GIZ A CHIP

Decided to head for the coast today - cooler temp and sea air.

Got the bus to Newcastle and then caught the Metro train for South Shields. Got as far as Bede station and no further. Announcement said that the power lines were down ( there had been a power blowout due to the heat! ) and we had 3 options...

1) Stay on the train and wait for things to get fixed.... this may take 2 mins ( highly unlikely I thought ) or 2 hours or 22 hours.

2) Stay on the train and wait for a replacement bus to arrive. This could take from 20 mins to an hour ... or longer.

3) Get off the train and make our own way to our destination.

So everyone got off. However it seemed that no-one knew exactly where we were or where the bus stop was to catch a bus for the onward journey. Groups of people walked in different directions. I accompanied an elderly lady and we wandered around trying to figure out where the main road/bus route would be. We discovered we were in the middle of The Bede Industrial Estate - lots of factories but no bus stops. Finally found a main road and a bus stop - some others from the Metro were already there. After a short while a bus arrived and in the end we reached South Shields. Whew.

The bus stopped in the town and its about a 20 min walk to the sea. The beach was packed - lots of families with small children having fun. It was still warm but a bit cooler than inland.

I didn't have fish and chips - the smell was ever so tempting but I stayed strong. However I did treat myself to an ice cream cornet....... without a chocolate flake unfortunately.

I sat near the beach to eat my ice cream and spotted this huge seagull looking very much like he wants to steal the lady's meal. Watch your chips Missus.

Popped into a couple of shops on my way back to catch the bus home. Then ... problems getting home too. Bus was 30 mins late --- and then 3 arrived at the same time. Driver said that the Metro was still " up the creek " - apparently over one quarter of the system wasn't in action. Buses were taking up the slack. The traffic was really slow all the way back to Newcastle. Saw on the TV news this evening that one train had stopped in a tunnel and folk were stuck for ages before they had to get off and walk down the track. Just thankful I wasn't on that train.