Thunder on the right (left and centre)

Headed off early for our last bike ride of the trip. We are actually staying in North Myrtle Beach - the boring family orientated, retirement end of the 60 mile beach. Myrtle Beach is further south and appears to host most of the real rubbish - so needless to say we felt we had to visit. It is a rather tortuous journey unless you want to ride down a six lane highway with no ring shoulder. 13 miles into the trip The Mechanic realised that he had forgotten the spare tubes and tools and of course as soon as we knew that we started worrying about a puncture. While I could have made it back and collected the car, the chances of C doing that were somewhere south of zero, given he would never have found his way back either to the apartment or to wherever I was stuck. We rode back, inevitably with no punctures, and ended up riding 30 miles. After a swim and a walk along Cherry Grove Pier we started packing up the bikes. We began hearing thunder about half an hour before the heavens opened, the lightning appeared to be overhead and the thunder was deafening.........This lasted for about an hour with the road turning into rivers. We had to get the half-packed bikes under over as well as we could and then covered them in some cheap ponchos we had been given free in Washington.  

By the time the rain stopped it was going on 18.00, so we abandoned our second swim and the preceding walk, but managed to get the bikes finished.  I have never been in a storm like it, warnings were being televised and as it approached the beach cleared like snow in a heatwave. 

Anyway it occurred to me that perhaps we should have a debauched night out on the town, but we were so spoilt for choice that in the end we stayed in and caught up with some Archers on the iPad!!

Question is - what would you have chosen:

Medieval Times, dinner and tournament. (Dial 888-We-Joust)

Big Laughs Theatre - a high energy rock n' roll interactive comedy variety hypnosis show

Hip-Hop Clogging

Todd Oliver and his amazing talking dogs

Carnival of Magic ( featuring stars from America's got talent)

Christian Stoninev with Scooby the Dog

The Illusions of Hannah and Brandon Wagster

Or perhaps you would prefer to slit your wrists in preference to any of the above (like us)

Early warning about rising sea levels!!!! They are expecting the largest crowd of the year at Myrtle Beach over Labour Day weekend due to the above average temperatures. Given what we have seen so far, if they all decide to enter the water at once, a life threatening tsunami is likely to appear or half of Essex will fall into the sea - you have been warned!!!