2California: DAY FIFTEEN - Friday 29 April 2011... Royal Wedding Day

Didn't manage to stay awake until 1am to watch the Royal Wedding but did catch the total immersion of Fox News into 'all things Royal'...it looked very nice - what can I say. William's got a bald head and Kate has got that twisted upper crust, munching mouth thing going on...still, they make a pleasant couple and at least she's an anarchist and won't obey, so we might at least get a beheading in the future. Something to look forward to. Unfortunately, it will hike up the entry fee to the Tower of London and the Beefeaters will become very unpopular with the tourists for a while.

Rather a grey start to the day and many 'debates' about what to do. On the list - USS Midway http://www.midway.org/ - a great thing to do, but a trek into San Diego on the bus again; how about a sailing boat on the bay opposite our hotel... good idea but costs around £60 and is Neal really the best skipper in the local seafaring community with his half hour lesson and hour on the lake messing about in boats on his own? Okay then, how about Belmont Park with it's roller coasters and water slides? Perhaps not. I can't tell you how much this cold has affected me and I find it very annoying and debilitating. But not quite debilitating enough!

Next thing I know, I'm on a 'beach cruiser' bike in a fetching green and white - handlebars reminscent of Dennis Hopper's motorbike in Easy Rider, and Neal's on roller blades and we're off up the boardwalk from Pacific Beach to Mission Beach in a flash! And, worringly, we said no thanks to all the questions like do you want protective head gear - no; do you want knee pads -no; do you want to get out of this unscathed - no!

As Neal's balance is, to say the least, a tad precarious, I'm taking the photos from a distant and rather wobbly position on my cruiser. Still, it all works out quite well and we didn't smash into anyone so a great success all round.

A well deserved beer follows:

What next? The wooden roller coaster in Mission Beach? It looks amazing, built in 1925 and saved on numerous occasions from being demolished - probably one of only a few wooden ones left still operating. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Dipper_(San_Diego) No, I didn't go on it, but Neal did! (Another wimp out... this has got to stop!)

After lunch at a seafront cafe - yet again, zingy fresh salads and vegetables, we decamped to the Wavehouse - a wave machine, bar and music. We loved it because as well as the athletic, toned and tanned young things, there were 'old timers' still surfing. The chap below and one particular woman, who was probably around my age, were so fantastic - they'd obviously been surfing all their lives but I had to admire a woman in her 60s, drinking what appeared to be a Jack D and coke, smoking a fag and surfing as well if not better than any of them. There was a great atmosphere and certainly no age barriers. Positive, life affirming stuff!