Liverpool’s Underground Railway
Liverpool has its own Underground railway and I took the Wirral line from Liverpool Central station to get to Liverpool University’s veterinary campus at Leahurst.
Central station has recently been refurbished to a good standard. You do wonder if Manchester’s chaotic transport system would be better, if they’d tunnelled under the city, like they did in Liverpool.
Liverpool’s network has been talked about as a candidate for years and this section in Wikipedia, shows what could and might be done.
The Only Starbucks I Habitually Visit
I don’t generally go to Starbucks very often, but I will use this one in Bold Street in Liverpool.
The Only Starbucks I Habitually Visit
In the 1960s, I’m fairly certain, it used to be La Bussola, which was the coffee bar, where everybody went.
It’s The Grand National Soon!
April the 6th, sees the Grand National run at Liverpool this year.
It’s The Grand National Soon!
In some ways, I’m surprised, as in the 1960s, it was quietly fading away! But then out of the Book of Unlikely Sporting Heroes came that amazing horse; Red Rum. By winning the race three times in five years, he effectively recreated all of the interest in the race. He must be the only animal, who has single-handedly saved a sporting or other event, that was failing and put it on a sound footing.
Now the Grand National meeting at Liverpool, is one of the biggest events in the city. C and I went once with the kids and some day I’ll go again.
I was once told a tale, that in the 1970s, when it looked like Aintree racecourse might fold, that the Jockey Club had plans in place to recreate the Grand National course on Newmarket Heath.
Luckily Red Rum came along and the rest as they say, is history!
In some ways though, Red Rum had the last laugh, in that he spent several years enjoying himself as a celebrity. He then died at thirty, which is a very good age for a horse.
A Good Pluck
I spotted this sign as I walked down the hill from the hotel to Liverpool Central station.
A Good Pluck
It’s for things like this, I always carry a camera.
Liver Birds In The Mist
Just like from a large part of London, you can see the Shard, from a lot of the central area of Liverpool, you can see the Liver Birds.
Liver Birds In The Mist
Is Liverpool, the only British city, with its own bird?
A Liverpudlian Hotel
I’ve just come back from Liverpool, where I stayed in the Hope Street Hotel. It is one of my favourite city hotels and I would rate it as the best city hotel, I’ve stayed in, in the UK. It certainly magnitudes better than one famous London hotel, C and I stayed in, where we were constantly interrupted all night by the reception wanting someone, with the same name as myself.
What I like most about it, is that it is a real Liverpudlian hotel, where the staff reflect the true nature of the city, where they have a joke and a tale for everyone. So many luxurious city hotels, as the Hope Street Hotel is, are very anonymous and could be anywhere. In some, I’ve stayed in, you find no local staff at all.
It is also an excellent gluten-free hotel, that actually bakes all of its own bread, including the gluten free. How many hotels do that? On Thursday night, I ate in the restaurant and they’d also made their own ice cream. Also, as befits a coastal city, there is always plenty of fish on the menu.
C liked her baths and the bathroom in the room I had was spectacular.
A Spectacular Bathroom
She would have loved it, although despite several tries she never managed to book the hotel.
I have feeling that I got a room upgrade because I booked with a Platinum Amex card. It’s happened to me quite a few times in 4 and 5-star hotels, as often a lot more guests want the cheaper rooms, so those they know or have a decent card get the upgrade.
Every time I go, the hotel seems to get better. This time, they had fitted new televisions which gave access to all the Freeview channels and Sky Sports. So often C and I stayed in a hotel, where her favourite Radio 4 wasn’t available and most don’t have my favourite Radio 5 either. But Hope Street has both and also all of the odd ones like BBC3 and ITV4.
Full Freview Television
Note that the Hope Street Hotel scores 4.5 on Trip Advisor, as opposed to the Lowry in Manchester, which scores 4. Remember too, that the Hope Street Hotel is at the heart of the University and many attractions in the city. Most of the other places you want to go are just a walk down the hill and if you need one a taxi back.
Derry Becomes UK City Of Culture
There is a touch of deja-vu about how Derry is being made the UK City of Culture for 2013.
There was a lot of cynical thought about what might happen when Liverpool became European Capital of Culture in 2008. However, looking back from 2010 in this article in the Guardian, shows it was a great boost to the city. On my regular visits to the city, it now has a very buoyant attitude to the future, compared to say ten years ago.
Let’s hope that being UK City of Culture does the same for Derry.
Bawling Out Wares In Oxford Street
At the tacky end of Oxford Street towards, I heard a lot of commotion going on. It was comng from this shop selling perfumes.
Bawling Out Wares In Oxford Street
It was an old-fashioned trader bawling out his wares. I haven’t heard or seen anything like this since they used to get rid of crap in a shop called King Kong in the main shopping street in Liverpool in the 1960s.
A Pharmacy With Young Assistants Wearing High Heels?
When I first went to Liverpool, the local girls were always described as totties. So this pharmacy caught my eye in Charlton!
A Pharmacy With Young Assistants Wearing High Heels?
The explanation at the time for tottie, was that the girls always tottered on very high heels.
I suppose now, they’d be called supertotties, as the heels are so much higher.
Liverpool, Glasgow And Belfast
These three cities in the UK have for centuries had their troubles between Catholics and Protestants.
I grew up in London, which before the Second World War wasn’t without its religious troubles. But that generally involved anti-Semitism and those on the far right. My father was a staunch anti-fascist and claimed he was at the Battle of Cable Street. I suspect he was, and I know he used to write Cockney poetry about the war. Sadly none has srvived although, I can remember a few phrases.
He didn’t like Catholics because of the Pope’s support for Hitler in the War and my mother being of a Huguenot line didn’t like them either. But it was nothing more than the odd barbed comment, when say a new Pope was elected. I don’t think either of my parents ever saw the inside of a church except for the odd wedding.
This lack of religion, probably helped to push me towards being agnostic and of course now, I’m someone, who doesn’t believe in any religion. But that is not to say, I don’t follow the humanist principles of most of the major religions.
Going to Liverpool in the early 1960s, was the first time, I really came across religion in tooth and claw. With the massive Anglican Cathedral and the new Roman Catholic one under construction, I couldn’t avoid the fact, that I was in a city that took its religion seriously. In those days, there were parades by both Catholics and Orangemen. But any trouble had dropped off in the previous few years. Was it because the people of Liverpool developed healthy interests in music and football? But other factors were also at work inside the Anglican and Catholic churches. Although this pre-dates the partnership between Archbishop Derek Worlock and the Bishop David Sheppard, I think in the 1960s, the people of Liverpool thought they’d had enough of religious rivalries, that got out of hand.
It was then that I met C’s friend, Maureen, who was the daughter of a Presbyterian Minister and missionary from Belfast. Her tales of her home city painted a very different picture of life in Northern Ireland.
It was at that time too, that I had my first experience of Scotland, when I went to Glasgow to see Spurs play against Celtic in the Glasgow Cup. It was the first time, I saw serious football violence, as a Rangers supporter appeared in the non-segregated crowd and was promptly thumped by most of the Celtic fans around me. It’s not to say there wasn’t violence in England at the time, but in matches at Portman Road, White Hart Lane, Anfield and Goodison Park, I’d never experienced any at first hand.
Over the years, I’ve visited Belfast a few times and been rather horrified at all of the flags and religious symbols. I once went into Shorts factory in Belfast and couldn’t believe the bigoted displays I saw. If I were to put up similar posters and flags on my house attacking any religion, I’d be arrested.
In Glasgow it’s not so open, but read any forum about Rangers and Celtic and you’ll find language you never find on similar forums involving say Spurs and Arsenal or Liverpool and Everton.
I go to Liverpool regularly and even went to see the Olympic torch in the city, where the Archbishop enjoyed the parade with everybody else.
So how come Liverpool has come to terms with its religious divides and in Belfast and to a certain extent, Glasgow, they seem to be getting worse?
The Anonymous Widower 