The Innocents

I’m currently watching a film I last saw at the age of around four or five. I had recurring nightmares for several years afterwards, with no recollection of actually seeing the film.

The dreams were a distant memory, randomly triggered now and again. As a teenager, it was pretty vague, the remnants of dreams rather than an event.

By adulthood, I’d obviously realised I’d seen a film that’d scared the shit out of me as a little kid. But I’d not come across the film, so there was a small element of doubt; I could have imagined it (I had a pretty good imagination back then).

Anyway, the film does exist.

There’s stuff that isn’t in the film, but that was probably down to that child imagination and, well, dreams.

The film’s a bit rubbish by the way. But God knows why I was watching it at that age.

Pop-top

Following the arrival of replacement fabric for the van’s pop-top, the dog and I had a walk to the storage yard with it, yesterday.

It was strangely warm inside the van, so we rested before our return home.

I’d forgotten that we’d left festival beer in the van.

Refrigeration

Facing the problem of not being able to install an exterior condenser unit, we visited some micropubs in town to take a look at their cellar setups.

Northern Kin

So, we went to a festival; Northern Kin. Delayed over a year and relocated, but it was good to have some sort of normality.

While it’s a small scale festival and the line-up wasn’t exactly amazing, it was a lot better than I’d expected.

I hope they keep to the same formula next year.

The dog seemed to have a good time too.

She even made a festival friend.

License

It seems I’ve been granted a premises license.

Which feels weird since we don’t actually have a premises.

A huge step though.

Elbow & Idles

After a pretty huge delay due to Covid, Elbow happened the other night.

A second gig in two weeks, with Idles last week. Two very different bands, but two equally brilliant gigs.

Gateshead

Gateshead town centre has faced brutality since the 60s.

Much of the 60s improvements have recently been demolished, with 21st Century developments taking their place.

However, remnants of an earlier era remain. Not for long, though.

Gateshead High Street hasn’t been much of a high street for a long time, but one must question why it’s been allowed to fall into its current state of virtual dereliction.

Now, I’m aware of the long term plan for the high street, but I can’t understand why restoration gave way to demolition.

We’re now left with a town centre which is effectively a Tesco supermarket. Without doubt, this will one day go the same way as its 60/70s predecessor. It’s more brutal than the former brutalist buildings.

A few years ago, I compared the high street to a mouth made up of decayed teeth. It’s now virtually toothless.

With another extraction in progress.

It’s probably time to rename Durham Road. New Gateshead High Street.

Teesside

Went on a micropub pub crawl in Teesside yesterday.

I don’t actually remember how many micropubs we visited, in Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Stockton.

The day didn’t start too well, with some pubs poorly stocked. I’m not being critical; it’s understandable that small businesses are wary of taking risks such as stocking up with products (cask ale) with a short shelf life.

But the day ended well, with revisited pubs and new discoveries.

Some of our group did miss the last train home though.