Monday, 29th April

Janet and Peter had to visit his family on Sunday so I got them to drop me off at Hooton so I could catch a train to Liverpool.  I had a day up my sleeve and I wanted to use my rail pass to see more of  England.  The big attraction of Liverpool was the Beatles Museum, but there was also the Maritime Museum as well.  I booked at the Britannia Adelphi, the cheapest hotel on the web because it was close to the station and within walking distance of the waterfront where the attractions are set up. It was opened in 1914 to coincide with the launch of three new ships by the White Star Line: the Titanic, the Olympic and the Britannic.

It turned out to be a very grand but shabby old establishment, catering for coach parties and other groups looking for an inexpensive bed for the night. A banner out the front informed me that the Liverpool Tattoo Convention was being held there and there was a coach-load of Glaswegians booking in at the same time as me.  That sounds like a dangerous mixture!

Liverpool seems to be stuck in the 1960s in some ways. There were lots of drunks around in the evening and lots of smokers.  The smokers don't stub out their cigarettes; instead, they take one last drag and flick the stub away.  Some of them follow up their cigarette with a spit in the street.  You don't see that very often in other cities.  I was amazed at the number of patches of chewing gum on the pavement. Clearly, when people have finished with it, they just spit it out on the footpath and it's trodden flat by the next pair of feet.  And the street-sweeper doesn't come around very often because the streets were filthy. 

Continuing the 60s theme, the air was filled with the music of the Beatles, Gerry and he Pacemakers and Cilla Black.  Of course, this is for the tourists and maybe the locals accept it with gritted teeth.

I loved the Beatles Experience which tried to depict what the city was like for teenagers at that time.  There was a replica of the Cavern Club and Matthew Street which was the haunt of young people looking for a good time.  I hadn't realised that the Cavern Club was so small or that Cilla Black worked in the cafe.  You couldn't buy alcohol there so she was busy making coffees and hamburgers, while the music was hammered out.

It's been a good visit and a delight to experience the Scouse accent, which they blame on the influence of the Irish who came over in droves during the last 150 years. 

Just another place that I want to visit again.