Tuesday, 3 November 2009

1819 Second journey to Isle fo Wight this year begins

I have been on an emotional roller coaster over the past week to ten days and this has affected sleep patterns and ability to concentrate.

I wrote this a week ago and little did I know just what kind of a roller coaster the end of the week would bring. I do not have the words to describe intense emotional experience and I remain resolute in not referring to other individuals if they are living without their permission or the subject has already been made public access. This time I will be making reference at some point although I will do so in such a manner as not to make a difficult situation worse.

Monday, 26th October was a day when I found it difficult to get going and instead of working played the new games on the computer especially as I had two break through’s with moving several stages in Luxor Mahjong and ending this morning at state 9 and three million points and with the original Luxor game also breaking the stage 5.4 a barrier for the first time and moving to the sixth level and also three million points. I need to go out to the bank this afternoon and will watch an opera on the Metropolitan Opera player later but I expect to continue with another monster game on Luxor Rising where the objective now is to reach 10 million points and complete all the stages, although I anticipate this will not be achieved immediately.

It was therefore mid afternoon when I prepared to go out to the bank to pay £25 Premium Bond winnings and then take the Metro train to Newcastle to visit the Tyneside Film Theatre where I was confident I would find my umbrella and then book a ticket for the relay of Turandot on November 7th. However before departing I discovered that the Odeon Cinemas were showing a relay of The Barber of Seville “Figaro” from Madrid and having closed the computer I decided to take the car to the Metro Centre and investigate if there was a showing at the cinema and obtain information about future presentations and then take a train or bus to Newcastle to visit the Tyneside Film Theatre.

The Gateshead Metro centre is the biggest out of town shopping complex in the UK It comprises a four Mall indoor centre with three connecting shopping channels on two floors plus other shopping facilities such as Ikea, Furniture show rooms and specialist stores and outside restaurants not accommodated with the Malls. There have been two changes over recent years with the development of the Red Mall with a Debenhams store at its end and the closure of the yellow Mall indoor Funfare which is where I had expected the Odeon Cinema to be. On the upper floor connecting channel there are new restaurants including a huge Cafe Rouge and an eat as much you want Buffet from £7. There are Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Indian and Chinese as well as USA style Steak Houses in this area as part of the 50 inns, fast food, coffee and sandwich outlets and full restaurant service establishments. Alas there was large hoarding where the entrance will be to announce that the cinema will open in December. I then made my way to the Travel centre and caught the first bus to Newcastle city centre.

This arrives at the new basement level bus station adjacent tot he existing pavement level station which serves the city and Northumberland with the lower level catering for Gateshead South of Tyne and Durham. From here there are now direct access into the John Lewis and Boots stores previously only basement levels services, to the relocated Argos and a few other stores including a food sandwiches and drinks to take away store. As the bus approached the station it passed the new development wing to the store which includes the biggest Debenhams I have seen, at least from the outside. There was also a notice to say that the Green Market had reopened at its new site with more stalls available later but there was no time to explore.

I made my way through the centre to the Haymarket Metro exit and then to the Tyneside Film Theatre where they could not find the umbrella at the box office but it was held in the coffee lounge restaurant and bar. I then bought a ticket for Turandot in November and had to settle for the stalls as the as Classic Circle was sold out. The assistant admitted that one can still hear the metro trains rumbling below ground but at least one can choose a seat by arriving early although there was still a charge of £17 and this was a concession,

Absentmindedly I made my way into the underground station as I had done homeward bound on the Saturday and then remembered I was on the busses. The trip took three hours door to door because of the rush hour traffic. It is only this evening that I discovered that the UCI cinema still signposted has been taken over by the Odeon which explains the list of films for this theatre on their website. I only realised the situation when looking at the Metro centre locate a store map which listed the Odeon where the UCI used to be and after I had contacted the cinema chain by email to express my dissatisfaction at having motored 20 miles each way in vain!

I had returned to the Odeon site to check out the remaining relay showing this year and next until May. It was at this point I discovered a discrepancy between what was shown of he Covent Garden Film Theatre site and that on the Odeon. This caused embarrassment because I had notified others of a particular event. It could be that the particular relay has been sold out at the particular cinema and further enquiries will have to be made to v certain. What was established is that the big relays from La Scala Milan, Madrid and Salzburg are only at the central London Odeon Covent Garden and this included Il Travatore from Madrid and Carmen from Milan. I decided to stay a extra night on my Christmas trip as it was possible to get a reasonable rate where I was already staying. What is amazing is that a premium seat with an over 60 concession came to under £9 including the booking fee.

I was tempted to make a special trip to see the Carmen until finding the cost of the train fare. I could Travel down on the day of the showing which is at 5pm and in theory return afterwards with the 10pm back arriving in the early hours. The coach is available for a quarter of the price but my coaching days are over unless absolutely necessary.

It was 9pm on Tuesday evening before I was in a position to watch an opera on the Metropolitan Opera House player. Before doing on the TV link I wanted to hear the sound on a set of small portable speakers which only require a sound out connection and a USB lead for the power link and they work very well, and in fact I am listening in my travel lodge room to an audio production of Carmen with Carreras from March 1987, while having an evening meal of chicken soup with pepper crackers, baked beans and a carton of black and green grapes. Last night I settled for the HD version of Madam Butterfly which is the first time I have seen HD on my TV not prepared to pay the extra £10 a month required by Sky. I was impressed and again moved by the and performance.

There was no problem connecting to the Metropolitan Opera site but I had to download several extras from Windows as well as from McAfee. Tonight there were even more problems because the lap top caught up with the desk top in downloading Vista pack 2. There was then a problem connecting to Met site although I had logged online via the Travel Lodge link without problems.

The impact of Madam Butterfly last night was such that I was not ready for bed and played Luxor long past I should getting only a few hours sleep before waking just before the alarm sounded at 7.

I was travelling in two stages to the Isle of Wight for the funeral of a close friend of a relative and the original plan was to arrive in the Midland for lunch, but was changed so I had plenty of time to travel the 150 to 160 miles to reach the Travel Lodge for the earliest booking in time of 3 pm

However as there is continued work on the house further alone the back lane and the workmen leave their vehicle blocking the exit I wanted to get my car fully loaded and out of the garage and on to the street before 8, accomplishing this was ease. I did not leave the house until 9 and made the short journey of less than a mile to the station car park where I had had to pay £1 not having the change for an hour’s stay for 70pence. It was then breakfast at the Wetherspoons for £1.99 the last of the vouchers. The couple ahead of me were doing the same and we settled for the meal without tomatoes. It was not as well cooked and presented as previously. There have been different staff on every visit so far.

Rather than go straight into Sunderland in search of a black tie I decided to try Shield’s high street, King Street, without expecting to find one and was surprised that Burton’s had both a plain black and textured black as well as a slim black among small selection in the store. Well done Burton‘s.

On the year I went through a phase of constant indigestion and then with more careful eating, exercise and weight reduction, this ended but I had eaten the breakfast quickly and decided to get some indigestion tablets heading for Wilkinson’s where I thought I might also find some decaf coffee. The tablets are excellent value at 48 for 96 pence and as effective as anything costs two to three times as much. I spotted some attractive and excellent value Christmas Cards and popped into M and S for BLT for lunch, and a couple of other cards for immediate use and was away on my trip just after 10.30. However I did not journey far before deciding that I needed another coffee and stopped at the KFC off the A19 before the Boro. It was then a relaxed drive behind nearside lane Traffic average 60 MPH all the way passing the Blythe Service area where I am staying on to the Morrison’s supermarket at the ancient market town of Retford. Here I eat my sandwich, bought some cold still water and discovered they had black dinner plates similar to my existing one having broken the other recently. I wrapped this unplanned purchase in a rug and deposited in a secure part of luggage area. I then found the Morrison’s petrol garage on a separate site and for once had no trouble removing the petrol tank cap. After an engaging conversation with the reception staff, unpacking and a cup of coffee, I felt tired.

This is one the better Travel Lodges with above average space and appointments There are three electric points separate from the coffee and tea tray which has its own alcove next to open shelves and the open clothes hanging area. The case and haversack fit on a shelf between this fitment and the desk top. There is a full size sofa bed in addition to the king size double bed. There is also a low level full size bath with two good grab rails. The only drawback was being road side.

I relaxed, wrote a draft of the above, played some games and listened to sound only recording of Carmen from the Metropolitan Opera site with the two speakers brought for the purpose. For the evening meal I enjoyed a tin of baked beans and tin of rice pudding, having eaten the BLT on arrival. I enjoyed a good soak and generally relaxed.

It was my intention to have written about the journey to the Isle of Wight the following day to conclude this piece of writing. But what happened when I went in search for the hotel on the Isle has become one of the key moments in the personal nightmare which was to unfold.

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