Bonny lasses assemble for the North East support thread 2!

[PennyDreadfuI]

Shiny new thread for all your north east needs.

Hello 👋

Checking in from a wet and soggy Northumberland. Looking outside at the sog, I'm hoping for a dry crisp Autumn so at least we can get out for walks (even if it's by myself 😂🙄😔)

[quote Someaddedsugar]@BessieSurtees I know the exact place you mean - I've always wondered what that bit of road was for!

It's all change again as the road connecting that roundabout to the Anniston Centre has had a 'socially distanced layout' put in place and it feels like some kind of racing circuit as there are bollards down either side of the road and at one point in the middle of the road in order to accommodate a cycle lane on either side. Unfortunately it's very distracting while driving and a number of collisions appear to have already happened judging by the marks on the bollards![/quote]
I drive on the road many tines a week and now feel as though I’m going to have some sort of optical seizure when I drive in it.
And yes I think those ridiculous bollards have already been nattered several times!

*battered not nattered

About the Arniston bollards, I read a very salient point about the next time it snows the snowplough is going to push all the snow into a big heap in the cycle lane!

Went to Sainsbury’s yesterday
Did a shop plus a few extra bits like tinned stuff and one extra pack of loo rolls and some flour

I was aghast at some of the trolleys I saw packed with the things that ran out last time
There was still plenty of pasta for now though but still no Schweppes tonic water !!!!

@Tempusfudgeit

About the Arniston bollards, I read a very salient point about the next time it snows the snowplough is going to push all the snow into a big heap in the cycle lane!

Bet that didn’t come up in the risk assessment did it It will all snowball from there won’t it (sorry bad joke ) but Durham County Council seem more interested in making money from the university and land grabbers than anything else

I cannot see how they could possibly do Fenwick's window.
It's always completely rammed.

Unless they have bouncers

I'm not going to think about it, I think my world will tip off it's axis if there's no Fenwick's window, it'll feel like slipping into another universe.

I felt like that when they stopped filming Eastenders and I don't even watch it.

@BikeTyson

This is it, it's to divert people from public transport. I work for a non north east transport body. These bollards are... not something we would do

I haven’t seen them in person but they sound less than ideal!

They don't leave much space

Some of the land grabs in Durham are mind boggling. When we were house hunting, there was a house that piqued our interest that seemed a really good price for its location. We did due diligence before even viewing and discovered that what looked like a decent garden at the side had already been sold with planning permission. It now has the tiniest 3 bed detached crammed onto it, about 3" from the semi we were interested in. Explained why it had been on the market for a few months.

If fenwicks did do their window, it'd end up like all the pictures of whitby. Whitby and Scarborough councils have been pleading with residents to wear masks outdoors in the town centres. Hopefully the rain will calm things down there.

I don't think retail chains are going to have the money to do much Christmas stuff in terms of decoration etc, can they deal with or want hoards of shoppers? As pp said imagine the poor publicity for Fenwick with a few 100 people squashed together at the window!

Checking in from Sunderland ... giving notice today of my upcoming ever-decreasing marriage in November

Maybe Fenwicks will do a Book A Slot viewing?! As @Snoringferret says, no Fenwicks window means things are Really Serious

@littlesugarmonkey I'm sorry, that's shit

I'm in Gateshead and we have an ongoing issue here wich sounds similar to the bollards pp's we're talking about, same fund I think. The council have closed a road which is normally very busy leading to the Tyne bridge therfore diverting traffic around Gateshead Town centre. Which is grim/dead enough without having loads of traffic and fumes in it constantly. The changes were more drastic including closing the fly over but were reversed on campaigning from residents and businesses.

I massively agree that the NE area particularly urban Newcastle Gateshead is more dependent on cars than it should be. But I don't think this is the way to address it. I lived in London for several years where I loved being able to use public transport so easily. The public transport up here is pretty shocking.

I think the work at home announcement yesterday will save the council on this one a bit as hopefully traffic will reduce again. I feel it really just shows how out of touch the council are. It's obviously not the only one in the region either!

The councils receiving extra money must explain why our local area has all of these new traffic measures too. They are most inconvenient for the shops in the village, the parking restrictions and new road measures, and they are an eyesore.

On a school note, it seems that it it depends on the head teacher approach. The primary that my grandchildren attend has said only keep the child off if they have a high temperature or a new cough which is more intense or prolonged than the usual coughs and colds. Whereas other primary's are refusing to allow the children to attend with a cough.

There are so many inconsistencies with the whole process that it feels really hard to navigate them.

I've had a few emails from colleagues and chats with friends who are saying the thought of working like this for another 6 months and not seeing family is really concerning them. It seems that a lot of us have knuckled down hoping there is some glint of normality coming soon and this latest announcement has pulled the rug on our optimism.

There are bollards on Fram Front Street. I'm getting used to them.
I think buses round here are good.

I think I was ok until you’ve raised the possibility of no Fenwicks windows. That would tip me over the edge.

Sunderland checking in. Hope you are all safe and well

Checking in from a very wet Co Durham this afternoon.

Ok so please don't kick me out of the North East group or shun me.... I've never really got Fenwicks window. Don't know if anyone watches parks and rec? But I feel about the window how Ben feels about little Sebastian.
I do live chrtoo so it's not a scruge thing!

Anyway I do appreciate how important it is for some people. And think that they might try to to timed viewings using eventbrite or similar. I can imagine Fenwicks are quite keen for it to go ahead as it will be very positive publicity.

The animations are a bit crap by modern standards, prezzie but a lot of it is tradition. If you grew up with fenwicks windows back when they were amazing then it's a nice thing to share with your own kids.

Ds2 loved the snowman one because it had been one of his obsessions, the previous Christmas. He didn't even begin to understand or anticipate schridtmas until he was 10 or 11 so when I have taken him up it's had to be on a quiet day so he doesn't scare the little kids with his bouncing and vocalising. It's even more intimidating now that he's mansize and his voice has broken (but at least he doesn't fucking screech any more because that's why my hearing is shot!)

Ugh dreadful weather today!
Took my youngest for his Nursery visit.
Still so unsure but after seeing him start out nervous & then slowly coming in to his own, I've decided to give it a go.
I was dead set on him starting but then the local restrictions came in & then the talk of things being as they are / worse for 6 months. I realised how long it could be before he actually plays with another child that isn't his siblings .

It means his 'contacts' & our 'indirect' ones will go up by 35 (at least) as of tomorrow. It's that added extra risk that we'll need to isolate but I can't get past the thought that at 3 years old, he may not play with anyone else for months.

We're following all the rules so apart from his siblings being at school (which obviously I can't do anything about) then we'll be trying not to bring any extra risk to the nursery staff.

I do hope they can put something in place for Fenwicks window. It would be such a shame to have no display this year. We tend to go weeks after it’s been unveiled when the crowds have dispersed and you can meander along a little more leisurely.

The window is definitely more nostalgia and tradition than it being a great spectacle. I remember as a child only being taken to Newcastle city centre once a year round Christmas. We’d go see Fenwicks window then explore the toy section inside. I can still remember the excitement 20/25 years later!

Checking in from Durham City.

Some cases in teachers and one pupil announced at DD's school (Jesmond) yesterday - it's getting a bit close to home!

@Shitfuckoh - my little boy's just started nursery too. He's 11 months and right in the middle of separation anxiety so things have been ... fraught. I know that I can't keep trying to do full time job from home with him around though. At least when the older 3 kids were off school he had extra playmates and I had some extra pairs of hands. His nursery is quite small so reduced number of contacts but also reduced space and ventilation as well!

The Newcastle students will start returning / arriving for the first time from the 28th Sept onwards over a 3 week period. I'm trying to figure out how to run a safe but fun induction week for our cohort - goodness knows what the rules will be by then...