Monday, June 09, 2003

 

Day 46. Tuesday 10 June 2003. To Ponteland.

I have now returned to the Travel Journal normal daily entries.

This morning we left the comfortable Kelsey Hotel and headed in the direction of Carlisle on our way to Ponteland which is just north of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

We had planned to stop in Carlisle to visit Pat's sister for morning. Entering Carlisle we were instructed to turn right at the "Quick Save" store sign with a couple of right and left turns. We found the store sign ok and followed the instructions and got lost. Street names didn't match the instructions so we retraced our steps back to the main road and headed to our destination.

Sometime later Pat phoned Olive and told her of our lost problem. Olive said that sorry but without thinking she had given us the instructions for coming from the town of Bothel direction.

We wound our way through the heavy traffic of Carlisle trying to keep our eyes on the signs and eventually saw a sign for the A69 road with Newcastle on it. Good, I thought I’ve managed to get on to the right road and we left the snarled Carlisle traffic behind. The A69 road was a pleasurable drive both for light traffic and scenery. I thought of my grandmother Irving, her family came from this area we were passing through, Brampton and Kirklinton, Heathergill and Stapleton. Approaching Newcastle we pulled into a lay-by, Moira, David's wife said she would instruct us of our route to turn off before reaching Newcastle. These instructions were complex but in the very light traffic I accomplished them with ease and suddenly here we were outside David and Moira's house. It was barely midday our journey had been quick.

David and Moira plus the dog were out to greet us and it was good to see David once more. I hugged him like a long lost brother although we had seen David and Moira near Carlisle 3 years ago, albeit briefly for a few hours.

Moira had a fine lunch prepared and after lunch David was eager to take me down to South Shields to see my old haunts. As David backed the car out of the garage I saw with surprise that it was a BMW. I hopped in and I remarked how comfortable it was. David demonstrated a few of the gadgets beaming with pleasure, a smile that reminded me of Uncle Joe Brough our mutual uncle and both our mother's brother.

South Shields

David first took me through the centre of Newcastle and periodically asked me if recognised this or that and I kept saying "I don't remember" or saying "it looks familiar but it has been a long time" I spotted the lattice work of the Tyne bridge and bouncing in my seat shouted "the bridge, I remember the bridge". David laughed uproariously; I think he knew that the changing city would confuse me. We then headed down to South Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne.

Arriving in South Shields David asked me where I would like to go first and I indicated down to Ocean Road. David didn't know South Shields and asked for directions but I didn't recognise a thing to get my bearings. We drove around and went into Westoe, which David knew. A few things seemed vaguely familiar but not enough to get my bearings. We passed through Westoe Village 3 times and suddenly I shouted that I had seen something very familiar. I had seen some iron bollards, now I knew where we were! David spotted a parking place and pulled in. We walked the short way back to the bollards and I pointed out a walkway, which I had trod many times in 1949-1950 when I was at South Shields Marine and Technical College.

The walkway led to "The Cut" and through to where the College hostel was once located. Coming out at the other end of The Cut everything I remember had been demolished and new houses had taken their place.

We returned to the car and I pointed David to the direction that would take us down to Ocean Road. On the way down hill everything again that I remembered had gone, even the once familiar road. I realized South Shields in 55 years had gone through a major transformation, many, many buildings and landmarks had been demolished, and just little pieces of the old were still left here and there.

As we went downhill in the direction of the harbour I saw the dome of the old College building and as we turned into Ocean Road David took us into a supermarket parking area and we then walked down to the College building now used as a pub! I looked around; Ocean Road had also gone through major changes. The upper part was now a pedestrian mall, familiar shops had gone, and so had the Palladium cinema. I took some photos and then we went back once more to the car in the supermarket car park. Coming into the car park we had had to go through a barrier and pay a £1.00 entrance fee. This was only refunded on departure if you bought groceries above a certain value. I found this very strange.

We then went down Ocean Road and turned into Lawe Road were I spent over a year in Mrs. Greenwell's boarding house. I dredged the thought up from the depths of my mind that it might be number 47 and it was.

Photos again of the boarding house and I took David backed by the harbour and the Marsden cliffs in the distance. I noticed in the camera lens how drawn he was looking and realised he was very tired; straight away I proposed we return to Ponteland.

David took the car slowly back in the heavy late afternoon rush hour traffic and I worried a little on the way that he had not over-done himself. But arriving home and after a rest he looked better.

I was quiet in the evening and re-thought those days as a vibrant young man of 55 years ago. The familiar landmarks, mostly now gone. The recurring dream of walking down from Westoe village to Ocean Road, the road now demolished. Time once more had brough change.

posted by OldEric 12:22 pm