No One Loves You When You're Down ... Especially A Mackem

Well Newcastle's season finished with a whimper , hardly able to muster a shot on target against an Aston Villa side who've lost their way since Christmas , but still managed to qualify for Europe. Newcastle suitably shot themselves in the foot via a horrendous deflection off the apparently aptly named Damien Duff.

We watched the match is Tynemouth and most fans were totally resigned to the capitulation they saw in front of them.

A couple of weeks ago a Newcastle fan said that he was annoyed that Preston had pipped Cardiff to the final play off place as he had been looking forward to an away match down there !! Be careful what you wish for now he has Cardiff and Swansea to look forward to.

As we went for the train we saw this Tyneside In Bloom display which sort of sums up Newcastle's season!!

The Railway Hotel In Haydon Bridge ...

After a day at Vindolanda , we settled on the Rat at Anick for a post culture pubg , however due to one thing and another we ended up deciding of the the General Havelock at Haydon Bridge. Haydon Bridge has recently become the beneficiary (or otherwise) of an A69 by pass, so we drove in from the north and parked in picnic area by the River Tyne.

On approching the Havelock we found it had been booked for a private party , it seems we're destinhed never to darken it's door , last weeks visit curtailed by torrential rain. Requiring sustenance and beer we turned to the Railway Hotel more info can be found on their website here.

The lady outside was extremely welcoming , and though they basically served excellent pub food, she also said that she could put together a pulse stew concoction for a vegan member of our party , who was already set on chips and beans. The service , food and beer selection was five star along with excellent music ranging from Little Feat to 50's rock and roll. This palce is well worth stopping by if you come withing 20 miles of Haydon Bridge!!!

Left is the poem celebrating their breakfast!!

The New Star Trek Movie and Respect For Referees

The two have nothing to do with each other , but after Phil Dowd's brilliant Homer impersonation for Bimingham against Preston, the Norwegian FIFA stooge in the Chelsea vs Barcelona decider , Howard Webb's ridiculous decision to disallow a perfectly good goal for Newcastle against Fulham , how the hell can you have any respect for the sort of people who get things so wrong and are allowed to get away with it?? Are they planning to become MPs??

This video is fairly appropriate:


From the album Cammel Laird Social Club




Webb's screw up could send Newcastle down , though spare a thought for West Brom fans who've lived with that feeling for most of their time in the Premiership , documented brilliantly in Adrian Chiles' excellent book "We Don't Know What We're Doing"!! Incidentally there's a couple of pubs in Darlington , one's The Albion , next one is The Hope. Humm , it wasnt to be"!!

Anyway this Star Trek review may calm you down:


Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

Odd Items In Pubs (Robin Hood's Bay Again)

Many years ago the late and brilliant Douglas Adams and John Lloyd co authored a book called "The Deeper Meaning Of Liff:A Dictionary of Things There Aren't Any Words for Yet-But There Ought to Be" , an updating of their earlier "The Meaning Of Liff" , which takes place names and assigns them to items that there aren't any words for.

While have tea in the rather Excellent Dolphin in Robin Hood's Bay , I saw the item below on the wall opposite me. I completely forgot to ask the landlord what it was , but it is definitely an appliance that would have a place in the afformentioned volumes!!

On The Way To The Longest Day

Sat on the train between Newcastle and Darlington this morning, thinking it's a bit dark , considering we're getting towards summer. After several sunny days , it looks like rain is here for the weekend , still saves having to water the garden.

We must have passed the Spring Equinox this year , and now looking forward to a summer of music festivals , though the awful Evolution Festival in Newcastle doesnt count as it's just about controling the crowd while extracting the maximum amount of cash from them , a bit like Glastonbury has become , just corporate extortion to watch the media's flavour of the moment!!

Then again you could always buy a Dukla Prague Away Kit!!!

A Little More "La Rosa"

A few people have asked where "La Rosa" is. It's on the north side of the river in Whitby on the cliff top , in the same block as the Royal Hotel (where apparently the condition of tenure is that you have taken a Shearing's Bus Tour!) . Anyway If you look from the south side of Whitby , La Rosa is the Yellow Building in the block:


And here's the front with the Lewis Carrol plaque, from here you can see the whalebone arch and look across the river to the ruins of the Abbey. Tres Gothic!!





And another of the sea view suites!!

And A Day In Whitby..

Most of Saturday was spent in Whitby. After the shock on the non roads of Robin Hood's Bay , Whitby was fine. Parked on the West Cliff car park and walked down to the town centre past the carved Whale and the Whalebone Arch.

Whitby is built on slopes towards the, what I assume is, the river Esk , so requires a lot of step negotiation and reasonable fitness , but is well worth it , with it's Gothic ruined abbey , Dracula associations , and Jet (jewellery) and other esoteric shops.

Like Robin Hood's Bay , Whitby is a marvel of ingenuity in the way the houses, shops and pubs are shoe horned together.

Breakfast was at the White Horse and Griffin , lunch at The Magpie Cafe , both absolute five star for food and service.

We visited a few pubs, one of which "The Jolly Sailor" has one of the dodgiest signs I've seen. It's here:

Then there's lots of Chocolate shops such as Justins where the staff were extrememly relaxed despite some customers getting extremely irateover the fact they were having to wait for service. How can you be in a rush when buying chocolate on a Saturday from a shop in Whitby?


We finished with a visit to La Rosa , a superb and fun Victorian Hotel where we'll be going at the end of June. All the rooms are themed and uncluttered by such modernities as televisions and telephones, with features such as wooden baths, black bedding in the "Stoker" suite and steers skulls decorating the bedhead in the Saloon suite!.