Finally Did La Rosa

Finally did two nights in La Rosa at Whitby , in the Little Red Room , and I can say it was totally excellent . Liked it so much that we're going back in February.

As well as the hotel itself just being excellent they have wi-fi , but no TV or room phones (given that everyone has a mobile these days who needs one). Also they have a very civilised mid day check out . Breakfast is served in a hamper , consisting of fruit juice , cheese scones , fruit cake , cheese , boiled eggs , coffee - superb.





The room was packed with interesting things some of which can be seen on the site , but liked the skull in the cabinet and the Red Riding Hood pictures as well as real Red Riding Hood hung on the door!!

We were advised that we could park on the street , but given that most street parking in Whitby is free , this wasn't an option , so we used the West Cliff car park . This gives the option of of paying via mobile phone / card via the RingGo web site- which means you can extend your parking without returning to the car park .



What a change from the thieves at North Tyneside who fail to provide machines that take all your money, don't provide an alternative , don't give you the full amount for what you pay , then fine you £25 !! This image to the left is the £3 ticket that gave me 6 hours (rate 80p for 2 hours so I paid for 7.5 hours) . To the right is the fine .


As well as that , 25 miles from Whitby the exhaust went . I thought I'd get it fixed in Whitby but both garages were very helpful , but couldnt get the parts til monnday, though Borough Tyres reckoned they could have done if I'd have gone in early enough. Also they both closed at noon , it's nice where lifestyle comes before profit.

Anyway , we discovered The Vineyard Restaurant (formerly Harrys) and Trenchers , both of which I'd recommend and we had a visit to the Magpie Cafe . Yes you have to queue but it's worth the wait. Also no trip to Whitby would be complete without a visit to the excellent Folk Devils record shop . I left with a Desert Blues compilation and several other interesting CDs.

What The Puck?

Have recently returned from my first Ice Hockey match at the Newcastle Metro Arena , featuring the Newcastle Vipers vs Nottingham Panthers. Didn't know what to expect and my only previous experience was the excellent 1977 film featuring Paul Newman , Slapshot, trailer below:




The game is split into three twent minute periods , with clock stops for the many infringements. The puck is vulcanised rubber which the announcers constantly warns the crowd to be vigilant about as it "may leave the ice", which does quite often , though only once managing to vault the protective screens. How you protect yourseldf against a 100MPH piece of vulcanised rubber is a mystery to me , which I hope I wont have to answer as intend going again. Below is footage of the match I took soundtracked by The Stranglers Tank (Download here) . The third Vipers goal is about about 1:25 :

The game is well worth watching and I can see the addictive attraction , think I'm hooked , though don't have the T-Shirt yet!!

Here's some footage of the Vipers against Cardiff:

A Few Days In Hexham

For the first time in many years , this Bank Holiday Monday we visited Hexham 20 miles to the west of Newcastle in the Tyne Valley. We were disappointed to learn of the demise of Priestpopple Books, a wonderful second hand book emporium , probably driven to the wall by Oxfam and the like.

However we did discover the excellent Mr Ants eaterie,situated on Priestpopple , which has the unusual menu side entry of chips by the pint or half pint!!!

The Wetherspoons in Hexham is esconced in an old cinema , although the cinema is still functioning , but like many of their takeovers looks incredibly impressive.

We noticed several shops were shut. I regard this as a good thing as it means that people regard life as more important than work. On of these was the excellent "Artful" run by Karen Morgan (I think) and filled with her and other artists work. This shop is well worth a visit , down St Mary's Chare off the main drag in Hexham.

Today finished of with a visit to Bouchon , a french restaurant (or "Bistrot" [sic] as they describe themselves on the website and literature) in Gilesgate . The food is gorgeous and very reasonably priced , the pace was packed to the rafters and the staff run off their feet. Their seemed to be a few mistakes , but these were swiftly rectified , and I will be going back again and would recommend you do the same if you get the chance.

Two I Can Understand - But Three?

Today I was in Newcastle and passing the club shop in town noticed they had a third kit on sale. Can some one explain this to me if it's not to rip off the fans that the club has already ripped the mickey out of with the antics since the sacking of Sir Bobby Robson.

A club needs a home kit (the black and white) ,

an alternate kit (this year it's the "Solero") ,

anything more shows naked unashamed greed.






Why don't they stock some of the retro stuff if they do want to sell more Newcastle shirts, the sort of thing that TOFFS (The Old Fashioned Football Shirt) provide?

The Beatles Rockband - Why?

On the ninth of September this year (09.09.09 who thought that one up - no doubt some mad Yanks will realise that 999 upside down is 666 so the Beatles are really Iron Maiden!!) the Beatles are going to have their back catalogue of thirteen studio albums reissued plust the non album stuff on the two Past Masters discs, with the sound scrubbed up along with a documentary pertaining to the relevant album. That's all well , good and understandable.


What is not understandable is that on the same day 45 songs from this excellent catalogue have gone through the processing mill for the various "Rock Band" game variations where numpties can pretend to be their idols with the aid of various pretend instrument. So who's going to be "Don't Call Me By My Stage Name"?

I Want My DTS (on my TV)

My home cinema set up ,if you want to grace it with that name , consists of a 32" Beko Flat screen CRT TV that cost me £80 second hand five years back, a Samsung Hard Disc Recorder / DVD player and a Samsung Home Cinema Amp (both of which proclaim their DTS ability in the many badges on the front) with Yamaha sub woofer and speakers. The makes of all these bits of technology are irrelevant apart from my old Beko TV doesnt suffer from the "Motion Blur" of the modern Plasma / LCD TVs.

Anyway I decided to listen to H.A.A.R.P. the live Muse Album of their 2007 Wembley Show on the "Black Holes and Revelations" tour. I was given the option of stereo or DTS , no 5.1 option. Switched to DTS option there's nothing . Tried DTS options on a couple of other DVDs, still nothing. Checked that fount of all knowledge , the internet , and someone suggested that the digital sound stream should be bitstream rather than PCM. What the hell does that have to with DTS? I don't know.

Anyway may that adjustment and lo and behold we have Matt Bellamy and co escorted out to the sound of Prokofiev's "Dance of The Knights(Montagues and Capulets)" from "Romeo and Juliet" before launching in to "Knights of Cydonia" and shaking the house to it's foundations. Job sorted!!

Nothing Much To Report .. Apart From England Winning The Ashes

The football season is well underway , England have won the Ashes despite Australia scoring more runs , taking more wickets and generally being better , but that's the nature of the game , the best team doesnt always win.

Incidentally The Duckworth-Lewis Method of determining the score in one day cricket has inspired an album of the same name featuring the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon and an be sampled here.

The Newcastle saga shows no sign of resolution with Mike Ashley seemingly asset stripping the club of it's best players , while on the field the club are actually doing quite well , positioned at a healthy third in the Championship at the time of the post. We'll just have to see how things pan out.