Day 10 Newcastle

That's the thing about drinking too much scotch. You pass out early and wake early and feel reasonable fresh. D was up too, tidying up and restoring the garden to its neatness after the kiddie assault. Those who saw the dawn, surfaced about 9.30. Next morning, I did vaguely recall insisting on bacon and eggs for breakfast the night before, in a joking way, but I got them. Actually it was one of many bacon and egg breakfasts.

After everyone apologised for their behaviour the night before, we were collected by K and J and taken to their flat. She is the manager of a sheltered care place for the elderly. They all have their own flats and K just smooths out their day for them and also organises activities. England is way ahead of us for care of the aged. It is a big industry there. K and J's flat is three bedroom and is on the premises and quite nice, except for the heat. While the radiators were off, there is a constant flow of hot water through the pipes and it was boiling hot. They have two vertical fans that they put in front of open windows to blow cool air in.

Late afternoon, they took us for a drive along the coast. We saw places where R used to holiday as a kid, Cullercoats, Whitley Bay and we turned back towards Newcastle when we reached St Mary's Lighthouse, a lighthouse accessible only at low tide.

We bought some takeaway Chinese for our evening meal. Now this is funny to us Australians. You get chips with your take away Chinese/Indian/Lebanese. Everything comes with chips.

For one of the few times, we went to bed at a reasonable hour. R was burnt out, physically and emotionally from the night before.

Tomorrow, we are off to Amsterdam.

St Mary's Lighthouse