A trip to Sunderland

I had to go to Sunderland for a dental MRI scan today, prior to having an implant. Since I always assumed I would never lose any teeth in my lifetime, this has come as somewhat of a shock! (The naivety of the woman.)

Mum came along and we went to the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens to see the Taylor Wessing Portrait exhibition 2016. It's a wonderful collection of photographs and there is plenty to discuss. Sadly Mum didn't see them because they were on the second floor and the lift was too small for her to feel comfortable. She had the pleasure of sitting and drinking coffee, while numerous families with small children passed by.

We came to this museum when I was young, but there was no charging about the galleries or shouting loudly. The children today were hunting for dinosaur eggs. I rather wished that some of the older ones had been taken to see the portraits. I'm sure they would have had opinions about some of them.

We had lunch in the same café. By now it was heaving and very noisy. A baby at the next table was in a high chair and keen to interact with a small boy who came by. He was on reins, but was still a handful for his poor mother.  I love the tiny backlit hand reaching out towards him and his momentary concentration.

The scan was at a dentist's surgery on the north of the river next to the construction of a new bridge over the Wear. Who knew? We didn't, but then we don't visit our home town often and had not heard about it. The central, A frame pylon, is 344ft high and was being manouevered into place today. See extra.

You can also see the pond by the Winter Gardens. Moments before there was a flock of seagulls here. We used to take bread - before we knew that was bad for the hungry ducks.

Having enjoyed watching the families inside and wondered about their lives, I then found a solitary man in my photo. I hope he is OK because he looks unhappy in this image.

We visited our friends Myroon and Mark in the afternoon. We haven't seen them for 5 years, but are regularly in touch. Nice to catch up with family news.