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| Convoy Ready to Roll |
Since it was all rather last minute, unsurprisingly during the summer school holidays the majority of camp sites we called were full! Eventually we found a camp site that had vacancies for a motorhome and a caravan - so to Bognor Regis we went. Since we'd left pretty late on the Saturday, having had to wait for Cordelia to finish work, we didn't really have much time in the evening other than setting up and preparing some food. All in the motorhome was working as expected and a good nights sleep was had.
Sunday was an opportunity to explore the quaint holiday destination that is Bognor Regis. It didn't disappoint. Heading into town, on route to the beach, it proved impossible for the ladies not to be distracted by the shops. I bought a newspaper and camped in a coffee shop, awaiting further developments. Eventually we made it to the sea front and ended up at the Pier.
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| Bognor Sea Front |
The beach was pretty empty, but given the typical British summer weather of cold drizzle, not really surprising. It turned out that the Amusement Arcade on the pier was the place to be. Lured by the bright lights and the promise of prizes to be won, we wandered in. After a brief look round, I left to have a coffee in the cafe at the entrance to the arcade, anticipating that I'd be swiftly joined. I was wrong. It turned out that the lure of easy money had been too strong. Investigating, I found all three of them...
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| Absorbed by a 'pusher game' |
It was one of those coin waterfall type games where you slot in a 2p coin in the hope it will settle on the sliding shelf and result in displacing more coins for you to collect. Attention was fixated on a five pound note, tantalisingly close to falling off the edge to be collected by the lucky punter who happened to insert a timely coin.
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| So close to falling |
Surely it wouldn't take £5 worth of coins to displace it. This must be worth a punt. And so another set of suckers were reeled in. 250 2p coins later, the note was still sitting stubbornly on the edge - still looking like one more go would push it over. Defeat was accepted and that was that. Time to go - or so I thought. While Linda and Ann had had enough, Cordelia wanted more. You see, not only did the pusher game give the chance of untold riches, but through some impenetrable algorithm also dispensed tickets during play. The result of feeding in many many coins into the slot had given us a couple of hundred tickets. And tickets can be exchanged for prizes. Cordelia reasoned that having started collecting tickets, we should continue to do so until we had enough to claim a prize, so our five pounds would not have been wasted. She had set her heart on a mug that cost 1500 tickets!!!
Cordelia:
| Do you wanna stay and play more games to try win a mug. | |
Me:
| No, that's stupid. | |
Cordelia:
| Oh please, it will be fun! | |
Me:
| No - it's a waste of money. | |
Cordelia:
| The money will be spent on the good time and memories we'll have together. | |
Me:
| Give the tickets to a kid. | |
Cordelia:
| But I earned them. | |
Me:
| No - I don't want to. | |
Cordelia:
| Yes you do | |
Me:
| No, I'm not going to do it. | |
Cordelia:
| Pleeeeease | |
Me:
| No. | |
Cordelia:
| Just to get the mug. | |
Me:
| No. | |
Cordelia:
| Yes, go on. | |
Me:
| OK |
And that's how I ended up playing various games for tickets on Bognor Regis pier. Having played a fish shooting game, a basket ball throwing game, a Willy Wonka game and I think there may have been something else, it became clear that at the rate we were winning tickets, this was going to be a really expensive mug. I'm guessing that so far we'd probably spent about £15 to win about 1000 tickets. We then had a go at a duel player space invaders game. A pound each to play and we sat next to each other on a bench with a gun that we aimed at a large screen. This was fun. We didn't do great on the ticket front, but I was convinced we could do better if we had another go. Two more pound coins in the slot and we played again. We played a blinder, beautifully coordinated, picking off the aliens, hitting the bonus ships, manic mayhem, they came faster and faster and we blasted them. And then it was over. But a new high score and a mega ticket bonus!
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| We both got an additional 1000 tickets! |
This was great! This was the highlight of my holiday. The screen flashed! The colours cycled through. It flashed more! People were looking round to see what had happened. And the tickets, the tickets they kept on coming, the space invaders machine spitting them out, on and on and on. And onlookers stopped in their tracks to see what was happening. And the tickets kept coming. That mug was gonna be coming home.
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| Those tickets are still coming.... |
Not only would Cordelia be taking home a hard won mug, but I would be taking one too. Let me tell you, life doesn't get much better than this. I admit I was wrong and Cordelia was right. It was fun. It will be a great memory.
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| The Coveted Mug |
After that excitement it's all downhill from here. More shops, chips from a seaside chippy and Weatherspoons for supper.
During a drink or two in Weatherspoons, discussion flowed on tomorrows activities. I was suggesting we could go for a more ambitious walk than "one mile into town". However, there was little support for this notion and the winning notion was "driving to Brighton and spending the day shopping". I was outvoted three to one. As a throw away comment, Ann said, "You could always walk and meet us there." Ha! Challenge accepted.
And so it happened. (Click here for walk details and photos) I met up with Linda, Cordelia and Ann in Brighton in time for a couple of beers and an evening meal. We ate at Bon Appetit - an 'all you can eat' buffet restaurant in the town centre. A big plus from me on quantity and value - however the food was pretty bland and distinctly underwhelming. I don't think we'll be back.
Tuesday morning saw Cordelia and I heading back to sunny Bracknell with Linda staying on with Ann in the Caravan for a few more days. It turned out to be a fun weekend break and the motorhome continued to please. I think I'm done with Bognor, OK for one trip, but I can't see myself longing to go back.
