Ever since we booked our trip to Liverpool this Bangles song has been going round in my head. Bit silly really since Liverpool is most definitely ‘up’ rather than ‘down’ from us. It’s also a song about unemployment – hardly a cheery theme for a much anticipated mini break, but still, in the week running up I kept finding myself humming the tune. Annoying, that, isn’t it? Anyway, rather than do ‘nothin’ as the song suggests, we managed to squeeze in a fair amount of touristy activities.
After a gorgeous first night of delicious food, yummy cocktails, celebratory fizz and amazing Birthday gifts, we were ready for a relaxing day on the Saturday. It didn’t exactly start that way unfortunately. We were advised to catch a train into the city, and in our lazy, holiday mood we thought a stroll through the countryside a quick train ride with a stop off at the pub en route was just the ticket. I should have known better. I am basically cursed when it comes to rail travel. So it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when we got to the station to find there were engineering works…! To cut a long story short, what should have been a gentle 30 minute train ride into town became a two hour bus ride in match day traffic. By the time we made it there in the late afternoon we weren’t up for much other than shopping, food, cocktails, a bit more food and a few more cocktails…. so on the ‘being a tourist’ front I guess it was a spectacular failure. On the ‘doing all of my favourite things’ front though? Big win, so not a day you could call a waste in my opinion!
We made up for it the next day, heading out to Sefton Coastal Path to see Anthony Gormley’s ‘Another Place’, 100 iron sculptures dotted along 2 miles of beach. I was pretty excited to do this, firstly because I’ve always wanted to see the installation, which has a kind of eerie and sad feel to it, as though the statues are looking out to sea for something they’ve lost. I felt like I didn’t want to leave them there all alone, which is a bit unhinged really, let’s face it. I mean, they don’t even have faces to humanise them, but still, I felt a duty to look after them. ‘Cause I’m a weirdo. Anyhow, the second thing I was looking forward to was seeing the sea. Ever since I was a little girl the merest glimpse of the ocean had me squealing with glee, and the reaction nowadays is pretty similar (unfortunately, for whoever may be with me at the time!) The only thing that marred the occasion was the presence of a giant tanker and a huge wind farm – if you thought my wanting to take care of iron statues was odd, just wait till you hear about my irrational fear of large scale constructions, particularly large ships. I have no idea why – they simply give me the heebie jeebies. Wind turbines freak me out in the exact same way, so I was thrilled to see both waiting for me at the beach!
Next we headed back into town for a spot of lunch and to check out The Cavern Club, famously the venue The Beatles played at in their early career, as well as a host of other stars. It’s not actually the original venue, of course, which closed down in the 70’s, but it was nice to visit, listen to the bands play Beatles songs and soak up the atmosphere.
I’m not sure what I was expecting from Liverpool – I don’t really pay much attention to stereotypes, but I think perhaps I was actually expecting to see a lot of permatanned girls with big eyebrows and rollers in their hair. One cliche that certainly seems to be alive and kicking though is that the ladies here sure like to dress up! We all know I like to get my glad rags on, a lot, but it can be hard to do sometimes without worrying you look a bit of a numpty. Not in Liverpool though, you cannot be overdressed in Liverpool. And that, my friends, can be no bad thing!
Love,
P.S – If you’re going to visit the Sefton Coast, which I’d definitely recommend, please don’t be a ditz like me and wear your favourite, heeled Nine West boots. They were not made for walking on a soggy beach, as you can see from the later photos!
Picking the Day 