Wendy and I don’t do takeaway all that often, but I couldn’t be bothered to cook tonight… and it was delicious!

Yesterday, I wrote about the Tyne Pedestrian and Cyclist tunnels. Today, I’m showing the ventilation shafts from the vehicular tunnel. The one in the foreground is the south shaft, and if you look carefully, the north shaft is across the river in the background.

In fact, the ventilation shafts are no longer in use, as the tunnels (now plural) now have a rather more sophisticated ventilation system. However, these twin ventilation shafts have become such local landmarks that they have been retained.

If people could actually see inside my brain, all the things I was thinking, it really would be a very bad day.

So said Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, in an interview with Amber Elliott for Total Politics published today. This may be a slightly ill-advised soundbite given that there’s a perception that he’s duping the public with his plans for the NHS.

As it turns out, he’s having a pretty bad day anyway, as doctors have voted to take industrial action over pensions.

  Share Post       Comment       More Options

I’ve used Google Reader for years. I find it a really useful way of managing the many RSS feeds I subscribe to, but I hate its online interface. This means that I’ve spent years using various desktop applications that work with it. I’ve tried lots of them, but the one that’s currently occupying a space on my dock is Reeder, which I also use on my iPhone.

Reeder has everything I want in an RSS reader. It allows me to manage my Google Reader subscriptions from within the app, which many alternatives don’t. It clearly shows my entire RSS inbox on the left, and the contents of each individual item on the right. The weblink to the full article is a click away, as is the Readability version, which I usually try first. It will allow me to tweet or email articles with a single click, and also has a button to send them straight to Pocket. There are built-in options for loads of other services too.

I think Reeder is brilliant, and I highly recommend it.

I visited the Tyne Pedestrian and Cyclist Tunnels for today’s picture of the day – the only place I know of which has a byelaw specifically forbidding defection on the premises. Actually, there are many more interesting things about the 61-year-old tunnels than that, including the longest wooden escalators in the world.

I’ve wanted to visit the tunnels for quite some time, and ended up taking quite a few photos. Instead of clogging up the main blog with them all, I’ve stuck them all together on a page, along with some more background info – so have a look!

The sealant on our shower started to get mouldy, so I replaced it. This isn’t terribly exciting, but barring attaching things to walls or putting furniture together, this is probably the most advanced DIY project I’ve done, so I’m quite proud of it.

Also, I like the slightly odd perspective illusion created by this photo!

Wendy and I went to enjoy the lovely weather down at the marina at North Shields today, which I also visited last month. This photo shows the original accumulator tower which used to power the lock. It’s pretty much the only visible artefact of the original Albert Edward Dock.

The lock itself remains in fine fettle thanks to regular maintenance, and was indeed operating today:

Wendy’s suggestion today: Our Frappucinos from Starbucks’s happy hour this afternoon… Especially good in today’s warm weather!

There’s probably some fascinating reason why this rock-with-a-hole is displayed in Newcastle’s Exhibition Park, but I’m afraid I have no idea what it is. So, my comment on this photo is really limited to “nice rock”!

Look what Wendy’s bought me! It seems so unfair that it can’t be counted as one of my five-a-day!