NEWCASTLE CHRISTMAS MARKET

Neil got in touch this morning asking if I wanted to meet up.  I said Ok - as long as we didn't go out for a meal ( I'm being careful with syns this week) He said he wasn't bothered about a meal so we agreed to meet at 3pm in Newcastle. 

Neil was a bit late as he had been shopping and it took longer than he imagined. He was buying a suit, waistcoat, shirt and tie.  He's going to an awards ceremony in Leeds on Sunday so he wanted to look smart. He knows he won't win an award but it will be a nice trip out for him.

We went to Camber Coffee - a little coffee shop hidden away in a fitness and cycle shop.  I had a lovely cappuccino.  Neil and I had a good catch up. We didn't stay long as Neil wanted to get home and then go for a run.  He had already been running this morning but he wanted to get another one under his belt before the half marathon he's doing on Sunday morning.

Today is the first day of Newcastle's Christmas Market so I had a wander around the stalls.  Mostly food - lots of fudge, cakes, waffles, cheese, hot dishes such as paella - and some stalls selling gifts such as Russian dolls, knitted goods,carved wooden items etc.  I bought a Tunisian hand made bowl. 

My blip shot shows the market.  I couldn't get a good shot as it was dark and there were so many bright lights so I decided to do some processing and make it more abstract.

Next I went to Waitrose and T K Maxx  and then  headed to the bus stop to catch the 6.30pm bus home.  The bus arrived on time but the bus doors wouldn't  open so the passengers were stuck inside.  The driver tried a few times and in the end he had to force them open by hand.  He said he couldn't let any more passengers on for safety reasons - in case there was an accident and we couldn't get off the bus.  He started fiddling around near the steering wheel, pressing different buttons etc. No luck.  So for a while he just sat there -- with the doors firmly shut.   He must have reported the situation to the depot as 25 mins later another bus arrived driven by an engineer.  Our driver got out of his bus and went into the newly arrived one.  The engineer took around 5 seconds to get the doors working properly - and then drove off.   Then we all piled on to the new bus - and we were finally on our way after a 30 min wait. I was glad to sit down.  My back aches if I stand for a long time.

Steps today - 8,376