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

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leech or flatworm? Ants and Swiss Chard

Image
For the 2nd time in a week or so, (1st time regarding dwarf beans ), I'm following Alys Fowler's advice, this time with regard to Swiss chard .  Long story short, after midsummer plants which often bolt if planted in spring will resist the impulse to do so, probably because of shortening days; (I say shortening, but in Glasgow, in July, we're still getting 18 hours of daylight).   I got a packet of Bright Lights , at a good price, (another reason to wait until July before sowing, lots of bargains, I've noticed). But where to sow them? Most of the 2nd bed is under a tarpaulin, but it wasn't quite big enough to cover the whole bed, so the last 5ft or so went under a sheet of plastic, (in the background of the photo in this post, here .) Transparent plastic was a foolish idea, weeds were growing underneath it, so I covered most of it with sheets of metal from the old shed. I decided to leave the tarp, but use the area beneath the plastic for the chard. Who-ah there
Read more

LTPTP XXV: We Shall Overcome

Image
We shall indeed.  It's a lovely wee tune to learn.  I've almost memorized it this morning, the idea being, when I encounter a piano, I want something to sit down and play on the bugger.  I've a feeling that my keyboard's keys are lighter than a proper piano's, and there'll be a bit of effort transferring the skills I've gotten so far.  Probably, at some point this year, I'll be in workplace with a piano.  I'll print off some simple music and scales, and work at it, but it's likely to be in a public place so I want something to avoid making a twat of myself initially. It feels right that this should be the first tune I learn by heart.
Read more

"Chevy Chase. Fuck ever happen to him?"

Image
As Paulie Walnuts said in The Sopranos. It got me thinking. As it happens, he's been working steadily , but you can see what Paulie means. It's like that with film and television actors: you don't see them in anything for a year or two, and you wonder if they're dead or perhaps on a lengthy charlie and booze session. Or maybe doing proper acting on the stage? Only appearing on the telly gives them meaning to us. That video with Paul Simon was on one of the cable music channels the other day. It always makes me smile. As for Paulie and the rest of the crew, the clock's ticking. Of course, America already knows how things finish, but we don't. My mate Ian was telling me about a friend of his, visiting the States a few weeks ago, flicking through the channels in his hotel bedroom, he hit on a repeat of THE final episode, just beginning. What a quandry! He watched it, as it goes, but kept shtum when he came home.
Read more