Nana and Grandad always used to take Alex and I to the coast with them when we were kids. We'd stay in the caravan, eat fish & chips everyday and almost come to blows, arguing over who had seen the sea first...not quite sure why when 'whoever sees the sea first buys the ice cream' was drilled into us all the way there, but it was a Porter/Cannings family tradition.

There are so many memories...I remember the fact that Nana and Grandad used to stay up watching crime dramas after we'd gone to bed. The game was to get in bed, count to 10, then bounce back up, saying we couldn't sleep! We'd then sit up until late, eating biscuits and watching CSI, Law & Order, SVU etc...When we finally did go to bed, we really couldn't sleep! Not quite age appropriate viewing but it's probably why Law & Order is still my guilty pleasure now. 

Hour after hour we spent collecting shells on the beach. We never seemed to find the really big exotic looking ones that the seafront stalls were selling, but it wasn't for lack of trying! Countless donkey/pony rides...Nana used to have a fit because given the choice, I'd always pick the biggest pony possible, or the one throwing itself around playing at being Shergar. Nana probably deserves shares in most of the Amusements in Brid after the amount of 2p's we 'deposited' there.

When we were really young, we'd all go together in a caravanette...Alex's job was to line up midget gems on the dashboard for Grandad while he drove. Dad sat with the map out (usually on the wrong page) and I sat in the back with Nana and mum, stopping plates, cups and other crockery from firing off the shelves and out of cupboards every time we went round a bend. As I type, I now remember playing Eye Spy...If nana got sick of 'C for Car', 'R for Road' and 'W for Wheel' she never showed it.