So our trip to Newcastle was a good one on the whole; Decent, cheap hotel, good bars, a damn good laugh, the right result (from my point of view anyway) and  a bloody good night all round!  That was until a light fingered scumbag helped himself to my wallet!

The Grainger Hotel,  £60 for a “family” room (4 single beds) & breakfast.  Clean, obviously recently refurbished, all new bathroom fittings, full tea and coffee making facilities and a flat screen telly.  No surprises and I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again (next season lads??), in fact I’d recommend it for cheap digs any time!

After a short, downhill walk you’re pretty much in the centre of town, two minutes from the footy ground, bars and takeaways everywhere.  After a couple in The Bodega, where we’d thought it was a bit more expensive than home, we moved on to the next one, Tilly’s Bar, I got them in and the barmaid charged me £12.17, I got up off the floor and paid, grumbled a bit and thought “ok, £4 a pint, won’t be here long!”  About 10 minutes later, the girl who’d served me came up and gave me £3 odd and said “I’m so sorry, I overcharged you!”  Again, I picked myself up and thanked her!  I can’t ever remember that happening – anywhere!

Then, it was time to go to the game.  I’d never been to St James’ Park before and it was only round the corner from the bar we were in so thought we had plenty of time.  Well, we had, in theory, it was the amount of stairs up to where the away fans were that slowed us down – you will get vertigo in that ground!  The stewards had a good laugh at me and Gaz as we got to the top level – we were in a state.  We missed the first goal, and the second too just after half time (still at the bar) but saw the winner – a great result!  To be fair it is a very impressive football ground and well worth a visit.

Post game it was back to Tilly’s bar for a few shandies and a couple of “medicinal” whiskies to warm us up again.  We were pointed to a bar not too far away that was open a bit later, a student bar apparently!  It had a funny smell – call me a snob, but I tend to mistrust things that smell funny!  I think it was called The Head of Steam, but I may be wrong?  Anyway, beer was warm but it was a little cheaper.  The bar staff were a little odd.  One was the gingerest man you’ve ever seen with a big, thick beard!  I’m ginger and I do get defensive when people start ginger bashing, but come on man – there is no need for beards like that – I can’t defend that!  Another one tried to tell us that he’d turned up the music and explained that “it seemed quiet to us because the speakers were on the wall and to get the full effect we had to stand nearer to the wall” – we’re drunk, not stupid!  The other one just got fed up of Lee calling her “oi, you!” and asking daft questions about the ginger mans beard!

After this we went in search of food.  We were in Bigg Market, walked into the foyer of one restaurant, baulked at the prices and turned to walk out.  In the doorway, this guy walked in to me, apologised and started to ask about the game!  He had one hand on my right arm and was talking right in my face, I didn’t realise what his other hand was doing  until a minute later when I thought “that was odd?”, felt my pocket and realised my wallet had gone!  He was with another lad by this time, I shouted, he ran and Gaz followed him but he disappeared.  By now, this other lad and two girls had joined in, shouting and screaming as if we were attacking them, causing confusion all round, and we ended up not knowing how many were involved!  Another guy who was standing by a kebab shop walked over, full of concern, offering to look for the thief!  When the police turned up this guy turned out to be related to the whole lot of them, their cousin!  Must have been a family outing!  They knew exactly what they were doing, especially to do it in a street as heavily monitored  by CCTV as that one!  I gave details to the police, who were great, to be fair – so that’s it, take it on the chin!

The police recommended a curry house, Simla, and said “tell them we sent you”.  We eventually found it, walked in – there was no one in, the bar was closed and one guy was hoovering –“no, no, we’re closed!” to which we said “but the police sent us!” – their faces visibly dropped with resignation and they very graciously served us – and it was bloody good!  The short taxi ride back to the Grainger cost about £7 which got a shout of “How much? You should be wearing a ******* mask!” from Lee (I think the taxi driver only took it because it came from a Geordie?)  It had been an eventful evening, one way or another, but mainly a good laugh!

They only got away with about £20 in my wallet, my debit card (which has been stopped, luckily with no damage to my account), the rest is easily replaceable – it’s the inconvenience that is the most irritating thing!  I’m embarrassed that I didn’t realise what the guy was up to but, in the cold light of day, it could have ended up a lot worse, given how many there turned out being involved!  We’re still in one piece, the wallet and cards can be replaced!

After the events of this year, I can’t let myself get too upset by this, it just isn’t on the same scale.  My faith in human nature has been restored this year by so many people and this hasn’t changed that but it just shows that you can’t be too careful and reminds you that there are scumbags everywhere who fully believe that you are just “fair game” so be on your guard!

The good things in my life are far outweighing the bad stuff now and things are very much looking up!  I’ll be nailing my wallet to my hip in future though!

Take care everyone – all the best!