I know I've recently posted a picture of the Gateshead multi-storey car park, aka the Get Carter car park, but this weekend presented an opportunity for more photos. The car park's been closed for several years now, but it was opened to the public one last time this weekend.
It may seem surprising, but I had to queue for an hour on the seventh level before being allowed further. Apparently, the higher levels aren't as safe and only a few people at a time could go up. We even had to wear hard hats; it all seemed a bit over the top, but it was worth the wait.
Millions of peaches, peaches for me ... went to see the Presidents of the United States of America at the Academy last night. In common with the last time I saw them, I'm left feeling somewhat unhealthy after seeing blokes my age leaping all over the place and barely pausing between songs. They were brilliant though; it was rock as it should be.
Last night I made another important beer discovery. When in the Union Rooms with Trevor, I tried Bateman's Spring Goddess. Not only was it delicious, it was only £1.59 a pint (well, a bottle). It's vegan too, so what more could anyone want? I'd say more, but it's late now and I need to sleep.
Well, after several attempts, the network drive is finally up and running, adding another couple of LEDs and a few cables to the 'wireless' mess on the landing.
Yet another weekend has passed in a blur and I'm back to work again. On
Saturday morning I thought I'd take a walk down into Gateshead town
centre to take some photos of the 'Get Carter' car park, which is now
fenced off after several years of debate, ready for demolition.
I know that tese things need to happen, particularly since the car park's surrounded by an awful 1960s shopping centre, but it'll be a real shame to see it go. I'm seriously considering a trip with a wheelbarrow when the car park's actually demolished, since I think pieces would sell very nicely on ebay. Well, you never know; just think about all of those postcards on sale in Berlin with little bits of concrete stuck to the front.
The evening was spent at the Academy in Newcastle, where I went to see Elbow with Deb and Phil. I've seen the band a few times at festivals, but the atmosphere was much better at a 'proper' gig. They were really very good; can't say more than that.
Sunday was an awful day, the weather that is. We had rain, hail, then snow most of the day. To make matters worse, I needed to venture out to the local computer shop to buy a new hard disk. The hard drive was essential to my plans for a wireless network drive; I'd already bought a network drive enclosure. Unfortunately, I've still to get the bloody thing up and running. It's only a matter of time though, I'm sure. Oh, the snow did look kind of nice.
The day, however, ended very pleasantly in the Forth, where we consumed very nice beer. Sigh.
I'm currently listening to the new Elbow album, courtesy of my eldest daughter. I quite like it, but then the others were good too. I'm going to see them on Saturday at the Academy too, again courtesy of my eldest child. There's a cool line in one song, Grounds ForvDivirce; I've been working on a cocktail, called 'grounds for divorce'. I'd see them just to hear that song.
I'm sitting watching Father Ted on TV, eating veggie sausage rolls and reflecting on the day. I learned some new things today though. Firstly, I noticed an apostrophe related error in a Carphone Warehouse poster in Newcastle; the advertisement read: iPod's available here. Pretty shocking I thought; particularly since this will be in hundreds of outlets across the country. I can almost hear you say, what could be worse than that ? Well, not a lot if you're a vegetarian and/or not living (or eating) in the UK. However, I learned something tonight that I can't believe hasn't become common knowledge (or maybe it has, but I've slept through it). El told me tonight that supermarket meat shouldn't really be bright red. Apparently, it should be a kind of grey-brown colour, but it's coloured to make it look fresh (bloody?). Worse still, the colourant is carcenagenic. What kind of world (actually, it's probably just the UK) are we living in?