The Tyne

I cannot sleep so after at least two hours I am up and on the computer; this has had its working memory upped- I wish I could get my working memory raised. Somewhere on a note book I had jotted down some things to jog my blogging- can I find the notes? No! Can I even find the notebook?

We have been so busy this last two weeks...

I am sure I saw Robbie Williams in Newcastle last Thursday on our way to Zizzis but then why would he be in Newcastle- and just before his wedding? Seeing his friends Ant and Dec?



On the 'Pilgrims to Pandon' guided walk the guide was knowledgeable and interesting; I had always wondered who had got to make the electric lighbulb first- our Joseph Swan had invented the incandescent bulb first - but didn't register his patent globally just nationally - so when Edison came up with it later they were both going to court to claim it & unsure of themselves they joined companies. We mosied from Earl Grey's monument (Nelson's Column in London is a copy of this) via Market Street and Electricity Board & Police Station, passed Worswick St, on to Swan House roundabout (there is Joseph again!) & no longer BT but apartments; we wandered down from the city walls and Corner Tower to the area below which was Pandon; amid the new areas 'inhabited' by lawyers and barristers- thus the 'Silk Rooms' restaurant. Trinity House and the Live Theatre/Cafe Vivo/ Eye on the Tyne (formerly the Wig and Pen?)the new Law Courts and the evening opened onto the Quayside.



I have never seen the river so still so there were double views of the Millenium Bridge, the Sage concert hall (do you think those windows really look like the sails of sailing ships?) and all the bridges; Dorman Long had a practice run on the Tyne Bridge before they built the bigger Sydney Harbour Bridge finishing it 4 years after our bridge.



You can get an understanding of the city if you follow the geography now hidden underground; tributaries cut down , particularly from the Town Moor to the Tyne; the Lort Burn is conduited under Grey Street (voted Britain's most beautiful street by UK citizens- certainly Sir John Betjeman thought it was the most beautiful street in Europe)and down under Dene Street; the Pandon Burn goes under the new Law Courts; the piece of art work in Pandon has small pieces of stone in the bottom representing the Pandon which still flows hidden below it; further east is the Ouseburn which valley holds the city farm, the Cluny pub and the national museum for books ' Seven Stories'. Thinking about it that steep flowing threesome must have complicated matters for the tunnellers of the Metro line under the city.



We came back round the Guild Hall, past Bessie Surtee's Elizabethan house and up Dene Street , only stopping for refreshments at FitzGeralds on Grey Street.



Ther is more to write but I am going back to bed to see if I can grab some sleep. 5a.m is often my best time for writing but today this is not so- the bottle of wine shared with H1,S&D at The Highlander over dinner may have fogged the creative thoughts a little... or maybe it has been the lack of sleep as we have tried to help with the problems in the lives of our offspring this last two weeks... now there is a story for another day.