Summer 2016-learning new things

---

I guess for me I mainly associate blogging with travelling and only do the former whilst doing the latter!! Hence why there has been such a big gap since my last one.

Our last trip was to the house in Spain in July, our night in El Altet at the end was good, nice Spanish vibe to the town and a room with aircon and therefore a good night’s sleep. It was literally 15minutes drive to the airport so the trip home was easy.

I have called this blog “learning new things” so I will start there. It has been a summer of adventure for me on a number of fronts.

I did a one day course called “Drawing for the Terrified” at Newcastle Arts Centre and managed to produce four different pieces of work. Whilst I was really pleased with the results it did make me realise that the hardest part of drawing for me is sitting still and I haven’t done anything since the course.

Chris and I had great fun attempting Stand Up Paddle boarding (SUP) while we were in Wales but it demonstrated how despite the walking and cycling and my general level of fitness I am not very supple. I set about working with a personal trainer called Rebecca from mid July through to the end of August. I loved the sessions which were a mixture of cardio and strengthening the core, a lot of it based on Pilates. I did a couple of classes of Pound, (zumba with drumsticks) and also a whole Pilates session. We did the sessions at the leisure centre in South Shields and when it was fine did them outside on the roof looking out to sea. I now have a range of exercises I can continue throughout the winter in Spain. A big thank you to Rebecca!

SUP part two was the objective of the personal training and I booked a one to one session with a local lad called Joe. He picked me up and we went down to the river Wear in Durham where he uses a stretch of the river which is where Durham Rowing Club is based. After several failed attempts I did manage on 3-4 occasions to go from kneeling to standing, although the shock of getting upright the first time resulted in a spectacular dive worthy of the Olympics!!

My final learning was a four hour one to one photography course with Neil Atkinson in Newcastle. It started with a cup of coffee and some initial tuition in Wetherspoons and then we went out and about in Newcastle practising the techniques he had taught me. I was pleased with the results and had a fabulous time using my camera in Norwich. I had tried reading through the manual but gave up!!

So I experienced four different things and each helped me understand a bit more about how I prefer to learn. Although I am a real people person I am better one to one as it can go at my pace. I have tried exercise classes before but unless it is beginners and you are in at the start I always feel I am behind everyone else. I hope to be able to find opportunities for SUP in Spain and when we go to Egypt in early 2017. When I was younger I had an SLR camera and used to love taking photographs and thinking about the composition etc. My camera now is a bridge but with it set to manual I can get some really good shots so am looking forward to doing more.

I have managed to pack a fair amount in to the time I was in the North East. It has been a difficult time for some people and my sister-in-law, Vanessa, has had to cope with a mastectomy for breast cancer but she seems very positive.

I had a fabulous day in Ovingham visiting my friend Marie who has a summer house at a place called Ferry Landing, it is her project now that she has fully retired and it had a real feel of calm about it.

For Amy’s birthday we all went to Escape in Newcastle which is one of these games where you are locked in a room and then have to figure out a puzzle to get out. We had to find a bomb before it blew up the city and we managed with 10 minutes to spare. We then had a lovely meal at Chilli Padi, a small Malaysian restaurant in town.

As I have been staying with Idg and Keith I have had two trips out with Vicki, first the shoe exhibition at Bowes museum, a lovely day but the exhibition did not live up to last year’s YSL. Our second trip was to the Hilton Gateshead for a cheap pamper session and it was a bit disappointing but we had lovely tapas in the evening.

A night out to celebrate a 60^th birthday at Peace and Loaf in Jesmond was delicious and it is just a shame that the birthday girl Sue was celebrating elsewhere!! It did not stop Jane and Sue and I having our usual lovely time of endless chatter. Still we are having a re-run in December when Sue can join us. I also had a very good night with another Sue who is a very dear friend who I had be very remiss about contacting, we had a great laugh reminiscing about our time together working in the Pink Palace.

I had a nice catch up with Anne, a friend from East Boldon Methodist church, we started with the coffee morning at church and then to Anne’s for lunch. She has a gorgeous bungalow and beautiful garden which she has transformed and seems to be enjoying life.

My old neighbours Annie and Frank have just bought a campervan and we had a great time talking about all of the wonderful adventures to be had. I think their first trip is to France this month so here is hoping it goes well.

Chris decided to do a housesit in Norwich but went on his own as I thought the two earlier in the year were enough, however I did go and visit him for a few days. The house was not far from the city centre, a big four bedroom detached with large gardens, the house was very art deco. It had the potential to be gorgeous but suffered from benign neglect; there was stuff everywhere which just attracts dust. Each to his own but I like to live my life in a clean and orderly way, probably verging on OCD, and I don’t do mess!!

We managed to catch up with fellow wanderers Glen and Steve; they had just come back from a trip to Europe and had docked at Harwich so we had a great chat sitting in their motor home over a coffee in the Park and Ride near Norwich.

I had a daytrip to London to see two exhibitions, a Hockney at the Royal Academy which was okay but the highlight of the day was a Terence Donovan photographic exhibition. He took some amazing black and white portraits in the 60’s –think Twiggy and Terence Stamp. It was a busy but enjoyable day. Sunday we had a bike ride and then a few pints of real ale back near the house. Norwich is another place that has lots to offer and we had a wander round the old streets and the cathedral. Chris was very patient while I took arty shots with my camera.

August 23^rd was a special day as I got to spend time with just my two lovely girls; we had a posh trip to the fringe. We travelled first class and had champagne on the way up, the shows were not bad and we had a fabulous lunch in Bon Vivant, a real find on Thistle Street. It is not often we get time together.

As part of Imogen’s birthday week her and I went to a pamper session organised by her boyfriend Keith. The whole experience was lovely and the treatments fabulous. Also that week we went to the Tyneside cinema to see the Jungle Book and Chris joined us for a beer afterwards. Later that day I met my old PA Julie and we had good food in Pani and then met her partner Nick for drinks in Lola Jean.

On our final night in the North east we were treated to a meal by Chris’ Auntie Pat and that was us ready to set off. The motor home had had a second MOT so that we don’t have to rush back in April next year.

Our trip south has already been great fun, we set off on Tuesday 30^th August for a campsite near Ashbourne in Derbyshire. Both of us thought it was close to the Tissington cycle trail but it was in fact 4 miles away. Wednesday we cycled about 20 miles from the site up to Crassington water then across another cycle route to Tissington, thank heavens for the conversion to ebike. Thursday we got the bus to Belper and enjoyed visiting Strutt Mill and wandering around the old parts of the town. Friday we did the whole of the Tissington trail, Ashbourne to Parsley Hay and back-36.5 miles in total. It does you good to get out and about, see new places and stretch yourself physically. We both feel a much longer visit is needed to appreciate the Peak district.

Saturday we headed further south to Ocknell in the New Forest to an old airfield which has space for camping and a toilet block but no showers or electricity. We have a shower in the van and our leisure battery and solar panels are good for several days. We chose our place to pitch and then the heavens opened and suddenly we had a massive pool outside the door so had to move in the deluge. Chris was a hero as there was no point in two of us getting wet.

We walked to the Sir Walter Tyrell pub on Sunday and met up with Chris’ sister Tricia and her husband Steve. We had our gas system sorted at an eye watering price and we sailed to Dieppe on 8th September.

France beckons and we have plans to see the D Day beaches and the Bayeux tapestry.



Till next time

Norma x

---