daveydave

Turned into a bit of a mess didn't it. From my reading of the situation, the Pakistan team wanted to make a small protest following the accusation of ball-tampering, which seems fair enough to me. However, the umpire wasn't going to put up with it and so we end up with the bails coming off signaling the end of the match. It seems to me that the umpire could have done a much better job of sorting this out by talking with the Pakistani team about why they didn't take the field after tea. Listening to Mr Boycott on Channel 5, it looks as though there is some history between this umpire and Pakistan though, which really puts a big cloud over the game of cricket in general. The ICC needs to get to the bottom of this quickly. Anyway, the bails are off so there is no point in playing the final day tomorrow. However, it seems that the players wanted to play today and I'm sure the crowd wanted to watch cricket, so why not have a friendly one day match tomorrow. With a different

A few events on the horizon for you. First off, Newcastle Mela . This festival of all things Punjabi, Pakistani, Bengali and Hindi is in its 14th year. I've never yet managed to go but it's supposed to be a very enjoyable event. Sunday 27th and Bank Holiday Monday 28th of August 2006 in Exhibition Park. If you are interested in European produce then why not have a look at the North Tyneside Continental Market in September. It will be at North Shields on the 1st, Wallsend on the 2nd and Whitley Bay on the 3rd. For more information see the TyneTown website or ring 0191 200 5733. Also in September are the Heritage Open Days. They run from Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th. A large number of historical buildings are open to the public as well as a number of guided tours and walks. Well worth a look as a lot of these places are not normally open to the public plus it's all free. There are apparently 181 properties and activities this year across the whole Tyne and Wear area. Further

As it's been a while since I mentioned ways of getting away from (and indeed coming to) Newcastle, I thought I'd have a look at what new scheduled flights are available. Jet2 have added to their list of destinations with flights to Chambery over the winter (for you winter sports types) and 2 flights a week to Krakow in Poland. I flew with them in July on their Menorca route and it was a very good service (apart from a delayed departure from Newcastle.) Aer Lingus are back in the game at Newcastle with cheap daily flights to Dublin from 29th October 2006. This is in direct competition with Ryanair . Eastern Airways have added services to Cardiff and Inverness.

Who? You might well ask. Oswald was king of Northumbria during the early 7th century. He was king when the Northumbrians defeated the Britons at the Battle of Heavenfield in 635. This comprehensive victory over the pagan Britons resulted in the reunification of Northumbria and led to an the era of greatness for the kingdom. By 638, Oswald was secure at home and looking towards expansion. Bede suggests that the king was recognised as Bretwalda or overlord of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Obviously, power breeds jealousy and King Penda of Mercia gathered a large force of Mercians and Welsh to bring an end to Oswald's reign. The armies clashed in 642 at Maserfield (now Oswestry or Oswald's Tree) in Shropshire and Oswald was killed on the 5th of August. Oswald was hacked to pieces by the victors. The story goes that his body was taken from the battle field on a gold cloth which became soaked with the king's blood - so giving rise the flag that you should see at the top of this po