Back in Newcastle for a night after a few very nice days in Edinburgh spent seeing friends and family, and taking in a very small amount of the Fringe. 4pm on a Saturday is not a bad time to leave Edinburgh: the train was quite quiet, and the passengers weren’t really the wrecked specimens you see retreating from the festival later in the month.

I would write a bit about the shows we saw, but they were mainly seen in a social way, and booked by other people. Another year we’ll fully engage in festival planning and pack our days with the full range of offerings. (I’m pretty sure I said that last year, though).

This year’s personal Edinburgh highlight was climbing Arthur’s Seat with my daughter on a perfect blue-skied Thursday morning. Just the right amount of difficulty to feel like a challenge without taking up a whole day, and more than enough to give us both a feeling of achievement.

The sun was shining on Tyneside as we pulled into Central station, lighting up the Tyne Bridge and Sage Gateshead; not the classic view of the bridges from the Quayside or looking east from the King Edward bridge, but distinctively Newcastle. Home, or A Home, anyway. Back to our other home tomorrow, sadly travelling by car rather than train.

The Tyne Bridge shot from the Millennium Bridge last weekend