Durham - up on the roof

(left: bottom - far left: the top)

We decided to have a day away close to home and what better place than the Unesco world heritage site at Durham. Basically saw all the sights and mingled with the huge crowds of tourists.

We even took the hundreds of steps to the roof of the catherdral which opens out into a amazing view. However, it's an exhausting climb and the staircase is a tiny medievil one that gets tighter the higher you get up. It shows you how my mind works but I wondered out loud what would happen if you somehow got injured at the top how they would get you down. A guy at work told me that when he went up someone had a heart attack and they had to get a helicopter to get him down. luckily we got up and down OK!

North East coast - check

Spain and Lille were both really nice this year but for good beaches we don't really have to go too far. Northumberland and Tyneside has some of the best coastline you could hope for - yes really I promise.

this is where we spend most of our time in the summer - Whitley Bay, Tynemouth, Seaton Sluide, Druridge and Bamburgh to name but a few.

Spain - check

Two weeks is a long time in (insert analagy here) so 6 months on this blog is no time at all. I've had literally no time to update this whi it's so far behind. April 06' when we started this to coincide with our world trip seems like a long, long time ago.

Anyway we managed to at least get to Southern Spain to visit my parents and had a great time. Amber especially enjoyed a bit of winter sun. Busot was really nice although we just missed out the the massive storm that battered the coast the week before we got there.

been a long time...

since i posted on here. In the meantime Amber turned 2.

art at dinner time

Went over the Laing gallery for lunch and they had all these seagulls in the cealing which were pretty good.

They also had a this huge 'blade runner' style picture of the Quays which I heard Sting had bought.

Amber on her Chirstmas bike now that the snow his finally thawed.

Speaking of which, I took the other picture on my phone on my way to work. It's our street at 7am on my way to work.

going underground

Amber's first ever time on the Tube. She liked it about as much as I do!

Having commuted between Newcastle and London for the best part of 12 years Kings Cross station holds many, many bad memories for me. It’s probably best known for the epic delays, its crumbling, damp façade and the ever-present hoards of tramps/crackheads.

However, the adjacent St Pancreas station has been completely redeveloped and is now the main hub for the euro tunnel. They are also working on the main station but the whole thing is much more joined up and easier to use.

I have to say that’s it’s easily the best station I’ve ever been in and is actually much better than most of the major airports I’ve been too. They’ve done an amazing job restoring the Victorian station and adding loads of modern features. They just need to sort out the Olympics now and if they do a similar job they might just pull it off (I’m still sceptical though!)

I got the train all the way from Newcastle to France and was there in under 5 hours – It felt much quicker though and was much more comfortable than flying.

round lille

we spent loads of time seeing the sights - as you can see amber was really impressed.

painted house

Check this picture and see if you can tell which is the real house.

It's actually one big white house with all the others painted on. Not sure why they did that. It was the end of a long terrace in Lille.

eurostar

Settling into our seats on the Eurostar we glide under the channel and enter france in time for breakfast.

Pinar and amber enjoy their on-board continental breakfast, while I enjoy a liquid one.

The Breakfast of champions!

TV Times

Our Angel campaign at work should be over soon and we had one last flourish with 11m viewers on BBC one.

Here we are live to air at 6pm. Surprisingly low budget.

The 300

Or more like the 4,000. A record crowd at non-league Blyth Spartans as they march into the 3rd round proper of the FA Cup. Up next Big Fat Sam's Blackburn from the Premier League. Santa Cruize is coming to Blyth....He'll get a shock! Hopefully another win and another hilaruous post match pitch invasion.

Still they can't do any worse than the jokers up the road. Here's a picture of Given just before the 3rd goal went in during the 5-1 Christmas drubbing. Wish I'd hit the sales instead.

The pit

One of Amber's favorite presents from Christmas. Leads to utter chaos and hours of tidying up.

drive time

Let it snow

Amber's first real taste of snow but not to convinced. The drive up to Scotland was a bit hairy and the following day we had even thicker snow. AC wasn't too bothered even after I pelted her with snowballs.

Ryan Adams

Went to see him again..in newcastle this time. Another brilliant gig but venue not as good.

pizza cone

A pizzacono or pizza in a cone. It sounds so perfect....but tastes so terrible.

I knew something so great was just too good to be true. While it looks like an ideal way to serve a delicious food it actually tatses like cold glue wrapped in a the sole of a shoe.

Barca: day 3

Back to sunshine thanksfully and once we got to the harbour the best laid plans of sightseeing and culture were pushed aside by all day sangria.

olympic rain

Amazing downpour on the top of the olympic mountain.