One Less Whistle?

Nearly five year ago I cried off going to a picnic to watch my home town club at Wembley. I may be a forever Toon fan but I follow and support Gateshead from afar. There’s an app on my phone which alerts me to football kick-offs, scores, etc. One whistle blows for Newcastle and the other for Gateshead FC. Sadly it looks very likely that there may be one less whistle next season, as Gateshead will be no more.

In some sort of miraculous season they fell just short of promotion play-offs, despite having an owner who seems to be nothing more than a cover for a certain Joseph Cala, a man who couldn’t pass a fit and proper test to own a goldfish never mind a football club (officially he is “chief financial advisor”—more like chief asset stripper). Having been thrown out of their ground by the council for not paying the rent, having already failed to pay the players, and having allegedly put the club up for sale for a pound only to ignore a serious bid from a potential owner with a good track record (a club “for sale” in only the most lying terms is something I’m familiar with from NUFC) they’ve just sacked the remaining members of staff (including removing manager, Ben Clark, by email), to leave them with, er…nothing really ¹.

So a club with no manager, which doesn’t matter because they have no players, which doesn’t matter because they have no ground. That isn’t a club 😥

This tweet has a reasonable summary of the history for anyone interested

Go Home Uranus, You’re Drunk

A fun animation of planetary rotation and tilt Continue reading

King Of The World (Well, Museum)

A couple of weekends ago Heather and I decided to have a little trip out to the British Museum as it was far too long since we were last there. We saw many things, from a great dumdum head, to a scary assistant to the judge of hell, to the king of the world.

Winter DeLights

Part of last year’s Winter of Lights was a trip to Canary Wharf to see their illuminated art display. Heather and I enjoyed that, so we went back for the 2019 version as a sort of birthday treat.

Light-ning North Visit

It’s becoming something of a tradition to have a quick trip north just before Christmas and this year was no exception as Heather and I managed to squeeze a couple of days in Newcastle into a crowded December.

Random Catch Up Stuff

I seem to have been quite remiss at keeping up with a few things on here, so this is a bit of catch up post to quickly collect activities from the latter part of the year.

Capital Up North

Only a couple of weeks or so after our last trip north Heather and I found ourselves heading that direction again. This time, however, we went further, to a different country even. For we returned to where we began—the Scottish capital of Edinburgh.

Death By Unga Bunga But Ash Still Live

An old band but a new venue for Heather and I on Wednesday as we went to the Forum, Kentish Town to see Ash

Kent Canines : Gallery

Having greatly enjoyed finding Snowdogs , Heather and I were pleased to see a trail come to nearby Ashford. So it was that we set of for a of hunting them down.

Rough and Leathery Music

A Friday night just gone saw a trip across London to the Apollo to see the wonderful Suede

They were amply supported by the loud The Horrors (complete with scary monster projected behind them) Set list

There Is Something Horrifying Behind You

The main event was Suede though, making an impressive entrance with their shadows projected onto a smoke shrouded screen. They only got better from there. Set list