The First Tyne Tunnel

Yesterday we walked along the Don, and into Jarrow town centre. We went through the Pedestrian Tunnel, like bairns, just for the hell of it. I haven't been through it for years, and it was shorter than I remembered it. It was once much busier, when there were a lot more shipyards operating, and there were a lot of fellas heading under the water to work between seven and half past every morning. We were on foot, of course, but I remembered that going through the cycle tunnel is quite exciting, the tunnel gives an impression of moving at great speed.

On the Howdon side, there's a wasteland of light industrial sites and feeder roads for the car tunnel. But there is the Duke of Wellington, where we had a pint, and thought about how it would have been 100 years ago in that pub, when the area was all shipyards and the air thick with rivetting, the pub packed each dinner time with shouting men. Yesterday, there were half a dozen people in, the sun streaming peacefully through the windows.

When we got home, neither of us had an inkling to cook, so we went to the Pearl Cottage Chinese take away on Fellgate Avenue. Last time we'd had a meal from there it was indifferent at best. Last night, I had house special chop suey, Herself Chinese mushrooms with chicken. Really good food. And I found the carrier bag charming.
I took loads of photos during our expedition, but was disappointed with most of them. Sometimes, I'm consumed by flickrenvy. I shouldn't be: there's a life-time learning process here.

Comments

  1. FactoBruntTue Aug 30, 06:31:00 pm BST

    We had a chinese takeaway last night too. Chicken balls & Sweet & sour sauce, beef & mushrooms, spicy beef in chilli sauce and egg fried rice. Yum diddle. We didn't get a fun bag though - just a plain white one.

    Interesting to see the old tunnel. The atmosphere you conjure up of the old days reminds me of the time I was standing looking over an old pit head in Wales, with loads of rail lines running to it - all completely empty and quiet. Spooky

    ReplyDelete
  2. ApprenticeThu Sept 01, 12:36:00 am BST

    Yes, fascinating. I've never been in there. There's a cyclists tunnel too, isn't there? Or does that one have a cycle lane? Must put the bike back in my car.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ApprenticeThu Sept 01, 12:44:00 am BST

    Um, just a thought. There are loads of critique-type groups on Flickr. Some kind, some ruthless. I've just joined a really rude and irreverent one, but there are better ones. And there's 'technique' which is great to browse through, ask questions etc.

    Do you do any post-shoot editing? Because there are quite a few little apps you could use without recourse to the dreaded potatoshop. Picasa is a free one. I think it's dead useful to be able to straighten horizons, sharpen, stuff like that. http://picasa.google.com/features/features-edit.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Garry NixonThu Sept 01, 08:04:00 am BST

    That's all good advice. I do some editing with HP Image Zone. I'll have a look at the critique groups too. Ta!

    ReplyDelete

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