Greetings from the train, just approaching Darlington. I’m on my way back from GGF in Nottingham, and am enjoying the wireless internet that National Express trains have as standard.
What they don’t have as standard, however, is power sockets, so I will shortly have to switch off my dying laptop and find something else to do, like look out of the window at the miserable, flat, grim landscape of the north-east of England.
And what’s worse, the train’s running late due to engineering works, and there’s very little leg room where I am sitting.
However, all is not lost – Team North won the football yesterday, levelling the series at 2-2. We won 4-1 on the day against Team South, braving some horrendous weather conditions. I played little better than mediocre, and am exhausted and battered at the end of it all. But I am of course delighted that we won.
I get home much later tonight, and thankfully have tomorrow off, meaning I can nurse my numerous football-related bumps, bruises and aches, and get some much-needed sleep.
Oh, and talking of epic pain-filled victories against the forces of evil, Happy Easter everyone.
the miserable, flat, grim landscape of the north east of England?
thats fighting talk where I come from……………
Come on, admit it. It’s grim.
Though I will grant one honourable exception – Durham cathedral looks magnificent towering above the city. It’s great that so few high buildings are anywhere near, so the cathedral really stands out.
Oh yes, and Berwick. That’s quite pretty. Must stop there one day. But it’s more or less Scottish anyway.
Obviously shows you don’t know that much about NE England and how much of it ain’t flat and grim!
Having recently been on the East Coast main line, travelling through the North East, I am struggling to think which views can be described as ‘miserable, flat [and] grim’. How can you say the view across the North Sea to Lindisfarne or the seaside village of Alnmouth are grim? You could disembark from your train at Alnmouth and travel to the Cheviots, which are not exactly flat. I challenge you to watch the TV advert and still say that the North East is a miserable, flat, grim landscape.
http://tv.visitnortheastengland.com/
The football field is flat. It rained a fair bit and given it’s still winter up there I’d hazard a guess that it was pretty cold as well.
I’d say he was within his rights to say it was flat and grim in that particular location {;->
You think you can just slag off the north east with sweeping statements, and then wheedle (?) your way back into my favour by being nice about durham?
Well, you can!
Right, some clarification.
I wasn’t saying that all of north-east England is grim. Just that which you can see out of the east coast train line. With the exceptions of Berwick, Alnmouth (I’ll grant you that one David), Durham and the brilliantly regenerated Tyne at Newcastle, my point stands: the scenery is mostly flat and bland, and the urban areas are uninspiring. Yes, there’s nice bits, but it must be admitted there’s an awful lot of really dull bits.
However you’re right, David – leave the trainline and there’s plenty to see. Alnmouth looked lovely, Newcastle is one of my favourite cities in the UK, and there’s lovely hills further inland. But you can’t see all of that up close from the train.
Lara – Nottingham is more in the Midlands, and not in what would normally be described as the north-east of England. Although what you say is accurate as it’s fairly similar to the north-east, topographically.
And Mark – yes indeed, that’s exactly what I think I can do!