August 30, 2009 - Mathew Street Music Festival

Greetings All,

Today we decided to check out some of the local events and headed into town for the music festival. There are six band shells situated around Liverpool, in what I will call downtown, all within close walking distance. The first stop is Williamson Square where a current musical group is playing and we really did not identify with them. Next stop the stage at Exchange Street. The group playing here is performing music from the 50's, a tribute to Billy Fury. Fred and I are by far one of the younger people in the crowd.

Billy Fury was born Ronald William Wycherley (1940 - 1983). An early British Rock & Roll and Film star who equaled the Beatles record of 24 hits in the 1960's. The attached picture is his statue at the Albert Docks. An interesting fact is Billy Fury sacked his band and held auditions for a replacement. Among those who did not make it as the replacement was The Beatles who at that time were know as the Silver Beetles. They were offered the job on the condition that they fire the bassist Stewart Sutcliffe which John Lennon refused to do. The band left after John got Billy's autograph.

Next stop was the stage at Derby Square. The group playing was The Tearaways from Santa Barbara California. Great rock and roll band that played not only their stuff but a lot of the Beatles music. At this point the heavens opened. They did promise a proper British Weekend so rain is very appropriate. From here we headed off to Ask a pizza restaurant which makes excellent food. We enjoyed our supper/tea and then head back to the flat.

We have checked out tomorrows venue and The Commitments are playing at one stage as well as Amy Winehouse so back into town we will go.

Ta Ra,

Sandy & Fred

August 19, 2009 - Back in the 21st Century Finally!!

Greetings All,

Our last couple of days in London were really rather boring as far as reporting any news for our readers so I did not do the blog. Fred did go to a Footie match and unfortunately Liverpool lost. I knew it was not going well as John who was watching the game on TV was very quiet. I relaxed on the balcony catching some rays while reading then packed for our trip back to Liverpool.

We left London on the morning of the 17th, arriving back in Liverpool to find we did not have a telephone line. What the hell else can go wrong. Seems nothing has been simple. Fred phones Sky and he goes through hoops for them to try and determine what the issue is; our phone or the line. I stayed out of his way and in the end we headed out to Fred's cousins to test the phone in his phone jack. The phone works so it is the line and Fred calls Sky to arrange to have someone come out to fix the line. In the UK if BT who is the phone company come out and it is not the line they charge you 160 pounds like that's over $300.00 Canadian so you really try and determine what the issue is before they come out. It turns out Sky screwed up when they switched on our internet which of course went live while we were away. We waited in all day on the 18th and get a call on the phone by BT at 3:30 p.m. to advise us the line has been fixed.

So now we are back in the 21st century. Live internet, phone system and TV. We have also had news from our landlord about painting the flat (already done). He will reduce our rent by 120 pounds for one month, after and inspection of the paint job to ensure it is ok. Not bad at all since we only spent 70 pounds on paint and that is all we were looking for in the way of reimbursement.

Over all while I have bitched about how long things take here it really has only been a month (still long by Canadian standards). Our travel time to Europe and London while most enjoyable and with no regrets did affect hookups and repair work. So if you do plan a big move like ours to a different country I hope our experiences help you.

Next week we hope to get out and about to explore some sites in the UK. Fred has downloaded all our pictures on flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/fredparkins) now so you can check that out at your leisure and I will get pictures posted soon of our new home. The picture on this blog was taken from our balcony at low tide a few weeks back.

Ta Ra till our next Blog.

Sandy & Fred

August 15, 2009 - Lazy Day

Greetings all,

Today turned out to be another lazy one. Fred and John watched a footie match on the tube. Fred also got lessons from John on downloading music, movies and TV shows on the PC from RapidFind. I did basically nothing but play a PC game called Bejeweled trying to increase my score and sat out on the balcony enjoying the afternoon. Adrienne was once again master chef for supper. We enjoyed Wild Scottish Salmon, pasta, cauliflower and broccoli. Of course wine and dessert was Krispy Creme donuts which in quite big in Britain. Go figure when the Brits have such opulent choices, custards, cremes, eccles cakes, I could go on and on but you get the point.

I also learned that the Brits really are rather stuffy when in comes to use of words and class distinction is really important as well as being district bound. Washroom is very North American and toilet in working class but the sign says toilet, so it is the Loo if you are posh or upper class. Plus to say tea for supper is very working class. Hey don't we all at some point in time work for a living unless we are royalty?
It is better to be a foreigner here so you are not judged. I mean really who gives a rats ass. You may be able to tell that this kind of stuff really bugs me (being nice for those readers out there who are younger) the rest of you know exactly where I am coming from.

As the day was basically boring for our readers I found a bit of trivia you might enjoy. Did you know the the famous British bowler hat is really a Coke. In 1849 William Coke a rich landowner in Norfold went to Lock a hat designer (still famous today) to get a hat that would protect his gamekeepers from low branches and poachers. They designed that hat and Coke upon its completion placed it on the ground and jumped on it a number of times. It retained its shape and he gave the go ahead for it to be put into production. Lock then turned the production over to James and William Bowler in Southwark. So the Coke became the Bowler hat.

Cheers for now,

Sandy & Fred

August 14, 2009 - Walk to Burrough Market

Greetings all,

We are out after breakfast to walk to the Burough Market a 3.2 mile walk to pickup fresh veggies for supper and check out the butcher for a leg of lamb. We make very good time and arrive at the market in just under a hour. Since our last trip here the market has changed somewhat. There seems to be more places preparing foods (salads,hamburgers etc) rather than meat and produce. The butcher we bought from previously wasn't there today. We pick up produce for salad, brownies for dessert and take the tube back.

We took the tube back and it is very hot. The Victoria line has problems so we sit for a while waiting for all clear. We unload, feed Portia and walk to Sainsburys to get the balance of our provisions for supper/tea as we are the chief cooks tonight. John and Adrienne return from their cruise in time for a late supper. Rub-A-Dub Chicken, Strawberry Salad, Cucumber and Tomato Salad, Wine and Brownies for dessert. Getting hungry just writing about it.

Cheerio for now,

Sandy & Fred

August 13, 2009 - A Full Afternoon / Evening in London

Greetings All,

We had to be up early today as they were cleaning the windows. They had the job done before 9:00 a.m. After lunch we headed out for a day at the shops. Fred needed a pencil to do his Sudoku and I need an adapter plug to recharge my camera battery. So we took the tube to Oxford Circus and walked in search of these two small items. It is another gorgeous day and we find stores to purchase these two items. We decided to double back along Oxford Street and head down Regents Street, then onto Piccadilly Street. As we stroll along we end up at Fortnum and Mason the Queens own store. Here I purchase oil for my Lampere Beger lamp a bonus purchase. Afterwards we head back to the flat, with a refreshment break at the White Swan, we have walked a total of 3 miles this afternoon.

After freshening up at the flat, we head out for dinner at the Cinnamon Club. An Indian (India) Restaurant. The Times has a special where you collect coupons and can get a three course dinner for 20 Pounds per person at selected restaurants around the country. Needless to say the bill was a bit more as we added, drinks at the bar as the restaurant was not ready to open when we arrived, a bottle of wine with the meal, a side of naan bread and coffee. The food and service was incredible.

As the night was still young we headed out to a pub called The Cardinal. This is one we had seen on our last trip to London. It is busy but we have a night cap before heading back to the flat. Round trip on the walk tonight is a mere 1.9 miles.

Another great day in good old London Town. As a note of interest I looked up the prices of flats at Imperial Wharf. They want just a mere 675,000 pounds for a two bedroom flat, only $1,350,000 Canadian dollars. Yikes. Guess we won't be moving in any time soon :). I still have not located the boathouse site as yet.

Cheers for now.

Sandy & Fred

August 12, 2009 - A Lazy Day

Greetings All,

Today was an overcast day, slightly cool in the morning and very muggy in the late afternoon. We decided that it was a do nothing day and we spent the time relaxing with Portia, playing silly games on the PC, reading the paper and me watching the TV. We did head out for a short walk 1.2 miles return to the grocery store to buy supper and I stopped to pick up wool for babies outfits as the only wool I brought with me was to make bears.

With nothing really to report I thought I would share some things n the UK that I just don't get:
- A Muslim girl wearing the traditional scarf but showing a lot of boob.
- Derby is pronounced Darby why the er then.
- Childwell is pronounced Chilled well
- Crossing lights no one seems to use them, you get strange looks when you do.
- Winter boots they wear them here even now in the summer.

I am sure I will come across many more things as time goes on.


Cheerio for now,

Sandy & Fred

August 11,2009 - Walking and Walking Day

Greetings All,

We woke to an overcast day and bummed around the flat in the morning before we decided what to do. It is now bright, sunny and hot and we decided to do a Thames Walk on part of the River we have yet explored. We took the tube to Putney Bridge as this was were we decided to start given our late start in the day. The walk is rather disappointing as we do not follow the river bank the whole time. We start off going through some lovely quiet neighbourhoods then some dirty dusty industrial areas and then back to the river. I did find an area I would love to live in called Imperial Wharf. Just a minor problem in moving in though, money, money, money so the song goes. We have to check on line but the general thought is they start at one million plus pounds. Beautiful area but I think beyond our reach even if we win a lottery. But dreaming never hurts as long as you know it is just a dream. The next option I come across is a boat house. Lots of them for sale but not Fred's cup of tea or even a choice. Crazy maybe but surely an option hell you only live once so must investigate it further :)!

Our walk took over 3 hours and according to Google maps we cover 5 miles and it should have only taken us 2 hours. WHAT were they jogging!! We did have a couple of stops and I was hot tired and my back acted up. My MTB's make you walk properly so my body reacted. We stopped at the Gallery for some much needed refreshment before heading up to the flat. Seems I still have a talent for attracting the weird ones. Met a guy named Shawn as we were leaving who asked a ton of questions. I must say for Shawn he knew I was Canadian right off the mark so can't be all that strange. Fred also still has tourist information on his forehead as he is still asked for directions good thing he knows where the sites are:).

So now for a bit of history about the area of Pimlico and the Pub the Gallery. Back in 1821 King George IV first took a serious interest in the area. But it was Thomas Cubitt, a master builder, who purchased 24 acres of land known as the Pimlico Triangle. Cubitt knew one of the first building needed to be built was a pub as most of the labourers were Irish. The pub now the Gallery was formerly known as the Perseverance and was built back in 1840-1850. Cubitt was also a very forward thinking man for his time and ensured that his premises all had indoor water-closets or bathrooms as he felt that these were not just for the rich.

After a brief rest we head out for Fish and Chips at Seafresh. Yipee no cooking than back to the flat to relax on the balcony enjoy a glass of wine until the mosquitoes chase us in.

Cheers,

Sandy & Fred

August 10, 2009 - Going to A Concert: The Nationals

Greetings all,

We woke to another bright day though a bit breezy. After lunch we took the tube to Oxford Circus one of the shopping district's in London to try and find shorts for Fred for around the flat. The area was crammed wall to wall with people, plus the stores felt like they had the heat on. I guess this is summer in London. Thank goodness it has cooled off considerably outside and it is now overcast. Good walking weather as we opt to walk back rather then go down to the tube which is very hot. We walk 3 miles in all to get back to the flat.

After supper or Tea as they say over here we took the tube to Embankment where the Royal Festival Hall, the concert hall, is located. The ticket says the concert starts at 7:30 P.M. so we get seated and notice the place is almost empty. The group comes out and starts and since we have never seen them, much less heard them with the exception of a few songs John has played us we are impressed that they start pretty much on time. Still wondering about the poor turn out as John had said the concert was a sell out. The leader of the band announces that they are the opening act for The Nationals and their name is Broken Records. They were quite good. Needless to say by the time the Nationals were due to play the place was packed.

We are finding that we are out of touch with the concerts as our last was a Meatloaf concert at Rama in Canada. There was no opening act and he used extra musicians that were not a part of the group. These groups had guitars, drums, keyboards, piano's, trumpets, violins, cello's all played by group members. This is an improvement over guitars,drums and keyboards. We really enjoyed our night and walked back to the flat along the Thames with me stopping to take pictures of the London Eye and Parliament Buildings all lit up. From the Parliament Buildings we can hear birds squawking and it is 10:30 at night. We have no idea what kind of birds they are.

A quick stop at the Morpeth Arms for a nightcap we then head back the flat.

Cheerio for now,

Sandy & Fred

August 9, 2009 - Regent Park, Queen Marys Garden

Greetings All,

It is another beautiful sunny day in London. We took the tube out to Regent Park to view Queen Marys Rose gardens. On previous trips we have either been late in the season to see them at the height of their blooms or far to early. Unfortunately the heavy rains of Friday took there toll on the blooms. All the same the fragrance as you walked into the area was amazing. The rose you see on the Blog is called Pensioners Voice and I thought it a appropriate one to grace this entry.

The park was busy with everyone out enjoying the weather on a Sunday afternoon and it was nice to walk among such beautiful gardens. We walked back to the flat from the park today, 3.4 miles, but it seemed a lot further than that. We stopped at the Kings Arms a pub just beyond Buckingham Palace for refreshment and more for a rest for me.
Refreshed we completed our walk back to the flat, a good 4 hours out today.

Cheerio,

Sandy & Fred

August 8, 2009 - Covent Gardens London

Greetings All,

Today we woke to a beautiful bright sunny day. A very pleasant surprise indeed. After breakfast we took the tube to Covent Gardens. The tube is chockablock (English for packed like sardines) with people. They had closed down lines on the weekend for maintenance and the result is chaos on the lines.

Covent Gardens is a market place for artisans as well as upscale stores. On the weekends it is crazy busy. We went there with a purpose to get Fred a new wallet as his Canadian one is too narrow for English currency and a belt. We got both all leather for 11 pounds a great price indeed. I also purchased a Christmas present and found some other articles for Christmas but will return through the week to get them when it is less busy. London in the summer is totally different as to our previous trips in the fall and spring. One tends to forget about the vacationers from not only around the UK but also the world. Buckingham Palace is open for tours and the queues (lineups) to everything are miles long. Thank god we are retired and can take advantage of months other then the summer.

From Covent Gardens we walked back down old familiar streets back to the flat (a two and a half mile walk). It has turned out to be a nice hot day and we return in enough time to stop for a refreshment at the White Swan before heading into the flat to Skype Christopher and Meaghan in Edmonton to catch up with them.

All round we enjoyed a great day.

Cheerio,

Sandy & Fred

August 7, 2009 - General Update

Greetings All,

It seems like forever since we have let you know what is going on in our lives. We still do not have internet access but that is coming on August 12th. So when we get back to Liverpool and pick up the modem we will finally be back in the 21st Century. The phone line was activated on August 3rd and on that day we received our first overseas call from our good friend Derek and a local call from Fred's brother, John, in London. I then made two calls to Canada. What a great feeling to be able to contact people again.

Fred has painted the flat to clean it up. The bedrooms, front hall and dining room all got a coat of colour. The paint here is very different more like a thick paste and comes pre-coloured. You can also get paint and pick your tints but we went cheap as the place is not ours. As well we did not wait for permission from the landlord. Fred did send in a proposal to the landlord that we would paint if he would purchase the supplies and as with everything else, getting an answer from him takes forever. We gave up and just went ahead. After a couple of weeks we heard back that the landlord was interested but wanted to know what we wanted to paint. So Fred let them know and as of today we are still waiting to hear if we will be reimbursed for the paint which, will be a bonus as it is better that 70 pounds be in our pocket than in his.

The place now looks like home. Clean walls, pictures hung and some furniture purchased from Ikea (desk, end table and a cupboard for dishes).

We had Fred's aunt Peggy and uncle Pat over for dinner and he offered to help Fred hang my Wolf Quilt. When he came back with the ladder and tools required Peggy and I were entertained. It took two grown men over a hour to hand a simple quilt. Perfectionist for sure - measure, level, drill, plug then hang. Me I would have just eyeballed it, got on the ladder with the quilt marked the spot, banged in the screws and bobs your uncle. Hey worked for all the pictures I hung. Entertainment aside we really did appreciate Pat coming over with his ladder as we never would have got the quilt hung on the stairwell wall. So now we have only two purchases left a microwave and a multi-region DVD player.

I must say despite the trials and tribulations we first experienced on our move over here I am getting quite settled in and looking forward to our future travels be it sites in England or over to Europe. We are now back in London to dog sit while John and Adrienne head off on a Baltic cruise so we should have new posts to both the Blog, e-mail and Facebook as we have internet access at John's place.

Now some of the real reasons why Fred agreed to my suggestion over a year ago that we pack up and move here to travel Europe. BEER !! Did you know it has been brewed since Neolithic times when man began harvesting cereals? Britain has 660 breweries producing real ale, the highest number since WWII. They brew between them, 2500 different beers a year. 70 new breweries were founded last year alone. Last but by no means the least 24 million pints of beer are consumed in Britain every day. Now that's a lot of suds. Footie or Soccer to us Canadian's is the other. Footie in Liverpool especially is a way life. The Reds have a real huge fan base and it is very evident as you walk around town. They do have a second team Everton but a visitor would never know it.

Well I guess that is all the news for now. We start our exploration of London tomorrow.
Fred is working on the Flickr site so check in a few days as the pictures from our France, Italy and Switzerland trip should be posted.

Cheerio for now,

Sandy & Fred