I went to Newcastle in the late forties with my parents. In those days all the buildings seemed to be black or grey. The Tyne had a forest of huge cranes along its length. And all the men wore cloth caps and looked downtrodden and tired. My grandparents house (three rooms) had an iron range for cooking and heating, glowing with coal. The toilet ('nettie') was outside. 'Bwoats' were everywhere, fishing or transporting goods. The air was smoky and pricked your throat. My grannie made stottie kyek. She spoke such broad Geordie I couldn't understand a word. They all said "Eeeee!" aand "Why aye!" etc. I didn't like it much, it was so very alien to my life down in Middlesex. It was also freezing cold up there!