1405 South Shields to Newcastle by river boat

Once upon a time people would travel from Newcastle to London by passenger boat as a more effective method of travel than coach and horse, or walking, and one upon a time coal was taken from the Tyne all over the world. Yesterday a polish ship or may be it was Russian, was unloading coal at the Port of Tyne which has now moved down river and located at South Shields for freight and at North Shields for Passengers. No ships are built but at South Shields and Hebburn there was repair work continuing on a drilling platform and a few ships, one an ice breaker, There was one freighter on the North bank of the Tyne at Wallsend, so named because it marked the effective end of the Wall and the there are still ship building cranes as well modern industrial plants and processes along both banks of the river all the way into Newcastle and Gateshead.

Some three decades ago when I first took a boat from South Shields Ferry landing up river, it was a very different experience. True there was ship building taking place on both sides of the river but no one was fishing because of the pollution, and everywhere there was sign of decay and abandoned workplaces and no where was there cared for land, new homes to admire the view, or to attract visitors from afar. I have been looking forward to making the trip again for more than decade, although I was in no rush because I wanted to see change. I had tried last year but all the places were taken so this year I kept in touch with the Nexus site on the internet and booked online a ticket on the first outing of the year and hoped for good weather.

The ticket said that one could board from half an hour before the sailing time of 1pm so I decided on an early sandwich lunch with a banana and was ready to leave midday thinking I would start or join the queue after a brisk mile walk to the ferry landing. Such was my enthusiasm for the trip that I forgone going to see the Masters Football talking place at the Newcastle Metro Arena, or watching England play New Zealand before a packed house at Chester Le Street. England was put into bat first and after an excellent start given by Bell, Petersen had come in and looked as if he was going to score a ton which later I learnt he did, and which would have left the great crowd feeling they had had their money's worth in what was otherwise a one sided game, as had been the 20 20 match I had watched on TV on a recent evening. Many missed the first part of his knock because of horrendous traffic jam and parking problems which left the ground looking only three quarters full at the start and with cameras showing the long queues lines at the gates waiting to have their bags searched to ensure that alcohol was not being taken into the ground. England were having such a good start that for a moment I regretted that I had to leave when I did for the river trip.

There was sunshine between lots of grey cloud, but none looking like rain, so far. It had rained briefly, heavy drops but not fierce rain as I made my way to watch Riot at the Custom's House the previous afternoon. Then it had been warm but today there was a chill edge to wind although it was still pleasant in the full sun, There was no cause to rush and get into a sweat so I took my time arriving just after 12.15 to find no queues but several passengers already on board with several other small groups making there from the Custom's House car parks or down the walk onto the fixed pontoon on which the all weather waiting area has been built. There are berths for three ferries. One at each side and one at the front which is used for the short journey across the Tyne to North Tyneside Our vessel was at the side facing the Custom's House and up river although from the shape it was unclear which was the front and which was the back of the ship, although I hoped I got the back so that I could view the Shields, Jarrow, Hebburn bank as we made our way up river. I was too late for the ideal seats at the side where you could sit at the railings but still found a place under the all weather awning which had been raised along with a few flags. However such was the cool breeze that one party at the end of the row by the railings decided to go for seats against the hull while others from choice had chosen the lower boarding deck close to the refreshment tables where later I was able to buy a large mug of coffee and a chocolate biscuit for the excellent value of 70p. There were Stottie sandwiches and a variety of cakes as well as constants large pots of tea as well as beer and soft drinks.

I settled down in my spot and made notes in preparation for the trip, scoffing some chocolate covered raisins while also watching late arrivals some who appeared unconcerned as the departure time arrived. Then I remembered from the previous occasion, from all those years ago, that the off time was flexible to ensure that no one was left behind including those who had taken the ferry from North Tyneside. Then we were off, going out first to the end of the river to just before reaching the two piers providing great views of the Lawe Top and the Bay of South Shields as well as Tynemouth and the North Tyneside Fish Docks and restaurant area.

There was a fierce sharp wind and choppy sea and as we had motored stern first so those of us at the back had got the full blast which sent several scurrying down below or to the front. As we set on the full thirteen mile course to Newcastle, the Newcastle to River mouth boat passed us so it was possible to take picture of a craft similar to our own.
Between the Custom's House and the Port of Tyne Authority buildings and the port docks I was interested to see that the land has now almost been cleared ready for a planned development of mixing housing, offices and recreation facilities, although I may not live to see completion which could take five to ten years, depending upon the economic climate and political vision. Attention was the directed to the North Tyneside bank where a Thompson Cruise ship was tied up next to a North Sea Ferry. Both large vessels but not as large as the freighter which was passing us mid river on its way Poland, Russia, Japan or China, These are not guessed destinations because at work on a Sunday scrap metal was being loaded onto a huge ship while coal from Poland was being unloaded from another and beyond these vessels there were acres of completed Nissan cars from the Sunderland Factory on the former Jarrow slake, a area of marshland when I first arrived, waiting to be shipped from its own dockside to Japan, Europe, the USA and South America. After the Port of Tyne there is the entrance to the river Don at Jarrow and the few minutes trip to St Paul's of Jarrow where the Monks would commence the sea trip to the early part of their monastery at St Peter's Wearmouth Sunderland. Here there is the Shell oil terminal now on strike and a Chemical works whose pong has dominated the town centre from time to time since it was built. You can also see the building from where escalators take you down under the Tyne along the pedestrian tunnel now used only by cyclists although once tens of thousands of men would cross over to their work in the ship yards and pits on both banks of the river, You can also see the large funnels releasing toxic car fumes at both ends of the road tunnel where work has also commenced on the second tunnel, such is the congestion on weekdays and summer weekends.

Just outside of Jarrow Town centre and before reaching Hebburn on the south bank there is the purpose built headquarters of the river police and helicopter landing. I nearly forgot to mention the river pilot tug station. Although the river is wide and deep enough to take the largest of ocean travelling vessels this was not always so and at South Shields there used to be a bar which enabled a foot crossing at certain times and which meant that pre Victorian sailing craft could sometime be held up for weeks in port or waiting to enter port at Newcastle until the water level was high enough. Clearly this was not acceptable once the industrial revolution was underway so the entrance was dredged but this did not affect the infamous rocks close by which has caused the untimely end of hundreds of vessels and which still make the need for pilot boats with the latest technology.

Then we reached the second remaining area of river based activity on both sides. At Hebburn there is ship repair with three customer vessels at the dockside, one an ice breaking ship. The ship building cranes are still there at Wallsend. The official end of the Wall and where ash South Shields there was a larger and more important Fort than that at Newcastle. At Wallsend then is now a modern observation tower which I imagine is similar to the one which had been suggested for Arbela at South Shields but where for the moment those of small minds, no vision and little concern for the welfare of future generations have held sway. Hebburn was once only an industrial working class town where the Catholic club was the posh club and Unionist Club the smaller one, and where it was unknown for a non Catholics to be elected to the town council. Now the extraordinary tall spire of the Catholic Church still dominates the skyline but there are expensive posh houses at the waterside and non Labour Councillors have been elected to the borough council.

Perhaps the best symbol of the civic leaders recognising the opportunity provided by the river is the creation of the Hebburn Marina and the exceptionally attractive riverside park which rises high above creating a country feel space. There are several such spaces between here and Newcastle, as well as Marina's on both sides of the river. Approaching Newcastle on the north bank there is the first of the residential developments along the River Tyne created in the early 1990's and where nearby is the entrance to a tributary from Jesmond and its Dene and an area of cultural development making use of former industrial use buildings.

However the greatest transformation has taken place on the South Bank at Gateshead. Here first next to a small Marina and the oddly named Elephant Hotel there is a large development of contemporary flats being build with river views and then the embankment from the Gateshead Stadium is also being enhanced to create riverside parkland from the former slag heaps and industrial wasteland. There are continuing industrial sites along the river with a derelict area at Felling between Hebburn and Gateshead, but at Wallsend there is a company providing a major transport fleet and another providing tone of the biggest cabling services in the world. There is a major International Paints factory at Gateshead and Spillers has a large and major Mill on the north Bank.

However it is as one approaches journey's end that the extent of transformation becomes apparent. First at Gateshead one can see the £60 million Gateshead College development, then the high rise apartments, the conversation of the former Baltic Flour Mill into the Contemporary Arts centre and then the International Sage Concerts Halls. The transformation is continuing. One the Newcastle Bank there is the recently opened high rise City Lofts projects, the new Law Courts, Hotel developments and Legal Offices as well as the development of the Victorian Buildings into one of the great night life areas in the world. The one aspect which is different from elsewhere is that this is a city which has life throughout the day and night and as with other areas of the river the intention is to create new communities who live and work without reliance on the car.

Then unexpectedly we had the treat of the day as we stopped mid river just before the brilliantly designed Millennium pedestrian and cycle bridge and waited for it to be cleared and then opened to let us briefly pass under continued to the second of the seven bridges across the Tyne which is a feature of Newcastle and Gateshead especially because of their close proximity. Here below the Tyne Bridge, the Sage and the Quayside the ferry did what I can only describe as a twirl and is whirled around and around for several minutes enabling everyone to photo everything before charging back home and allowing the bridge to be closed again.

I know from personal experience, from what I have read and seen on the telly at the cinema that there are grander and many more spectacular places around our planet, some natural and some human kind created, but I know of nowhere else where against odds and the hardships of two world wars, and the financial devastation of the 1920's and the endings of major industrial and manufacturing in the North East on any scale sufficient to support its population, there has been such a determined revival and to recreate communities where people want to live, work and have fun, and have a welcome smile for any stranger. Oh I nearly forgot to mention that the Port of Tyne was recently voted by its users as the best Port in the world because of its efficiency and the welcome of the people. The trips continue fortnightly until September 21st. The cost to adults was £11, concession £8 a family ticket including three children £36. Accompanying the trip is an ad hoc commentary by local men John Grundy or Jonny Johnson. John Grundy's style was perfect, chatty, spontaneous and as thrilled as the rest of us by what was happening along this great river.

1365 Whitley Bay and North Tyneside by Metro and Ferry. Amy Winehouse. Lost and Cold Case. Young musician of the Year

A glorious sunshine day with a cool breeze on the coast and along the river, but inland and in sheltered positions it was warm and indeed hot. However the coat was needed at times when I reach the sea front at Whitley Bay so the solution was to wear or carry according to the situation. I worked hard in the morning so as to be able to have a joyous afternoon, certain the weather would continue until I was ready and this feeling of wholeness continued into the early evening as I watched the young musician of the year thrilled by their abilities and at creating a second successful Stir Fry a la Grech and then in the early hours I watched a recording made of the 10 pm programme on how Amy Winehouse became as she is and I was overwhelmed by the inevitability of her self destructive genius and where the escalation further into the abyss was quickening.

I did not venture out until 1 pm having trained myself well over the past five years and once the decision was taken to complete certain work first I shut the outside out until I was ready and the tasks completed. I was able to keep my attention focussed. I completed the writing of yesterdays Blog with one revision, correction and read through so I may have made even more mistakes than usual. But as my writing is part of reflecting how I remember feeling and thinking at a contemporary moment as well as an aide memoir to remember and re-evaluate aspects of the experiences in the future, the unintentional mistakes and loose expression becomes as important as when I attempt something better crafted.

The next and main task was to write to the authorities for the community and hospital health records of my care mother. It will be interesting to see if they are immediately available or if there is any problem because she is my aunt, although I understood that as a complainant about her care I was eligible but obviously if they have been used and continued to be required by the investigation then this may not be the opportune moment to request copies.

I also enquired if there were known to be any separate records referring to me or my birth mother. I hope that when patients registered with a doctor, at least after 1948 when the NHS service was established. and when a patient then transferred, there might a register of this information. The position before 1948 is likely to be different but there is nothing lose from making enquires. Time was taken with sorting out the National Insurance numbers and the NHS numbers for the three of us and it was noon before I was ready to change and sort out what I would take and what I would not. I decided to have lunch, a single cheese and salami sandwich and a cup of tea. I had a coffee and two toast breads for breakfast. I watched Bargain Hunt while I eat, a programme I had seen before and even remembered some of the items, what the judges thoughts and how they went at the auction although not the individual prices or result. I was ready to go out.

I took with me my back pack although wisely I had decided not to bring a bottle of water, ice bag and a banana, because of its weight. The back pack was needed because of the camera but I also resented the constraint. I was out for four hours, about two and half hours of walking exercise.

I commenced by walking to the North Marine Park where I wanted to photograph what was left of the beds Spring planting. However because my priority was the post office I only covered those at the western side of the lower park before making my way along Ocean Road, deciding I would begin to photograph this year, the Pubs and Clubs, perhaps also the restaurants, given that they are forever chopping and changing sometimes with very expensive make-overs such as the Beach Bar and the Palma Cafe Bar recently. The who three story edifice of the Palma building as been reworked.

At the post office there was the expected long queue which put off some people who came in and went out immediately again. I felt confident about using the automatic machines with touch screens, which weigh, then price, which you pay individually, then receive the individual postage paid stickers, and only then, the accumulated receipt. At this point I could have continued the Shields walkabout with my camera, taken a bus or the Metro and the decision was to take the Metro to Newcastle and perhaps to Tynemouth or to Whitley Bay, the latter a journey of 26 station and an hour's travel whereas I could have walked to the Ferry and then walked to North Shields station or taken a bus, and then to Whitley, the third station along the coast. It was a journey I had never made since the Metro system came into operation.

South Shields town centre is usually full of elders with walking sticks and some mobility vehicles such is the impact of a life working in the pits or other heavy industrial processes. Today there appeared to be more young people about, perhaps it was the change of clothing into summer weather with bare midriffs and short skirts without leggings. I had been able to get a copy of Metro the free weekday morning paper which is usually unavailable from 11am. In the entertainment section there is a play at the Customs House which interested me when I first saw the particulars, about a widow who sells up to go to the sun, sounds familiar though and it ends on Wednesday. A possibility for tomorrow evening. "In Bruges" is showing at Bolden this week but only at 9pm and therefore a possibility for Thursday. I been to Bruges on a visit to Belgium spending two separate days there. I debated spending the afternoon in Newcastle, but I would have visited the Baltic and other galleries and this was the day for that. I continued to Whitley Bay. I was pleased that the TV critics shared my misgivings about Flood. I also noted a film about Amy Winehouse which was showing the same time as Lost part two of this new seasons. I would sort out later.

I decided to stay on the train as it continued north of the Monument and Haymarket, Jesmond and Gosforth, two places I will visit with my camera sometime, and then turned towards the coast and none of places en route appealed as places to visit. I have only been two Whitley Bay a couple of times and I cannot remember ever stopping, perhaps once in thirty five years. It was once a major holiday centre for those in Southern Scotland, not rivalling Blackpool. This continues to puzzle me because South Shields has better Beaches and reaction facilities for the family. At Whitley as it is along the rest of the coast to Cullercoats which I visited last year and then to Tynemouth the beaches involve a long descent from the coast roadway, similar to that at Roker Beach Sunderland. The two week family holiday have long since stopped and the hotels along one main road to the front have become trendy bars and clubs - Havana, Banana Joe, with fake florescent coloured Palm Trees, Caprice, Easy Feet,, Zynk, Vegas, Jimmyz Bar, the New Quay, Envy, The Hairy Lemon, Sin, The Avenue,42, Deep and Heat were noted. Furtherest away from the coast is the shopping centre which comprises a mixture of traditional ships with butchers, bakers and grocers, and small shopping complex with parking above, Here there is a Wetherspoons called the Fire Station, set back off in small alleyway but the most popular is the pub in the main street The Bedroom with many street tables all occupied with everyone enjoying the sunshine and the company. On the front I walked northwards to the derelict Spanish City former amusement centre and stopped to look towards the cultivated lees which are very different from those unspoilt at South Shields. I decided to return home via North Shields and the ferry and leave a walk along the front to Cullercoats and Tynemouth for another day, I needed a cup of tea.

At North Shields there was a coffee house with comfy settee opposite the station and I enjoyed two cup pot of tea and a lemon drizzle cake slice for £2.40. Around the corner there was a bus stop with the choice of 333 and 19 going to the ferry. A 19 came and passed to the next stop, I got on but the driver worked out that I was on the wrong bus as this was going in the opposite direction. A young woman came and sat on the seats in manner which I returned to the first stop and a young woman arrived, sat down and appeared reconciled for a wait. I decided to walk having noted that the bus journey took seven minutes going first to the fish quay. On reaching the boat quay the ferry was in so I hurried and reached the entrance as the 33s bus arrived and one of several passengers was the young woman I had left at the bus stop. I worked out that the buses time themselves for the arrival and departure of the ferry.

On the walk to the ferry I observed a sickening encounter. Across the street from me, a few yards from the bus stop, a young women in her early twenties was telling someone not to be a f…… s….t. The person proved to be a boy about six or seven years of age with a scalped hair cut who had entered a shop selling sweets, comics and ice creams. Whatever he wanted he was told no and he started to cry and this produced not one but several mouthfuls of foul swearing towards the child who announced he was running away. The mother said good and told to him to p..s off. I had to cross over the road and then crossed over another road along side them. The boy who momentarily continued to run along without crossing the road, suddenly reversed and put his hand out to his mothers. She continued to verbally abuse him. There was nothing I or anyone could do. He could be removed from her care if his life is threatened or if he requests help to someone but what then?

In the situation of Amy Winehouse she had talent from her childhood and appears to have been significantly influenced by her father and his liking for the songs of Frank Sinatra and of Big Band Jazz. She was given a place at the most well known stage school in London from the age of 12 Then her father separated from her mother for a new relationship and normal adolescence became a nightmare and she left the school without examinations but was helped to begin her singing career by the head of the school and as a fifteen sixteen year old she moved from home to Camden Town where it is event from someone who worked with her that she was into dark sex when still most of us would regard her as more child than young adult. The programme did not mention her mother and it is interesting that later it was her father's husband who also did the talking on camera.

The programme explained the intensity of her relationships as she was launched with her first album and her voice and songs were first recognised as the work of a great talent. One journalist described how Amy explained that in the daytime she drank wine with vodka, and then in evenings she drank a concoction of mind numbing spirit without anything to lengthen the cocktail. She was drunk all the time, public as well as private. It appeared she was unable to cope with the fame she had craved for in her first interview essay to the stage school and it appears that she only commenced to experiment with a cocktail of drugs after she married. While some therefore point the accusing finger at her husband, the programme suggested to me a more complex collusion of mutual spirits, although the husband does not appear to have any talent other than as a partner in Amy's inner world turned outside.

It seemed go me that the programme touched on the truth and then moved away as if it could not bear the implications until towards the end when it admitted that she had reached the point when she was beyond anyone's influence and where because of her interests and inclinations she was unwilling to help herself.

She appears to have convinced herself that she needs to feel pain in all its forms to be able to create new songs about pain. She has not grasped that you do not need to experience the reality directly to understand and feel the pain of that reality. Whether she can translate such experience into new songs of the same quality of those in Black to Black we may never get the opportunity to know. Meanwhile the ghouls of the popular media track every second of her life in the hope she will give that ultimate picture, the moment of her total self destruction and she is so presently crazed that she will invite them to watch while listening to a new song about the experience she has created as her epitaph.

While the programme about Amy was recording I watched the new episode of Lost in which Ben tries to save his daughter from being shot by pretending she is not his daughter and does not mean anything to him. The episode moves forward to the future when Sayid has also escaped from the Island and is mourning the murder of his wife, the girl he had loved for a decade and found and married since his return from the island, only to lose. We then find that Ben has also left the Island and is on a mission to destroy the man, Charles Widmore, who faked the discovery of the no survivors plane crash and sent the freighter with helicopter to kill all those on the island especially the survivors of the crash. Ben arrives in Tunisia, makes his way to Iraq for the funeral of Sayid's wife and then helps him to kill the man who murdered her and he enters into a pact with Ben to destroy the architect of their misfortunes. Ben breaks into the Penthouse suite of Widmore to explain that he will kill his daughter so he will know at first hand the torment he has experienced. Meanwhile back on the island Jack finally accepts that the mission of the freighter is not to rescue them, and Sawyer and Claire decide to make their way back to the others on the coast, leaving Ben and Locke and Hugo going off to find the mysterious Jacob " to learn what they should do next"

On Sunday I had watched a programme celebrating the thirty years of British Young Musician for the year which has been a must for me to watch throughout its time. The programme highlighted some of the most famous winners and the first ho became a leading player as part of orchestra's around the world. Recent winners become instant celebrities with concert and media demands from around the world and the BBC has now arranged a support agency to help them cope, especially the younger ones who will still be at school. I then missed the first of this year's instrumental finalist but all is not lost as the full performances are online. In fact this year's presentation is a great disappointment, concentrating on the background of the four instrumentalists, this evening the strings, a 14 year violinist who was not ready for the performance stage, the head girl of the same musical school a harpist who nearly reached the final, a cellist who did not impress the judges with his music selection and an extraordinary guitarist, born England with one parent a Croatian and all now living in Norway and who is my first tip so far. His brother also entered the competition as a pianist The hour long programme spent over half on the background and only played snippets of 15 mins performances of three works by the four young musicians although the full performances are on lime. I will make time before the final on Sunday to view what is available.

I watched the first part of Cold Case on lime this evening while eating my meal having decided to have the chicken stir fry with mixed veg and chill sauce noodles back to back. It was as enjoyable as last night, more so as the ingredients were all prepared and I knew how to cook. I prefer over the home made curry's and the omelettes, but there is risk of over doing and becoming tired. I will try and spread the two helpings over the week. I then watched a recording of the second part after midnight/ This episode was even more grim and biblical than usual with a Nazi sect with a prospective Member of Parliament Leader burning to death the Aids infected black brother of a local priest. His, also infected. gay lover, and a Jew, infiltrates the sect and infects four of those involved in the burning of his lover by using his own infected blood when tattooing a new work to mark the first anniversary of the event, including in the design the Hebrew words, the message Burn "in hell". He successfully attempts to take and hide an incriminating tape of the fire and death and horrifically tortured in the search for the tape and becomes the Cold Case which the team sort out. More interesting is the ongoing struggle of Trevor Eve to help his wayward son, delinquent, drug addict, on the streets and with unresolved conflicts in relation to his father, knowing he needs professional and parental help, testing his parent beyond the limits.

I watch the Amy Winehouse recording and as the programme reaches is composite truth her father admits he is considering using the Mental Health Act powers in a last ditch attempt to break with destiny.