13. Margate, Kent, UK

> Firsly, just a quick apology that I won't be out and about on the A-Z blogs today - MY SISTER (pictured in blogpost aged about 5!) IS GETTING MARRIED!  Have a great day, everyone - I know I will! Margate is a real trip back in time, for me.  I last visited Margate when I was seven years old; a plump, clumsy child, prone to daydreaming and playing make-believe.  My parents took my sister and me to stay in an hotel, of which my only memory is crawling around in the 'lounge' with a boy called Malcolm playing dogs or something (I told you I loved make-believe).  I can remember Malcolm's face but not the room (apart from wooden chair legs and a patterned carpet) and I have no idea whether my sister was playing too (probably).  My next memory is of being on a merry-go-round at the sea-front and sliding sideways off the model motorbike I was on as the ride got faster and faster.  My mum had to shout at the man who was operating it to rescue me (embarrassing, even at that tender age!) There are holiday photos of my sister and me wearing purple swimsuits covered in bright flowers and swim-caps with huge flowers on them too.  Ah, the seventies!  One thing I really remember about Margate is going to The Winter Gardens to see a show.  On the bill were Jimmy Tarbuck, Arthur Askey and the child star Lena Zavaroni (who was 11 at the time), although sadly I don't remember all that much about the show except for Lena Zavaroni tap dancing in a red dress and white knee-socks and my dad being very excited and upbeat about it because they were people who had been on the TV!
I'd love to post the photos of chubby little me in my purple flowery swimsuit and stunning swim-cap, but unfortunately I can't, so here's a photo from the previous year!I'm the one on the left and our lovely late mum is in the middle.  And now, here's Margate today: