THE STRAWBERRY

Did a bit more sorting out in the utility room.  Until its a bit more clear /tidy I can't order a new washing machine.... and the washing is slowly but surely piling up.  Would have spent longer but Newcastle were playing at home today so I set off to catch a bus at 3pm.

Got to town in good time for the 5.30pm kick off.  Mooched around Eldon Square shopping centre for a bit before heading to St James Park.  Took my blip shot near the ground.  The Strawberry pub has recently acquired a new Adidas logo on the side.  This marks the fact that Newcastle United's new kit sponsors will be Adidas for 5 yrs starting from the 2024/2025 season.  The present sponsors are Castore but the deal with them is going to be terminated early.  Castore are a small company and the deal with them wasn't worth a lot of money - and their merchandise seems to be poor quality according to all the complaints Ive read on Facebook.  Badges, logos and numbers peeling off after a few days of ownership plus there have been problems with delivery of items taking ages.  So it seems like a move to Adidas will be a good thing.

It was a good job I arrived early at the ground as the queues at the turnstiles were long.  Still a few teething troubles with the new digital ticketing system.  Mine worked fine I'm pleased to say --- although I need to stand on tip toes to scan my phone as the scanning point is rather high up.

Newcastle were playing Brentford.  It was a scrappy match and the crowd were very nervous waiting for Newcastle to score.  They did get the ball in the net on the 56th minute but the goal was disallowed.  However they were awarded a penalty after 64 mins which Callum Wilson scored.  Newcastle fans could relax a bit now.  After 90 mins the score was Newcastle 1 Brentford 0 .... but there was 10 mins added time.  More stress in case Brentford got a late equaliser..... but they didn't.  So a much needed 3 points for The Toon.  And they kept a clean sheet.

Because of the 5 mins added time after the first half and the extra 10 mins at the end I had missed the bus I wanted to catch and there was about 30 mins to wait for the next one.  So I popped into Tesco and got a few things.  I had expected the shop to be quiet but there was a very long queue at the one checkout that was open.  Everyone in the queue looked like a student( Newcastle has a lot of students ) ... and every one of them was buying booze.  Not cheap cans of lager/beer either ... big bottles of gin or vodka seemed to be the popular tipple..

I caught the bus at 8.20pm, got home at around 9pm and was eating my meal at 9.30pm.  Not ideal timing.  I much prefer a 3pm kick off.

The weather today was chilly and dismal.  There was some drizzly rain during the match.  The temp in town was 12C .  Becky, Mike and Astrid had a day in Brighton and Astrid enjoyed spending time in the large paddling pool there.  The temp in Brighton was 24C.

Steps today - no idea..... my Fitbit seems to have gone on strike.  Im going to look online to see if there are any tips on how to fix it.