A mixed bag

I'm travelling back to newcastle today. I'm standing at reading station as I write this.

So who travels on a Sunday morning?!

From today's results it seems like superheros (no joke- two guys dressed up, fighting on platform 4), families (lots of luggage, quite a few glum faces), and people going to newcastle (or maybe that's just me...)

Adios. :-)

Is Sam Wylie there...?

I haven't forgotten about this blog, honest!

But I just haven't had any big thoughts that I could put down here to make it really interesting reading.

Generally life in the North is good. I have been here for more than a year now which is amazing! I'm driving a bit too now so am getting to know the roads better and feeling like I'm piecing parts of the city together.

I will be going off on holiday soon and I'm really looking forward to that. Not getting up early for a few days will be great.

One quick observation from today: I was on the Metro (Newcastle's underground rail network) and some tourists asked a Metro worker how to get somewhere. As he was describing where to go he asked them if they knew a particular road.

"No", they replied, "we've only just met this city".

What a nice way to describe being new in a place!

Adios.

Pjamas?!

Up here there is a bit of a fashion to go out with your pjamas on! I have just come back from the shops and seen two girls in pjs walking back into their house.

So I was thinking, why would you do this? Well here are some thoughts that might have been going through their minds:

"I'm really tired so I'll pop out to the shops and then be able to go to sleep straightaway when I get back".

"I've literally got no clothes so I have to go out in these..."

"I'm so pleased with these new pjamas I want everyone to see them so I'm going to 'go public' in them."

Well - I still reckon its pretty weird!

It looks like I'm sticking to the informal rule of only writing on this every month - not intentional honest.

Anyway, adios for now.

Holiday!

I've been on holiday this week.

I came down south and experienced all the joys of warm weather, beaches, and old friends.

Back to work next week, but its not with a dread that I'm going back up to Newcastle. No I like living there, and am really starting to feel at home there!

And that is quite a surprise given that 3 months ago I didn't know anyone, or where I was going to live!

p.s - full-time work holiday is really different to uni holiday! Shorter, but sweeter as a result.

Is it really "grim up north"?

Newcastle.

It seems a long way away sometimes, especially on weather maps! The BBC forecast is often "so there will be plenty of sunshine in the South East, particularly focusing on Canterbury, but the North East will be 12C with a strong westerly wind." (Well not quite, but it is amazing how often the South East is so much warmer than here!)

But even if that idea of Newcastle is true, the idea that it's "grim" up here is not true!

In fact I was down in London the other day and thinking about how that felt quite different to Newcastle. The night atmosphere here is much more vibrant - kind of fresh and new and exciting. London seems not to have that; almost like 'this is something we've always done, its a bit of a grind being out, but lets do it anyway'!

Maybe thats because people come here for Hen and Stag parties and so are exploring the city for the first time.

I finally got my graduation DVD through today!

It has taken a lot longer than they said it would which is really annoying. I often came back from work hoping it'd be there, but it never was, until today.

Uni does feel like a long time ago now. With friends going back soon, I am missing it, but pleased to be here as well.

Right. Its ten past ten. Time for the working man (that's me) to sign off. So until next time... happy living.

(Maybe I should develop a goodbye phrase - what do you reckon?!)

It's sunny, it's a Saturday, and this is Sam's blog about a stupendous day.

I've had a truly brilliant day.

Saturdays mean a whole lot more when you're working office hours the rest of the week. Today felt really long, which was nice.

The sun was shining and it was warm, which isn't that normal for up here, whatever the locals tell you...

I was with family friends and had a quiet morning watching Everybody loves Raymond (which i... love...) and enjoying not being at work really early!

And then I decided to discover the METRO CENTRE...

Now, if you have been doing some research, or reading these posts carefully, you will know that Newcastle is very fond of the word "Metro".

Its underground trains are called the Metro, there is the Metro music venue, the Metro Centre, and probably a dodgy pizza place called "Metropizza" as well.

But anyway, the Metro Centre is a large shopping centre (the biggest in the North East, England, Europe, the galaxy... take your pick) and is actually in GATESHEAD. So I made a mistake above.

People in Gateshead are understandably keen to point out that many of the newly built attractions - the Sage concert theatre, the Baltic (a modern art gallery) and the Metro Centre, are all in Gateshead, and not Newcastle.

This place is indeed massive - red zone, blue zone, green zone, yellow zone, central arcade. All on two levels - and loads of shops.

I bought a few small things - some nice pens and a holder to brighten my desk, and a very swish bedside light. It really is very nice. Very nice. I like it. :-)

And then I came out into more sunshine and warmth to watch football on the tele.

Newcastle were playing, live on BBC 1 - which was exciting. And as a new Newcastler, I was supporting them - they drew sadly, and were wearing a horrendous yellow striped shirt. It really is awful.

I also enjoyed a lovely piece of salmon, and homemade chips, and watched Total Wipeout.

Total Wipeout is a programme I don't think I'll find funny every time I watch it, but I do. Its just brilliant!

So, a lovely day, and now off to sleep. :-)

Longbarn life

Before I talk about Longbarn life, I'm listening to a programme on Radio 4 about MI6 - or the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) as they are formally called - and its quite sobering.

It seems to be pretty different to Spooks and James Bond, some of it must be quite dull and office-like I think. The programme is talking about 'moles' in the service as well, which sounds awful (unless they were moles in the KGB...)

So anyway, Longbarn. What a great camp it was again.

What really struck me this time was seeing children changing as the week went on.

Every night we had 'S.T.E.P' (singing, thinking, exploring, praying) when these 50 children heard a Bible story, along with great songs (with me singing too which was fun).

Children who seemed very uninterested at the beginning of the week were singing and listening enthusiastically by the end of it. It really made me think about why I do it and encourage me that it makes such a difference.

This year was also great with the leaders! We had a lot of laughs, about everything from playing Top Trumps, to falling over in the mud, to losing at handball (6-2 on one day!).

It was so much fun.

But now I'm back in newCASTLE.

And I like it here. I'm getting to know places and enjoying exploring the area.

Work is good too, and I'm enjoying being paid a lot too!! (I'm enjoying it a lot, I'm not being paid a lot, well more than when I was at Essentials...)

Shopping centres, weather, and other things that British people like to talk about.

Well, I haven't written on this blog for some time.

So Newcastle life is going well, it is not as hot as some parts of the country, in fact yesterday it rained ALL DAY! Not just spitting rain, massive buckets of water from the sky. Today is better weather wise, a lot brighter.

Josh came up to Newcastle last week. We went to the the city centre, and into a rather large shopping centre - eldon place or something - and it did the thing that all shopping centres do: make you feel like you're in any city in a any county, SOMEWHERE in the UK.

It is very strange how this happens, and it might be something to do with the shops all being the same in the whole country, but it really did feel like I could be in Reading, or London, or Scotland.

So we attempted to make our way out, and then spent about 20 minutes wandering round this vast bright shopping centre unable to find the exit! At one point we could see the street from above but couldn't get out, it was weird!

You're a what?

I haven't written on this for AGES... 

Well, "from a final year to the world" is this blog's tagline, and I'm going to have to change that, because I am now officially a graduand. What's that? Umm, Google...? Its a person who's finished their degree, but has not actually graduated. So I will be a graduand for a matter of days, I'm going to enjoy it!

The good news is that I have a 2:1, and the other good news is that I've now moved to Newcastle for a job up here. 

For people reading this who are not British (or indeed, know only the south of England...), Newcastle is nearly 300 miles from London, and on the River Tyne. It is famous for its football team (recently relegated), its ale, coal, and recent rejuvenation. 

Its a great place, and this blog I'm sure will soon be full of the differences between my former home of Whitstable and Newcastle.