Showing posts with label liverpool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liverpool. Show all posts
HMS Illustrious
I had a rather busy weekend that seemed to rush by and before i knew it i gained an hour and Monday was here, lucky for me its half term. The HMS Illustrious was in dock at Liverpool this weekend so another leisurely walk down to the dock for tenbellies and i. It was a good day they filled the pier head with helicopters and displays for the public they even put on a small air show dropping marines out of Merlin helicopters to small ribs on a very choppy River Mersey, no sign of the Harriers though which was a little disappointing. As a child i use to love seeing the forces out on display, seeing the stalls and holding the rifles, something’s never change. As usual tenbellies made a bee line for the ration tent where after a vigorous tasting found the standard issue ration packets most delightful.
An Evening Stroll
Liverpool at night, now that the nights are drawing in the city is lit up quite beautifully, especially tonight as the city was visited by the Queen Mary 2. Tenbellies and i decided to go eat out at our favourite little dining spot and then take a leisurely walk down onto the front to see this grand vessel all lit up in the autumn night. its just a shame our camera wasn't up to much.
Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment
I spent alot of time today sitting in traffic and trying to get around town for various reasons, however instead of becoming agitated by this it was made enjoyable by the members of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment. They had been awarded Freedom Roll of Association and Institutions, which allowed them to march through the city with drums beating, colours flying and bayonets fixed. And so they did. As i sat in the car it was a great sight to see our army marching through the city and people waving flags, clapping and cheering. We really should see more of this when these guys are out there everyday fighting to rid the earth of the scum that wishes to destroy it. It was a shame though as nothing had been advertised, well at least anything noticeable and many people missed the great sight.
It takes the piss when a bloody great spider made by some tree hugging arty farty frog get more attention and advertisement than our own service men and woman. Capital of Culture?? awards and parades like this should be the pride of the city.
Tall Ships
This weekend has been a big weekend for Liverpool, they finally got chance to show off some of their new additions to the public. Liverpool hosted the Tall Ships, over 70 ships entered the Mersey and docked attracting people from all over the UK with performers and entertainment as well as tours around these splendid ships.
Monkey invited mother and stepfather up to have look and we spent Sunday walking around, queuing lots of queueing as we experienced these great ships in true British summer weather (windy and cold). The day was fantastic really well organised and although we qued alot it was never for very long. The ships were fantastic coming from all over the world and bringing life to the docks of Liverpool. The event attracted thousands of people all weekend and even Monday the city was still brimming as people lined the water front to see the ships leave in formation, i have never seen the Mersey look say busy.
But one thought that did occur to me during the visit was the amount of money spent to organise this event in a time when clearly we are in for serious hard times. Everything was free to the public, entrances to all the events were free and even the public transport they put on to ferry people to the different docks. The city set on twenty or more buses that ran all day carrying bus load after bus load up and down Liverpool for free.
Although Liverpool has improved their shopping experience there are still alot of shops not open and if the event helped advertise their new facilities I'm pretty sure that travelling to Liverpool to visit and shop in the future is going to be an even more costly affair to the consumer.
Although Liverpool has improved their shopping experience there are still alot of shops not open and if the event helped advertise their new facilities I'm pretty sure that travelling to Liverpool to visit and shop in the future is going to be an even more costly affair to the consumer.
However take this aside and Liverpool did itself proud this weekend, it created an atmosphere in the city that i had never felt before, completely buzzing and a sense of excitement and very fun.
Iron Bin Men
today has been a great day for walking and exploring and when you live in a city its great to break free of the smog and noise and see what lies beyond the concrete forests. in fact its been two days on the trot that my partner and i have broke free, the first being a long awaited trip to see the iron men on crosby beach. iv waited so long to see these guys and the first attempt saw me on the completely wrong beach. however we made it and the other half still feeling under the weather made the butties bless her. what a great sight these men stood spread out, some in the water just visible and some fully visible standing on the beach and yet completely surrounded by rubbish!! yes thats right here it is a art piece that liverpool campaigned to keep and paid out money to ensure they were kept at Crosby beach just so they could be surrounded by garbage. to be honest if this is how the council is going to treat this great sight then the artist himself should pack up his men and stand them in a land fill. to see this sight is like going to the tate gallery and someone letting their dog take a shit by Gustav Klimt's work (some may say this is art too) but really this is pretty piss poor. Nevertheless we took some great pictures and nether of us stood on any broken glass it was a nice day. to see these statues take a battering through all weathers makes you feel for them. i totally understand that they are just iron statues and im not getting all arty farty i just think the least Gormley could have done was throw on a pair of speedos and a coat of hammerite.
today saw us on the other side of the water with family venturing out to see what the wirral has to offer. as before we have a great guide a bit of an history enthusiast which always leads us down the right lanes to some secret village or forgotten castle. being from the sticks i love to get out and in the open to smell some real sheep shit air. i keep telling my partner that its the best way to deal with a cold, the fresh air. shes not convinced yet.
standing on Bidston hill looking over across to liverpool is a fantastic sight and if you turn and look the other way you can see out to sea and as you stand there you feel a hundred miles away from anywhere, personally it takes me back to the roaches the grit stone and moors with great views but also the feeling of being somewhere so very very old.
