A trip to the Toon....

In Newcastle today for some time away from the computer and work. First stop lunch at The Coffee Rooms.... lovely mushroom soup and a bap. Not used to the old-fangled waitress service I finished up and then walked out without paying my bill! (I returned as soon as I realised my error, me being a lad with mother's honesty values solidly in place.) The Christmas Market was in full swing at Greys Monument...

Then, heading towards The Biscuit Factory to pick up a print I won in a prize draw, I spotted these gorgeous panels at a nearby building site.

This is the site of one of the earliest dispensaries in Newcastle. Now sandwiched between a jobbing printer and a computer accessory store I wonder about its chances of survival as the demolition progresses along the street. Further down I snapped this shot of a place I used to work, now due for demolition and redevelopment. New tat replacing old tat I should imagine!

Canny Newcassel!

Into Newcastle yesterday for a meeting with The Tyneside Church Leaders network. Pleasant bus ride to the Haymarket and then a lovely walk down Northumberland Street... Grey Street, down The Side to the Quayside.... then to my final destination... The Copthorne Hotel.

Following my meeting a trip over town to visit buddy Paul Wright, (who has featured on this blog before). Paul hangs with the Toon creative elite at his studio in The Biscuit Factory and helped perform some dark magick over an illustration I am preparing for a book. Paul knows much that is hidden in the sinister world of Photoshop and other mysteries.

Newcastle Mela

Yesterday we were at the Newcastle Mela with Matt and Leon. This is an annual event (Mela means 'gathering') and is organised by the Asian community in the city. It's always a bright, lively and colourful event, and one of the outstanding features, for me at any rate, is the wonderful range of cooking smells from all the terrific food stalls. Leon settled for Candy Floss (the packet said Cotton Candy but we knew what they meant, and in any case, when did they start to put it in a PACKET?!!) The Lady Brenda headed directly for the Chikken Tikka and Gracie loitered around, picking up any scraps. Perhaps it was the lack of sunshine, but we all agreed that this year's event wasn't so bright and lively as previously.

In The Toon

Today I took a trip to The Toon in order to buy.... three sheets of paper. Not any old paper though.... special paper to hopefully do wonderful creative things with next week at the Sunderland Writing Symposium

Here are some photos I took around Newcastle... firstly looking DOWN Grey Street... I spied Cale Cross House, where I used to work on the 15th floor in the early eighties. I could also spy my own first ever studio near the top of Dean Street.

Then looking UP Grey Street... old and new jousting for position?

Then a beautiful piece of street architecture/lettering in the doorway of a redundant shop at the top of Grey Street that I will always call 'Marcus Price'...

Then to the Haymarket. This must have been a splendid hotel to greet weary travellers as they arrived in Newcastle down the A1 from Scotland. It is now the facade of an establishment called 'OZ Bar'
The tower of the civic centre wonderfully reflected in the windows of another new building for Newcastle University.

Another new library

Sunday June 7th sees the opening of another new library in Newcastle. It looks like a right smashing pile of glass and steel, and will no doubt enhance the city skyline. Here's a nostalgic look at the demolition of the old library, with some nostalgic foot-tapping Geordie music to accompany it. I can actually remember the library BEFORE the old library!... but I doubt if I'll be around to see the library that replaces this new library... if you see what I mean.

A matter of life and death in Newcastle