Six things I didn't expect to see over the course of the Bank Holiday weekend

1. The inside of a former Little Chef that's been converted into a superb Indian restaurant. I remember eating Black Forest gateau in there many a time, back when I were a lad and it were all fields.

2. Golf balls disappearing beyond the 200m mark on our visit to the local driving range. Perhaps I should get over the cost and take up golf? After all, I am now of a certain age, and it would give me an excuse to wear silly clothes.

3. A man with a perfect monk haircut (shaven at the back and sides and on top, with a halo of hair left) helping to pack up the stalls on the Quayside in Newcastle at the end of the Sunday market. He must have either done it for a bet or had been on his stag do the previous night. Or maybe it's just the latest fashion that hasn't yet made its way down the country.

4. An aerial runway from the Tyne Bridge over the river. Not so long ago, that really would have been taking your life in your own hands, as one gulp of what passed for water would have probably caused you either to instantly vomit or sprout a third arm. As it is, fall into the Tyne in central Newcastle these days and you're more likely to find your fall broken by an otter.

5. Jimmy White on the M1, en route back to his manor from the World Championships in Sheffield. To be honest, the black Bentley with the number plate 'CUE 130Y' was a giveaway.

6. A Mad Hatter's Tea Party in the courtyard space between Cafe Coco and Kazbar on Cowley Road in Oxford. It was a while before I realised that the reason the wine-swilling fop in the regal cloak looked familiar was because I'd seen him representing his college on 'University Challenge'...