An American who can't do basic arithmetic. She says that it has an '800-year-old castle' but gives the date of the castle's building, correctly, as 1080.
She is quite right to wax lyrical! Although I don't necessarily agree with In the 1980s, it was a little on the grim side -- poor, post-industrial and decidedly shabby. I lived in Newcastle and environs from 1973 - 1988 and it never seemed decidedly shabby to me.
I lived there from 1979 to 1982 and with Eldon Square just beginning to look worn and dated, I think there was a shabbiness to the town centre (when the roads were not blocked off for the Metro drilling). Plus, remember the Handyside Arcade - charming, enticing, magical, but definitely shabby? There were a few places like that. I visited again in 1988 and seem to remember being surprised by how bright the city centre looked and felt.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-11 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-12 04:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-11 07:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-12 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-11 08:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-12 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-11 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-12 04:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-11 05:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-12 04:48 am (UTC)