Category Archives: History

Dead men’s spectacles

While I always buy one or two regular pairs of glasses whenever I have an eye test, I tend to wear these only for work or around the house.

For my preferred glasses, though, I also buy frames from Dead Men’s Spex, a great site with lots of amazing frames. I tend to by rolled gold, small frames; mostly by Algha.

My current pair, from the late 1800s, are probably the best I’ve ever managed to find. They were ‘new old stock’, so unused despite being around 120 years old.

Sadly, they’re now getting a little creaky, so it was time to think about a new pair. There are a few pairs on the Dead Men’s Spex site, but none are unused.

So I’ve had to resort to a new pair of glasses. Fortunately, Algha are still in business, making glasses by hand in London. Ok, so they’re not quite the age I’d have liked, and they’re somewhat more expensive, but they do look very similar.

Pisa

After hearing from a few people that Pisa is something of a dump, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to seeing it. Even though it’s something that has to be done. 

But it was well worth the visit. 

And, of course, this also had to be done …

It’s not remotely a dump. Come on, I live in Gateshead. Our only historic landmark (the Get Carter car park) was demolished years ago. 

Kids

The high level bridge is my most favourite bridge. Its restoration over a decade ago was remarkable, turning an old blackened monster into a thing of beauty. 

In recent years, though, grafitti has made something of a mess of the structure. Apparently, the estimated cost of a clean-up is around £40,000. Removing the mess would probably be a waste of time, however. The underlying cause would remain and the grafitti would doubtless return. Kids. 

It may have seemed cute in the beginning, but the addition of hundreds of locks has attracted lovesick teenagers. Who, in addition to leaving a token of their undying love, leave the names of their loved ones, friends and words of youthly wisdom. 

Personally, I’d remove them all and throw them into the Tyne. Along with any returning teenagers. 

As an aside, there’s an interesting trick of light in the first picture. I was alone on the bridge. 

A wild and uncultivated waste

I live in what was, in the late 18th Century, described as a wild and uncultivated waste. 

I’ve mentioned previously that our street was originally named Sodhouse Bank. So, a domain name sale led us to purchase www.sodhousebank.com. 

At only £10.80 a year, with a year’s hosting for free, it had to be done. 

I should advise against clicking the link, since there isn’t actually anything there yet. 

Random old stuff

I have a fondness for old things. Furniture mostly. But I do love old brick and stone. 

Some brickwork I found in a bar in Birmingham the other week. 

And some from a bar in Leeds, on Friday. 

And from another bar in Leeds. 

Then one from today, in the garden. Stone this time. 

This one’s going to be a future project; there’s a few more hours of wire brushing first though. 

Made in Scotland

I finally gave in and bought one. A Westclox Baby Ben, which now proudly sits on the mantle. 

I may have been influenced a little by recent scenes from an episode of the Walking Dead. And, of course, by memories of a similar timepiece on the mantle of my childhood. 

I may have also bought a second. 

Extinction

Last year, when a Pterodactyl pooped all over me from a great height in Newcastle, I came to the realisation that dinosaurs were not actually extinct. 

Further evidence of this was discovered yesterday in the Central. When I observed a Tyrannosaurus Rex at the bar. 

Care should be taken when in Newcastle or Gateshead. 

Landfill

A while ago, I dropped down to one desktop PC. With smart TVs and other connected devices, there was no longer the need to have more. 

One old desktop didn’t quite make it to the tip, purely by accident. It hadn’t been used in years, so I was surprised that it booted-up this afternoon. 

I bought it from ebay for around thirty quid over a decade ago, but I think it’s around 17 years old. It’s running Ubuntu 12.04 and, if I remember correctly, couldn’t upgrade to 14.04 a few years ago. It’s something like a Celeron 5 or 600, with a half gig memory and a 60 gig hard drive. 

I may keep it.