Gang Plodge - Part 1

fbb has always delighted in the richness of accents in the UK, but freely admits to struggling with the Geordie patois from Tyne and Wear.

One of the delights for Newcastle residents was a day trip to Whitley Bay ...

... where notable landmarks include St Mary's lighthouse ...

... the "Spanish City"...

... a dining and entertainment venue.

It is easy to imagine ship building workers from the Tyneside yards wallowing in the luxury of a meal in such opulent surroundings.

And a tune on the pianoforte to entertain you!

Also grand was the entrance to Whitley Bay railway station ...

... which was also grand inside!

It even had an atrium!

Not only that but from 1904 it had ...

... electric trains. The picture above does not do them justice as they were brightly painted.

It is not at all surprising that Whitley Bay was the "go to" place for Geordies to gang plodge. Summer Saturdays were especially popular and there were always queues for the trains home.

Later stock lost the bright livery and was, frankly, dull and boring.

Then Tynesiders' aspirations rose; and a simple trip to the seaside began to wane as a special delight. The whole electric network was in decay. Vandalism and general deterioration set in, costs rose and revenue dropped and electrification was abandoned in the early 1960s.

The diesel unit took over ...

... but even in colour things looked depressing.

Amazingly, the overall roof remained even into the brave new world of the Tyne and wear Metro.

When fbb passed through many many moons ago, and despite the shiny Metro trains, the station still looked dowdy and it was, frankly, too big for the diddy Metro units.

But the overall roof and the atrium remained!

More tomorrow.

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HIT or MYTH?

 E nigmatic  E pisodes

Cain murdered Abel in a minor dispute ...

... we read of the development of agriculture, metalwork and music. We learn of arrogance when a group decided to build the Tower (more appropruate word, a Ziggurat) of Babel to show their superiority ...

... but the biggie of the early Bible chapters was Noah. His story was NOT PRETTY.

The Bible tells us that Noah's "world" was only evil continually so God decided that mankind's freewill had become free will to disobey and abuse. (Sounds familiar?) So God decided to get rid of it all.

Cruel? Not really, it was God's creation and he could do what he liked with it.

Quirky Answer : An Ark comes from the Latin word "arcus" meaning a box; as in "archive" - a word for stuff kept in boxes!

So Noah built a gurt big box ...

... to save eight humans and a whole collection of animals.

It really wasn't a boat as it was not navigated anywhere. It floated at the will of wind, tide and God.

HIT or MYTH?

Myth is often a misunderstood word. A 'myth' is not an untrue story! Myth simply means that the veracity of the story can never be checked, usually because too much time has passed. A myth can sometimes be obviously true, maybe partially true, maybe based on truth. A myth is never (by definition) a fully fictional story.

The "myths" of the early chapters of Genesis include disobedience and consequent punishment (Adam and Eve); murder (Cain and Abel) but the graciousness of some protection for the guilty party;  pictures of positive development of human achievement; the danger of arrogance (Babel) and the dire consequences of sin (Noah) ...

.... nothing much has changed ...

... but Noah "walked with God".

Christmas makes it much easier for us to "walk with God". Christmas brought The Good Shepherd who walked in front of his sheep.

Quirky Question : which twin was hairy and which twin was smooth?

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 Next Metro blog : Saturday 6th December