That question was posed by a young colleague a few years ago. I was able to put her right, but her need to know was purely professional and my answer, however embellished, is unlikely to have inspired any pressing desire on her part to go there.
This gap in her life was filled at the weekend when the occasion of my milestone birthday lured her to the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, where I had chosen to hold the party.
As she returned to London, she announced in a "status update" at Facebook that she was "back from Sunderland where I literally couldn't understand a word anyone said".
This may well have been an exaggeration. But I am glad to say that in common with others who ventured north for the event, she found plenty of compensation for the language difficulties.
Everyone was given a tour of the stadium, or that part of the stadium closest to the function room where the party took place. We saw the dressing rooms, the physio room, the cold tank into which injured players are required to plunge after leaving the pitch, the dug-outs and so on. Can you honestly claim to know of any finer way to spend your Saturday night?
A few of my guests also saw a little of the lovely village of Whitburn, a couple of miles up the coast. It has leafy lanes, lush lawns, cricket, stone-built cottages and a picturesque beach.
Food was provided at the party, but I was taking no chances and arrived in the North East in time for a splendid seafood lunch - in Whitburn - washed down with champagne and Sancerre. Nothing is too good for the working class, as I may have observed before.
The friends who prepared this feast always insist on buying only langoustines that are "good-looking", tough as that may seem on specimens with more modest physical attributes.
In the event, stadium catering has improved since my last exposure to it, and there were murmurs of approval among my friends and relatives for the Thai chicken curry and exotic little brochettes (with shepherd's pie offered as a soft option for less adventurous souls).
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