Newcastle Cathedral
Newcastle Cathedral would not be considered a large church.
Newcastle Cathedral
I didn’t get a chance to go in as it was shut.
Outside is a typical statue of Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria Statue, Newcastle
There seem to be lots of statues of Queen Victoria, many of which have a very similar pose. Did some sculptors do job lots?
Uniform Dating
Just seen an advert for a site called Uniform Dating on Sky!
I suspect that you don’t always find the person, you think you’re going to!
Grey’s Monument, Newcastle
I hadn’t realised how important a politician Charles Grey was until I went to Newcastle. I hadn’t realised that he had been a character in Saul Dibb‘s film about the Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, the Duchess.
You can’t miss the monument erected to him in the centre of Newcastle.
I have just been talking to a friend and they put me right aboiut Grey. His 1832 Reform Act was very important and when he was Prime Minister when slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire.
For trivia, Earl Grey tea was named after him and he had sixteen children with his wife and at least one other.
Around Newcastle City Centre
I walked down from St. James’ Park to the centre of Newcastle.
These days city centres look very much the same with steel and glass shopping centres, although Newcastle does have quite a lot of grand stone buildings in an area called Grainger Town.
Stone Buildings in Newcastle City Centre
This is just a side street and there are a lot of grand building still left in the area, although T. Dan Smith and John Poulson would have probably knocked the lot down if they hadn’t got charged with corruption.
Luckily sense was seen and the area is now being restored.
But that didn’t stop this hideous edifice being erected by the Co-Op.
A Hideous Edifice
Can a building like this have ever looked good? Even as a set of drawings!
Do I have one abiding memory of Newmarket City Centre?
Yes! I’ve never been to a place with so much smell of chips and burgers.
Newcastle Do Apostrophes Different
St. James’ Park, the home of Newcastle United, and St. James’s Park in London spell it differently.
Why?
It was things like that, that used to annoy my father, as everyone had different views on spelling, apostrophes and plurals.
Kittiwakes at the Baltic
Kittiwakes are a bird that normlly nests on cliffs. But they have nested at the Baltic for many years.
Kittiwakes on the Baltic
They may like it, but I don’t think I’d like to raise a family there!
The Missing Sock
The Missing Sock is a strange name for a pub and it the new name of the old Prince Albert at Quy.
The Missing Sock
I did pop in after a game of tennis to enquire if they could do gluten-free food. Not sure if they are clued up or not!
But I’ll give them a try.
I do wonder though, if the amount of money they have spent on the pub might be wasted, as after all it is a pub you drive to and it may just be too remote. But they know about pubs and I don’t.
An Australian Boat
The Thames Clipper that brought me down the river was built in Australia. You may find this strange, but that country does have a reputation for building large and/or fast catamarans.
Thames Clipper
Here’s the maker’s plate.
Cyclone Clipper Nameplate
Note the builders were bscship.
Cleopatra’s Needle
On the Embankment, you’ll see Cleopatra’s Needle.
Cleopatra's Needle
The British example is not in such a prominent place as the one in Paris. But then it’s location doesn’t have such a bloody history.
Note the high flood protection walls on the Embankment. I can remember, when at Cleopatra’s Needle, they were perhaps almost a metre lower and you could walk down steps to the river.
Shell Mex House and the Savoy Hotel
Shell Mex House has sat on the River Thames since 1930 and is one of the most recognisable buildings with its large clock. It sits next to the Savoy Hotel, which looks very anonymous compared to its brash neighbour.
Shell Mex House and the Savoy Hotel
I only stayed in the hotel once and that was on my birthday in 1987.
As happened several times in big hotels in those days, I got woken the middle of the night by a phone call. It’s the trouble with having a common name and if the hotel has more than a hundred of so rooms, there’s a chance you have a namesake. It doesn’t happen anymore, as we all have mobile phones and no-one ever rings the hotel and asks for a guest.
And then to make it worse! I went for a walk in the morning and got hit in the eye by a stone thrown up by a passing vehicle. When I returned to the hotel, they didn’t think I was a guest and tried to throw me out!
So I won’t stay there again. But I suspect, if I did it would be a lot better, as that night was just bad luck!
Strangely, the only time I’ve been inside Shell Mex House was to meet a guy with the same name as me!
The Anonymous Widower 