An absolute must for any long car journey.
Category Archives: Out and about
Devastation
Early on Sunday morning Ridiculously early on Sunday morning, I walked into Newcastle. It’s pretty much a straight line and is quite a nice walk. Unusually, I had a camera with me, so I took some non mobile phone pictures. First, here’re a couple of crumbling Gateshead concrete.
There are some slightly larger versions here. They’re cut-down from the originals, but still too large to add here. They seem to open ok with a phone, so I might try a higher resolution next time.
On crossing the Tyne, I couldn’t help but be surprised at the mess, the devastation, from the previous night’s revelry. The lack of people only made the scene seem even more surreal. I knew that end-of-the-world films tend to be shot early in the morning, but I now understand that costs can be further reduced by locating in party towns; there’s no need to import debris.
There’s always a seagull isn’t there.
Benton Lane III
It’s properly miserable at the bus stop. The nice, sunny bus stop environment appears to be a thing of the past.
Unfitness
I’ve just had my first bike ride in just over a year. Actually, my first off-road ride in four or five years. And I now fully appreciate how unfit I’ve become. That’s seriously unfit.
There are some positives though. Most importantly, I survived and didn’t resort to walking uphill. And my 21-year-old bike performed a lot better than the (twice the price) Kona. To be honest, even though everything had been checked, oiled and tightened, I’d expected something to fall off. The bike, that is.
Unfortunately, while the bike performs almost as well as it did 21 years ago, I don’t. I’m now going to have a soak in the bath and wash the insects off.
Benton Lane II
The bus stop in Benton Lane wasn’t so nice today.
Benton Lane
I’ve been spending quite a lot of time at a bus stop on Benton Lane of late. It’s an average sort of bus stop, with a shelter and a timetable, but no litter bin. There’s one across the road though.
The area around the bus stop’s nice; well, if you don’t look back towards Quorum, or across the road to the industrial park (but even that’s pretty well hidden by greenery.
I quite like the well-used-but-neglected-remoteness of the bus stop. Even the cracked concrete floor looks nice. And the grass and weeds growing between paving stones. I sat there for fifteen minutes this evening. In the sunshine. It was lovely.
Accessibility
I probably don’t need to say much about this. A picture of the accessible toilet at Gateshead interchange.
I have to ask, what happened to disabled toilets?
In town today
In town today:
– a car on fire (well, newly extinguished)
– two arrests (possibly a driving offence and, separately, a shoplifter)
– embarrassing bodies filming
– a photo shoot near the castle
– an ex-wife
And I’m sure I’ve forgotten something (possibly an ex or two).
Zombie apocalypse
I live on a busy main road. It’s seldom quiet, usually only in extreme weather conditions.
Or during the occasional zombie apocalypse.
Or at some silly time on a Sunday morning.
Pictures
With a little help from Messrs Innis & Gunn, I’ve been reorganising some stuff on the hard drive(s) this evening. While doing so, I came across some pictures taken by my second in command. Here’re a couple. While they might not look so great here, because I’ve reduced them massively in file size/resolution, I still like them.
I should say, that they’re not from the same location, but I may be stating the obvious.
And, from my second in command’s favourite pub.
I love the reflections in the tables in that one; it probably looks better full size though.
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