Number 22. Ride on a Rodeo Bull.

Number 22. Ride on a Rodeo Bull.

So I added this to my list thinking it would be a fun thing to do that I'd never done before....how foolish was I!!!

My son James had ridden on one last summer at Driffield Showground at the Steam Engine Rally so in my head I thought I would do it there this year. I hadn't seen James do it but he was apparently very good!

Bank holiday weekend 24th-28th May we had arranged to go camping with our friends, Caroline and Rich and their children to the Golden Square Campsite at Helmsley, we had seen that Duncombe Park in Helmsley were having a Country Fair on Monday 27th May and a Rodeo Bull was going to be there so it was agreed that if the weather was good we would go and then I could tick this off my list!

Monday 27th May 2013, glorious day and a brilliant weekend, so we all headed to the Country Fair and we were all looking forward to it, there was a lot of banter from everyone about how they couldn't wait for me to ride on the rodeo bull!! I had no nerves about doing it beforehand was just a little worried about injuring myself so wanted to do it at the end of the day before leaving!

Soooo I did it, but OMG was I scared, it didnt help that as I sat on the inflatable step to take my shoes off I somehow fell off and was rolling around on the floor much to the amusement of the man working the rodeo bull and everyone else!

The first problem I had was actually getting on the bloody thing, I'm not the most flexible of people, I do have arthritis but I think being slightly large doesn't help! I had to stand one foot on the man's hand, jump up and throw my other leg over the rodeo bull....not easy when you are pissing yourself laughing and thinking about your sweaty feet having to touch the mans hand!! Anyway I was eventually on it, however that is when I realised there was no going back, I felt really high up, I only had a little stick thing to hold on at its neck and I was petrified of how I was going to fall off as I really didnt want to hurt myself!

It started going round, I had various tips given to me about leaning back, and even hooking my feet under the bulls horns but those discussions entered my head for the briefest of moments as fear and anxiety totally took over! I laughed and screamed which drew quite a crowd...believe me this was one thing I didnt really want an audience watching but I can understand why it would have been funny to observe!!

I stayed on between 30-40 seconds longer than anticpated, and shook like a leaf and my heart nearly leapt out of my chest afterwards so its safe to say I will definitely NEVER ever do it again!!

Anyway please feel free to laugh at my photos and video...my family all have!

Number 33. Have a weekend in London.

Number 33. Have a weekend in London.

I've been to London many times, I added this to my list of 40 things to do because we didnt go last year so I really wanted to make sure I went this!

My Dad kindly bought us a family ticket to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio for Christmas so the weekend was planned around that.

We booked a Premier Inn at Kings Langley which was about 10 minutes away from the Harry Potter tour but also has a train station about a mile away from the Premier Inn which has loads of parking and takes you direct to London Euston.

We had the best drive down that we've ever had and we were most impressed with Kings Langley a lovely village, and the Premier Inn was in a lovely set back from the road position with a pub next door.

The Friday night we had just got unpacked, and had settled down for the night when the fire alarm sounded!James and Lydia completely freaked out, Rund was telling me to get up and out of the room and people were running down the corrider, but the alarm kept stopping and starting so I didnt think it was a genuine fire alarm, plus I was in my nighty I didnt really want to evacuate!! Under duress however I was forced to get out of the room by my family and gather with the masses in the reception area in my nighty, styled up with a scarf and cardigan...ultra glam!! Anyway it was a false alarm, I bloody knew it!! A new member of staff had accidentally walked through a fire door and set it off!

Saturday, we got up and caught the train to London, we had planned to go the British Museum at 10:30am to visit the Pompeii and Herculaneum Exhibition which we all enjoyed, was very interesting, I've always had a fascination with Pompeii. Then the highlight of our plans for the day was meeting up with one of my best friends Zoe and meeting her baby daughter Erin for the first time. We had a wonderful day of Covent Garden where James helped participate with a street entertainer, lunching and catching up and cuddling Erin, plus lots of shopping, M & M World, Hamleys, Selfridges all did very well out of us......utterly fab!

Sunday morning we had a nice leisurely start, big breakfast and then made our way to the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio! Rund and the kids are all Harry Potter mad so they were all excited, I have only watched the first film, so was really just going along for the others, however from the minute we arrived in the carpark I was hooked, and the whole experience was fantastic, a really good day and very well organised, absolutely loved it, especially the Butter Beer!