Liverpool
I had hoped to have a few days out and about this week, however it's not worked out like that at all. On Monday it was cold and wet and blowing a gale so I stayed in. On Tuesday, it was cold and wet and windy again so rather than staying in, I went off to the Record Office and did some genealogy research. Thankfully yesterday was much nicer weather-wise as I'd already arranged to go down to Liverpool.
I set off a bit later than I'd hoped, it was about 9.30, and then I got stuck at roadworks for ages so it was going on for 11 by the time I reached Liverpool. I went straight to the Albert Dock and parked there as I've done before. This time I managed to actually park on the dock rather than in the multi-storey which cost me quite a bit more but it was much easier. It was still a bit grey out but warm enough to not need a third layer so that was a bonus. I had a wander round the dock and managed to not spend any money at all which is quite an achievement seeing as the Beatles Story and the fab 4 store are both right there. The only thing(s) that caught my eye were socks but they were too expensive at £5 a pair. Oh, and in one of the dock's shops I saw a retro style sports bag that had a skull and crossed swords motif along with the text 'Goonies never say die'! That was really unexpected.
After that I wandered off into Liverpool for a bit and still didn't spend any money, even when I found myself at Forbidden Planet. I really hope you're appreciating my restraint here. They had a copy of The TARDIS Handbook which I put back because a) it was £13 and b) it had been thumbed through quite a bit. They also had the Doctor costume T-shirts which look even better in real life than they do on screen. I was so sorely tempted by Five's but not at £17. Seriously. If I was the kind who went to conventions and things, maybe but it's a lot of money just for a T-shirt. I finally managed to drag myself away and went back to the dock as I'd arranged to meet up with hobbitblue for coffee and cake. I've not been to her house before and my map of Liverpool is several years old, not to mention, misplaced. No problem, thought I, I have an Android smartphone complete with Google Maps! I shall utilise it for directions. And so I did. I've never used it for that before, and so when I was setting it up, there was an interesting arrow that I clicked on. It apparently was something called Navigation and actually worked like a proper sat nav. Complete with voice saying, 'Turn left in a quarter of a mile'. I was really impressed by that! (It was doubly good because I could plug my phone into the cigarette lighter so I didn't have to worry about the battery running out halfway there.) It was actually a really good sat nav too, not counting the time it tried to make me turn right at a no-right-turn junction or when it went silent on me as I was approaching a roundabout. It was able to adapt really quickly which was a bonus, although I was a little confused as to why there were two voices occasionally; one was a very computerised voice, the other was more of a natural sounding voice of a woman with an American accent. Still, it got me to Blue's house eventually and I was very pleased by it.
Blue plied me with coffee and Tesco's finest raspberry roulade which was very yummy. We sat and talked, and talked some more. And then she foisted books upon me which I found really hard to refuse. So that's another half a dozen books to add to my Must Read pile. Actually one of them sounds REALLY good so I'm going to be taking that away on holiday with me. I had to tempt myself with one of the remaining 3 Doctor Who books I've got out from the library at the moment to make sure that I didn't start reading it last night. I left about 6 due to a blinding headache tackling me from behind. I put it down to the weather coming out warm all of a sudden and several bad nights sleep this week due to the gale force winds keeping me awake. Still, we'd had several hours worth of chat so it wasn't too bad. I got to use my nifty Navigation to get me back to the main road home - I am so well chuffed about that - although it was not a pleasant drive because my head was pounding and I kept feeling like I wanted to throw up. It's been a long time since I've had a headache that bad and it was about the worst time to get one. I got back home about half 7 and spent the rest of the night crashed out on my bed. Not the nicest way to end the day and it was a shame because it had been such a good day up to that point.
I set off a bit later than I'd hoped, it was about 9.30, and then I got stuck at roadworks for ages so it was going on for 11 by the time I reached Liverpool. I went straight to the Albert Dock and parked there as I've done before. This time I managed to actually park on the dock rather than in the multi-storey which cost me quite a bit more but it was much easier. It was still a bit grey out but warm enough to not need a third layer so that was a bonus. I had a wander round the dock and managed to not spend any money at all which is quite an achievement seeing as the Beatles Story and the fab 4 store are both right there. The only thing(s) that caught my eye were socks but they were too expensive at £5 a pair. Oh, and in one of the dock's shops I saw a retro style sports bag that had a skull and crossed swords motif along with the text 'Goonies never say die'! That was really unexpected.
After that I wandered off into Liverpool for a bit and still didn't spend any money, even when I found myself at Forbidden Planet. I really hope you're appreciating my restraint here. They had a copy of The TARDIS Handbook which I put back because a) it was £13 and b) it had been thumbed through quite a bit. They also had the Doctor costume T-shirts which look even better in real life than they do on screen. I was so sorely tempted by Five's but not at £17. Seriously. If I was the kind who went to conventions and things, maybe but it's a lot of money just for a T-shirt. I finally managed to drag myself away and went back to the dock as I'd arranged to meet up with hobbitblue for coffee and cake. I've not been to her house before and my map of Liverpool is several years old, not to mention, misplaced. No problem, thought I, I have an Android smartphone complete with Google Maps! I shall utilise it for directions. And so I did. I've never used it for that before, and so when I was setting it up, there was an interesting arrow that I clicked on. It apparently was something called Navigation and actually worked like a proper sat nav. Complete with voice saying, 'Turn left in a quarter of a mile'. I was really impressed by that! (It was doubly good because I could plug my phone into the cigarette lighter so I didn't have to worry about the battery running out halfway there.) It was actually a really good sat nav too, not counting the time it tried to make me turn right at a no-right-turn junction or when it went silent on me as I was approaching a roundabout. It was able to adapt really quickly which was a bonus, although I was a little confused as to why there were two voices occasionally; one was a very computerised voice, the other was more of a natural sounding voice of a woman with an American accent. Still, it got me to Blue's house eventually and I was very pleased by it.
Blue plied me with coffee and Tesco's finest raspberry roulade which was very yummy. We sat and talked, and talked some more. And then she foisted books upon me which I found really hard to refuse. So that's another half a dozen books to add to my Must Read pile. Actually one of them sounds REALLY good so I'm going to be taking that away on holiday with me. I had to tempt myself with one of the remaining 3 Doctor Who books I've got out from the library at the moment to make sure that I didn't start reading it last night. I left about 6 due to a blinding headache tackling me from behind. I put it down to the weather coming out warm all of a sudden and several bad nights sleep this week due to the gale force winds keeping me awake. Still, we'd had several hours worth of chat so it wasn't too bad. I got to use my nifty Navigation to get me back to the main road home - I am so well chuffed about that - although it was not a pleasant drive because my head was pounding and I kept feeling like I wanted to throw up. It's been a long time since I've had a headache that bad and it was about the worst time to get one. I got back home about half 7 and spent the rest of the night crashed out on my bed. Not the nicest way to end the day and it was a shame because it had been such a good day up to that point.