A stranger in the city

I have not been shopping in Newcastle for well over a year, perhaps two. Today I went in the bus from Corbridge.

This was an easy option because a)the car park is free, b)the bus is free, c) the bus was on time, d) the route through the villages is pretty, e)I did not have to drive, find a parking space or pay for it!

On the negative side, the double decker on the way through kept smashing into overhead branches of trees by the roadside. The return single decker had square wheels and my knees were sore from all the jolting about….

I went in order to go to Barclays to pay in some old £20 I found amongst Mum’s things. She always kept £100, “just in case”.

There was no way to cash the money in Hexham because Barclays has closed.

I also wanted an outfit for the 50th anniversary of qualifying in July and a new bra. Anyone can stop reading here.

I did not find a dress, but bought one back in Hexham in my return!

Bra fitting is not for the faint hearted. ‘Nuff said!

The city centre contains multi-storey buildings that were not there last time! I hardly recognised some streets.

I did go for a quick visit to The Laing and saw the exhibition of Chris Killip’s shipyard photographs. Some have not been on show before.

I was fascinated by this quote: “At the time I didn’t exhibit or show my shipbuilding photographs to anyone, as it was a personal obsession. I had made them with a sense of urgency as I thought that all this was not going to last. I had no idea how quickly it would be gone.”

These words are relevant to us now.


It also looks as though someone has either hacked my Facebook account or cloned my page. Beware of any Friend request from me. I’m still trying to sort it out.