Weirdly Bay Says Hi!

There'll be little structure to this blog. Don't come here if you want elegant structure!

But there'll be ideas, play, a little poetry. And that, I hope, will capture the spirit of Weirdly Bay.

Weirdly Bay being, of course, a twist on Whitley Bay, which is a seaside town to the east of Newcastle. Once it was a bustling resort, which doubled or tripled in size during Factory Fortnight, when Scotland's industry shut down each year, and its workers came south with their families for a holiday. Now Whitley is largely a dormitory town, with an exceptional line in curries, coffee and ice cream.

It's reinventing itself. Or finding itself for the 21st Century. Fittingly for a dormitory town, perhaps it is allowing itself to dream. And where you find dreams, often you find a bit of weirdness.

Weirdly Bay was first of all a map I drew of the town. I jammed it full of geeky and pop references. Later I shaped it into the Weirdly Bay Press, to publish a collection of Lockdown Diary cartoons, and then my first poetry pamphlet.

We are about to publish a series of games. The gaming arm of the project, with my games partner Steve Poole, is going to be known as Weirdly Gaming. More about which in the next blog!