A trench was dug across the river where the bridge had been, and the River Wear had to be channelled into four huge pipes across the trench.

Soon more bones started coming to the surface. They were washed clean and given a thick coat of plaster and sacking to protect them and taken away to the warehouse, where they were carefully numbered like the girders had been.

There were now so many bones, it would have been a difficult jigsaw puzzle to have to put them together without any plan. That was Spookie’s idea, and Dyspepsia was grateful her friend had thought of it in good time.

Once across the river, the line of bones did a slight twist to North by Northwest and made a beeline for the Stadium of Light.

Now there was an outcry! It was on the front page of the Sunderland Echo. Which was unusual, because anything football stays near the back normally.

Just too bad, Dyspepsia thought. The question was a simple one. Were those bones going to be dug up, or weren’t they?

Sunderland United FC called an emergency meeting of the directors, who sat around their big shiny rosewood table clutching their glasses of champagne. Ah well, they said. It was all for the best.

The citizens of Sunderland had been too busy helping to dig up the Monstosaurus and they’d had no time to go out on Saturday afternoons to watch football. Nobody was able to get to sleep at nights, they were all so excited.

The next few weeks were not so interesting, though. There were no ribs yet, only backbones. These were getting no bigger (and no smaller) as they went in a steady line through Southwick and Fulwell towards East Boldon, between the road and the railway line.

This took them slap bang through the greyhound stadium and, just like the football club, the dog owners met round a big table and shook their heads at what they had to do. 

It was no use. The Biggest Dinosaur Ever was far more important than dog racing and the stadium would have to come down.

Some of the directors started crying. Dyspepsia had no sympathy. They’d had plenty of time to see it coming.

And so the trench went forward, and the ten-wheeled lorries trundled to and fro along Newcastle Road carrying bones back to the dinosaur warehouse.

The people of Sunderland heaved a sigh of relief. The trench had now moved on from Sunderland, into South Tyneside, where the road suddenly changes its name to Sunderland Road.

Although the people of Sunderland had had great fun digging up bones, a lot of familiar landmarks had gone for good. But you don’t dig up the Biggest Dinosaur Ever without there being some price to pay.