I love that city

While John and Richard are cheering Ireland on at Murrayfield, I am writing a ( Marty Feldman ) whistle-stop snapshot of my weekend in Newcastle. BA flight- we love them , get your own seat ,Whisky and a ‘non-guilty cos its free’, Daily Mail. Met by J Junior and we shot off to his Art College and for a short while I pretended I was a Newcastle Uni Art Student – made a mess, posed nude for a calender , created something beautiful ( no reference to the calender ) , chatted , took photos , drew a couple of lines ,etc etc. Then Liam , Jacob and I took the train out to Prudoe , in the Northumberland countryside- delic pub lunch , choice of 16 real local ales ( so I opted for the Portuguese lager ) , then a river walk. All fine , til we realised we were on the wrong side of the path and so had to jump a small river – with the aid of Liam and Jacob’s outstretched hands , a couple of logs and a lot of trust ,I did it. Then more drinkies at next village , a train back , a fab welcome at Jacob’s house , a trip to Morrisons ( drinks and puddings aisle )and then Bryony cooked an amazing roast pork dinner for 11 of us.

On Sat, Jacob,Titiana ( daughter of lederhosen, beer writing , Dad ) and I got the train to Berwick on Tweed .It was stunning .The sun shone and we walked to the lighthouse, saw seals , saw the spot where Liam was carried over the sand dunes, walked along the beach, rockpooled, carried walking on along around the headland, up the cliff, and into the pub , where we played scrabble and ‘pass the pigs’ , until Jacob sabotaged it , by loosing on of the pigs ( he claims it was an accident BUT he was loosing ). The train back to Newcastle, a Chinese feast and back to cosy up chez his.

Said farewells this morn , then we went and saw The George Shaw and Jesper Just exhibitions at The Baltic, a scooby snack in The Sage .Said another farewell ( I loathe goodbyes ) and jetted home .As soon as Flo is home we are going out for supper, that will be a lovely hello – Phew