A short one this but verry worrying . Went in to the local Zavvi shop in Newcastle this Saturday just gone and the main floor has been cleared of CDs , bar a couple of cardboard boxes in their so called sale.
In the basement , half the floor is taken up by books and magazines , and staff seem to get less knowledgeable by the visit.
HMV , while not as bad , seem to be pursuing a similar route with DVDs, games and books encroaching on the music bits.
While downloading and the internet can be partially blamed for this with likes of Amazon and itunes , it still is worrying to think that in the foreseeable future you wont be able to buy music in your main shopping street unless the Baghdaddies are busking and hawking copies of their latest release.
Even worse the models that HMV and Zavvi are pursuing may lead towards WH Smiths and Woolworths which are looking more like pound shops every time you go in with their DVD For A Pound and Buy One Get One Free sales.
Don't know what the answer is but you have been warned!!!
Addendum: 24th December , Woolworths have gone bust , Zavvi , who are supplied Woolworths are running low on stock , and WH Smiths are looking unsteady.
Sunday 6 July 2008
Thursday 3 July 2008
Good Technology
Named after a track by the rather excellent Red Guitars.
Not posted for a month and the house is still short of a carpet but there have been a few developments.
Firstly my old PC started acting very dodgily so I replaced it with a new Vista based PC . That has been a nightmare. Vista is atrocious , but can be made slightly more palatable by applying a few changes as detailed here. This was at the same time as adding a Wi-Fi router this now functions fairly well. I was amazed ot the number of insecured routers in the area which prompted me to buy another piece of technology...
The rather excellent ASUS Eee. It's small enough to go in a handbag , comes in a variety of
colours (we went for the pink one) , and WORKS!!! It's great for internet surfing and basic office functions , runs on Linux but you can install XP , contains a web cam and is generally brilliant. Well worth the £220 I paid for it. I got mine onlne from Currys within 3 days.
Then came the replacement of the Home Cinema amp , back to Richer Sounds, so we now have decent sound in the front room and are now considering a new television, folling the new TV Unit and stuff that were eventually delivered by the Cotswold Company!!
Not posted for a month and the house is still short of a carpet but there have been a few developments.
Firstly my old PC started acting very dodgily so I replaced it with a new Vista based PC . That has been a nightmare. Vista is atrocious , but can be made slightly more palatable by applying a few changes as detailed here. This was at the same time as adding a Wi-Fi router this now functions fairly well. I was amazed ot the number of insecured routers in the area which prompted me to buy another piece of technology...
The rather excellent ASUS Eee. It's small enough to go in a handbag , comes in a variety of
colours (we went for the pink one) , and WORKS!!! It's great for internet surfing and basic office functions , runs on Linux but you can install XP , contains a web cam and is generally brilliant. Well worth the £220 I paid for it. I got mine onlne from Currys within 3 days.Then came the replacement of the Home Cinema amp , back to Richer Sounds, so we now have decent sound in the front room and are now considering a new television, folling the new TV Unit and stuff that were eventually delivered by the Cotswold Company!!
Sunday 1 June 2008
Newcastle Observation - Clayton Street Redevelopment
Was surprised the other morning to be on the way to work through Newcastle centre's very own skid row to see this new Delicatessen. Well they've shout down one pub that wasn't conducive to the image of the incoming tenants across the road (Debenham's et al) and it looks like the classier establishments are trying to gain a foothold:
"Fine artisan cheeses and charcuterie"
Charcuterie? That's cooked meats to me and thee.
Makes a change from the Cheap Tab Shops, Pound A Pint Pubs, Out of Date food places and Two For One Shoe Emporia!!!
Anyway a couple of doors down the Black Garter looks like it's trying to stave off the inevitable with this quickly knocked together sign , after all if the powers that be have the slightest excuse
to get them out , they undoubtedly will.
They'll just have to hope that the regulars and are able to read and understand the sign, though I reckon in a couple of years this and the other less salubrious watering holes in the area will have been moved on and replaced by Starbucks
, Wine Bars , Tesco Metro's and the like.
You have to wonder whether that's necessarily a good thing
"Fine artisan cheeses and charcuterie"Charcuterie? That's cooked meats to me and thee.
Makes a change from the Cheap Tab Shops, Pound A Pint Pubs, Out of Date food places and Two For One Shoe Emporia!!!
Anyway a couple of doors down the Black Garter looks like it's trying to stave off the inevitable with this quickly knocked together sign , after all if the powers that be have the slightest excuse
to get them out , they undoubtedly will.They'll just have to hope that the regulars and are able to read and understand the sign, though I reckon in a couple of years this and the other less salubrious watering holes in the area will have been moved on and replaced by Starbucks
, Wine Bars , Tesco Metro's and the like.You have to wonder whether that's necessarily a good thing
Saturday 31 May 2008
Wild Life - Nature Will Find A Way?
The garden is looking better , but last weekend we had Bill , Nick , Lesley and Matt down for a great weekend ....and found we had a frog in outr new water feature!!! Given that we are in an enclosed block of houses surrounded by roads and more houses and the nearest parkland is half a mile a away and god knows where the nearest open water is!!!
Anyway some pictures of our visitor:
The following day we were in Alnwick , again with lots of wildlife in the Castle , including a falconry and owlery display , which was most entertaining , some more pictures here:
The Knights Quest and Dragon's Quest are well worth a visit , especially if you are a child. Some of the displays are here , but there are some great su
rprises.
Anyway some pictures of our visitor:
The following day we were in Alnwick , again with lots of wildlife in the Castle , including a falconry and owlery display , which was most entertaining , some more pictures here:
The Knights Quest and Dragon's Quest are well worth a visit , especially if you are a child. Some of the displays are here , but there are some great su
rprises.
Wednesday 14 May 2008
Can Manchester Really Be That Bad Part 2?
Well , again no. On finding the car park we caught a bus into Picadilly and from there went to the shopping centre, featuring the done up Arndale , Marks and Spencers , Selfridges , Harvey Nichols a big wheel , The Triangle , The Printworks (equivalent of Newcastle's Gate Complex , wonder what THEY destroyed) which does have a Cafe Rouge , but to it's detriment contains a Hard Rock Cafe (Very Expensive Burger Joint).
This is a view of an odd Wigwam , the other side of the Triangle. and the old square and big church
thing. and theres a picture of the Wheel itself!!
These are some views from the Wheel:
This is a view of an odd Wigwam , the other side of the Triangle. and the old square and big church
thing. and theres a picture of the Wheel itself!!Sunday 11 May 2008
Can Manchester Really Be That Bad Part 1?
On the Wednesday we were off to see
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at the Manchester Apollo. In these modern times , and being used to the civilised venues in Newcastle such as The Sage , City Hall , Tyne Theatre and even The Metro Arena we expected a pleasant area with onsite or nearby parking.
Wrong!!!
The Apollo is a great old Auditorium that has definitely seen better days , and is in an inner city wasteland, with no car parks obvious . Luckily the local chemist directed us to Grafton Street NHS car park , which is multi story , manned 24 hours and 15 minutes walk from the Apollo, and at the time of writing not marked on multimap.
There's a few pubs on Grafton street , the Bowling Green was most pleasant and served some of the most exotic burgers I've seen on sale anywhere including Reindeer!!!
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at the Manchester Apollo. In these modern times , and being used to the civilised venues in Newcastle such as The Sage , City Hall , Tyne Theatre and even The Metro Arena we expected a pleasant area with onsite or nearby parking.
Wrong!!!
The Apollo is a great old Auditorium that has definitely seen better days , and is in an inner city wasteland, with no car parks obvious . Luckily the local chemist directed us to Grafton Street NHS car park , which is multi story , manned 24 hours and 15 minutes walk from the Apollo, and at the time of writing not marked on multimap.
There's a few pubs on Grafton street , the Bowling Green was most pleasant and served some of the most exotic burgers I've seen on sale anywhere including Reindeer!!!
Practically Peaking
Just returned from a week in the Peaks so to speak, and a rather nice part of the country it is. On the Sunday it was pouring down and we listened as Leicester , Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry City and Southampton tried to avoid the drop from the Championship, and Stoke and West Brom easily went the other way.
The week's only blackspot was getting caught returning from the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss gig at the Manchester Apollo by speed cameras in some suburban backwater, however if a letter comes through I'll be challenging it as apparently you have to have well lit warnings. More information on how to challenge courtesy of the Sunday Mirror here
Buxton , Bakewell , Manchester and the scenery are all excellent and this is an area well worth visiting , plus some funny tourist moments such as in the Monsal Head pub when the guy asked if the Cod on the menu was "local" ...... Hmmmmm
An excellent part of the country to visit and here's a list of cottages in the area just in case you fancy it.
The one that we stayed in was Barn End Cottage in Blackwell in the Peak and you can check it out here
The week's only blackspot was getting caught returning from the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss gig at the Manchester Apollo by speed cameras in some suburban backwater, however if a letter comes through I'll be challenging it as apparently you have to have well lit warnings. More information on how to challenge courtesy of the Sunday Mirror here
Buxton , Bakewell , Manchester and the scenery are all excellent and this is an area well worth visiting , plus some funny tourist moments such as in the Monsal Head pub when the guy asked if the Cod on the menu was "local" ...... Hmmmmm
An excellent part of the country to visit and here's a list of cottages in the area just in case you fancy it.
The one that we stayed in was Barn End Cottage in Blackwell in the Peak and you can check it out here
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