Back to our roots

Just been up to Middlesbrough - saw family and friends and had a really great time. We went for a walk in the hills and on that day we had really good weather - well, compared with what has been normal for this month. 


One of the things I really value about Teesside is that no one is deferential. It's all very friendly, and it's between equals. I've just watched an hour's TV show on Chatsworth, and the snobbery and forelock tugging really got to me. So Middlesbrough is a refreshing change. Really can't imagine anyone from Middlesbrough deferring to anyone just because they are a duke, or buying cheese because it's labelled as "The Duchess's Favourite".


What I do find a bit amazing about Teesside is the Chicken Parmesan, better known as the "parmo". I think it was invented on Teesside - I've never come across it anywhere else - and it's a high fat, high calorie concoction they would be proud of in Kentucky. It's usually eaten with chips, of course.  It's quite difficult to eat frugally, even if you avoid the parmo. The pub special when we met my family was corned beef pie with chips.



So, one of my objectives was to take five photos which represent Middlesbrough to me. So, I decided that one had to be the transporter bridge, one had to be Roseberry Topping, one had to be Saltburn pier, and one had to be the Cleveland Hills. I feel I ought to take Ferrybridge power station on the A1, too, not that it has anything to do with Middlesbrough, but in my mind it's the marker that tells you you're now in the north. However, it was raining quite hard on the journeys up and down, so that will have to wait for another day.

I did drag my husband to the new Middlesbrough modern art gallery. It's a lovely building, much nicer than the Nottingham Contemporary, but neither of us can warm much to modern art. Then we went over to the old docks to take the transporter bridge photo, and of course found we were right by the Anish Kapoor sculpture, the new football stadium, and the new college.  So, although they don't count as "my" Middlesbrough, I think the sculpture is lovely, and it should be acknowledged that a lot has happened in Middlesbrough since I was eighteen.  So here are the transporter bridge and the Anish Kapoor  sculpture which is called "Temenos". It's made of steel wire and recalls Middlesbrough's great days of bridge building. I hope you all know that Middlesbrough men built the Sydney Harbour bridge and the first bridge over the Bosphorus, among many others?


We didn't get to Saltburn so the other two photos are Roseberry Topping:

 and a view in the lovely Cleveland Hills.


Postscript to my adventures in popular music:


It's all over the television and newspapers that Donna Summers has died. I have never heard of her, nor do any of her songs ring the slightest bell. Since her career was in the 70s (apparently) I'm seem to have lost all interest in popular music in my twenties. Definitely too late to catch up now!