Donaghadee done

My trip to Donaghadee was lovely. The picture above is of the beach at Donaghadee. It is so pretty and I would love to have this on my doorstep. 

The plane was a bit delayed flying out on Friday evening due to Storm Amy and the landing was quite hairy. The pilot attempted to land but decided it was too dangerous to do so safely so we did a twenty minute loop and then he had a second go.

Taken before the second landing attempt

It was extremely rollercoastery and the cabin crew had a stack of sick bags at the ready. One woman across the aisle from me was crying and literally clutching her rosary beads. Just as I was starting to feel pretty groggy myself we landed and oh, the relief to be back on the ground!

Goliath, one of the Harland & Wolff cranes

Em and I visited Titanic Belfast on the Saturday which was great. The museum is really good and its final couple of sections made Em and I quite teary. The story of Titanic is such an enduring one and I think it's nigh-on impossible to not be moved by it.

Outside you can go and stand on the slipway where Titanic was built. There's something special about standing on that spot and imagining the men building her all those years ago.

The plaque in the above photo reads 'This plaque was unveiled on 31st March 2009 by John M Andrews, great nephew of Thomas Andrews, chief naval architect, Harland & Wolff, to commemorate the centenary of the keel laying of RMS Titanic, built on this slipway between 1909 & 1911'.

On the Sunday we went to Streamvale Open Farm to say hello to all the animals. If there's a goat or sheep available for a fussing and a feeding, I'm there.

A lot of the weekend was spent with Em's dogs. Sadly, Em's dear little dog Pu-Ki died in July. Trigger has been missing him terribly and Em and Adam felt it was time to find him a companion.

Trigger

They saw that a Pomeranian puppy needed a new home (he'd been rescued from a puppy farm) and now Macho is settling in with them.

Macho and his ball

I'd never been around a puppy before and blimey, what a lot of work! Macho is very sweet, though, and really intelligent.

He reminds me of Noel Edmonds

Trigger's still not sure about Macho but they're making progress and I'm sure they'll be the best of friends soon.

I flew back home on the Monday, no dodgy landing and half an hour ahead of schedule. I've never been much of a holidaymaker or traveller and I've barely been anywhere compared to a lot of people, so a 90 minute plane trip is a big deal to me but now I've done the Northern Ireland trip solo I know it'll be fine in the future.

Millvina Dean

It was sad to read the news yesterday that Millvina Dean has died. She was the last survivor of the sinking of RMS Titanic.

I grew up in Southampton which is rich in maritime history and it is especially famous for its links with the Titanic. When I was at school I took part in a drama production called 'The Titanic Experience'. It was a bit of a success and we did three versions of it over the years and we eventually ended up performing it at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. I remember the show fondly and it was so wonderful to be part of it.

Millvina lived in Southampton and she came to see the show a couple of times. She was a lovely lady and very interesting to talk to. She was only a small baby when she was on board the Titanic. Millvina was placed in a sack and passed to her mother who was waiting in a lifeboat. Her father went down with the ship. So sad.

The 1994 newspaper photo above shows me and some other members of the cast with Millvina. Yes, that's a sixteen year old me on the right. I would have loved to have been wearing Andrea's swanky costume but alas, I played the part of Third Class Passenger Narrator. If you click the photo you can read the article that went with it.