The sky is clear blue and cold this summer’s morning July 21st 2012, one week before the commencement of the Olympic Games in London and although I want to write extensively about the best TV drama series I have experienced, the six episode Millennium with covers the two stories of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and, the four episode two part story The Girl Played with Fire with the Girl who kicked Hornet’s Nest, I need first to catch up on the cultural and sporting events of last weekend and other developments.
As the weekend approached the weather had been a better mixture although it was disappointment on Saturday morning when I elected to make my visit to the North Tyneside Mouth of the Tyne Festival at Tynemouth. Sunday was to be warm and sunny but I wanted to do other things at home.
I decided to take the large red umbrella as the skies were grey and looked full of rain and headed for the Tyne Ferry walking at a good pace. On reaching the road crossing I saw that the ferry had just arrived with the majority of passengers already reaching the end of the landing stage so I quickened my pace to a trot but was still overtaken by a man who appeared about my age. He continued running until entering the Ferry but I worked out I had time to stop and walk at a normal pace. In this I was proved correct and took one of the few available seats downstairs on a bench where a teenage girl in the latest fashion of short hot pants and tights was engaged in enthusiastic conversation with a young man with a bicycle and where from the subsequent conversation it appeared that although they knew each other, possible from school, they had met unexpectedly but were both delighted to have done so.
At North Tyneside I discovered that for some unexplained reason the new bus turning circle and facilities had been closed on June 25th for four weeks so there was a little walk to the bus stop where a 333 was waiting and I took a seat and waited for other passengers to come and although several walked by along towards the Fish Quay. I did not see or may have missed what happened to the new found young couple but I believe that the man who had passed me on the way to the ferry also got on the bus and I subsequently know that he alighted in the North Shields town centre and made his way to the Metro train station.
Before making my way there I went to Greggs and purchased my lunch, a £1 medium baguette filled with cheese and pickle. For the same money I could make myself two or one larger but this presently meets my needs and I enjoy two or three times a week when I have decided to eat the main meal in the early evening. Whereas the French made baguette goes hard, these become soft if left for several hours before consuming.
The North Tyneside Metro station has been undergoing major renovations for the best part of a year and the line is regularly closed over weekends so that the work can be undertaken without interruption. There is now a long walk on either side of the track with a new entrance at the far end of the platforms and it was here as I sat down that I encountered the man from the Ferry landing at Shields who recognised me and asked if I was the person he had also passed running.
It is a feature of the North East, only in part because we are of the same generation, that strangers of both sexes will engage in passing the time conversation. I cannot remember how we got onto the subject of the Second World War he was born afterwards but remembered sweet with his rationing sister four years older remembering the puzzlement of what did one do with a banana which I matched with the story of someone who had rejected a fried egg for a proper egg having been used to powdered eggs until then. We moved onto the challenges which young people faced and also the world in which they now lived as well as our reality of being elders.
On the train my attention was taken first by a short man in an RAF uniform with a shoulder of medals who I felt sure I had seen in a previous year at the Festival or elsewhere, and then a young man accompanied by two young women and who wore a top which said weekend offender and had the crest of Her Majesty’s Prison department. He and the girls appeared cool about the situation and I assume that if it was for real he would have worn a coat but the top attracted considerable attention from other passengers especially as nearby there were a couple of policemen. I suspect the trio were making their way to the Castle for the evenings Rock concert with the Wanted whereas I saw the policeman and woman walking about the Festival site in the course of their arranged duty.
I was headed for the next station Tynemouth on the circular route to Whitley Bay for two reasons. I wanted to view the £1 million plus restoration of the station to its original Victorian splendour and there was also a full day of music and dance events on a stage within the station concourse and where a bric-a-brac market is also held every Saturday and Sunday with stalls on both sides of the station. On the side from Newcastle and North Shields where I alighted there are twenty large overheard glass canopies fronting the platform with glass arches to the station walls and entrance. One needs to go over the bridge to the other side to reach the town centre and the ruins on the headlands of the Priory and Castle Keep.
It is on this side that the greater expense was incurred because the glass work had been absent from a significant area and the iron metal supports had rusted and required considerable repair. There are some thirty large vaulted arches spanning perhaps twenty five metres from platform edge to station walls and facilities. There is an expensive Italian restaurant to one side of the main entrance and a coffee shop cafe on the other plus a newsagent store, hairdressers and toilet facilities. I explored the full extent of the stalls on this platform area. There was quite a crowd of visitors so that passage between the aisles was difficult. It is the kind of place where I could readily spend a lot of money buying jazz and other music CD for £1 as well as books for the same price. There are also interesting books and original gramophone records costing tens of pounds. There were lots of other items of interest but I decided to keep my cash firmly in my pocket until I catch up on the videos and books already in possession and listen again too much of my record collection. I therefore resisted a copy of Stag Larsson’s the girl with the Draft Tattoo , but later regretted after viewing the four CD disk of all three books made into a six part TV series and considered making the trip this Saturday to see if the book was still available.
The other temptations were the food from delicious olives at £3.70 for 200 grams or extraordinary rich cream decorated cup cakes home baked for £1. There were also hot food stalls and specialist coffees ready to drink. I had quickly consumed the baguette and was hungry again but resisted. A couple of young woman were performing an intense artistic dance on the stage with occupied seating and a standing audience behind. A Street Dance Cru of young men drew great applause and there was then a gap for the establishment of new sound equipment for another intense duo of artistic dances which a young man playing what seemed to be an African type of drum
Leaving the station I went a few steps in the opposite direction to the start of the road down to the Castle because my attention was directed at the recruitment drive at the local Territorial Army base. The government has announced it is to increase this force to 30000 balancing out the reduction in the full time forces. A poster listed the rate of daily pay for officers and other ranks plus the signing on bounty once basic training was successfully completed. At one level these appeared generous until one remembered the use of the TA in Afghanistan. While the emphasise was on the logistical trades and rolls required in small print there was reference to basic training with all that this entailed omitted.
There is a church with a tall steeple at the commencement of the wide thoroughfare leading to the Castle and Priory on the headland and which I can view from North Marine Park a few yards from my front doorway, the headland not the church I mean! On either side of the entrance to the church building, which as in other years invited people in for coffee and sandwiches, an attractive young woman on stilts stood to one side in a very short skirt with a young man also on stilts on the other. Because of the weather there were comparative fewer people than previous years. Most were gathered by the main stage located on an area used for car parking. Here there were acts designed to appeal to children as well as families. Throughout the day there were walkabout artists. In this instance I spotted two men in costumes of artic explorers but it was the five young persons on stilts dressed as some kind of creature with tentacles and large colourful wings which aroused great interest.
In addition to the stilts for their feet they held two long poles as an aid to walking although from time to time they used a pole as a form of greeting to a young person with those present fascinated as how the creatures were able to get about as their faces were fully masked but as one mother explained the material was one way see through. There were several pavement hot food sellers from specialist sausage rolls and burgers to unusual roasted meats. Here as at the Metro Station there was a preponderance of middle class families and individualists some bordering on the eccentric elderly with trimmed beards and their confident well dressed ladies unphased by the cost of meals in the restaurants. However I did note that while there was huge crowd exploring the stalls at Tynemouth station the majority appeared to be looking and few buying. Having said this hot food stalls at the station and along the High Street was doing good business. It was that kind of day.
I made my way to the Rock of Gibraltar Inn overlooking the start of sandy bay far below where an elderly jazz band with a female clarinettist was preparing to start their set to a bedraggled audience although there was about a dozen souls who had brought their own seats or sat on the damp grass with their protective clothing as I had originally planned to do had the weather appeared likely to be better. The rest sat on the benches at the pavement roadside of the small green with an audience of thirty to forty in total. I sat in the enclosed bus shelter together with a dozen young Asians clustering around me to get out of the cold wind and spitting rain. Why they had come and what they intended doing next remains a mystery.
We were outnumbered by a long line of mainly teenage girls who appeared to have already queued for sometime at the closed entrance to the headland grounds and then down towards the riverside. They had come early to ensure a front of stage place for the band The Wanted who was scheduled to appear seven hours later in the evening. There was a steady flow of the young women to the modern public conveniences brought to the area adjacent to the stage and which required a coin although the queue was such that most were able to keep the door opened for the next individual.
Almost all the girls were wearing the latest fashion of short hot pants and many without tights. Later when I walked in the sunshine in Newcastle centre there were also dozens of similar and again as I had noted my visit to Hoppings and Newcastle two weeks previously that as with mini and micro skirt they can appear attractive and sexy, but alas many do not have good legs and have large bottoms to the point of being fat. Such is group pressure and not wanting to be different or out of the mainstream fashion. I have only seen such attire once in South Shields recently.
I also noted the Sunday afternoon show where the cost was less had been sold out. The cost for Wanted was £25 plus the usual booking extras.
I stayed for about half an hour of jazz when I decided I was not enjoying the experience and made my way back for a bus to North Tyneside and the Ferry. I waited for over 15 minutes and the only bus that came along was a park and Ride. The airman with his medals arrived and engaged in conversation with a woman also at the bus stop and she advised that they go for another bus which stopped around the corner. I debated joining them and set off only to see a bus coming up the road in the distance. I was able to get back only to see it was the bus destined for the other stop. I put out a hand more in hope than expectation but it stopped so I was able to find myself a good seat whereas the other two had to joined a long queue and were amazed to see me smiling at them and comfortable.
On reaching North Tyneside town centre I changed my mind and stayed on board as I was feeling tired and went all the way to the in Newcastle and the Haymarket. The bus took the more direct route used that is known as the Coast Road and the one I take when travelling from the Silverlink roundabout to the Freeman Hospital, and which also passers the People’s Theatre if you continue into Newcastle. The other bus I had intended to take goes closer to the Tyne and visits Wallsend. On the way into to the town centre I was struck how much is now given over to the buildings of the two universities with their 50000 students from all over the UK and indeed the world. Newcastle has become a very exiting city for young people.
On arrival I was torn between a growing tiredness and not wanting to make use of the warm sunshine even I considering returning to the Festival. While debating to catch the Metro back to South Shields I heard the sound of a good band coming from down Northumberland Street, so went along to listen. It was an interesting group with saxophone, trumpet, drums, trombone and a West Indian singer all of middle age to older, I stood against a wall to listen as the many new seats now in the Street were all occupied enjoying the music in the continuing sunshine. I was still torn between the sunshine and tiredness so after a short walkabout went back to Haymarket for the train home. My barber and the female assistant she employs on a Saturday were outside enjoying the weather at the entrance to their small building once a newsagent, then Pizzas and then a nail bar. The Pizzas have moved down next to Station taxi office. In the updated former railway station building with the award winning Women’s health centre in one part I noted that the Mobility centre which provided electric wheel chairs for the shopping centre had closed down and was up for sale. The “barberesses” gave me a wave of recognition as I continued wearily up the hill and home deciding against going into the pub for a coffee.
On Sunday I decided to remain home and research and write in the morning despite good sunshine outside and then watch sport on TV in the afternoon rather than go to Exhibition Park for a free concert by Scouting for Girls. In the afternoon Durham was playing in a televised 40 40 game at the Rosebowl Hampshire reminding of the difference between the aggressive and hostile security staff on my visit there for 20 20 final and the contrasting approach of those employed for the one day international at Durham.
I had a discouraging feel about the game and this was reinforced as four wickets fell with the Durham total below 60. Stokes had played and missed for 1` and with Mustard out early for 5, Stoneman had looked promised and then out for and Collingwood confident now as captain of the champion side went for 28. Fortunately Gordon Muchall showed what he can do and with 5 fours and 2 sixes he was unbeaten in the end at 96 with Benkenstein helping out in a stand of 80, The second disappointment of the innings was that the South African Myberg who has been given an extend contract from the 20 20 to the 40 40 and could not celebrate this with what could have a match winnings on a difficult wicket. Hampshire got off to a great start and the usually tight Graham Onions was hit for several fours in one over. Young Borthwick was the more expensive with 51 runs off his eight overs but with the prize of four wickets. Durham’s total of 200 was never enough and Hants achieved what was required by a good knock from Katich not out with 59 as the home side one with 8 balls to go. While all is not lost in the completion they cannot afford another defeat if they are to gain the fourth spot as the best runner up. Rain again prevented a win in the championship at Worcester as previously report so Durham continues to hug the bottom of the table. Losing the wickets of Smith and Muchall with only one of the board Durham again struggle on a difficult wicket at Arundel against Sussex a game I had hoped to visit when planning my summer visits earlier in the year, Benkenstein 43 and Borthwick rescued the side to a modest total of 231 and only one batting point. Sussex is looking better after the second day with 100 for 3 in another game where a draw looks promising and defeat is possible. Sussex were 100 for 3 at the close with Goodwin ands Yard moving forward after the wicket went at
It was a different story at the important first Test against South Africa which commenced on Thursday in which England hopes to reinforce their position as the number one Test side in the world. England won the toss and elected to bat on what had appeared to be a flat Oval wicket when a wide range of personalities were present from the Lord Chancellor to former Prime Minister John Major and the personality Michael Parkinson and his wife. There was also a host of former Cricket stars spotted from around the world.
The South Africans had a brilliant start getting captain Straus out for 0 in the fourth ball on appeal. However the indefatigable Alistair Cook batted through the rest if the day and is 114 not out and a long period he was supported by Trott who took the total to 170 before going for 71 before he out. Kevin Pieterson who is not in the World Cup 20 20 squad because of his decision not to play one day cricket looked as if wanted to prove a point before getting out when he also look like making a good score when 42. Bell stayed with Cook until the close at 267 for 3. On this wicket England will need a 500 plus total to exert sufficient pressure to be able to enforce the follow on although with the spin likely to be a major factor on the fifth this might be a better alternative for Swann. I shall watch the game on TV at least keep one eye on the screen while I get on with this piece.
There was an enjoyable game on Sunday Tea Time on BBC TV as Warrington beat Huddersfield convincingly in the second Semi Final of the Challenge Cup to play Leeds in the Final at Wembley in five weeks time. This is the third time Warrington has reached the final in four years winning their two previous visits.
I have fully mastered the use of the treatment machine for sleep apnoea as well as settling into a pattern of nightly use between five and six hours although I cannot say that this is being achieved without difficulty as I find the head gear uncomfortable and the balance of being able to breathe naturally through my nose with my mouth shut and the absence of upper body wind is not always managed. I am also not getting as much exercise as I need although I have commenced to jog on the spot in the house and to walk with purpose when out and about. I have not progressed with weight loss but so far prevented the kind of swing back increase that occurred last summer which keeps me in a good place to lose more.
I have achieve 29 of the past 30 nights with a use above the recommended level of four hours and the reading should become 30/30 over the next week. I am hoping to be able to demonstrate this pattern on my next visit to see the consultant in November. The average hours over night is 5.8 although I am unlikely to keep this up and indeed I only managed 4.2 one night during this week. Having been told those four hours is adequate I am relaxing and not persisting with use of a third session at times. Another reason is that while the addition of a humidifier has been positive in that it appears to be the main factor in having sleeps of three and last night four hours at a time I am still waking with a sticky dry mouth. I have tried various levels of use on the register of .5 to 6 although with no attempt above 4 which I plan to try over the coming days. What I have decided is to start high and keep for a few days and then work downwards until I and only isolated bouts of tiredness during the day, usually related to the total hours of sleep the night before as well as its quality. My total use of the machine exceeded 275.
As mentioned when attending the one day International between England and Australia at the Emirates Chester Le Street a warning light came on as the journey commenced, I was due to replace two tyres following the MOT and asked if the garage could deal with the problem or should I take to a Suzuki dealership. I was advised that they provided a diagnostic service which I decided to use and was advised that according to the error code which on the system the spark plugs should be replaced and also the coil a significant more expensive item. I was faced with a bill of £350 and set off to Sunderland to check out the PC speakers at PC World which I looked at when at the Silverlink Odeon for the Men’s Tennis Final 3D relay. There was no warning light but as I approached the city the same light returned.
I continued to PC World and decided to obtain the least expensive speakers available which I had viewed on my visit to Silverlink for the 3D Odeon relay of the Wimbledon Men’s Tennis Final. Because of the changed circumstances a pair of speakers with a small base box was available for £10 but not in stock but as luck would have it, and which I badly needed they had a pair at the Comet which is now part of the same enterprise and next door. I can now enjoy voice and music with a good volume more than I need together with sound quality which is a joy and also will be excellent for sound when using the TV as a large monitor for the PC.
I returned the vehicle to the garage upset at having wasted £250 on repairs which were evidently not necessary. It was agreed that the amount would set against the eventual cost. It became evident on Friday that they had been unable to diagnosis problem and contracted with a nearby electrical specialist to undertake further diagnosis. The hope was a loose wire but it now appears that a new electrical unit is required. By Saturday morning before going out to the Festival I heard that the cost of a new unit would be astronomical and that the effort was being made to find a less expensive alternative. I viewed a telephone call on Monday with apprehension. In fact it was Wednesday before the situation was resolved with payment of a further £140 and all the prospective gains from having paid off the vehicle were wiped out until Christmas and by then the annual would come around, assuming that the work proved effective and an electrical unit of some £1000 was not required.
Also at the time of the visit to the cricket a hole had appeared in the back lane following the great rains and which following referral by a neighbour the local authority had barriered off. At the time it was possible for my vehicle get by. However after what appears to have been a further inspection by either the local authority or the Water Authority the hole had been made larger at the surface indicating a gap between the surface tarmac and what appeared rubble and earth below. The barrier had been strengthened and moved in such away that further passage by was not possible. Usually there are vehicles obstructing the other exit at various times including the vehicles of those working at some of the properties on both sides of the lane but fortunately the work was completed and a passage out of the garage was possible. Then I was without the car for almost a week so although noticing the lack of progress with filling the hole I was not concerned. With the return of the car I decided it was time to make enquiries. I first contacted the local authority and spoke to a receptionist and then someone who appeared to have the information on computer that the problem had been reported and referred to Northumberland Water authority on July 10th. I also gained the impression that communication between the authorities was not good because of different viewpoints about levels of responsibility for undertaking remedial works and costs of such problems when they had arisen in the past.
What concerned was the suggestion that rats in relation to sewer workings dislodge earth and given the size of the hole this concerned. This was added when on reading the headlines from the local newspaper online I noted concern about the release of rats into the open in another part of the Borough. I spoke to neighbours and the concern mounted as reference as made to two previous similar occurrences and today another neighbour revealed that they also have a Roman origin Well in their yard as another had previously mentioned and on further examination of the hole later it looked as if this another Well so the plot thickens.
I decided to contact Northumbria area direct via customer services and Operations and explained what I knew. Later in the afternoon I was contacted by the authority to say that an investigation team had been sent out and I would get a report back on Friday, He added that there was the possibility of a sunken main. After the call I looked outside and there as a Northumbria water vehicle at the back. I drafted a note which I then circulated to my neighbours and those on the other side of lane. I had also contacted the three Ward Councillors and was contacted to advise that contact had been made with officers. My understanding is that following contact between the local authorities the Local authority has agreed to fill in the hole on Monday although there remains the longer term issue of the overall situation given the history and the situation on the hill which was once residential quarters and storage facilities for the fort which served as the supply base of the whole length of the Wall.
On Thursday my Azda home deliver arrived as uncertain at the time when the car would be returned I had used the on line home delivery service something which I had done for several years, not on my own behalf but for my mother and aunt when they were prevented from going out to shop on their own in the late 1990’s. Then I had used Sainsbury at Purley Way and after talking to them and a cousin who lived nearby each week I would make the order on line and then have a call after it was delivered,
In this instance although I telephoned on Wednesday the order was delivered on the Thursday afternoon for one of the lost variable charges listed of £3. The delivery driver lives lower down the hill and he told the tale of neighbour that the side wall of her house was affected by subsidence due to Roman workings with the consequence that this side of house had to be underpinned. The delivery provided everything I had ordered although I discovered that I had not as I thought reduced an unintended order of four whole chickens to two so I have a six to eight week supply.
I am leaving the major sporting event of the weekend and the subsequent week until the next writing as Bradley Wiggins kept the Yellow Jersey as the overall leader of the Tour De France and looked to becoming the first British winner of the race after 99 years since the race commenced. Moreover his team mate Chris Froome has remained in the second position before the final Time Trial on Saturday afternoon followed by the Sprint race in the centre of Paris Sunday afternoon which could be won by the British Mark Cavendish who won the Sprint finish race on Friday and who could become the best ever Sprint racer in the history of the race, Chris was the only member of the British team at the 2008 Olympics not to win a member from the most successful cycling team ever. The impact of the win on Bradley personally and on cycling in the UK will be extraordinary.
