Those of you who find my postings too long and boring, be warned! I am about to bore the pants off you with the minutia of my long weekend in God`s country! (:o)

As you will have guessed, I was looking for a real luxury break, in lieu of the Silver Wedding trip which had to be scrapped. I was bitterly disappointed not to have been able to book Pete and I into the Malmaison. Their suggestion that we could stay Thurday, Friday, Sunday and Monday somehow didn`t really grab me! In the end I opted, with some trepidation as it was a long time since I`d last stayed there, for the Gosforth Park Hotel. In fact I was pleasantly surprised - despite reports that it had `gone downhill`, it was actually still very good. The only real difference I could see was that it was a little less `stuffy`.

The room was excellent, staff very helpful and accommodating, and the bill at the end of our stay was pleasantly free of overblown charges for extras. Even phone calls were not charged at an excessive rate. We ate dinner there on Thursday night, and the meal was really good - much better than I had expected.

It seems that both on the way to Newcastle on Thursday, and on the way back yesterday, we were very lucky to have had long but trouble free journeys. It was beginning to get rather spooky, because, in both directions we were listening to the travel information, and as our journeys progressed, each bulletin would be about accidents, traffic jams, lorries which had fallen over - and always just a junction or two behind us! Well I know Pete drives fast, but surely not fast enough to leave a wake of destruction of those proportions! In all seriousness though, we were extremely lucky not to have encountered any problems.

On Friday morning we made a flying visit into Newcastle for a quick bit of shopping. Pete and I don`t shop well together, so we split up for a couple of hours, arranging to meet up again at the same spot in Eldon Square. I arrived back to be greeted by a rather disgruntled looking husband who was bemoaning the fact that there were no `good` pubs in Newcastle. Between you and I, I don`t think Pete actually managed to find his way out of Eldon Square.(;o)

The afternoon was spent on a whistle-stop tour of the Quayside at North Shields, a `bracing` walk from Tynemouth to Cullercoats and back, Whitley Bay and a drive up the coast. Due to very unkind weather, and a very bad choice of routes on my part (the coast road up to Blyth is not the prettiest), Pete was beginning to look ever so slightly jaded, so we struck out inland via Morpeth. We did a big loop out into the countryside and eventually back towards the hotel via Ponteland, and for some reason (probably of the `Men are from Mars....`etc., variety) Pete seemed to thoroughly enjoy driving for a couple of hours in total `white-out` blizzard conditions!

I came to the conclusion that, being a soft southerner, snow obviously has a great deal of novelty value for Pete. Back at the hotel Pete stood at the window of our room watching it snow horizontally at galeforce speed and declared `That`s great! (:o) Where are we going tonight?` He was loving it!

I opted for dinner at the closest place we had been recommended - Horton Grange, and as it turned out, the snow was not a problem. Taliband Taxis, however, were.............!!!

To be continued/.............

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

Answers

Glad to here you enjoyed your trip despite the weather. You should have asked about pubs. Provide us with the type of pub he likes and I'm sure between all of us we could have provided a nice long list for your husband to try within the city boundary. That is unless he prefers the 'Royston Vasey' approach to pubs.

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

Andy, the trip got much more exciting.......I`m popping out to see my Mother now, but I shall continue later! (:o)

I know I`m going to regret asking this, but exactly what sort of approach are you talking about? Apologies if I am just being particularly thick!

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

That'd be the local pubs for local people approach...some people like em like that...

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

The 'Are you local' approach. In other words he like his local and everwhere else just can't match up.

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

Galaxy, you've given yourself an opportunity to redress the offence you have caused me twice in your original posting:

(the coast road up to Blyth is not the prettiest) - that's my home town you're talking about there pet!

and

We did a big loop out into the countryside and eventually back towards the hotel via Ponteland, and for some reason (probably of the `Men are from Mars....`etc., variety) Pete seemed to thoroughly enjoy driving for a couple of hours in total `white-out` blizzard conditions! so why didn't you call in at The Plough (which would have pleased Pete and me no end!!)

I await your excuses with interest :)

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

No offense meant Screacher! One half of my family originated from Cowpen, and I`m a Willington Quay lass, and just as you are, I`m very proud of my roots. I just meant that the road from St Mary`s Lighthouse and up the coast in freezing driving sleet is a bit of a `grey` experience.

As for popping in and seeing you at the Plough, sorry, but I didn`t realise we were near your local. In fact, it was not really easy to `see` anything! However, we should be back up again soon, and now I know roughly where you are, you will be first point of call on our next excursion!

As for the `local` thing - well to be perfectly honest, Pete thinks the pubs around here are pretty dire and (as some of you already know) he`s not wrong there! I did, however, introduce him to the delights of the Strawberry........more of that later! (;o)

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

I was born in Willington Quay Maternity hospital! Small world. (Or not really considering most of us are Geordies!)

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

Small world indeed Lynda! And getting smaller, or at least Willington Quay is judging by my visit. George Street is still there, but only just! (:o)

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

.......And so, to continue.....Dolled up to the nines, and leaving my coat at the hotel, as we were going by taxi, we awaited our `carriage`. We waited as a trail of `proper` taxis came and went. Black cabs, brightly painted taxis, even some disguised as cows(?), and then ours. The doorman flounced down the steps and opened the door for us with as much flourish as the creaking vehicle would allow. This car would not have looked out of place on Hyacinth Bouquet`s sister`s drive, or in an old episode of the Sweeney! However, the doorman looked unperturbed, so we hopped in and set off for what should, I believed, have been a five minute journey.

The driver, whose broad Geordie accent belied his Middle Eastern ancestry, roared off down the A1 towards Newcastle and demanded to know where Horton Grange was as he had never heard of it! Bit of a predicament here, as I had just assumed that a local taxi driver would know where he was going, or would have at least checked when the cab was booked. However, I vaguely felt that it might have been somewhere near the airport, as I distinctly remember having seen a sign for it during our snow blown afternoon excusion. With that, the driver made a split second decision and hurled the car off at the exit we had almost passed. We then careened round a roundabout twice, a queasy experience on very soggy suspension, darted off at an exit, burned rubber for about a quarter of a mile, at which point we encountered another roundabout and where the driver executed an abrupt and really quite impressive handbrake turn into a conveniently placed layby off the roundabout!

At this stage, I must confess, I was feeling just a little uneasy...OK, to be honest I was half expecting him to pull out a big knife and slit our throats. (I know, I know....it was an unworthy thought - I am neither a racist, nor do I subscribe to sterotyping, but I was just at that moment feeling rather fraught!) Instead he got out his mobile phone and rang his brother, Farook (sp), and giggling just a little hysterically told him that he was totally lost, and didn`t know how to get where he was supposed to be going.

After a string of rapid fire questions, all of which I answered because I didn`t realise he was still talking to his brother, some of which he asked twice because he couldn`t hear his brother`s replies for my increasingly raised voice from the back seat, and all of which caused Pete huge amusement, we roared off from whence we came.....back up the motorway, this time in a northerly direction.

From then on, or for at least another mile, it was plain sailing until his engine blew in a terrifying and spectacular manner. So there we were, almost in sight of the Gosforth Park Hotel again, ground to a halt in a dead car, smoke billowing from under the bonnet and just to add to the experience, it was snowing heavily and horizontally again! The dilemma was, did we sit in an unlit car on the side of the motorway and wait for a snowblinded driver to hit us, or, did we get out of the car and attempt to climb up the bank in the snow, clarts and minus God knows how many degrees of wind-chill?

In the end we opted to sit it out in the car, praying to whichever God was most likely to be listening, and awaited the arrival of a very irate Farook! At least he didn`t take too long to get there. He had a newer car - at least Pete said it was newer because it had a synthetic fur dashboard and loud stero and a ten foot aerial, which was, apparently very seventies.

We arrived at the restaurant looking like two mud-splattered refugees, an hour late for our meal and a little shell-shocked.

The meal was great, and after two glasses of wine I was seeing the funny side of things again. However, I was very relieved when the taxi Horton Grange booked for us arrived looking black, boring and normal!

And that was just our first day there........there`s more! (:o)

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

You made that up Gal. Don't believe a word of it.

You'll be telling us next that the meter already registered £10.97 and when you remonstrated with Fakoor, or whatever his alias was, that there was no way you were paying £10.97 on top of the proper fare, you were told in no uncertain terms that what you were looking at was the radio frequency, not the meter.

Howweh. Own up. :-{E}

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2002

Come on Galaxy - the suspense is killing me. Cracking yarn.

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Pit Bill - not a single fib or embellishment in these postings! Mind that frequency thing is funny, because I have made that mistake in London. Unfortunately that tends to lull you into a false sense of security - you think the driver`s forgotten to switch on the meter, get a twenty pound note out ready, only to hear him say `That`ll be £27 thank you!`. (:o)

Jonno, the taxi was definately the low point of our break - it got decidedly better after that! (:o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Saturday was a much better day, though I did start the day with a bit of a hangover!{:o{

Freezing cold, but beautifully sunny - champion!(:o)

Just as a little aside from my `weekend diary`, Pete hasn`t been to the North East for some 12 years when we came up to a wedding. The contrast is amazing. Everywhere we went there seemed to be an overall feeling of regeneration. Of course Pete hadn`t seen any of the changes to the Quayside, so he was hugely impress with that, but even in more out of town areas and in smaller villages, most places looked as though real effort was being put in spruce the place up. What I particularly liked was the fact that a lot of the smaller old properties had had facelifts rather than being raised to the ground.

Some of the buildings in town are so beautiful, now that a hundred years or more of smoke and grime have been removed. Again, pardon my ignorance, but is Newcastle called `the Golden City` because of the amount of sandstone used for building? (At least I think it`s sandstone.) When the sun is shining these new and restored buildings really do seem to glow.

I know that there are, of course, still deprived and rundown areas, we saw those too - but for Pete particularly, the difference overall to the area was quite striking. I think the only area that I know well, which needs some serious innovative attention is the block which houses the Spanish City. It will be interesting to see what treatment that receives. (:o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Donning winter woollies we decided to have a wander round Tynemouth fleamarket. I just can`t resist the temptation to look for vintage textiles and stuff like that. I also can`t pass an antique shop without paying it a visit - though we actually didn`t come across many on our trip.

I love Tynemouth Station. I bought another book on the history of Tynemouth and Cullercoats, and it has some fabulous photos of the Station in its heyday!

When we couldn`t stand the cold any longer (the sun was not actually penetrating the Station), we wandered down to Tynemouth High Street and had a couple of pints in the Salutation(?) We were with one of my cousins and her husband, and he thought Pete would enjoy a pint or two in there. Then off to the chippie for chips and batter (boy did we eat a lot this weekend), which we ate sat in the car between the two piers. We had been full of good intentions about walking along Tynemouth pier......but it was so cold, we chickened out!

Saturday night was fun! Six of us (twin cousins and their husbands) went off to a Japanese restaurant. Can`t remember the name, but we drove past the Strawberry and down towards the river. Excellent food, cooked on a big metal griddle with much flair and theatre (like a table) which we all sat around. Again though, the restaurant was freezing, so when they started cooking we were toasty warm down our fronts, and chilly down the back!

Highly disorganised with the bill though - they must lose money hand over fist as we could quite easily have walked out without paying. In fact, they were waving goodbye, before we finally collared someone to work out what we owed them. Twenty five minutes later they produced a bill for half of what it should have cost, and frankly we paid it and left, as we felt it was probably 100 percent more than they would be getting from many of their customers that night!

Off down to the Quayside for a nightcap in the Piano and Pitcher and to look at the gorgeous Millenium Bridge at night. Feeling a bit touristy we decided to walk across it, and I honestly thought Pete would be picking up his ears on the way back - it was bliddy freezing! (:o)

Sunday was F A N T A S T I C .........but I`ll tell you about that later! (;o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Unfortunately the Spanish City is down for the type of renovation which will leave (I think) a large shopping centre in it's place along with a multistory car park and other so called goodies.

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

That`s a real shame Andy. It won`t encourage anyone but local shoppers into the area. There is so much potential there and a supermarket will do nothing to revitalise the area. (:o|

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

.....Sunday dawned, dull and overcast, and I have to admit to feeling a little flat that Pete and I were not going to the game. Maybe it would not have been the best of venues for Pete`s first Newcastle game though, and we would at least be watching it in good company `cos my cousins were coming to the hotel for lunch in the bar. Nice big screen, so at least we would get a good view.

My stomach was churning with pre match nerves, so I decided to look for a local paper to see if there was anywhere we could head to for a little mooch around - and fill in the morning. I was meeting Pete in the dining room for breakfast, and when we had almost finished, he suddenly piped up with `Guess who I came down in the lift with`. I replied with something along the lines of `no idea - surprise me`. Well he certainly did when he said it was Craig Bellamy!

`How odd` I thought `maybe it was just a look alike supporter wearing his colours`. Mind you, in hindsight, he does have a pretty `distinctive` look! Anyway, we finished our leisurely breakfast and wandered out to the lobby, and I, of course, couldn`t resist asking the porter if Pete had, in fact, been correct. I was gob-smacked to learn that the whole team was there! In fact they had been there overnight, and had spent a couple of hours in the lounge and bar chatting to the hotel guests! We, of course, missed all that because we went out early and got back late.

I was, as you can imagine, beside myself with excitement. I was desperate to meet Alan Shearer and add his autograph to our growing collection. If you remember, when Yelli and I were up last time, Shearer was still injured and wasn`t training, so we didn`t get to see him. Just then the team coach pulled up outside, and the porter said that they were leaving in about twenty minutes, and that if I hung around I was sure to catch him!

He wasn`t wrong! Low and behold, twenty minutes later Alan Shearer wandered through the lobby, sporting a real shiner of a black eye, and obliged me with his autograph and a cheeky grin! After that they all came out in dribs and drabs....Clarance Acuna was very friendly and he and his brother(?) stopped and chatted for a while. Don`t ask me what he said, `cos I couldn`t take in a word of it - and he sure as hell wouldn`t have understood the garbage that was coming from me!

I`d grabbed a throw away camera from the shop in the lobby (I did pay for it), and went outside to try and get photos as they came out. Sadly the photos were not great, I was cold and shivering from head to toe (it was the cold, honestly), but they all stopped and obliged with a smile. Gary Speed even apologised for turning his head just as the camera clicked, and stood still for me to take another one.

Bobby Robson came out, indicated that he was just putting some stuff in his car, then came over and chatted for ages! I am so impressed with this man! Both times I have met him (how cool is that!) he has been so accommodating, and made a real effort to be friendly. He asked if I was going to the match, and other such general chitchat. And I asked if they were going to make my weekend and totally twonk the mackems - or words to that effect!

I just could not believe my luck, and I was thanking my lucky stars that MalMaison hadn`t been able to fit us in!(:o)..........

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

.......I was just bursting to tell someone and, of course, rang Yelli immediately. That was actually the only downside to it all - I would have loved her to be there too. Anyway, in a moment of inspiration I suddenly thought that some of the BBSers might be in the Strawberry before going to the match. The team had left pretty early, and there was still loads of time before the game, so we dashed off into town to the Strawberry.

Of course, I hadn`t taken into account that you were all having to be bussed in, and we arrived at a virtually empty Strawberry. I was so disappointed. I hadn`t dared to try to arrange any sort of big meet- up over the weekend, partly because it was so `last minute`, but mostly because I just didn`t know how the time was going to pan out - with family to see etc. I was going to ask if I could write `GALAXY WOZ HERE` on the blackboard - just to prove it to you all!(:o)

Do you know, I had thought that the Strawberry was a real spit and sawdust type pub when I was up last time, but it looked very clean and tidy. I was a bit disappointed it didn`t look kind of rougher - but I`ve since heard that it has just been decorated. I have also since heard, that in fact some of you went there after the match, so my timing was really off (though I did receive a small consolation for missing you all)..........(;o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

........So, back to the hotel to watch the game over a pub lunch and a couple of glasses of wine. Lovely rosy glow caused by the great result (and perhaps the wine). Said goodbye to my family, Pete went off for a sauna, and I waited in the lounge for the team`s triumphant return! Well, I couldn`t not, could I?(:o)

It was surprisingly low-key actually, as there was virtually no-one around. The coach was back quite quickly, everyone left it quite quickly too and scattered to their cars. I did manage to tell Bobby that it had made my weekend, which made him smile. I congratulated Shay on some great `stops`, and would have congratulated Dabs, but he was off the bus like a hare at the gate!

I decided that I was badly in need of a cup of strong coffee, so retired to the deserted bar, ordered a coffee and settled down to watch the remains of the Worthington Cup Final.

Two minutes later, most of the team arrived at full speed into the bar, and sat at the tables around me to watch the rest of the match too! I was practically paralysed, and I think I had turned a lovely shade of pink too. They must have known I was embarrassed because I got some lovely grins flashed my way. With Alan Shearer sat at the table next to me, not two foot away, and Gary Speed actually asking me if it was ok for him to take one of the chairs from my table and turn it round, AND asking if he was in my way and `could I still see OK?` - the only way I could keep a grip and stop myself from gibbering like a fool was to watch that Cup Final as though my life depended on it!(:o!!!

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Sounds like a wonderful way to celebrate your anniversary and well worth the delay! :-)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

......Now I know what you are all thinking `scant consolation for missing out on a drink with you lot in the Strawb` - but as a consolation prize - it`s not bad!

Once I had calmed down a little, I did try to `share` the experience with Yelli. Trying to be as surreptitious as possible, while at the same time to look as cool as possible, like I was having to make an important business call or something (just in case anyone was looking), I punched in Yelli`s number and, doing a pretty fair impersonation of a very bad ventriloquist, asked Yelli if she could `gear all the goices in the gackground`! Amazingly she understood what I said, but I couldn`t hear her properly and it sounded as though she said `I spit on your grave`, or some such thing, though I`m sure it couldn`t have been. (;o) She did point out that she didn`t really feel as though she was actually `sharing` this experience.

The team seemed to enjoy the game, and the result was well received.

As soon as it finished, they were off really, nodding politely as they left. A truly amazing experience for me, and I just can`t believe how jammy it was that I happened to be in the right place at the right time!

Oh, BTW, Pete spent the afternoon in the fitness club with the cast of The Blues Brothers for company - but somehow that just didn`t seem so exciting to me! (:o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

YEEEAAAAYYY, GALAXY !!!!! I'M VERY, VERY HAPPY FOR YOU :-)))))

I'm pinning my flag to the mast:-))

Let me be the first to say that I think I've just read out to Fifties Fan THE most wonderful postings ever, on (what I believe to be the Real ) Newcastle United bbs. I reckon Bobby and Shearer and Gary Speed would enjoy getting a copy of that.

Every Geordie reading that is reading a dream come true. Simple but true. In fact, any footie fan in the World would understand that !! Classic. (Can I be your agent '-))))

I think I can say for all of us, thanks for the tour of our memories and ESPECIALLY for the final posting...Ta.

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Hi Ciara! It was brilliant for me, but I just don`t think it was quite as exciting for Pete! (:o) However, we went for a curry on Sunday evening - and he thought that was great! (:o)

When we got back, Yelli wanted to know why I hadn`t chatted to them in the bar afterwards. Besides the obvious reason that I probably wouldn`t have been able to string two words together coherently, it also would have felt like intruding. I think they had really done their bit for NUFC PR the night before, and had been very approachable before the match. In fact, if I hadn`t already been sat in the bar, I definately wouldn`t have gone in after they arrived.

Just one observation though - Bobby Robson looked shattered when they got back after the match. He really did look tired and weary and rather subdued. I guess, a bit like a 70 yearold would look after a hard day at the office.

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Cracking story Galaxy. I think you should send the script to Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais!

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Val, I`m pleased you enjoyed it! I was just so excited that I had to tell someone, and it just doesn`t have the same significance unless you are telling someone who shares your passion.(:o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Oh the green green hue of my face :-)

Not sure I would want to spill beer all over my lap in front of my heroes mind...

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

......makes my 20 second "chat" with Gary Speed last week seem very lame!

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Honestly, Softie I just couldn`t believe my luck! I also bet that you would have no trouble at all chatting away to them - I just knew that I would make an utter fool of myself if I even tried.(:o)

I have to say that Monday was also a lovely day. I did the Hadrian`s Wall thing with Pete - blimey it was bleak up there and still covered in snow. Then a little wander in Corbridge - lovely little place.

I also had Pete wandering around the graveyard in Stamfordham, in driving sleet for a change, looking for Robsons - and we found plenty, including the grave of my Great Great Great Grandfather Joseph Robson - which was wonderful.

We then carried on up to Morpeth for a bite of lunch, and I found a couple of antique shops to browse in. I also found the most exquisite still life in oils, in a gallery there. Anyone who lives in the area should go and see it - it is truly amazing. It`s in a gallery above a shop which sells home furnishing fabrics, etc. Quite a posh shop. Coming from the A1 direction it`s on the lefthand side of the High Street, not on the stretch that has Smiths, the bit where the High Street turns up to the right. It is by a Spanish artist, and is a picture of four pears on a table covered with a piece of silky fabric. It is just stunning, and had I had a spare £1,900 with me I would be admiring it on the wall at home now!!!

Then, I`m afraid we had to start thinking about the fact that our mini-break was coming to an end, and returned to the hotel to pack, and get ready for the final highlight of the week, which was dinner with our very own Clarky and his lovely wife Evelyn. A super evening, and Pete was so pleased to meet them both (and to discuss cars instead of football!)

Thanks Clarky, and thanks for not stealing my thunder over my Close Encounter of the NUFC Kind! (;o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Just as a little footnote to all this, I have to say that Peter really loved his break up there - despite the foul weather, which was really unkind, I am hoping that he is warming to the idea of buying a little place up there. It would be great to have somewhere to stay for a few days whenever we wanted to get away (preferably when there is a home game on!)

I would really like us to move there when Pete retires - I think it`s perhaps a little too soon to start pushing for that yet, but a few more visits might just tip the balance! I`ll keep you posted.(:o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

I know the feeling exactly, Galaxy! Had a similar experience when the team turned up at my hotel in Columbus while they were in the States a couple summers ago. It was all I could do not to burst before getting up to my room to call a friend in Florida and scream in her ear. Definitely not easy trying to be non-chalant(sp?). ;-))

Great to read all your posts about the whole weekend. Certainly one you'll never forget!

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

You spawny gets! :-)

Great story Galaxy. And they won - which means you have to come up every weekend now.

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Wish I could Jonno! (:o)

Ciara it does really catch you out doesn`t it? I mean I`m no spring chicken and quite a normal, capable person really - I can`t believe how pathetically giddy I felt. (:o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

You might have turned pink Glaxy, i'm turning green.

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Just read this thread through again - I hope I didn`t sound as though I was `crowing`. Not my intention at all - but I just had to tell you all or I would have burst!

Also folks, I really am sorry that I didn`t have time to find out what you were all doing last weekend. Next time I hope I can give you some advanced warning and that we can all get together. I`d love Pete to meet everyone.(:o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Wonderful narration Galaxy and certainly didn't sound like you were crowing. I was thinking of going "home" at Easter time and staying around my home area (Alnwick-Alnmouth). Maybe I will now book into the GPH. My Wedding Anniverary is in July, You've made me think I should have had a winter wedding. As someone else said you have lived one of our dreams....Pleased you "enjoyed" your weekend.

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Bob, I can highly recommend a visit - it is very theraputic! I love Alnwick and Alnmouth. The first time I took Pete North, before we were married, we stayed in a wonderful pub in Alnmouth. Real character landlady and a very boozy few days! (:o)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Doesn't sound like crowing at all, Galaxy. It's a wonderful story! I'm so glad for your experience and that you shared it with us. :-)

-- Anonymous, February 28, 2002

Wow what a weekend! Galaxy I'm so pleased for you.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2002

Thanks Steph,,,,and I`m sorry I didn`t get to see you this time.(:o)

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2002

What a fantastic weekend break, Galaxy. I keep promising to take my wife up (without the kids), and as with you were keen on the Malmaison (with a view of the bridge), but GPH might be more interesting.

Won't be long now before I get my Northumbrian dose (week beginning April 15th). I always seem to have the reverse luck you had Gal. Last time I was up, we took the kids to Beamish and thought we'd pop into the Riverside on the way, having checked they were training. When we got there they'd obviously got wind of us, and had all been given the day off :-((

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2002

Pete, they stopped using the Riverside at all after Yelli and I had been up last year!(;o)

I still don`t really understand why the team stayed overnight before the Sunderland game. I wonder if they stay there before every away game? I should have asked. I was informed by the desk that when Newcastle are at home, the away team usually stay at the Gosforth Park.

I can only speak as I find, and we had no complaints about the Hotel (mind we had gone for a really posh room). Pete also said that the fitness centre is excellent.

Whatever you do though, book early, especially if there is a home game on. (:o)

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2002