Recently, Regus gave me a free Businessworld Gold membership, which gives me free access to their business lounges. Today, I thought I’d pop into a nearby Regus to check it out. I had some work to do that needed close concentration and I didn’t want the distractions that often come from being in the office, so I had planned to spend the afternoon working from home, and this seemed a reasonable alternative. I was slightly concerned that it would be a bit rubbish, but figured that I could just carry on home if it was.

In fact, I was pleasantly surprised. I installed myself in this ThinkPod, a sort of cocoon containing a desk, chair, reading lamp and power sockets, and worked undisturbed in a quiet environment. There is, of course, free wifi, which seemed pretty fast. There were comfy seats and free hot drink drinks available, but I didn’t use these.

Basically, it was like working in a good library, but more private and more comfortable. It was much nicer than working in a coffee shop, which I’ve done a few times in the past year. I’ll definitely go back over the next year while my free membership lasts, and with over 1,000 locations in 95 countries I can see that this would be invaluable when working away from home .But I’d never dream of paying £25/month for UK access, nor £35/month for global access which appears to be the going rate.

This is Newcastle’s Sandman Signature hotel, which is Sandman’s first hotel outside of its native Canada.

It occupies the former headquarters of Scottish and Newcastle Breweries, which was by far the UK’s biggest brewer for much of the nineties and noughties. It made everything from Foster’s and Kronenbourg to John Smith’s and Kingfisher – plus, of course, local favourite Newcastle Brown Ale. In 2008, it was taken over by Carlsberg and Heineken, and within a couple of years the company was rebranded as Heineken UK Ltd, closing the book on a company heritage that dates back to 1749.

The hotel is part of the Downing Plaza development that is using striking architecture to create a gateway from the city centre to Newcastle’s nascent Science Central development. This development, on the former site of the Newcastle Brewery itself, will host Newcastle University’s sustainability research institute and other established science-related businesses alongside space dedicated to hosting and aiding science-related start-ups. There will, of course, be the typical retail and leisure sites mixed in there too.

It’s a bold two-decade plan supported by a shopping-list of different organisations, and with ownership of the site shared between the city council and the university. It will be great to see it come to fruition!

As a public health doctor, I was very pleased to see the Stoptober team out in force when I popped to the supermarket today. I wish anyone taking part every strength and every success!

If you smoke but haven’t yet signed up, there’s still time to get involved: sign up at the Stoptober website.

If you don’t smoke: good for you!

This picture of the Queen has been stuck on this black box on Gosforth High Street for months now. I’ve no idea where it came from. Is it a random bit of graffiti? Is it street art? Is it a leftover from some jubilee event? Who knows?

It’s Christmas! Or, at least, John Lewis’s window leads one to believe that it is. It’s only 29th September, for goodness sake!

I know moaning about Christmas getting earlier every year is a little tedious, but really… a Christmas window in a major department store in September?!

Wendy drew this picture of us on a whiteboard shortly after we started dating. I took a photo, printed it, and framed it. Almost a decade (and several house moves) later, it’s still sitting on her dressing table.

This is one of the sculptures to be found in Hebburn Riverside Park, which is not to be confused with the Tyne Riverside Country Park which I’ve shown you before.

In addition to the sculptures like that above, there are a number of artworks in Hebburn Riverside Park, including these carved wooden waymarkers, each of which features a different image:

But perhaps the most famous artwork is the one I don’t have a picture of… Flash@Hebburn by Charles Quick, installed in 2009. This consists of twelve 8m columns with solar panels and blue and white LEDs on the top. These flash in patterns which reflect Hebburn’s industrial heritage, apparently. But to me, trying to attract people to a public park at dusk by promising a “Flash” just seems like a bad idea all round…!

This is a recent picture, though not taken today. It shows a unique designer carpet, that I personally found quite stressful and headache inducing. This is unfortunate, given its location… which I’ll leave as an exercise for the reader.

This is the postcard I received today from Bobbie Johnson, co-founder of a brilliant journalistic project I’m supporting called Matter. Perhaps a little bizarrely, I’ve also previously received a postcard from his partner, Anna Pickard, as part of her Snailr project a couple of years ago:

And I sent this postcard in return:

Anyway, there’s something a little odd and something a little lovely about having almost serendipitously exchanged three postcards with a couple I’ve never met. I used to read them both in The Guardian when I was at university, and have followed their articles, blogs, and latterly their Twitter accounts, ever since. In a strange way, I almost feel like I know them, having followed their move to the States and back, and the fairly recent birth of their son.

I hope that this doesn’t freak out either Bobbie or Anna if they come across it… they both seem like lovely people, and I’m a little worried that this post makes me sound a bit like a stalker…! I just thought it was quite a nice story for a rainy Tuesday night.

This is the first pop-up Calendar Club that I’ve seen this year – and it seems a depressing reminder that Christmas is coming!

Calendar Club has grown at a remarkable pace since the first 12 stores opened in 1998. It now opens over 300 temporary stores every Christmas, and sells over 4 million calendars from a selection of over 3,000 varieties. These days, it even publishes its own calendars under the Other House label.

One of the most remarkable parts of their business model is their store turnaround time: they aim to open within 24hrs of taking a store’s lease. Minimal turn-around times maximise the company’s profit, but also give it a great reputation with retail landlords who typically want to minimise the number of closed units in their malls… which, in turn, gives the company a stronger negotiating position year-on-year, reducing rents and further maximising profits.