England, my England. [Flag photo by Charlie Hawkins - follow photo link for more details] As Jaybee said the other day, most people seeing the cross of St George flying probably associate it with football hooligans and racism. And that’s not right. The Scots are rightly proud of their flag, as indeed are the Welsh [...]

There’s not really much I can add to this one. I’ll let the BBC tell the story… A busy high street bank was left open overnight after contractors forgot to lock the door. Staff had locked up the branch of Barclays in Low Fell, Gateshead, on Friday afternoon, but the contractors popped in later to [...]

The Newcastle Beer festival is something of an annual pilgrimage for me. Every year, I find myself at Haymarket Metro station, waiting to cross over the road and walk up the broad path next to the bookshop to take myself to the Newcastle University Student’s Union bar, where the festival is held. And this year, [...]

If you want me, I’ll be here, attending this from about … um … now. Obviously this is last year’s logo, but I will of course be picking up a new souvenir glass. Anyone wishing to come along, particularly if they would also like to buy me a drink (well, it is my birthday soon), [...]

A few weeks ago, I took a photograph of something in Newcastle. A market stall was advertising something for sale which I thought seemed a little unusual. For only £2, you could apparently get ‘smelly balls’. I’m not entirely sure whether the stall owner was requiring you to bring your own balls along first, before [...]

One of the things about the restaurant reviews you see in newspapers and magazines is that they are always for places like The Fat Duck which, while I would quite like to give it a go were I to become somewhat rich, are somewhat out of my price range at something like one hundred and [...]

Breaking news (to me at least): the 33rd Newcastle Beer festival will be held from 1st to 4th April 2009, according to both Newcastle Council and Camra. I’ll see you all there, then? It is perhaps also worth pointing out that I discovered this as a direct result of being a follower of NewcastleCC’s tweets. [...]

In what might come as a shock to my security blogging mate, I am suggesting that if you live in the Gateshead area, and receive any scam letters, you should by all means forward them on. This applies specifically to suspected physical scams. [Update: nope, according to someone who heard something about it on the [...]

A new tourist book has come out, which describes an entertainment and leisure complex in Gateshead which has a cinema and a bowling alley, between the Sage (music venue) and the BALTIC (art gallery) on Gateshead Quays. There is only one teensy problem. Said leisure complex doesn’t actually exist. Or, at least that’s what we [...]

After allowing the Environmental Health chappie time to read my emails, I gave him a ring to find out what the situation was. Now, I’ve got no complaint with him: he’s got to do his job, and if you get a complaint, you investigate it. Perfectly logical, and I have no problems with the way [...]