Surf. Liverpool. We had a morning to spend in Liverpool and there was only one thing one thing for it, to go to the Beatles Museum, at least a Beatles museum. Dan parked the Merc about 400 m from the museum and we wandered down to Albert doc to check it out. I think I’d been there before but it had been changed quite a deal. The boys, who aren’t Beatles aficionados, got a hell of a lot out of the museum. I enjoyed it but probably didn’t learn a great deal new. Nonetheless the boys bought John Lennon sunglasses and I bought some Beatles golf balls of all things. We made our way back to the car in order to set off for Glasgow. Dan was keen to visit a separate country. When we got back to the car, parked in OpenView, Dan was slightly annoyed with me for leaving the door ajar. Oops! All our luggage and passports were sitting in the car but the good burgers of Liverpool, paragons of virtue that they are, left our things unmolested. This was a signal moment in the boys’ realisation that their father had traits of silly-old-man and this became something of a theme for the day.
Anyway, we left Liverpool and headed up to Carlisle on our way to Bonnie Scotland. We stopped at a services near Carlisle for more cost a coffee and got our first hearing of Scottish accents in the wild. It’s a remarkable thing wandering around England hearing accents shift from place to place. Even a 20-mile journey will discover a new accent. Anyway, we arrived in Glasgow without much bother, impressed along the way by the wind farms. It struck me that Glasgow, an old industrial city had little obvious pollution. It seems that Scotland as a whole is pollution free and is probably self-sufficient in renewable energy.
It having been Harry's turn to book accommodation, he had managed to find a nice central apartment in Merchant City. One small problem was that apartment had only one bed and a fold down couch. LOL. We decided that Harry and I would sleep in the double bed (a recipe for disaster) and Dan would have the foldout couch (another disaster in its own way).
Having settled in, it was time to have a look around–another expression for find a pub. And indeed we found a pub, O’Neill’s, not far from our digs. To be honest, I don’t expect to be congratulated for finding a pub in Glasgow!
We noticed a game of football on the pub television screens. It turned out that it was the play-off game between Saint Johnstone and Inverness. Saint Johnstone had finished second bottom in the Scottish Premier League while Inverness had finished second in the Scottish championship. (Please feel free to correct me if any of this information is inaccurate.) The game was the worst game we had yet observed in England and Scotland. St Johnstone’s (lack of) quality spoke to the lack of quality in the Scottish Premier League as a whole and the extent to which the dominance of Rangers and Celtic has effectively turned this league into a shadow of what a good competition should be. The Premier League team won in a blowout (4-0) which really didn’t reflect the evenness of the game.
After several rounds we toddled back to the apartment. We had a big day coming.
Liverpool. We had a morning to spend in Liverpool and there was only one thing one thing for it, to go to the Beatles Museum, at least a Beatles museum. Dan parked the Merc about 400 m from the museum and we wandered down to Albert doc to check it out. I think I’d been there before but it had been changed quite a deal. The boys, who aren’t Beatles aficionados, got a hell of a lot out of the museum. I enjoyed it but probably didn’t learn a great deal new. Nonetheless the boys bought John Lennon sunglasses and I bought some Beatles golf balls of all things. We made our way back to the car in order to set off for Glasgow. Dan was keen to visit a separate country. When we got back to the car, parked in OpenView, Dan was slightly annoyed with me for leaving the door ajar. Oops! All our luggage and passports were sitting in the car but the good burgers of Liverpool, paragons of virtue that they are, left our things unmolested. This was a signal moment in the boys’ realisation that their father had traits of silly-old-man and this became something of a theme for the day.
Anyway, we left Liverpool and headed up to Carlisle on our way to Bonnie Scotland. We stopped at a services near Carlisle for more cost a coffee and got our first hearing of Scottish accents in the wild. It’s a remarkable thing wandering around England hearing accents shift from place to place. Even a 20-mile journey will discover a new accent. Anyway, we arrived in Glasgow without much bother, impressed along the way by the wind farms. It struck me that Glasgow, an old industrial city had little obvious pollution. It seems that Scotland as a whole is pollution free and is probably self-sufficient in renewable energy.
It having been Harry's turn to book accommodation, he had managed to find a nice central apartment in Merchant City. One small problem was that apartment had only one bed and a fold down couch. LOL. We decided that Harry and I would sleep in the double bed (a recipe for disaster) and Dan would have the foldout couch (another disaster in its own way).
Having settled in, it was time to have a look around–another expression for find a pub. And indeed we found a pub, O’Neill’s, not far from our digs. To be honest, I don’t expect to be congratulated for finding a pub in Glasgow!
We noticed a game of football on the pub television screens. It turned out that it was the play-off game between Saint Johnstone and Inverness. Saint Johnstone had finished second bottom in the Scottish Premier League while Inverness had finished second in the Scottish championship. (Please feel free to correct me if any of this information is inaccurate.) The game was the worst game we had yet observed in England and Scotland. St Johnstone’s (lack of) quality spoke to the lack of quality in the Scottish Premier League as a whole and the extent to which the dominance of Rangers and Celtic has effectively turned this league into a shadow of what a good competition should be. The Premier League team won in a blowout (4-0) which really didn’t reflect the evenness of the game.
After several rounds we toddled back to the apartment. We had a big day coming.
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| A Mystery Tour Bus |
We had a morning to spend in Liverpool and there was only one thing one thing for it: to go to a Beatles Museum. Dan parked the Merc about 400m from the museum and we wandered down to Albert Dock to check it out. I think I’d been there before but it has been changed quite a deal. The boys, who aren’t Beatles' aficionados, got a hell of a lot out of the museum. I enjoyed it but probably didn’t learn a great deal new. Nonetheless the boys bought John Lennon sunglasses and I bought some Beatles golf balls, of all things.
After a regretful call to my cousin Elisabeth, who lives in Liverpool but with whom we were unable to link up, we made our way back to the car to set off for Glasgow. Dan was keen to visit a separate country and so had insisted that we head to Bonny Scotland. When we got back to the car, parked in open view, Dan was slightly annoyed with me for having left my door ajar. Oops! All our luggage and passports were sitting in the car but the good burghers of Liverpool, paragons of virtue that they are, left our things unmolested. This was a signal moment in the boys’ realisation that their father had traits of silly-old-man and this became something of a theme for the day.
Anyway, we left Liverpool and headed up to Carlisle on our way to Scotland. We stopped at a services north of Carlisle for more Costa Coffee and got our first hearing of Scottish accents in their natural habitat. It’s a remarkable thing wandering around Britain hearing accents shift from place to place. Even a 20-mile journey will discover a new accent. We arrived in Glasgow without much bother, impressed along the way by the wind farms and the wild rolling beauty of the landscape. It struck me that Glasgow, an old industrial city had little obvious pollution. It seems that Scotland as a whole is more or less pollution free and is probably self-sufficient in renewable energy. The buildings have also been scoured of the grime which once had covered them.
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| The view from our apartment |
It having been Harry's turn to book accommodation, he had managed to find a nice central apartment in Merchant City. One small problem was that apartment had only one double bed and a fold down couch. LOL. We decided that Harry and I would sleep in the double bed (a recipe for disaster) and Dan would have the foldout couch (another disaster in its own way).
Having settled in, it was time to have a look around–another expression for find a pub. And indeed we found one, an Irish themed O’Neill’s, not far from our digs. By the way, I don’t expect to be congratulated for finding a pub in Glasgow!
We noticed a game of football on the pub television screens. It turned out that it was the play-off game between Saint Johnstone and Inverness. Saint Johnstone had finished second bottom in the Scottish Premier League while Inverness had finished second in the Scottish championship. (Please feel free to correct me if any of this information is inaccurate.) The game was the worst game we had yet observed in England and Scotland. St Johnstone’s (lack of) quality spoke to the lack of quality in the Scottish Premier League as a whole and the extent to which the dominance of Rangers and Celtic has effectively turned this league into a shadow of what a good competition should be. The Premier League team won in a blowout (4-0) which really didn’t reflect the evenness of the game.
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| View from our room at precisely 10.49pm |
After several rounds we toddled back to the apartment.
We had a big day coming.
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