Can’t tell you about kids in pyjamas in Tibet with a mountainous backdrop…so I’ll just tell you about ‘us’… This is the all new, singing and dancing bus station in Stanley, fed by sunlight and wind turbines (apparently) well I say ‘new’ it’s a couple of years old now. I have an affinity with the ‘old’ one. Back then it was a proper ‘bus station’, made of red bricks and the odd square window that you couldn’t see out of, some of them knocked out and smashed to bits that made you stand in the cold waiting for a bus (the kinda chunks that interior designers put in showers and stuff nowadays…) with walls and walkways flagged stained in late nights food, fights and leaky bladders and there was proper toilets where people got fucked in more ways than one, with mirrors made of polished steel and inked graffiti that just said things like “If you fancy a fuck call this number….” “Shaz is a Slag!” “Fuck the Mags” “NUFC” “Skins” and “NF”…You took a piss on a late night with eyes in the back of your head and forced it out in seconds flat that sprayed your pants and soaked your trainers…Back then the X46 just made three stops…Stanley Bus Station (the main pick up point and where the supporters got on) then down by the market next to the Royal (Stanley) where we all got on ( and we filled the bus, hoolies from the ‘Sticks‘ ) and then Sunniside and then it was straight off to Newcastle for the match…Back then? The X46 was the bus to be on, till we all gained notoriety and the ‘naughty bus’ was the one we all went on or the odd mini bus scraped together by mates with a license…Nah…Stanley Bus Station has just become one of those homogenised, characterless spaces, a safe environment without any ‘edge’…a comfy place…

Second dress from pattern - I made use of an old pajama top for the layering other than the sleeves, and kept the hemming, which is so much neater than mine! LOL A lot of my niece's clothing has the "messy applique" look, which nicely matches my "as neat as possible" heart applique here! Velcro works better than snaps as a fastener for this pattern, too. I made a couple minor adjustments, so I want to try making one more version before scanning the pattern. ...I solemnly swear to give the striped tights a rest next photoshoot... LOL