23 June - Into Liverpool

I spent a leisurely morning while the weather tried to decide what to do. As the sun started to come out, I walked to the bus stop and caught the 10A to Liverpool. It's meant to be a 51 minute trip. I don't know if it was because there were so many stops being made or so many passengers getting on, but my 51 minute trip took 1 hour 20 minutes. That wouldn't have been bad if we'd been driving through the countryside, but we were on the main roads of some not-terribly-nice urban areas. Oh well, I made it.

Keeping the advice of yesterday's bus buddy in mind, and because it was so sunny, I walked down to the river, intending to walk the waterfront. (Cue Billie Holliday: "I Cover the Waterfront".) As I started walking I reached for my sunglasses and realized I had left them at home. No way could I go without shades, so I walked up to TK Maxx (US TJ, UK TK) and bought a pair. It helps that we've been to Liverpool four or five times so I know my way around, more or less.

Side note: there seems to be two ways that people greet you when you walk into a shop or a bar in England: Y'awright? (Are you alright?) or Hiya! I can't quite pin down which is said where, but clearly, Hiya is the phrase of choice in Liverpool,

Anyway, off I started through the Liverpool 1 shopping district toward the River Mersey. There's a new attraction as you leave the shopping area, the Upside Down House.

As I got closer I had flashbacks to my day on Brighton Pier when I was attacked by a seagull who wanted my donut.

I was feeling a bit peckish but didn't find anything but junk food by the docks, so I decided to cross off another item from my "must eat" list: scouse. When I worked on the Ocean Princess cruise ship, there were quite a few entertainers from the Liverpool area. they used to call themselves scousers, not Liverpudlians. I later found out why. In the days when Liverpool was a major shipping port, lots of Norwegian sailors came through the port and they favored a stew called lobscouse. Over time, that got shortened to scouse, a dish which became popular around Liverpool. It's meant to be made of lamb, potatoes, carrots and onions. It came to be associated with the people of Liverpool, likely because it was a cheap, filling dish. Over time, people in Liverpool came to be called Scousers. There's some discussion about whether that's a derogatory term, but from my experience it's not, since many Liverpudlians use it.

I went to the one place where I knew I could find scouse: the Museum of Liverpool. I got my huge portion along with a beautiful crusty roll and sat outside to enjoy the day and my delicious stew (with a side of beetroot!)

I think that if it were winter, this would be the ultimate comfort food. Even on a hot early summer day, it was delicious. I can just picture my grandfather who came from Preston, just down the road from Liverpool, loving this.

As I was sitting there outside the Museum, enjoying my scouse, I heard what sounded like a small bomb exploding. That bomb turned into what was a drumbeat. Add guitar, then some vocals. It turned out to be a sound check for a concert that would be happening that night. I finished my lunch and made my way to the riverfront where I discovered that the riverfront walk was closed, presumably because of the concert. Okay, can't go this way. I remembered my bus buddy saying that I should take the ferry to the other bank (cue "Ferry Cross the Mersey" by Gerry and the Pacemakers). The line for the ferry was enormous. The folly of my trip to Liverpool at last revealed itself: it was the first sunny Sunday in months, so everyone and their cousin were out for the day. Oh, and there was a cheerleading championship going on.

The streets were teeming with people, the temperature was rising, my patience was waning. I decided to leave further exploration of Liverpool for another day so headed to the train station. I missed the train to Rainhill by 5 minutes so had to decide whether to kill an hour before the next train or get the bus back to Rainhill. Given the length of the first bus trip I opted to kill the hour because the train would only take 23 minutes. I walked around the station, which is so full of light.

Loved this advert.

Having time to kill, I walked across the street to the budget mall. It doesn't call itself that, of course, but it definitely is - full of fast food and faster fashion. Where else can you buy boots for the equivalent of $4.00. One shop struck me as the epitome of Liverpool fashion, which is over-the-top and glitzy.

I only wish you could see the enormous amount of rhinestones on display! I missed a shot of one of my favorite Liverpool "fashions" - fuzzy house slippers worn to go shopping.

I stopped at a little shop and treated myself to a milkshake. I still had some time to kill before my train left so I walked around the block. I love this old pub building.

Taylor Swift is on tour in England at the moment and apparently Liverpool loves her. (Don't know if you can make it out but those hearts say "Liverpool Loves")

Back at the station I tried to find a litter bin to throw away the cup from my milkshake. I walked end to end, but there wasn't one bin. Oh well, I'll just toss it in the ladies room. No bins. They have air dryers, so no bins for paper towels. I walked outside, no bins. I had to walk two blocks to find one. It really puzzled me. It reminded me of when I first visited England in 1990. There were concerns about the IRA planting bombs in public places so all the luggage lockers and rubbish bins were removed. Hmmm, is there some concern I should know about? I walked about 2 blocks away from the station before I found one. That done, I went back to the station and boarded my train. We left on time but about ten minutes into the trip the train stopped. After a few minutes the conductor announced that the train in front of us was in the station and unable to close its doors, so we would be delayed and as soon as he had more information he would let us know. And so we sat...and sat...and sat and I found myself regretting not taking the bus. More announcements, more delay. The train car was heating up, since they turned off the air circulation. I looked up and saw that the ceiling was held together with duct tape. Ah, quality!

At last the train started moving. After the next station we sat again, but not for too long. At the following station that was a bit a fracas. A very drunk man on the train started insulting the conductor who was a person of color. Lots of shouting, ending in the drunk being kicked off the train. Off we went again, one more stop till I changed trains. At this point I was just trying to visualize what would go wrong next. What a nice surprise when the last leg of the trip was uneventful and I got home safe and sound.