Wendy and I, plus 42,000 of our closest friends, went today to support Brazil and Honduras in the Olympic men’s football quarter final at St James Park. It was only the third professional football match I’ve ever been to, and Wendy’s first. It was also the first time either of us had been to St James Park for sporting reasons, though we’ve both visited for work reasons in the past!

We were both slightly surprised (perhaps because we’re a little naive) at the level of security – everyone was patted down on entering, and police were peering down from the roofs of surrounding buildings at the crowd around the ground. We also balked slightly at the cost of drinks inside, especially since we couldn’t take liquids in.

But, all-in-all, we had a great time, and it’s brilliant to feel a little bit involved in London 2012!

This pretty fountain sits outside the equally pretty South Shields Town Hall. The building dates back to 1910, but I’m not sure when the fountains arrived!

This year, we are – of course – celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. 125 years ago, our forebears were celebrating Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.

As part of those celebrations, a Royal Jubilee Exhibition was held in Newcastle, in the specially created Exhibition Park. It proved phenomenally successful, with over two million people visiting. Other than the very existence of the park itself, this band stand is the only remaining remnant of the Royal Jubilee Exhibition – note the crest above the entrance, and the crown around the spike at the top! It was cast in iron from a Glaswegian foundry, and it’s now Grade II listed.

This is Spirit of Jarrow, a Graham Ibbeson statue commemorating the Jarrow Crusade. Surprisingly, it was commissioned by Morrisons, the supermarket chain; less surprisingly, it’s in Jarrow.

The Jarrow Crusade was, of course, a 300-mile march of 200 shipyard workers from Jarrow to Parliament in 1936, highlighting the unemployment and poverty of the North East. It certainly didn’t result in a quick win: Stanley Baldwin refused to meet the marchers, and the depression in the North East continued pretty much up until the war.

That said, it did highlight the plight of the North East, and generated a lot of popular sympathy. It’s often cited as a milestone in the formation of the modern Labour party: it’s interesting to remember that the formal position of Labour party of the day was opposition, though Labour giant Ellen Wilkinson was its biggest political proponent. It’s perhaps a sad reflection of modern politics that such differences of opinion within a party are rarely tolerated these days.

It’s Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) time for most medical trainees at this time of year. This is where a panel reviews how we’re doing, and how our training is progressing. Most trainees these days have e-portfolios to collect evidence for these annual reviews, but in Public Health in the Northern Deanery, we still use paper… which requires literally hundreds of physical signatures from supervisors, and other numbers from other people, which can make co-ordination something of a challenge!

This picture shows my portfolio carefully balanced on top of my car, as I prepared to hand it in to the Deanery’s office. I’m glad to finally have it finished for another year!

This is Bottle of Notes, a 1993 steel and enamel sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen which forms text from Captain Cook’s journals into a white bottle; a blue note inside is formed of a line of poetry by one of the artists. It’s about 35 feet tall, and leans at a considerable angle. It was forged a little further north in Hebburn.

Since the bottle’s 1993 installation, mima – the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art – has been built behind it. It opened in 2007, but is (perhaps unfortunately?) best known for hosting Jeremy Clarkson et al’s Top Gear exhibition of automotive art in 2009.

This slightly broken bin has appeared in the road not too far from my house… how it appeared here, I really don’t know! Perhaps it’s a relative of these!

This very distinctive building in Newcastle’s Exhibition Park was originally a temporary pavilion – a “palace of the arts” – in the 1929 North East Coast Exhibition. It proved so distinctive and popular that it was retained and used for a variety of purposes over the years. It’s now Grade II listed.

It’s most recent use was as a Military Vehicle Museum, but the deteriorating state of a temporary building that had far outlasted its designed lifespan led to its closure in 2006. Since then, it’s future had looked uncertain, as the abandoned building deteriorated more and more.

Yet, in May, its future was secured after the building was sold to Shepherd Offshore Ltd who reportedly intend to renovate the building into a museum of horse-drawn carriages and vintage vehicles. It’s great news that the building is to be saved, but I do wonder quite how popular a museum with those contents will be…!

These are the woods in the Tyne Riverside Country Park, as seen during a very sunny walk earlier today.

But, since, everyone’s very excited about the Olympics today, I also thought I should feature something vaguely Olympic related. So here’s my photograph of the Olympic motto from Eau Claire in Calgary, as seen in 2007 during my elective:

I’ve mentioned Newcastle’s quayside kittiwakes before – they’re very controversial because although ornithologists argue that their presence is valuable, they make a heck of a mess around the Tyne Bridge, on which they nest. The hanging sign outside this quayside bar provides a graphic demonstration of the unpleasant mess they liberally spread.