Grim up north? Don't you believe it!
Last of the afternoon's winter sunshine in countryside near Rowlands Gill in Gateshead's Derwent Valley.
The lighter evenings are very noticeable now and not surprising really as the sun is now setting almost an hour later than at the solstice just before Christmas.
#newcastle#gateshead creative code folks, there a jam session/ #livecoding / #algorave thing happening tonight at Star and Shadow from 7pm!
Everybody welcome, participation voluntary, come see and learn (and dance?)
The one and only thing I miss about Twitter is the small but vigorous community of Gateshead fans there. Been reminded of that because our beloved Mike Williamson has left, gone to take over at Milton Keynes.
It was always bound to happen, sooner or later, that he'd be picked up by a bigger club. He's done far far too well to stay at little old Gateshead.
It's not just how well he's done, though, which makes this a sad time. He joined as a player when the club was in the process of very nearly being killed off by an appalling owner. He stuck around when there was no reason for him to do so, agreed to become manager when we'd been forcibly relegated and had literally no players other than himself, a few days before the season started.
And from that it's been success after success and all with a very entertaining style and a thoroughly decent spirit. Damn, I'm going to miss the big guy.
Flooded and forgotten: How Europe's disused coal mines are successfully being used to heat our homes.
An old coal mine has been providing an English town with green energy for the last six months.
The ground-breaking project in Gateshead is using the warm water that has filled the tunnels to heat hundreds of homes and businesses in the former coalfield community.
I posted a shot earlier of the great Sir Mo Farrah taking part in today's Great North Run in North East England. Here's a salute to those who not only do the run, but dress up too (they must be mad!).
The run started in spectacular warm sunshine, but ended in an a spectacular thunderstorm.
As I've moved to a new instance, it's time for another #introduction - and whereas writing the first one felt deeply uncomfortable, this time it seems a lot easier. That's the transition from Twitter-brain to Mastodon-brain.
Who I am is more or less this: I'm an #autistic#Welsh person who lives in beautiful #Tynedale, and I spend my working time fiddling about with emergency #healthcare#data to improve care quality in the #NHS. I have issues with #anxiety and #loneliness, and I'm an abuse survivor. Because of the past abuse, I keep myself anonymous all over the internet; however, I've been using the Rollo Treadway alias for so long that it feels like part of me, my alter ego. So feel free to call me Rollo.
And I'm okay with they/them pronouns (because I don't really feel I fit within any gender identity) and also he/him (because that's what everyone offline has always used for me). Or frankly, any other pronouns, it's all good.
I migrated to #Mastodon from #Twitter during 2022 (initially at the start of the year, but properly in the autumn) and am very happy here.
Politically, I'm a #HandwringingLeftyLiberal, and like my bio says, I really don't have any time for Tories. This includes any close equivalents to Tories in other countries.
Finally, I promise this is the last time I will do such a long post, and the last time I will put hashtags in the middle of the post rather than all at the beginning or end. I think hashtags in the middle is permitted for an introduction, or I hope so anyhow.
Magpies confirm Gateshead game (www.nufc.co.uk)
Newcastle United have announced a pre-season friendly against neighbours Gateshead at the International Stadium next month