MOSS TREE

Up early-ish as I was expecting a parcel redelivery.  Then I had to post a letter in the village before noon.  After posting the letter I got the bus to Newcastle arriving around 12.30pm.  I was due to meet Neil at 3pm so I had some time to fill. 

I walked up to The Northern Stage to pick up a couple of tickets for performances I have booked for April.

On my way there I noticed this new installation.  It was unveiled last week.  It is England’s first pollution-busting “moss tree”. Its sited in the Haymarket  close to the city’s bus interchange and busy main roads and it will purify air in the city centre. The moss cultures involved in the “tree” have the ability to filter certain pollutants, by binding them to the leaf surface and then integrating them permanently into their own biomass. This makes them ideal air purifiers. The structure is equivalent to having almost 300 trees at the roadside.The moss is built into the “Moss Tree” structure, which provides the water – largely harvested from the rain – and the shade the moss needs to survive, creating an intelligent combination of technology and nature. The results achieved will be made available for universities and other bodies on an ongoing basis, to feed into their own research on tackling pollution. Built-in sensors will gather information on pollution including Nitrogen Oxide, Nitrogen Dioxide and Carbon Dioxide, as well as monitoring air humidity, temperature and rainfall. Clever stuff.

Next I went to Waitrose for a bit of food shopping and then to Fenwicks department store where I just mooched around but bought nothing.  Then it was time to meet Neil.

Yesterday when Neil asked to meet up I went online to check if there were any discount vouchers to be had and I found a " Buy One Get One Free " offer for Giraffe so we went there.  Never been there before and the food on offer was different to the type of food I usually eat - but I decided to be adventurous.   Neil chose a Turkish Pide topped with vegetables and chicken.  A Pide is a Turkish flatbread which is similar to pizza.  I had Moroccan Lamb Tagine with cous cous.  It was really nice.  As well as 2 for one on the main course we had 2 for one on puds as well so we pushed the boat out - Neil had a Rocky Road Sundae and I had a wonderful Whoopie Cookie.  This consisted of biscuit ice cream sandwiched between chocolate cookies with chocolate sauce, caramel popcorn and pretzels. Syn count ... massive.   I have added a few photos taken in Giraffe to my Extras.

After the meal Neil set off towards the Quayside as he had decided to walk home and the best route is alongside the River Tyne.  I went straight for the bus. It was lovely to see Neil and catch up with his news.  He enjoyed his week at Cheltenham Races last week and I enjoyed listening to what he and his pals got up to.

The weather today was bright and sunny but there was a really cold wind so it didn't feel warm.

Steps today - 12,248