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.

Barca trip: day 2

Day two and disaster. The weather had turned from Mediterranean to Middlesborough overnight. Luckily we had taken our mac in a bag from Australia and Pinar couldn't wait to look like a total dork. It really was hammering down so we ended up spending most of the day trying to keep dry and looking round the museums and olympic venues in montjuic.

Barca trip: day one

Day one and great success. Landed to bright sunshine and checked into an amazing hotel.

We spent the day sans-baby and checking out all the usual touristy sights.

It was like the old days, travelling around, tryomg to see everything and tiring ourselves out. November in the North East seemed a long way away.

On the road again

Not quite as adventurous as our trip/trips in 2006 but it was the first time we’d been travelling as a couple since then. We’d never been anywhere without Amber since she was born so we were a bit out of practice. We didn’t exactly need to refill the backpacks but even just popping over to Barcelona for a few nights is an adventure for us now.

We soon got back into the grove and it was really liberating to be able to explore without pushing a pram/pushchair/huge baby bag. We still missed her though - apart from the flight back where we watched the other parents struggling with their own screaming offspring. schadenfreude don't even cover it

Halowinge

She hated her costume so much we couldn't even get the hat on her. Eventually she came round though.

air time

The 30ft ramp looked a bit unstable in the North sea gales but that didn't stop them pulling sweet jumps.

Harry half pipe

The xtreme 08 festival on the beach was pretty impresive. BMX, skaters and roller blades all hit the indoor half pipe and amazed amber. The pictures aren't the best but it was a pretty cool set up.

The dene

Amber talks to the animals and steals my glasses.