(And the reason that I’m keeping this record is so that I can look back in years to come. It’ll also save me e-mailing my friends with details as I can just point them here!)
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Saturday 5th September I left at 7.30am and had a good drive up to Liverpool to get there at 12.30pm after stopping just once on the M6 for breakfast. The theatre was easy to find but was in the middle of an industrial estate which I wasn’t expecting. I went for a wander around the area but there wasn’t much to see so I found somewhere to have a cup of tea. Hamlet started at 2.30pm but unfortunately there weren’t many people there, despite the fact it has received good reviews. Probably the low attendance was because it had been running a while but this was the first dual play day. The play was one of the better productions I’d seen with Horatio and Claudius especially good. Claudius was played as a drunk which haven’t seen before but it makes perfect sense in the play. Novas is an amazing performance space. The play finished at about 5.10pm so I found my hotel (about half an hour away in Widnes) and checked in. I then had some dinner and drove back to the theatre to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. There were a lot more people at this play (probably because it was a comedy and a Saturday evening). It’s the first time I’ve seen this Tom Stoppard play and it was really effective as they used the cast from Hamlet so they would come on and say a few lines from this afternoon’s play and then it would continue with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. I felt sorry for the guy who played Horatio though as he just had three lines to say in the last scene! I was amazed / horrified that during one scene a guy ate a bag of crisps further along in my row! I then drove back to my hotel and had an early night (about 11.30pm) as I was so shattered, even though I just sat down all day today!
Sunday 6th September 2009
I got up at 8am and left at 9.30am to drive to Seacombe which I reached at about 10.20am. I had a look around the Space Centre exhibition for about an hour. I’d been there last year to see a Doctor Who exhibition so this time I just wanted to see the One Small Step Exhibition about space exploration. It was good but there was nothing I didn’t already know in it although I was surprised that they had one section dedicated to the moon landing hoaxes!
I then caught the 10.30am Mersey ferry down to Woodside where they have a German U-boat that they had raised from the sea off Norway in 1993. It’s cut into 4 sections and there’s an exhibition inside. I did realise that my book editing must be on my mind as I noticed a couple of mistakes in there!
I then caught the 11.40am Mersey ferry across to Pier Head which is across on the main side of Liverpool. First of all I went to the Story Of The Beatles. It cost £12.25 but is on two sites. I went to the part at the Pier Head and the first thing was a 3D show which was great fun as at various points they spray you with water and then blast you with air! The remainder of the display there is by The White Feather Foundation which Cynthia and Julian Lennon set up.
I next wandered into Liverpool city centre and found Mathew Street where The Cavern and other clubs were situated. After some lunch I went to Albert Dock and saw the main part of the Beatles Story which was excellent. They give you an audio set to listen to on the way round and there are lots of exhibits plus a mock-up of The Cavern.
I then wandered around Albert Dock and caught the 5pm boat back to Seacombe. However that part is a tour so they took us up river a bit while a commentary played about the city. There were also two guys on jet skis keeping up with the boat, showing us their tricks which was entertaining!
I got to Seacombe at 5.30pm and drove to Childwell which I reached by 6.30pm. As I was early, I just read in the car until 8pm. I was booked on a Ghost and Murder Walk but unfortunately 7 people didn’t turn up on the night. The people were prepared to do it with just a few of us but then 2 of the girls who had turned up, thought there wouldn’t be a good enough atmosphere and pulled out! I was quite annoyed as it meant that I could have left Liverpool almost 3 hours earlier and this walk was all in aid of a charity too!
Instead I left at about 8.30pm. It was raining on the way home and at one point on the M6, I was overtaking when my windscreen wipers broke! I managed to pull in and I was lucky that I was only half a mile from a turning. I pulled over and cleaned the windscreen so that I could see and then found a garage to wait for the RAC to turn up. I was quoted 75 minutes but thankfully he arrived in 15 and soon fixed the blades – they mainly needed tightening under the bonnet.
The remainder of the drive was uneventful and quite swift so I got home at 1am after another really enjoyable weekend.
Roll on my next trip!
(remember this was on the bottom of the ocean for about 50 years): 
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