Bernie decided that he had better get his test out of the way this morning so he went down to the foyer to buy some more wi-fi access and find a spot to sit where he could receive a signal on the lap top. By the time that he had read the instructions and configured the lap top as stipulated in those instructions he had used up quite a bit of the hour of access that he had purchased. Unfortunately the area where wi-fi access is possible is very busy as all of the travel company reps operate from there and there are people coming and going all of the time. Not really ideal, but the only other option was to use the hotel’s computers that are situated in a corner under the stairs!! Bernie logged ... read more

Well, our mobile phones kept ringing overnight which was a bit of a pain. Mine rang first, but I missed the call fumbling around for the phone in the dark! It rang again almost immediately, but there was no-one there when I answered. Bernie’s was next to go off and I thought that whoever had tried me had decided to try Bernie. But no, it was someone involved in the Centrelink selection exercise ringing to let Bernie know that a link for the psychometric testing part of the assessment centre was being emailed to him!! Then, just when we were dozing off again, my phone rang again. When I answered there was still no-one there which was really annoying. To avoid any further interruptions I switched my phone off! I probably should have had the sense ... read more

Today we went into Manchester and caught the 11.15am screening of Terminator Salvation. Going to the early screening ended up being a real bargain with all tickets before midday being just £4.00 each! When we were buying our tickets at about 11.25am we asked if the movie would have started yet. The guy on the ticket counter assured us that we would be fine to catch the start of the movie. As it turned out we had heaps of time. We still saw four previews before the movie finally started at about 11.40am. In the end I think all we missed was the advertising! We both enjoyed the movie. Neither of us could remember enough detail from earlier installments to decide if there are any glaring continuity issues with it or not??! From The Printworks we ... read more

It was raining when we woke up this morning at about 6.00am. It was still raining by 8.00am so we decided that slogging around a field in the mud with the warden looking for a herd of white cows seemed pretty undesirable so we abandoned that idea. With the house at Cragside not opening until 1.00pm we could have wandered around the gardens for a couple of hours, but that seemed like a pretty horrible idea too with the temperature only about 7°C and wet. We interrogated Edna about points of interest and tourist destinations in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, York and Leeds, but in the end decided that we would just drive back to Stalybridge. We have had four good days out of five so we really can’t complain. We sent a text to Kath to let her ... read more

It was a bit sunnier this morning, but quite cool and windy! Our first stop today was Bamburgh Castle the ancient capital of Northumbria and home to its Kings. The oldest part of the castle is the Norman Keep a 900 year old legacy left by William the Conqueror and it remains the most imposing part of the site. Unfortunately Bamburgh is privately owned and we had to pay for our visit today! When we went through the Great Hall we were fortunate enough to hear a couple of instruments being played for a tour group. It seems that the tour group was due at 10.00am and the entertainment had been organized for them between 10.00am and 11.00am before the rest of the paying public started to arrive. Having chairs laid out in the Great Hall ... read more