A Day in Liverpool

I've made the trip to Liverpool once before with Alan when he was visiting, I didn't care much for the city.  Nice enough people I suppose, but it wasn't for me.  It seemed that all there was to do was go out and drink, which to be honest I don't hate.  It didn't fit me though, the girls are all orange from their spray tans and the beer isn't cheep.

So I made a second trip to watch Liverpool play Wigan at the famous Anfield.  While the game disappointed, the stadium didn't.  I guess knowing the history of the club made it special for me.  Also I was able to watch what I believe to be one of the greatest English players ever, Steven Gerrard, was amazing.

Claire was visiting on her spring break from law school and she was lucky enough to attend 3 games in 8 days.  She arrived in London at about 1pm on Friday, jet lagged and slightly overwhelmed we made our way to Liverpool on the 7:35 am train on Saturday from Euston to Liverpool Lime Street.  We has a short layover in Crewe before finishing our journey.

 Crewe was an interesting little station, lots of platforms but the trains where few and far between.  We didn't exactly know where to go so we followed the others in red.

Claire didn't think I knew what I was doing or where I was going the entire trip.  This is on the local train from Crewe to Liverpool, I'm sure she was questioning if we were going in the correct direction.

We made it to Liverpool and proceeded to walk to our hotel room.  We booked one of those Thomas Cook deals because the game was sold out before Claire had bought her flight out to England.  It turned out to be a great deal.  The hotel we stayed in was on the water and had a full kitchen and everything.  It was really comfortable, besides the fact that I was getting horribly sick at the time.

We got to the hotel at about 11am, thinking we would just drop the bags off get the tickets for the game and then head to Anfield, fortunately for us the room was ready.  We dashed inside put our bags down and figured out what to do before the 3pm start time.  Claire was excited to see the team the has followed for what seemed like forever.  It was easy to tell when looking at her as she was holding a ticket to Anfield; she was pretty emotional.

She was already in her Liverpool jersey and scarf that she has been wearing since waking up at 6:30am.  We set off to find a quick bite and then a taxi to the field.  After searching for some time we decided to just go to Tesco's to buy a sandwich, sit in the sun and then leave.  The taxi took about 10 minutes from central Liverpool. The taxi had the Chelsea Spurs game on the radio and he must have been confused, me jumping and screeching when the announcer got excited while on our way to Anfield.

We arrived at Anfield about 90 minutes before kickoff.  Just seeing the stadium and the signs that say KOP where something that is powerful for any football fan.

It was a beautiful sunny day, around 65 degrees with no wind.  We waited in a queue to go into the Liverpool store and bought a few things for friends.  At this point Claire was overwhelmed by the size and scope of a football match in England, waiting in line to get into the team shop, everyone wearing red and chants being sung randomly all around you.  We made our way to our seats, not before stopping at what I believe is one of the best photos taken on the trip, a bag loaded with goodies and a couple of tickets to a dream stadium.

We picked up a couple of programs and made our way to the seats.  Simple enough, we were located in the Main Stand.  Claire was surprised, much like I was on my first game, to see how small the entrance gates were. We made our way in and climbed a set of stair only to realise that the gangway was small and slightly crowded, with the overhang of the seats shrinking the walkway.

I grabbed a quick beer and Claire took a short toilet break before making our way out to the field and seeing what our seats were like.  No disappointing there, granted I don't think there is a bad seat in the entire stadium.

We settled in to watch the warm-ups and that wasn't disappointing.  I think watching warm-ups can be pretty exciting.  The different ways each team prepares for the game.  At this point I'm finally excited to see Steven Gerrard play, I know he isn't what he used to be, but I will always remember him and the influence he can produce on a game.  The 2005 Champions League Final comes to mind.

While the game itself wasn't extremely exciting the first couple minutes when the players walked on the field was something else.  Hearing the entirety of Anfield singing "you'll never walk alone" was pretty powerful. 

After that though the crowd was pretty silent.  Wigan was correctly awarded a penalty kick and converted with ease.  I did get to see one of Steven Gerrard's free kicks, the form is his and his alone:

The game ended in a 2-1 win for Wigan, a let down for Claire, but she was still able to experience her first English game.  While disappointing it is hard not to be overcome with emotion watching the team you grew up loving play at their home field.  Even as a Spurs supporter I must admit that it is an excellent stadium, while the joy might not be there right now, I can imagine it will return soon enough.  The chorus of boos upon the final whistle solidified the angst and frustration of fans. 

While the result didn't turnout the way that Claire or I wanted, it was still fun going.  Every chance I get to experience a new ground is exciting and I realise more and more the distinct culture that pervades each match.  I won't be going back to Liverpool again soon, or ever, it was worth the 24 hours I was there.

So little to speak of

I must apologise to the many readers of my blog and the lack of writing.  Okay those that follow me I greatly appreciate it and I am sorry that I haven't been writing as much as I would normally like to.  I'm getting extremely busy with school these days, realising that I only have 2 more month till the end of the semester and I start my dissertation full time.

I try not to bore you too much with what I am learning so I will be brief.  I have been reading up on the governance of environmental problems, which greatly fascinates me.  I am surprised how different each country tackles environmentalism as well as how localities interpret central government laws and court decisions.  Even within the EU and the directives there is difference that I am surprised by.  As I have said it appears as if I will be doing my dissertation on the governance issues within the UK regarding land use laws: a difference in application between England and Scotland.  I have mentioned how much I enjoyed my short stay in Edinburgh, and the more I read about the freedom they have regarding land use and the big difference between the approaches between England and Scotland, I think I have found my topic.  It will be narrowed down a touch more, but I think governance issues and land use will be applicable to jobs within the US as well as abroad. 

I must admit that every week that goes by I do feel more at home in London.  I have to laugh at myself when I curse the tourist that don't know the little rules of the city, knowing I was there a short 6 months ago.  It is also surprising to know that I have lived in London for 6 months.  I probably shouldn't be as surprised as I am, but I guess I never imagined I would move to another country for any amount of time for any reason until recently.  I have been doing more reflecting this week than normal seeing as it was the 13th anniversary of being diagnosed with cancer.  I couldn't be happier having the opportunity to meet people and experience what I have.

So with what little I have said this past month expect more in the coming weeks.  I will be visiting Liverpool a second time, but on this trip I will be going to the famous Anfield and watching Liverpool take on Wigan I believe.  I will be doing a longer write up about the train ride and prematch festivities as well as the memorial and my experience at the game.  I will then be attending Craven Cottage for a second time to watch the in form Dempsey hopefully put a couple more in.  Pictures and commentary to follow as I will have a guest joining me so I will actually be in pictures this time around.

A quick shout out to Doyles Public House for sending me a scarf, pictures in front of Anfield, Craven Cottage and White Hart Lane to be sent in 3 weeks.  The Sounders season is about to begin and I am a little sad that I will not be in attendance this year.  I am lucky enough to be in town in May when they do have a home game and if all works out I will be able to travel to Vancouver to watch that game as well.

I hope everyone is well back in the states.  I look forward to seeing you all in May.

London in the Sun and at night - more photos!

So I have continued my walks around London and it is nice to do it when it isn't snowing or freezing.  Things have thawed out pretty fast the last few days and I saw the sun and temperatures reached a sweltering 61 at the weekend.  I did go for a nice long walk on Friday to enjoy what little vitamin D I could absorb and I was treated to the best view yet of Central London.

I decided to walk through Soho instead of doing homework and see what I could find.  Probably one of the better places to find all the walkways and courts with real character.  It stays pretty busy most of the night with the gay bars and nightclubs staying open till about 4, I took these around 8-10 on a Monday. I do try to avoid getting people in the shots, for whatever reason I get nervous, especially so in this part of town.

 A couple kissing in an empty long walkway.

 This is the gay district with all the fancy sex shops and even some peep shows.

Night Walks

I've been reading lots of Charles Dickens since moving to London, fascinating stuff when you know the areas that he speaks of.  nothing is even close to looking like what it did when he roamed the streets, but still fun to think of his characters wandering the streets.  Really that is one reason why I started taking these pictures.  I don't have away with words the way he did, not can I write in an accent that he is famous for, but I do finding it amazing how different many of these places look at night.

Here are a few more walkways that are in my neighbourhood, I never realised how many there are until I started looking for them.

Here are a few in central London, these are taking near and around my favourite pub called the Lamb and Flag, it is in an alley/walkway.

It is situated in a nice part of town as you can see the shop in some of the photos above.  It is set back in the alley and it used to host bare knuckle boxing matches out front as well as be a haven for prostitutes to pick up clients.

The entrance to the pub.

 The entrance is located at the end of this alley, you can see the read sign down on the left near the street light.

It looks scarier than it is, as I said it is in a nice part of London near China Town, Piccadilly Circus and Tottenham Court Road.

Just down the street near a number of Theaters and restaurants you find alleys like this, really bright and people smoking.

A new project

Okay so I can't really call it a project because I am no photographer and have never done a project before, but I have started to take a series of photos.  All across London there are footpaths, I have 4 surrounding my flat and there are even more in central London.  I've never really paid much attention to them but decided that now that I know the city I might as well get to know the details.  It is just a series of photos that I have taken at night of different footpaths around the city.

 There is a Mosque at the end of the ramp apparently

 This is a boundary footpath, dividing Barnett with Camden

 An expensive £2 for not cleaning up after your dog

 Clearly people think it is a little steep

 Still a little icy

 Most of them are pretty well lit

 The footpath cuts directly into the middle of the Camden Cemetery

 Heavily used throughout the day

Nothing exciting

It is readily apparent to the 5 people that read about my life in London that I am not extremely good at this entire posting thing.  To be honest I haven't done anything worth telling anyone about.  My new semester started so all I have been doing is going to class and studying everyday.  I could sit here and go into great detail about that, but even I don't want to know what I have been reading and writing about.

Outside of the massive amount of school work I have been putting in it snowed in London for the first time since I have been here.  It was a total accumulation of about 3 inches, which wasn't too bad, except that the next day it warmed up and some of it melted away.  Unfortunately there is a deep freeze happening here and that which didn't melt is now completely frozen.  It isn't too bad, but currently everyone is walking only on one side of the street, the one side that the sun manages to hit, otherwise it is treacherous.  I went on a run this afternoon and it made for some careful jogging in places.

I only have one trip planned currently over the next bit of time and that is to Brussels.  It should be a good time, a free place to stay and people that now the city.  Apparently it is much like all the other major capital cities, but it should still be fun.  Good beer and good chocolate, so I plan on getting drunk then gorging on all the chocolates that I bought earlier in the day.

I'm currently thinking of where I might want to go on my short spring break.  I was thinking something at least a little warmer that 0 that I am currently experiencing right now.  I might head over to Southern Spain and take a short trip to Morocco and another North African country.  I need to look into the costs, I have been just spending money with no income so I need to start being a touch more careful.

I am also making a short trip home from May 13-26th.  Just in time for Mothers day and a couple of Sounders games before coming back to the UK to write my dissertation.

I will hopefully get out a little more and take pictures to post on what little I have been seeing.  Sorry again about the absence.

Ohh London, if you only knew

The longer I spend time in this city the dirtier I realize it is.  Now most big cities have grime, I would even go so far as saying that it adds character in many instances.  The type of dirt can define cities in different way.  But when I say dirty, London is pretty gross.  I think I said this before but lots of places don't have rubbish bins, so there is litter everywhere.  Unless you are in a nice part of town where they still have street sweepers the sidewalks are just concrete covered in dirt, and when it rains, they become slippery as all hell.  I feel like I should buy hiking boots just to walk to the supermarket sometimes.

Another thing that really tips me off is the transit etiquette, or I should say the lack of any. It is the only way I get around, considering  I have only been in a car once since being here and that was a taxi.  Granted most people take transit in London, really the only way to get around.  So back to my complaining about what people do.  I personally think phone conversations should be banned on transit.  I have heard more about sexual problems and diseases that I care to share with everyone.  I don't mind if you are on your phone but is there a reason you are yelling?  I don't think everyone needs to here about the bastard man you took home last night.  My favorite so far as been a full fledged argument that occurred on a bus to the supermarket.  I thought one of them was going to throw a punch!

Also those who have mobile phones and haven't turned the buttons on silence I damn you right now.  That is by far the worst part of mobiles on transit.  people texting and all you here is beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep or click, click, click, click, click, click, you should have mobile privileges revoked until you fix it.  Everyone has a mobile now, even the 10 year olds, no reason to make it make noise.

Okay I just realized that this post is making transit look really bad, but I never had these issues in Seattle but I will continue anyway.  Music on trains.  So the underground isn't exactly quiet and I get that you want to hear your music and all but if I can hear it across the train there is a problem.  One night on the way home there was a young women sitting at one end of the train and there happened to be about 6 of us in the middle and we could hear her music loud and clear.  One of the ladies started singing and we could stop laughing.  She looked at us a couple of times trying to figure it out but she never got the hint.  Sorry if you can't listen to your music at a reasonable level turn it off, I don't want to hear your Euro trance trash.

In all honesty the transit system is pretty good in London.  I zone out for periods on end listening to music or reading the free newspapers handed out before you get on the train.  Not everyone smell, only about half.  Not everyone is rude, there are a few nice people among the nutters.  Just another aspect of London that makes it endearing for all the right and wrong reasons.

I will try to get back to writing random rubbish more often.  Talk to you all soon.

BY

Edinburgh

So here is my proper post on mine and Alan's adventure in Scotland.  I won't go into great detail because I think it is some place that if you have a chance to go to you should.  It is amazing and just BEAUTIFUL.  No other way to put, I have never seen anything like it.

So for basic background Edinburgh is, I don't know because Wiki is still down because Congress is being dumb currently (so my first draft was during the protest I just decided its easier to keep the made up facts).  I could get around it but to be honest I'm just that lazy most the time.  So here are my wonderful made up facts:

Edinburgh is really far north, and when staring at a map is more northern than parts of Scandinavia.  It is on the North Sea, making it extremely windy and very old.  The population is smaller than Glasgow, but both are pretty small compared to London, but then again most most cities are pretty small compared to London.

The city itself is built around a castle

We couldn't get into the castle because the weather was so horrid while we where there, more to come on that later.

So it is built on 2 levels.  We stayed below the castle and had to climb a steep close to get up to where the center of Edinburgh was.  Much like this one:

It is basically a tiny ally that one can walk.  Suffice to say the one we took was so steep that I almost fell a number of times.  I have since remedied that and bought a better pair of boots.


So back at the trip, it basically rained the entire time, like pissing rain with wind.  Clothes were soaked and my socks were wet.  It was either that it was raining and windy or the buildings were really old but stuff was falling from the sky.  Chunks of buildings were just laying about on the sidewalk.  Neither one of us died which was the good thing.

So besides the dominating castle there is also a palace at the end of the royal mile.  Apparently she spends a month or two up there in the summer and hosts a very large party.  They have a newly built parliament that doesn't fit in at all.  I don't think anything that would be built to have a commanding presence in the city would necessarily fit in.  It just seemed weird to me, especially considering it was across the street from the palace.

The whisky was good, it helped warm you up from the weather.  They have a thing called the King Rib which will kill you.  Basically it is a McRib deep fried.  So nasty but worth eating one.  But they fry everything up there, cheeseburgers, pizza, mars bars, it was pretty gross.

That is Edinburgh, I know there is stuff I'm forgetting but I plan on returning before my time is up in the UK.  I am currently looking into my dissertation topic being the difference in governance between England, Wales and Scotland regarding the planning process.  England and Wales are under one planning law, but the Scottish Parliament has planning under is jurisdiction.  If I do decide to do that, I will most likely either move up there for a couple months or at least be visiting for periods of time to interview different mp's.

So for those who can't view my photos on facebook below are more photos I took.

 Looking down the Royal Mile

 Looking towards the North Sea

 Alan admiring the North Sea and the new city

 Looking back on the old town

 The Queens Palace

A grave marker covered in rubbish

 The cemetery was something else, all the head stones named the person buried as well as their occupation