move is to get coffee and you two are the most productive staff I have working on my projects.

Judi pretended to bat her eyelids at him. Ah, you say the most romantic things.

Tom rolled his eyes and polished off the last of the sandwich before wiping his face with the napkins. So, what’s the plan?

What plan? Chris asked unsure what he meant.

The itinerary, ladies, what’s meant to happen today?

Chris sighed and looked at her watch again. Well, in five minutes Vera’s going to blow a gasket if the last of the team doesn’t hurry, cos we should be leaving. Apart from that I booked us into a nice restaurant from eight pm onwards for dinner, then I got those free entry passes into two bars and two nightclubs. Although they are not places, everyone will like. She raised her eyebrows and grinned, both Judi and Tom knew the vouchers would cause uproar. In between that the day is all ours.

Chapter 2

The three amigos

By ten past six, Vera paced up and down the path outside the bus. Her six-foot tall toothpick frame made the strides far too long for an average woman, but there was nothing average about Vera. It’s just unacceptable, she fumed. Two people were still unaccounted for and that was poor, more so, that it was the other manager of the team and their old boss. It didn’t set much of an example to the rest of the staff. She checked her phone again, but it still showed no calls or texts. Where they hell are they? she muttered, breathing slow to quell her anger.

Above her head, the younger lads of the party were busy steaming up the bus windows and writing cryptic messages to her. Ignorant to them, her gaze noticed, then fixed firm on two distant figures walking along the path. As they got closer, they waved and Vera breathed a huge sigh of relief. Where have you two been? You‘re late.

Yeah sorry, puncture.

Vera nodded, half accepting their apology but before she could comment further Chris stuck her head through the open doorway. Ahh you‘re here, hurry, folks want to get moving, there’s drinking to do.

There‘ll be none of that on my bus, Vera stated in her matter-of-fact tone, as she climbed the steps and pushed Chris out of the front seat. The two late comers took the two seats behind Vera as the second driver sat on the other front seats.

The driver shut the door and turned around. All, here are we? he asked Vera, as he stretched and cracked his knuckles.

Yes, you may go.

The driver looked back at her and sneered at her condescending tone. She better rap that, he groaned.

Half an hour later, the divide of the team amongst the rows of seats was obvious. The older guys of the team were fast asleep. The young lads were laughing and throwing things at each other across the bus aisle. Heather and her cronies as usual shared gossip with their own brand of loud annoying chat. The various older women’s clans had separated to small sections of seating, making sure there were gaps between them so they could talk in private. The three amigos were still at the back of the bus laughing at Tom's detailed description of his night out.

Honestly, he protested. Is it too much to ask that just once every so often, the whole family gets together. You would think for a twenty fifth wedding anniversary they’d be falling over themselves but no, it was just excuse after excuse. Ended up just the wife, the girls and my mum.

But the rest are coming to your party in two weeks’ time? Judi asked as she stuffed another wine gum into her mouth and offered the bag to the other two.

They better if they know what’s good for em, although some of them won’t bother. His light blue eyes told the disappointment he felt. As his anniversary grew close, his hair had taken a definite turn to white and his youthful looks had revealed his true age, despite a renewed spring in his step.

Chris took a wine gum and stretched it before chewing one end. That‘s such a shame but won’t stop us enjoying it. She popped the other half in her mouth. Or you! Don’t let them get you down.

Don’t worry. He smiled at them both, threw a wine gum in the air and caught it on its way down. I have enough party tricks to entertain everyone.

Both girls laughed at him before taking another sweet.

At Southwaite services, just outside Carlisle the coach turned off the motorway for the obligatory toilet stop. As the driver pulled into the bus park at the back of the services, Vera stood up and shouted, Only half an hour people. Understood.

Will someone tell her this is a fun day out, Chris moaned, as she waited for people to leave the bus. Sat at the back had its benefits but an early escape in the quest to get off wasn’t one.

I dare you. Heather said as the three amigos shuffled towards her. She was the youngest member of the team and the envy of most of the women with her super slim figure and long blonde hair. In fact, I double dare you.

You would do. Chris sneered. If she dared say anything to Vera, it would start an almighty argument. They didn’t have the best of histories. It had worsened in dramatic fashion whereas Heather was one of the golden few, able to flutter her eyes and get away with everything. She tapped Heather on the shoulder as the two of them shuffled down the aisle of the bus. Tell you what, you tell her princess, she might listen to you.

Heather flashed her thousand-pound white toothy smile and turned back to the front of the bus. Hey Vera, she said as she climbed down the stairs and out onto the bus park.

Vera smiled back but didn’t reply.

Cow, Chris muttered, her deep-seated hatred of Heather growing by the minute.

That‘s twenty-seven minutes for you Chris, don‘t be late.

Chris climbed down the stairs muttering under her breath. I bloody hate the pair, she said to Judi as they walked across the car park.

Yeah and they both know it, forget about them.