Cheaper than Beamish.

   There's a certain Sundayness to the qualities of a Sunday spent in Washington Village. The Village, for those of you not in the know of such things, is a proper actual village with all village-y things - two pubs, a church a village shop and a school -around which they built the New Town of Washington, Tyne and Wear with it's various "villages" of Barmston or Glebe. The Village however, is still as it was over a hundred years ago, with only a few additions, a bit like Walton in Aylesbury. Or the Beamish Museum.

An attractive shade of yellow for an attractive new town.

   Anyway, taking a stroll past the village green to the shop in the light Sunday morning Geordie drizzle really is something to behold.

   Yesterday (Saturday) I went into Newcastle for the first time since arriving home in the North East. A visit to Waterstones ended in me acquiring copies of Lieth-hailing word-smith Irvine Welsh's Reheated Cabbage and Glue and that Great Depression-botherer John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

   My plan was to find a coffee shop out of the busy town centre, have a warm sit down in a battered old armchair looking through a moisture-covered window at the rain as the steam from the barristas' work filled the room, take a couple of hours to read a few chapters and write a few letters. But my other Sunday plans scuppered such goings on.

   The Northern March Against Racism 2010 was late but when it got going it was a great success. When the EDL did turn up, the other group of fascists in hi-vis jackets chased them away, Northumbria's finest trundled the Munkee 'Angers Division from 'Artlehpoowel doon Grey Street. Together we are stronger!

   I even made a new friend in Hufi who is very possibly the very coolest big sister on the planet. I mean, who else takes their wee sister and a box of biscuits to a demo? Too cool. Here we are on North East Tonight (ITV).

   Anyway, after that there was a social in Manors where I enjoyed a bit of munch from the All African Women's Campaign for Something I Forget and a bottle a' dog. There's always a right cross sample of folks at demos like this, I had a chat with a Kenyan refugee rights campaigner living in Boro', a French lass, a Glaswegian polis brutality fella whose accent I picked up by accident (damn my fluid idiolect!) and the usual lot from the local unis and NEAR. Then I went home.

   On Friday Kyle - whose blog I look forward to - took 'is up to the music shop here in The Village which I didn't even know existed, it is however, a strong contender for taking the title of Richard's Favourite Music Shop from Mackay's of Newcastle. Then in the evening I went round Jade's for a few drinks.

   And that was my week in a blog-sized nutshell, I need to nerd up on class and gender in socialisation so that's my task for the next week. See ye's all next Sunday.

- Nous.