GATESHEAD - view down West Street

I went to bed late - again. ( Must admit it was 5am.... again ) Got up about 10am and intended just having a drink and then going back to bed but in the end I just stayed up. Had to go online to see if there were any tickets available for the Test Match.

There is great excitement in the North East as the England cricket team are playing The Aussies in the Ashes match at Chester le Street. Ages ago Neil and I had thought about going on one of the first 4 days but the tickets were £80 each ( plus £1 booking fee - I hate those sneaky booking fees ) so we thought better of it. However now that the first day has arrived and the local news are reporting excitedly from the ground we wished we had bought tickets. Neil suggested looking online to see if there were any tickets left for the 5th day so I checked this morning. These tickets are only £25 as there probably won't be a full day's play on Tuesday. Not many seats left but I managed to find 2 together and snapped them up. Looking forward to going - hope the weather stays fine and we see a good few overs.

Went to Gateshead on the bus this afternoon. Got a nice top for £1.99 in a charity shop and a lightweight jacket, some socks and a colourful scarf in the Sale in Peacocks. Then I went to Tesco - desperately needed more fruit as I had run out. Got quite a lot of other stuff too and I had 2 heavy bags to carry back to the bus station.

This photo was taken while I was standing near to the transport interchange. You can see The Tyne Bridge and beyond that The Civic Centre over the river in Newcastle. The Civic Centre is the building with the Carillon Bell Tower - it contains a set of bells weighing 22 tons. Rising from the tower is the lantern surmounted by a gilded ball mast and 3 castle emblems of the City. The twelve vertical shafts are each topped with a sea horse head - a symbol borrowed from the coat of arms. I will have to try and get a close up shot of The Civic Centre when I go to Newcastle again.