It was a sunny day but a strong wind made it feel freezing cold. Low single digit temperature. I walked to the nearest shops and figured that like home there would be something open that early. I was wrong. I walked back to the house but I had either forgotten to lock the latch on the front door of the building so it didn't lock behind me or someone came out after me and unlatched it. Either way I couldn't get back in the building.
It was only 6:30 AM and I didn't want to wake Kellie, Marcus or Ella up by ringing the bell for the apartment. As I had no other way to get in, I decided to walk along the beach. I headed out of the apartments carpark and through the park next door down to the boat ramp onto the sand alongside the Mersey. It was low tide so there was a lot of sand to walk on.
I walked down and looked at the 'Iron Men'. The Iron Men are statues placed along the shore of the River Mersey at regular intervals. They look out over the Mersey. There are lots of them. I was surprised to find that they were anatomically correct. I saw another structure further along the beach and decided to have a closer look.
It was a tower type structure with something on the top. I walked down it must have been about 2 Km from Kellie's house to the structure. The walls that kept the water of the Mersey from flooding the adjacent houses provided a good block for the icy wind and it didn't seem as cold. I noticed as I walked along that there footprints remaining in the hard compacted sand from prior to the last high tide. I guess that unlike an ocean, the more gentle currents of the river are unable to wipe away the presence of those who trod it's sandy bottom.
I reached the structure and notice that the thing on top resembled a drill of sorts. I'm not sure what purpose it serves or if it has any significance, but it was intriguing that somebody thought this was the best place for this structure. I headed up the boat ramp that was nearby and walked back to Kellie's house along the path that ran next to the park along the retaining wall. There was no protection from the wind and it reminded me how cold it was.
I arrived back after 7:30 AM and I thought with Ella going to school, everybody should be up by now. I rang the bell. As I finished ringing the bell, one of the other people who lived in the building came out the front door. I went in, as it was if I waited 1 more minute I wouldn't have had to ring the bell. When I got to the front door, Ella and Marcus were standing by it, obviously wondering who would be wanting to get in that early.
I explained what happened, Kellie said she thought the men had come to install her wardrobe fittings a day early. Marcus had to go to work early because he was expecting a delivery and gave me a lift to the Co-operative (general) store. He dropped me off and I walked down to the post office to see if it was open so I could get a box. It was closed. I walked back across the street to the store and got some milk, bread, cigarettes and 2 cans of Red Bull.
I started walking back to the apartment but I went a different way to what I normally would. I thought I knew how to go this way and it would be shorter, but I was wrong. After going down a couple of streets it was quickly evident that I was lost. I knew if I got back to a main road I would be able to figure out where I was. I walked down a few more streets and found a main road.
I followed it in the direction I thought I should be heading, however after awhile I began to question my judgement. I kept going and eventually found the shops that I had walked to earlier that were closed. Now I knew where I was. I eventually got back to the apartment at around 9:00 AM. It took me an hour to walk back.
Nobody was home as Kellie had taken Ella to school. Kellie arrived home about 5 minutes later. I decided to have a shower and then finalise my packing. It was about 10:20 AM when we left and stopped at the post office. I went over and bought a box in order to post a heap of clothes home to free up space in my bag. I got the box and a marking pen and returned to the car to pack the box. Kellie had gone to her office nearby to find some paperwork. I packed the box and addressed it and went back to the post office.
It was a small post office and the line was almost out the door. I assumed it was going to take forever so I went back to the car. Kellie said she didn't want to have the responsibility of posting it, so we decided to stop at another post office. I went in and the line was much smaller. I waited about 3 minutes to get to the counter. The woman weighed it and told me how much it would cost. It would cost 80.00 Pounds. I said Ok, as I really had no other option.
The woman told me I needed to seal it first though and I bought a roll of tape from her. I taped up the box and then gave it back to her. It took about 30 minutes but it was sent. I went back to the car and we went to Lime Street Station in Liverpool for me to get the train. We got there around 11:15 AM and the train didn't leave until 12:45 PM. Kellie had to be home by 12:00 PM as she was expecting the engineer to fix her washing machine.
I wanted to look around a little anyway as there were some nice buildings around the station such as St Georges Hall. I checked my bag in at the kiosk where they mind luggage and walked around and took some pictures.
I headed back to the station and got some Burger King for lunch as I was hungry and then just waited until the train come. It was freezing cold on the platform but there was a heated waiting room and I waited in there. The train arrived and we all lined up to board it. It was a Virgin train. No not that the train was a virgin but it was operated by Richard Branson's company, Virgin.
The train was comfortable but and not completely full. The journey from Liverpool to London was about 3 hours, with only a few stops in between. I slept for about 40 minutes and when I awoke, I drank the second can of Red Bull and listened to my Ipod for awhile.
We arrived at London Euston at about 3:30 PM. I walked out and found a taxi and got in. I was expecting the fare to be quite expensive but it was only about 10:00 Pounds to the hotel. I checked in and got up to the room. The WiFi isn't free and cost me 12 Pounds for 24 hours. I logged on and checked some emails and sent a message on Facebook to my friend Rochelle to let her know that I had arrived.
Rochelle is a friend from Australia that I used to work with. She moved here a few years ago and lives in London with her boyfriend. After I sent the message I decided to go down to the bar and get some food. I ordered a steak and had 2 glasses of red wine.
After dinner, I decided to stay in the bar and have some beers. I started talking to the girl behind the bar. She was Romanian and moved here with her husband 2 years ago. I told her I was going back on Sunday and we talked a little. I practiced some Romanian on her. I ended up drinking a lot of beers and towards the end of the night was speaking to a group of elderly Austrians. I really don't remember a lot, I am prety sure I was out of control and it is probably best forgotten.
Needless to say, the next day was pretty much spent in bed. I did some writing and went to get some food in the afternoon, but other than that I slept most of the day. I also thought about what I will do after Bucharest next week. I am fairly fatigued and tired of travelling, but there is so much still to see. I tried to decide but to no avail. That night I watched England play Montenegro in a world cup qualifier and then went to bed at around 11 :00 PM.
No comments:
Post a Comment