daveydave

I'm not one of those rabid Eurovision fanatics, but I do find it quite an entertaining couple of hours once a year. However, this year is special and I urge you all to witness the wonderment that is Finland's entry . Not your typical Eurovision fare by any stretch and I'm delighted to see they made it through the semi-final stage. They will be gracing a TV near you on Saturday: there is a God after all.

If there were any doubts over the rise of the money set in Newcastle I think yesterday squashed them. I saw not one but three Aston Martin DB9s in town yesterday. Not the same one thrice either. I'd gone out for a walk at lunch and while heading back to the office passed a brand new, black convertible DB9, top down, parked up and abandoned - rather brave I thought. While I was casting my gaze over that, a silver coupe drove by. Then, walking down to the car park after work, I saw a black coupe. This is an exceptional, but not altogether unique catch. I've noticed, over the last year or so, a steady increase in the number of flash wheels driving around the north - particularly Astons, Range Rovers and Bentley Continentals. We're certainly no match for the South-East, but there sure is some money up here these days.

A brief follow up to my previous post on Alan Shearer . I watched his Testimonial match last night (surely the first decent thing aired on ITV4!) and I've got to be honest, I was welling. A very emotional event. I was one of the thousands who turned up on a wet lunchtime in July 1996 to welcome Shearer home, and I still can't quite believe that we won't see Alan in the Newcastle number 9 next season. I'd like to add huge thanks to Celtic Football Club for coming o'er the border and giving us a very enjoyable game. Especially playing along at the end to allow Shearer, who I'm sure would have much preferred to play the whole game, to score the winning penalty. Yes it was an orchestrated end to the game, but it showed a huge level of sportsmanship and really was a credit to that team. Slainte.