Right, just wanted to share some highlights of my time here so far:
o I love the ships! I'm in danger of becoming a shipspotter. I feel like it puts me in touch of the rest of the world and it has given me a much better conceptual framework for how the world works, what with the container docks and the oil storage depots. It's much easier to imagine how the UK connects to the wider world, and how oil powers the consumer economy. I understood that hypthetically, but it's another thing when you see the physicality of it and start extrapolating that to the wider world.
o It's incredible that there's still shipbuilding here. I commute by ferry and also regularly use it for trips into Liverpool, so I see the shipyards on a regular basis. There was one ship either being refitted or build, one day recently I saw it sailing down the Mersey on what could well have been its maiden voyage. There's something deeply moving and profound about seeing a machine that so many people have worked hard on, day by day by day, devoting their time, energy, minds and bodies on building bit by bit finally doing what it was always meant to do: sail.
o The view of Liverpool from the Wirral is absolutely breathtaking, and I get to see it not only twice a day on my commute but whenever I feel like it because it's literally 5 minutes from my door.
o On which note; have a beer at the Ferry sometime. It's a day pub so decent grub and good for families, and you can sit outside and (literally, haha) drink in that view. There's also a big rock which denotes that spot as a speaker's corner, if you fancy getting up on your soapbox about something!
o The beaches! I had no idea! Miles of sandy beaches stretching off into (almost) infinity is not something I'd associated with Liverpool but - wow. My friend visited by car which meant we could pop to Leasowe beach and have fish and chips at the Green Hut (highly, highly recommended, oustanding food, entertaining bird life that will - alongside your children - steal chips off you and a sort of fun retirement home vibe among the clientelle) and just had a thoroughly lovely time.
o Bidston Moss - not only is it outstandingly beautiful and a lovely, peaceful place to walk, it has a windmill and a really interesting story behind it. I won't tell you it - go and read it for yourself! It's on a plaque on the windmill.
o Liverpool and Merseyside are much more beautiful than I'd thought. I hadn't thought they were ugly, not by any means, but I was expecting something a bit more like I remember Manchester being, or Birmingham - some nice parts, IE the Three Graces, but mostly a mix of terraced housing with the odd brutalist block thrown in. Boy was I wrong! The whole area feels much more unified, architecturally, than somewhere like London does because so much of it was build within a particular timespan, that sort of glory era of late 18th C to early 20th C - Georgian and Victorian era buildings all over the place. It's not quite breathtaking, but it's hands down the most intertesting city in terms of architecture that I've visited in the UK.
o History is everywhere! There are so many interesting quirks, firsts, eras and - well, again I don't need to tell you about it, see it for yourself, or come and visit...
o Wallasey library - very close to where I live is the loveliest library I've ever been to. Again, a fantastic building with a playground next to it and a cemetery behind it. What a concept! A library with a playground next to it, what possible better place to spend time with kids?
o The people! Ultimately it's the people that really make up the spirit of any place and the people here are fantastic. It's so nice to feel able to share a comment or a moment with a complete stranger who happens to be next to you, and Merseysiders are so receptive to these moments, they're actively encouraged and it makes you feel welcome and part of the wider fabric of your community in a way that simply cannot exist in a place like London.
o The Scouse vernacular is incredible. I love it. Not just because it's fun to listen to but because the implied concepts behind the vernacular are often phenomenal too. I'll give two examples:
Boss as a synonym for good.
- Boss = someone in charge, in control, someone who manages, who leads.
- Made up as a synonym for happy = I'm invented. I'm created. I'm a story or a picture that came out of nothing yet exists here in front of you. The whole meaning of life is contained within that one phrasal verb. What a very enlightened place this is! (and it's there in the name. Liverpool = Live Pool = Loop Evil if you play it backwards. Like on a record! There literally is a satanic message if you play Liverpool backwards, lol!).
o I could go on and on for days about how much I love Liverpool (and hell, why not? If you want me to just drop me a message and we'll go for a drink and a walk and a talk in and around the Ferry, I'd share this place with anyone as long as they're happy for my kids to come along too!) but I'll leave with one last thing:
The music! I work in a small office of maybe 20 staff and I met more musicians after a week in that office that I did in around 20 years of living in London. No wonder Liverpool has been so musically influential! It's because perhaps 30+% of people play music in some form or another. Those public pianos are busy every day with people playing music. Every third person you meet plays music. Everyone knows multiple people who play music. You want live music at 11am on Tuesday morning? Being played to a pub full of people enthusiastically joining in? You can find it. In multiple places. Brilliant, just brilliant.
o I remember someone saying on here that Liverpool is ace and always has been. Absolutely bang on, that.
