Tuesday, 6 September, 2022 – No news from Newcastle-on-Tyne today. I hope they had a relaxing, laid-back day, wandering the streets and eating well. I looked up the weather forecast and that idiotic graphic with the cloud and drops of rain coming out of it was on every day of the week. Turns out, Newcastle is a little like Portland: there’s rain in the forecast every day but it may rain for only 20 minutes. Yet the weather sites still put the same graphic up as if there were going to be rain showers all day long.
All of that is to say, it looks like nice weather in Newcastle. Especially if you like Portland weather. Which I do.
I think Elias and his friends are staying somewhere on this street: Holly Avenue, in the Jesmond neighborhood. For being three travelers worried about their budget, it is sort of funny they landed in a fancy schmancy neighborhood like Jesmond. Google says it is, “an upscale suburb, with posh clothing boutiques and cafes dotted along Acorn Road.” Here’s a page devoted to Jesmond, on a Newcastle tourism site: https://newcastlegateshead.com/explore/jesmond
I expect they can find a way to eat and be entertained without spending a lot, but there looks to be some fun, if not cheap, things to do. Like going to a horsetrack! I would never have thought to do that but maybe they will go see horse racing. Or football! I have no idea if they could afford tickets but a football match would be pretty entertaining. According to their site, Newcastle United is beloved. Of course, they are.
Then there’s the parks. This map shows how many parks and nature reserves are within walking distance of their Airbnb. And this is just a picture I grabbed off Google, to suggest the pastoral setting.
When I talked to Elias a week ago, he said he’d been thinking about where he wants to live in Chicago, whether he can afford a place to himself, and what he needs to buy for his apartment. I got the feeling that by the time he gets back to the U.S., he’ll be ready to start the next chapter – maybe readier than he would have been than if he’d gone straight to Chicago after graduation? I don’t know the answer to that, but I guess it does not really matter. He’s on day 43 of his Grand Tour and I will be happy to see him, whenever that is.