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Kev Lawrence: watching Britain's Got Talent live
Oh what joy. I shaved 15 minutes off my satnav time on Saturday, as we belted up to Sheffield Arena from Hampton in 90 minutes flat.
Oh what joy. I shaved 15 minutes off my satnav time on Saturday, as we belted up to Sheffield Arena from Hampton in 90 minutes flat.I'd bought tickets for the Britain's Got Talent live tour, and my kids were open-mouthed from start to finish. They loved it.
Susan Boyle was mesmerizing, and despite forgetting her words, she got a standing ovation. The dance acts were even better live than on the telly, especially Flawless, and my little girl was particularly taken with DJ Talent, whose song she sang all the way home.
As a city, Sheffield should not really be able to compare to Peterborough. At least that was the pre-conception that I had. But I found myself feeling a little envious of it.
The concert venue is an enormous arena, with parking facilities and links to the motorway that were ideal. Forthcoming acts include Pink, Will Young, Spandau Ballet, Ricky Gervais and Neil Sedaka.
Across the road was a place called "Centre-tainment". It had a dozen or so packed restaurants (I know they were packed because my family and I tried to get into most of them to eat), a modern looking cinema, a giant bowling ally, and about a million free parking spaces. The place was buzzing with life, people and excitement.
Our equivalent in Peterborough is a tired looking cinema that has no competition to keep it on its toes, and one restaurant not far from it that's OK. Also, near our cinema is a place you can buy bikes and tents. Oh, and a car dealership, too.
For so many years now we have been told about the one billon pound re-generation of our city. We are going to expand and develop into a vibrant up and coming place that everyone in Sunderland will want to re-locate to. Huge ideas, and the ball was already rolling. Well it must have been a little ball, because so far I haven't seen it.
Our city, more or less, has about the same pulse rate now as it had 10 years ago. In fact, it might even be a little slower.
There are people earning lots of money somewhere, being paid to haul our city forward, and deliver the so called Masterplan. I wish they would get on with it.
The new regime at the Peterborough City Council need to prioritise this, and make sure they work hand in hand with Opportunity Peterborough, so that all the promises we have had for so long can now start being delivered. Cllr Marco Cereste certainly looks impressive, has a background in business, and seems to be saying all the right things. Time will tell if he can get things moving.
It may seem unlikely, but wouldn't it be nice if one day some local newspaper columnist from Sheffield could write about his fantastic day out in our city?
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Weather for Peterborough
Thursday 24 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
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