A Nostalgic Trip!

Low Fell - Gateshead

We spent a few days in Newcastle earlier in the week. I wanted to go back to visit the place of my birth and then go on to another town where I spent my teens.

The photo shows me standing next to my sister  (in the pram) I must have started school as I am wearing a gym slip. My hair is in ringlets and note the large bow of ribbon - how could you miss it?

It was good to go back, but the street wasn't at all how I remembered it. It was longer and wider back then, at least that is how it seemed at the time.

We had a large back garden complete with a hill, where we played Cowboys and Indians or whatever else we had seen at the Saturday morning matinee. It was fun running around on make believe horses or jetting off with Flash Gordon to stop Ming the Merciless taking over some planet or another. Do children ever do that anymore?

When we moved to Whitley Bay on the North East coast in 1953, we only had a back yard. But that didn't stop us. We had the beach to play on, though as I was reaching my teens, cowboys and Flash Gordon were a thing of the past.
                           

*

Whitley Bay

This was the street I lived in until I was married. I took this photo on Monday, when we stopped off to take a look at what they had done to the place. The street hadn't changed at all. However, it's a pity I can't say the same for the rest of the town.

In its heyday, Whitley Bay was a lovely seaside resort. The golden sands stretched for miles until they reached the lighthouse. People came from Scotland and Yorkshire to spend their summer holidays there. The beaches were always packed. Cafes selling food or ice cream, were dotted along the Promenade, while the Fun-fair was a great attraction to the youngsters.

Today all that has gone, A school now stands in the grounds where the fun fair was. It replaced the one I went to, as they pulled it down - I'm not sure why as they haven't built anything else on that piece of land. And the shops that are left look as though they could do with a good coat of paint. The whole place needs brightening up.  It's all so very sad. Best I leave it at that.

*

The Quayside - Newcastle-on-Tyne

On the other hand, the changes they have made to the Quayside have been for the better. At one time it was like almost any other shipbuilding area - dirty and dismal. However, today, the place has a Continental feel about it.

People were sitting outside in the sun enjoying a glass of wine or beer, while others were wandering around the market, something which has been held on a Sunday morning forever!

Opposite is the New Sage building and the Baltic Art Gallery - once a Flour Mill.

Isn't it amazing how something so ugly could be given a new lease of life, while Whitley Bay, which was such a lovely, thriving town, could be allowed become so... tawdry and lifeless.

I think that is my rant for the day 

I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine

Cheers!!

Weight, Hair and all that Jazz!

I found I had lost another pound in weight when I jumped on the scales this morning. After losing 4 lbs over the last two weeks, I thought I might have stood still this week. But no, thankfully my weight is still on the downward track.

We went out for lunch with the MS group today. This time the venue was the Tankerville Arms in Wooler. (The town where my novel, The Trojan Project is set)  Not only do they serve the most wonderful roast beef, but they cut it in thick slices. You actually know you have some meat on the plate. The whole meal was delicious. We should go there more often.

I saw my hairdresser on Friday, so I was able to have a chat about my hair. It had been doing the most weird things. I simply couldn't do a thing with it, no matter how hard I tried. Coaxing it into some sort of style was out of the question, as it had made up its mind to be awkward and believe me it was! I suppose it gets that from me.  The hairdresser told me that it had grown so much since I was last there, it was little wonder I couldn't manage it.

So you see I was right when I said my hair had decided I was paying too much attention to my weight loss. In a fit of rage, it had grown out of all proportion. Anyway, I had it cut into a nice neat style, so now it is happy - and if my hair is happy, then so am I.

At the lunch today, I wore one of the two new dresses I had bought since I began the diet. So, what with that and my beautiful new hair-do, which behaved itself wonderfully, despite a gale blowing, I felt like a million dollars. Well, perhaps not a million dollars, but certainly a few hundred!

Have a lovely day, whatever you're doing!

Cheers!!

Hair and Other Things!

Last Sunday morning you could have heard Whoops of joy at the end of the road when I stepped onto the scales - I had lost another 2lbs. I had thought I might manage to lose 1lb - if that. But there it was, as clear as day, 2lb less than the week before. I jumped off quickly for fear the scales would change their mind. So now that I have lost 22lbs in weight, I haven't really got much further to go.

And if that wasn't pleasing enough, I went out on Tuesday and bought myself a new dress! How about that?  Also, just to make sure I was celebrating in style, I bought a new pair of sandals to go with it. How could I resist. All that hard work deserves some reward, otherwise what is it all for? Now all I need is some sunny weather so that I can go out and enjoy the new me!

The next thing is to find out what is going on with my hair! It has suddenly become extremely fine and doesn't know what to do with itself. I keep trying to coax it into place, but it doesn't want to know. So, while have a nice new figure, my hair has gone to pot. Is there a connection, I wonder. Can it be that my hair has become jealous because I have been concentrating on my weight?  Is that possible? And if so, what can I do about it?  I can only concentrate on one thing at a time.

The time when I could do seven or eight different things at once and do them well, has long gone. When I was at work, I could hold two conversions at once. One with the person standing next to me and the other with an irate administrator on the other end of the phone, while doing a calculation in my head. But things aren't the same any more. Nowadays I tend to keep my mind on one thing at a time.

When I try to do a few things at once, I end up doing nothing right. Or things are left half finished. There have been times when I have wandered around the house only to find things I have started and then left, because I have gone on to do something else.

But enough of that kind of talk. I'm not ready for the scrap heap yet. I have things I still want to do and one of them is to walk down the street, one sunny day in my new outfit :D

Well I think I have rattled on enough for the moment and it's only Wednesday. I will get back to you later in the week and let you know what else has been being going on in my world.

Meanwhile, enjoy your day,

Cheers!