The Wildflower Hour

It sort of makes me sad when I am in and outside work, and almost everyone is carrying a branded cup or foodbag, be it Costa, Starbucks, Greggs, Pret A Manger (they seem to have lost their accents)  or any number of the brands you see on every high street and railway station. People justify it because "they know what they are getting". If you try to dissuade people from buying this homogenised sameness they will always excuse it with a variation on the above excuse.

In Newcastle, you have no excuse because there are so many independent places where you can eat, get coffee, tea or whatever and today I'm going to gush over Wildflower cafe and art space on Westgate Road.

Firstly it's ten minutes walk from St James' Park , a place awash with student accomodation and therefore students. When I was at sixth form college I would have loved a place like Wildflower, but todays students seem to need a label on everything they buy.

The food is vegan. I'm not vegan, but I like good food, and I like to have something different. Today I was in two minds, the Lentil Dahl or Spanish Tomato Soup . I went for the soup (which also had a fair amount of lentils) , with a brown spread roll and a very green mango and papaya smoothie. Until I walked in I hadn't a clue what I was going to have, but it was gorgeous.

As I sat down Wire's "Outdoor Miner" came on the sound system and Asher told me about the joint smoking proprietor of a cafe up the road having a mini rave as he waited for customers.

I was soon joined by a big party of people to come and sample the delights of the cafe in the wonderfully art decorated welcoming surroundings, so I'd just got my order in in time.


Wildflower also host lots of events and themed meals and gatherings, and I love seeing how well attended these are and love the fact that it's popularity is growing thanks to the hard work of Jessica and Asher. They even have their vegan cookery slots on Tyne and Wear TV (and the vegan custard creams are lush).

If you live in Newcastle and haven't visited this place , shame on you, because it really is wonderful. It's the sort of place the media will airbrush over because it's not a big money brands, but for me it's the perfect sort of brand because it surprises me consistently with food and events and I try to eat there once a week, and I have to be honest the exercise walking the hill probably does me good and walking back down you get great views of the Tyne Bridge and The Sage.

It's very close to the town centre and if you message them on Facebook they will tell you what's on (the menu) and are open to suggestions for food ideas. Jess and Asher are both at least ten years younger than my girls so I'm old enough to be their grandad, but home I don't act that way.

So I will leave you with Wire's "Outdoor Miner" and I have the anticipation of what new delights will be served up next week.  The weekend is her.. Enjoy

2PM

I managed to go back to bed , get some sleep, get up , get the papers, saw the Daily Mail blaming immigrants for the latest pensions crisis, went into town and bought lots of stuff from the Grainger Market , steppend on to a bus home and now I am writing this as the football is due to start in an hour, Asda are delivering a load of bottled water (taking advantage of  a Topcashback offer) after the games have finished then off to see The Handsome Family at the Sage.

So all in all it's been and it's going to be quite a full day, and I'll probably have to wait til Sunday to have a real rest.

Anyway this gives me a chance to share "Gold" with you, and now it's time for a cup of coffee. I really shouldn't get up and do things during the night, but I still act like a ten year old at times. I can stay up , so I will , I'm not tired honest.

Joy of Communication

There's many ways we can communicate, we can talk face to face, by video call , on the phone, by email, by letter, sign language , graffiti , post it notes, through music and writing (like I'm doing with this blog) , sharing memes on social media such as twitter and Facebook. This is just a very ver short post because ideally I should have left the house ten minutes back, but I thought I would just like to say this.

On my last post my friend Joan asked if I was going to see The Handsome Family. Everything I have heard by them is wonderful and two years ago their "Far From Any Road" was used as the theme to "True Detective" (series one). I thought that the theme would fit well with the titles from "True Blood" so I spliced them together (it turns out both title sequences are 1' 31").

It turns out that the are playing The Sage this Saturday so  there were a few tickets left so I bagged myself a couple.

So I have a great gig to look forward to , at a great venue , thanks to a great friend , and I also may get to see my friends Craig and Sharleen who work at the Sage to.

Have a great day my friends, I have had a great start to the week.

King of the Castle

I continually berate Novocastrians for not visiting or knowing about some of the amazing things in Newcastle. The Lit and Phil and The Vampire Rabbit are two cases in point. I have been in Newcastle fr 30 years , which is half my life, the first twenty of which were spent in Preston then the next ten Southport / Tarleton / Leyland and then coming up to Tyneside.

Bela Lugosi ... Not Dead

Anyway yesterday , for the first time I properly visited Newcastle's Castle . So I am just as bad as the people I berate. The steps are daunting , and there are lots of flights of stairs that go off on different directions. I could tell you lots about the place but I include the video I took from the top (sorry about fingers and sound) and apart from being a castle it has lots of events on which are wonderful when watched there.

I didn't have much time so the main point wast to get to the top and enjoy "The Best View In Newcastle" . I think it was 100 steps up a stone spiral staircase, and the weather was lovely, but although I always say I am ok with heights as long as I feel safe , my vague vertigo started to get the better of me, but I persevered.

While up there I was talking to to a lovely lady from Northampton called Shirley or Sheila (my short term memory is atrocious)  and we were remarking how beautiful and impressive it all was. A friend had brought her up toe Newcastle for a couple of days as she had always wanted to come so I mentioned a couple of places worth visiting and it was good to be able to point landmarks out for them to aim for. Grey's Monument , The Botanist Dome , The Pearl Building , St James Park and The Bridges , The Sage and The Baltic are all very visible.

So today we have another lovely day and I am tempted by the Bela Lugosi night tonight .....but it's sold out so I shall include the Chvrches take on Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead" as a small consolation

Hot Cross and Bare on Byker Hill

Well you know I don't do cross or anger , and thought it's time for another post. At the moment it's still very hot and stuffy so really you don't want to see me at the moment as I'm taking the practical way out to keep cool. I know 26 degrees Centigrade is cold for some folk but it isn't for me. I don't think I'd do too well in equatorial conditions.

Martin Carthy

Anyway I do appreciate the good weather, but think a cold bath may be in order to keep cool, but maybe that's just going a bit over the top. Today I got ticket's for Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, absolute folk legends who are playing the Tyneside Irish Centre. I know Midge Ure played there once, but I've played there several times. Then again the last time I saw Martin Carthy was at The Sage, and I've been on the same stage as part of the choir backing the late great Solomon Burke , so we have some experiences in common.

The cover of the album to the right is just one of those images that always suck with me. It made me notice him before I'd ever heard of him> If you haven't heard him then rectify that immediately.

The album contains his arrangement of Scarborough Fair that Paul Simon acknowledgingly lifted for Simon and Garfunkel's version which is more widely played.

I hope they play Byker Hill when they're on Tyneside, I'm sure they will.

So really , it's end of the week, the weather is great, and I have another great night to look forward to , so all in all things are very good. I really hope they are for you and you have an absolutely fabulous weekend.

This is them from a few years back

Mr Cave's A Window Cleaner Now!

Woke up this morning (sounds like a blues song , doesn't it), and the pavements outside were white and the skies were grey. This week is going to be busy again with trips to London and a concert at The Sage to fit in, but it's only by doing things that life is interesting.

This afternoon 6Music played an excellent Nick Cave song that I hadn't heard before that seemed appropriate for the apparent inclement weather which we may soon be getting.

This weather , short days and lack of sunshine doesn't make for the greatest of inspiration.

Also I seem to be downloading a lot of TV to my Samsung Note via BBC iPlayer , which is fine but this eats into the time I should be reading or maybe watching TED talks , although it does leave more time to do things when I am at home.

Anyway still lots to do, but wanted to share this great Nick Cave song , and hope you are ready for the week ahead.