Flaming Nora

It's late June and our gardens at the back and front of the house are stunning.  Loads of colour - loads of life. As a child, I dreamed that when I grew up I'd have a garden like the one in the nursery ryhme 'Mary, Mary, quite contrary' and indeed now I do. I have silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row.  Well, no not really. I don't have anything in a row. apart from my leeks. There are no places for rows in a flower garden, the messier and more cottage-garden like, the better. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here This week in the Corrie weekly updates, King Solomon tried to cut a baby in half. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

I like travelling by bus and have a favourite seat . One of the joys of bus travel is overhearing other people's conversations.  Well, when they're sat right beside you, or behind you, you simply have no choice but to ear-wig. Yesterday, two old men in flat caps and anoraks got on and sat behind me. The bus trundled past the huge - I mean huge - and somewhat controversial new Tesco Extra supermarket on the outskirts of town. Gadgee 1: Have you been to that new Tesco? Gadgee 2: No, I don't like Tesco. Pause Gadgee 2: Have you been to that new Tesco? Gadgee 1: No, I don't like Tesco either. Paue Gadgee 2: Has Tom been to that new Tesco? Gadgee 1: No, Tom's not been to Tesco. Tom doesn't like Tesco. So there you have it, a trio of Tesco disapprovals, and I'm not fond either. Mind you, it's not as good a bus conversation as my husband had with an old lady on the bus the other week. He took out his novel and started reading it and she str...

Courtesy of the Blundermum Blog , here is a picture of a sneak peak.  I feel like I'm on a one-woman mission to rid the twittersphere of people typing 'sneak peak' when it should be 'sneak peek'.    It's the media companies and journalists who are the worst offenders.   It's peek , people, peek .   How hard can it be?  Grrr.  Rant over. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here This week in the Corrie weekly updates, Spider got a mention - not once, but twice! ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

To Souter Lighthouse in Whitburn, South Tyneside for an event with a difference today - the Foghorn Requiem . I never thought I'd get as emotional as I did but when the foghorn died at the end of the requiem. All the boats tooted their horns and the band played their final farewell, all lined up along the cliff top, a little lump crept into my throat.  Had to go to the pub and have a little drinkie to raise a glass to the dead foghorn, well, it's what he would have wanted. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

To Glasgow this week for a day of artwork on the trail of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. And what a day it was. Starting point was The Mackintosh House at the Hunterian, University of Glasgow.  You'll have to take my word for it that it was as beautiful and gob-smackingly stunning as I'd hoped it would be, because we weren't allowed to take photos.  But my expression on seeing it all was something like this: Then a short walk through Glasgow University's campus to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum to see a collection of art and design by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh.   Again, no photos were allowed but it was stunning, absolutely incredible stuff and I looked a little like this: Stop number three was the Scotland Street School Museum designed by Mackintosh and well worth a visit. This time, photos were allowed and so I took plenty.  All photos below are my own. From there it was back on t...

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here This week in the Corrie weekly updates, detective Dev turned Corrie Colombo. ______ I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

To the National Glass Centre on the banks of the Wear in Sunderland for a glass coaster making class.  Now then, I'm a writer, I'm a blogger. I get creative with words, it's what I do; it's who I am.  What I'm not is an artist so bear with me when you see some of the pictures below. If some of my artwork looks a bit rough and ready, that's because it is  While I can weave words with ease, I haven't got the slightest bit of artist within.  I don't do design, I can't create in that way, I ain't arty. And so that's why I was like a kid with a new toy taking part in this glass class because it was way out of my comfort zone. The photos below are all mine, taken on the day with permission from the tutor.   Here we go with the tools of the trade needed to get started - cutting, tracing, preparing, slicing. We started by designing stencils to work with. To help prepare in advance, I'd already found some stencils online that I liked and p...

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here This week in the Corrie weekly updates, it all went a bit deedle eedle deedle eedle deedle um. I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

There's a heck of a lot going on in Sunderland this summer - have a look here and here .  And while the big guns are out on the sea front, the Stadium of Light, Mowbray Park with all kinds of great stuff going on, it's often the little things, the quiet things that I like the best. Here's one of them. If you're interested in the history and heritage of Sunderland, you might like this event which is taking place this weekend - June 8 and 9 2013. It's the Heritage Open Weekend and takes place at the Sunderland Antiquarian and Heritage Centre on Douro Terrace in sunny Sunderland.  For more information check out www.sunderland-antiquarians.org And if Sunderland history and heritage floats your boat, you might want to have a look at this . I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

If anyone had told me a couple of years ago that I'd be a happy cyclist, I'd have laughed in their faces and took their beer away from them as clearly they wouldn't have been right in the head. Either that, or it was said by someone who didn't know me very well. And if anyone had told me a couple of years ago that not only would I be a happy cyclist, but that I'd be cycling in to work and back on a regular basis (as long as it was dry and sunny) and I'd have taken part in not one, but two, Sunderland Big Bike Rides, well, I wouldn't have believed them. But, dear reader, all of it came true.  This weekend I rode 27.5 miles in the Sunderland Big Bike Ride 2013,  raised £175 for the charity Cancer Research UK.  There's a picture of me in the Big Bike Ride photo album on the Sunderland Council facebook page so if you know me, you'll find me there. Obviously, the picture on this blog post isn't me. It's a stock image, copyright free. But...

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here This week in the Corrie weekly updates, I make a small change after 18 years.