Honestly, Beautifully : honey blade

2002-06-13 - 9:00 a.m.

I've had a Google/Yahoo! hit for "chocolate shot glasses".

I love you people :)

So, yesterday was Thorpe Park. And oooooh was it ever fun!

Joe came into Northfields around 11.30 so we could all just take the train from Brentford to Staines, as it involved a bit less flitting about for all concerned. We got breakfast in the cafe next door and then headed for the station.

As we were walking down the path that leads to the Staines side of the platform, we heard this rumbling noise. Realised this was our train and ran for it. Just made it too. Yay!

When we got to Staines we discovered that they'd set up a bus link from the station to the park, which was nice because the Thorpe Park website didn't say a damn thing about how to get there. Well, it used to, and it used to say you had to walk to the bus station and get a bus from there, but I think they realised that was too much of a fuss to be bothered with.

Anyway. The park was pretty quiet, which is a good thing. It meant we never had to queue for longer than about ten minutes to go on any of the rides and no-one cared if we climbed through the fences to get to the ride faster because there wasn't any queue to jump. Wahey!

So, first was the Colossus. Britain's first ten-looping rollercoaster.

Now, bear in mind that while I don't have a problem with rollercoasters, I'd never really been on a proper one before. The last time I went to a theme park was when I was about 10, I was on a school trip and we weren't allowed to go on the big rollercoasters. So this was a first for me.

Oooooooooh bloody hell. I was terrified. It did a double loop under the gift shop and both times I was sure I was going to smack my head on the roof of the tunnel. I spent a lot of the ride with my head sunk down into my shoulders ^_^

The ride doesn't last that long, and when it stopped and I got off my feet were tingling.

Neko hadn't wanted to go on Colossus, so Joe and I met up with him outside the shop and we went on to the next ride. Which was called No Way Out.

I presume No Way Out is supposed to have a kind of deep ocean theme, since there were models of people in diving gear and suchlike in the passageway. Of course, the deepest parts of the ocean are so deep that sunlight can't get down that far, so it's completely dark. And No Way Out was also completely dark, apart from the odd patches of light that lit up whenever the train stopped. And the other thing about No Way Out is that it goes backwards.

After Colossus I was fully expecting to be disappointed in all the other rollercoasters and thrill rides, but no. I think No Way Out was Neko's favourite, actually, as he wanted to go on it again before we left. It's also the only ride we went on where I bought a photo of us on it - the look on my face is priceless!

You want to see, do you? Do you?! Well you can't :p

The next ride we went on was called Logger's Leap, which is a log flume ride. Thorpe Park has two rides of this kind, the other one being the Tidal Wave, and having seen precisely why the Tidal Wave was called so earlier that day we figured Logger's Leap would be better as a prelude to the Tidal Wave.

Since they told us we had to take our bags with us and I was worried about the contents getting wet, I was cowering behind Neko on that ride. Note to self - find a waterproof bag next time you're going to Thorpe Park ^_^

Next up was the Detonator. If you've been to the Trocadero you'll have seen the freefall ride they have there. The Detonator is like that, but much taller. How much taller? Umm... hang on, I'll check...

=looks on the website=

OK, it winches you up 100 feet but the ride itself is 115 feet high. Bloody hell, I'm glad I didn't know that before I got on it ^_^

Now, I wouldn't have thought the freefall would bother me that much, but the Detonator plays with your mind. Once you're at the top there's a countdown, then a woman's voice says "Explosion. Detonation complete". I was expecting us to drop when she said "explosion", so when she said "detonation complete", and we were still up there, my immediate thought was "shit, it's broken".

Wrong.

I found it rather difficult to walk when I got off that. I'd taken my shoes off beforehand too, because they felt a bit loose and I didn't want them to go flying off my feet and concussing someone. So on the way down my feet got aerated, which was a pretty nice feeling. Plus when I put my shoes back on they felt nice and warm :)

The next thing we wanted to go on was the Rapids, but on the way we got distracted by the Teacups. Joe and Neko said they felt a bit queasy on the ride, but I didn't, so maybe they just don't have sea legs. Or is that tea legs? Har har!

ARGH!! Stop hitting me >_<

After that we headed to the Rapids. Now, I swear that bloody ride was out to get me, cos Joe and Neko never got anywhere near as soaked as I did. Grrr! We went around once and we had to share the boat with a woman with a couple of schoolkids, but they got off after it had gone around once and we stayed on for a second ride. The camera managed to miss my face every time, too, all it got was my back ^_^

With that over, the only ride left for us to go on was the Tidal Wave. And there was no bloody way I was riding that thing without a waterproof poncho thingy.

Went to buy one from one of the shops and decided to buy myself a drink while I was in there. Seeing that Coke, Sprite and Ribena were all priced and the same obscenely high price, I said to Joe and Neko "should I get Ribena, Coke or Sprite?"

Neko says "Just open your mouth!"

I stared at him for a bit before he said "On the Tidal Wave! Just open your mouth when you get to the bottom of the slope!"

Grrr.

Anyway. Again, they made us take our bags on the ride, so I tucked mine very firmly under the poncho. I'd seen how drenched people were when they came off the thing and I wasn't risking any of that drenchiness getting into my back and messing up my No Way Out photo or my wallet or anything.

Now, here's the thing. I'd already seen the size of the wave the ride produced at the bottom, but let's examine the physics. You'll have to produce a picture in your head, I'm afraid, I'll maybe draw one later.

OK, so we come down the slope and a massive wave is produced at the bottom, most of which goes flying more outwards than upwards. But along with this there is also a certain cloud that goes more upwards than outwards. Also consider that the boat travels just that bit faster than said upwards-cloud. Now add to the equation the knowledge that what goes up must inevitably come down.

If you haven't worked it out yet, the upwards cloud came pouring down upon us and we all got drenched.

I'm sure the poncho did nothing to help because I could feel water inside my clothes, but we got off and I took the poncho off and my clothes were more or less completely dry. And my bag survived, so yay!

Joe and I had already promised ourselves another ride on Colossus before we left but Neko said he wanted to go on it this time. Now, Neko doesn't like rides where he goes upside-down so a ten-looping rollercoaster is a very odd choice of ride. He went on it anyway, but he didn't like it. I was sitting next to him and when the ride stopped I looked over and he was turning slightly blue.

He says he isn't going on it again but I think he was very brave anyway =huggles her Neko=

To make it up to him we went on No Way Out again. The train was almost completely empty this time too, which made it more fun somehow :)

After that we came back to Ealing for food. We went to Old Orleans, and then Joe caught the Central Line home. Neko and I came home and I promptly fell asleep. It was a very tiring day.

Here's a bit of a mystery though - we went to Old Orleans and I had something called the Snap and Stampede. This used to be called the Swamp n Turf and it consists of a portion of fries, cajun vegetables, an 8oz sirloin steak and a 4oz alligator steak. So effectively I ate 12oz of meat, plus all the fries I was given. And yet I got home and felt hungry again about an hour or so later.

Very weird. Excessive physical activity must be the way to go for me.

Anyway, I now have places to go and people to meet, so I'm off. Will no doubt write later :)

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