This newspaper which dropped through our letterbox today really helps to spread the a seasonal merriment! I shouldn’t joke, though… I know the cuts to Local Government are particularly tough for Newcastle, and there are lots of jobs and services at risk.

So this photo of Newcastle at night is clearly a bit rubbish, but you can make out the Christmas lights snaking up the monument on the left hand side.

Brrr…….!

On the day of the announcement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, evidence of a miracle unseen at Newcastle Airport! Praise the Lord!

This is the second photo today, making up the numbers as I forgot on some previous occasion….!

This is Whistlestop. Or to give it its full name, Whistlestop Foodwine. So fast are they moving that they can’t even pause for an “and”.

Whistlestop is the shop right next to the domestic arrivals area at Newcastle airport. It markets itself as ideal for picking up some bread, milk, or other sundries on return from one’s travels. The bizarre thing about this proposition is that in all the time I’ve been a regular user of this airport, I think I’ve only seen it open once. It seems to have absurdly restricted opening hours.

Now forgive me, but I would’ve thought that a shop like this would cash in on, for example, travellers who return on a Sunday night and need supplies for the following morning. Other shops are frequently closed, so this small store could cash in. Except it’s not open.

Which begs the question… what is its market?! It’s been here for years, so it must be doing something right!

You can consider this photo as being in lieu of one yesterday, since I failed to post one then. This scene just felt appropriate given the news!

I have an oddly large head, as proven by my inability to wear Christmas cracker hats or round neck t-shirts. At least it’s not quite as big as this artwork at Newcastle University!

An extra second photo to make up for forgetting last Sunday… and it’s the first snowfall of the season here in Newcastle! Dad predicted that it would arrive today… I think it’s the first year he’s accurately forecast it!

I don’t know what it was about this scene, but it felt oddly atmospheric: a closed down shop with the lights shining through the gauze of the rolled-down shutter, with (I assume) the remaining stock gathered at the back and the occasional staff member busying about.

I don’t know what the shop used to be, or why it has closed down, or why there are still people and things in it despite it looking like it’s been shut for a while… but it is a little bit of a sad sight. Perhaps a little depressing for a Friday night?!

I must have walked past this plaque on Osbourne Road in Jesmond tens or hundreds of times, yet never noticed it! Muriel Robb won the 1902 Wimbledon ladies’ single final in a match which was the longest on record at the time, beating Charlotte Sterry.