Dear Newcastle - I'll Miss Thee

And that is weird because I've never come as close to being banished from my home ever in my life. The toon (as in Geordie-talk) has given me some weird memories to ROFL about. If you do want to know more (I can't see why you would), read on at your own risk:

Crows Nest

To say that I love this pub will be an understatement. If I could, I would carry it with me to India. Staff, who are our best friends by the way, Decor, everything. It is right next to the Uni and serves superb food. Fish and Chips, Chicken and Bacon Sandwich (without Bacon if you like), Cod Fish Finger Sandwich, Tuna Melts, Diet Pepsi (not coke!) everything tastes wonderful here. But what makes this pub a winner is that it is 'reasonable'. And this website confirms it. You can get a drink and decent amount of food within 5 GBP pp if you choose your food intelligently. And the pub also has a hygiene rating of 5 stars if you are as fanatic about hygiene as we weren't. Our frequent afternoon lunches wouldn't be the same if it hadn't been for Crows Nest.

The pub earlier used to be called Bar Oz. I'm glad they took on a new name though. I wouldn't want to be associated with a bar named Oz.

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Here is its biggest and meanest burger appropriately called the Original Loaded Burger (special emphasis on Loaded):

Warning: Eat this only if you haven't eaten anything for at least a month else choose a lighter option. One of our friends went into a food-coma on eating this and sat listlessly for hours afterwards.

Northumberland Street:

The most happening street in the toon, as they call it in Geordie. And by that I mean, REALLY happening. It'll be boring if I tell you that all major chains have their stores on this street. So let's just concentrate on the interesting stuff that happens here. Where else can you see a band of Native Americans (or not!) performing? Anywhere else has a store owner ballet danced towards you to tell you that the store is closed? And beat this if you can. Has a nun driving a piano ever stopped by to ask you how to get to San Jose? If you think I am lying (and I won't hold it against you), here's the proof:



Ducks and Swans at the Leazes Park
Owing to the poverty associated with studentship, I preferred walking down to the Uni from my home and it is a good 2 mile walk one side. It helps that the entire way to the Uni is downhill though that means that the way back is entirely uphill. Anyways, there wasn't much motivation for me to walk to the Uni everyday (classes don't count!) and I would do it very reluctantly. However, one day I discovered a route through the Leazes Park. And inside the Leazes park I discovered a lake dotted with magnificient Swans and ducks. And the world changed for me from that day. I actually started looking forward to the walks now.

And this is where I saw the first ducklings ever.

Flowers with a Personality

They start appearing everywhere in Spring. Does anyone plant them there before the beginning of the season? I don't think I'll ever know the answer. Perhaps there's a flower Santa somewhere. Anyways, what is unique about the flowers here is that they have a personality and seem to say something. Such as these:

Daffodils that look down upon you.

Flowers that want to break free

Courage on the streets

Geordie women are famous for the war they have waged against weather. And the weather here deserves no less than that. See this for example. And to protect them from everything else, superheroes descend upon the streets. Do you think any town can be safer than Newcastle then?

The Snowman that made us famous

Now this is getting emotional for me. This is where I saw my first snow falling. And it was as pretty as I could've imagined. But then, it kept snowing. And then, it still kept snowing. And I've pretty much had enough for a lifetime. But during this snowfall, I built my very first snowman. Well there were others involved but I'll just steal their credit.

And this was a very special snowman. It had green eyes and and was animated in the sense that its wide smile turned into a grimace gradually. And today, even in the middle of summers, children in our neighbourhood ask us at every opportunities "Are you the people who built the snowman?".

And, finally, a river that likes to flow backwards

I was so surprised that I wrote a poem about it and after I had performed it at a festival, a woman came running to tell me that she could completely relate to what I was talking about. I was glad of some support. May be now we can start an awareness campaign. 

And then there are things that I have learnt in the toon and I'm not talking about Creative Writing. So watch out for the next post.