This is my Hometown.

Evening strumpets,

At the weekend we took the kids into Town to have their feet measured for new shoes. Great news, they haven`t grown a bit, seventy of your new English Pounds saved for the Davies`s, woohoo! but it meant we had a bit of spare time on our hands. So what can you do on a rainy cold Sunday morning in Boro?

Surprisingly, quite a lot and relatively cheaply. In the Town Centre there has been a lot of work over the past twenty years into making it less of a place where you would avoid the dog turds, whilst simultaneously stepping over the drunks.

The kids had a play with the fountain, and from there we walked up to the bottle of notes, a huge sculpture, which like the Angel of the North either makes you think "what the..." or makes you think "Oooh I like that". This is situated next to a giant circular chessboard, and a little pond where you can feed the ducks. just over the way are the Law Courts, so often seen on the News when bad people do bad things. There`s a great sculpture outside (See above) which caused a bit of a scandal when it was first shown, as it was not long after the Cleveland Child Abuse scandal. luckily common sense prevailed and it remained.

From there it was over to MIMA, which was recently featured on "Top Gear".
This is the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, and it`s a cracking place. The kids love it, and get to really experience Art at their level. During a Bauhaus exhibition, Gracie asked what the picture was supposed to be? I asked her what did it look like, and she said "Spongebob kissing your Mobile Telephone" so that`s what it was.

Finally we have recently gathered a very large wheel. Not as large or as grand as it`s counterparts in London, or York, but lovely all the same. Great contrasting views of the Hills to one side, and the steelworks to the other, making me realise just why i love this Town.

It might be a Shithole, but it`s my shithole.

Till the next one learn something new,

Mark.

PS, I`ll be playing banjo at the open Mic at the Crown in Boro tomorrow if anyone is interested. The night generally starts about half nine, so I`ll be there for Nine.