Here’s something you don’t see everyday: a bus stop being delivered and installed! Even the giant red kite in the background looks a little surprised at the sight!

This is a bit of the pretty escalators in Newcastle’s Monument Mall, whose workings are shown as a result of tge sides of them being glass. I guess these escalators are not long for this world as the mall is being in-filled to provide a series of bigger restaurant and shopping units accessed from the street. It seems a shame, because they’re certainly attractive and unusual!

I’m featuring another of the Guardian’s retail analyses this week, and once again it’s by Emine Saner. This one is all about the rise and rise of Krispy Kreme in the UK. I just wish public health could emulate the marketing success built by some of these hugely successful brands in a very short space of time!

With so many leaves underfoot, and so many central heating systems being turned on, there’s no denying that autumn is here.

This plan, the Grainger Town Sculptural Map, can be found just across the road from Newcastle Station. It was designed by Tod Hanson and Simon Watkinson, and put in place in 2003.

The idea is that the buildings have been reduced to their “essential forms” – no Earl Grey atop the Monument, for example – to provide an enjoyable spotting challenge to locals and tourists alike. When I first saw it, though, I didn’t realise it was meant to be a representation of the local area, so it didn’t really challenge me at all. Whether that’s a comment on the artwork or my own dimness, I’m not sure.

Here’s another angle that shows the pretty lights within:

I really like Alain de Botton and his accessible, absorbing approach to philosophy. When I read the press coverage surrounding the book launch, which included de Botton’s arresting announcement that he wanted to build a secular temple, I was intrigued. But, in the end, I really didn’t enjoy this book, I’m afraid.

The structure of each chapter is very formulaic:

1. Identify a positive aspect of religion
2. Cite a singular example of where this is lacking in modern society
3. Propose a secular solution

The majority of his arguments collapse at stage 2. For example:

1. Churches get strangers talking to one another
2. Restaurants don’t
3. Set up new restaurants

The problem, of course, is that the assignment of this quality to restaurants is arbitrary. There are plenty of secular places and events, from knitting circles to Skeptics in the Pub, where strangers are encouraged to talk and interact. I simply don’t accept the premise that this is a function of religious society that is absent from secular society.

Similarly:

1. The church guides us on practical life skills
2. Universities teach fact-based courses like history, with little regard for life skills
3. Change university curricula

I studied at a university with an Institute for Health and Society and a Campus for Ageing and Vitality: I don’t accept the premise that universities only offer impractical courses.

And so it goes on. Almost every chapter is built upon one of these illogical leaps – and, not only that, but the structure of the book gives little expression to the downsides of the prescribed form of living encouraged by religion, and its secular reversioning encouraged by de Botton.

Overall, this was a disappointing and frustrating read from one of my favourite authors. It feels a little like a cynical attempt to cash-in on the growing popularity of secularism. I sorely hope de Botton returns to form with his next work!

Religion for Atheists is available now from amazon.co.uk in hardback and on Kindle.

After telling you about one interesting Killingworth building earlier, here’s another: the White Swan Centre.

This building too originally dates back to Killingworth Township’s day. It was originally a mammoth 1960s office building, but – like most of the Township buildings – was disused by the 1990s. By the late 1990s, plans were afoot to reduce it in height, give it a makeover, and move into this building all of the services – like the GP surgery and library – that were previously housed in the Township’s high-level shopping precinct.

Local schoolchildren were given the task of naming the new improved building, and took inspiration from the hundreds of residents of Killingworth Lake:

To make up the numbers following my failure to post a picture on Sunday, here’s one taken today of the former British Gas Engineering Research Centre and Mechanical Engineering Firm in Killingworth. The arch on the right of the photo adds a touch of drama to a small entrance bridge, while the roof exhibits three water storage tanks and three Venturi formed ventilation tubes.

The building dates back to the days of Killingworth Township, which is an interesting example of a planned town. This intriguing old leaflet describes the Township, which connected residential towers to a carefully planned town centre via raised walkways, so that traffic and people never had to mix. Unfortunately, this also made life a bit claustrophobic, as well as generating a high-risk area for attacks and muggings: on high-rise walkways, there’s nowhere to run or hide if confronted. As a result of their damning unpopularity, the whole lot has now been flattened.

But the impossibly futuristic Engineering Research Centre, attracted to the Township shortly after it was built, remains.

It seems hard to believe that here in the 21st century, I still apply for study leave by posting a carbon-copy quadruplet A3 sized form… It’s almost difficult to believe that the deanery can find a printer that still makes carbon copy forms, let alone that printing thousands of them is a cost-effective way of administering a process. And that’s before the cost of posting them back and forth is included!

As I post this, I note that I missed posting a photo yesterday. Sunday seems to be the day I forget most frequently… I’m not sure why! I’ll post another later to make up the numbers!

There’s not a lot I can add about this plaque… other than that it’s in an odd place, on Platform 4, rather than near the entrance or in a prominent location!