During the night it rained, although the wind had abated a little.
This morning I took care to dress more sensibly, donning jeans, socks and
shoes, fleecy jacket, rain jacket, scarf and all the other bits a woman of my
age insists upon wearing, and later peeled off the outer layers, one by one,
adding weight to Chris’s backpack. It is hard to get it right every day!
We were at Aintree, parked in the mechanic’s backyard even before
8.30am, and wondered if we had the right address. However patience was duly
rewarded, and about twenty to nine, Roy turned up to open up his workshop. We
explained the problem and he asked us to leave the vehicle with him; he would
find a space in his busy day to arrive at a diagnosis. The railway station was close
by so we were put to no inconvenience, soon aboard the south bound train, and
after a quarter of an hour, alighting at Liverpool Central.
As we walked away from the station, we both remarked on the number
of old buildings covered in vegetation. This we had seen yesterday, most remarkably
the Grand Central Hall. Today we saw groups of buildings already ruined by the
unruly botany.
We headed for the Cultural Quarter seeking to explore the interior
of St George’s Hall, one of Britain’s
finest Greek Revival buildings. It was outside here just yesterday that
we had joined the walking tour and there we had received a quick history of the
building. It was designed by twenty four year old Lonsdale Elmes, the
foundation stone laid in 1838. Tragically he was dead within nine years before
reaching an age where he might have gained veneration from his peers. Sixteen
Corinthian columns, each sixty feet high, make up the front portico. The main
hall can accommodate 1,750 people. Its sunken hall is made up of over 20,000
tiles mixed with bands of stone to produce a mosaic effect. The Willis organ is
the third largest in Europe. This we
were keen to see for ourselves.
The side entrance led us through the old remand cells beneath the
criminal courts, now a small museum of police and prison matters, all very
interesting and with so much information, one could have passed the rest of the
morning here. The courts were first used in 1851 and only closed in 1984, when the
courts moved to the epically built Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts not too far
from Pier Head.
However we were keen to see that hall, so followed the directional
signs up the three floors, emerging into the old courtroom in the dock, then on
through a labyrinth of corridors and stairs until we came to the final door, to
find it locked. Back downstairs we were unable to find anyone to help us, so
gave up and headed for the Walker Art Gallery.
This gallery was opened in 1877 and is named after its founding
benefactor, a former mayor of Liverpool and wealthy brewer. It boasts the
largest collection of paintings inside Britain, outside London. It is indeed a
fine gallery with a host of wonderful work, and of course like all galleries,
alot less appreciated by yours truly.
 |
| The organ in St George's Hall |
After a couple of hours we headed out to the gardens behind St
George’s Hall for our lunch. The park was crowded with mainly young folk
wandering about with their eyes and attention fixed on their smart phones and
iPads, all obviously playing the new Pokémon game. In the top corner of the
park, someone dressed in a bright yellow Pokémon suit was bobbing about, and
quite honestly I do not know if this was just co-incidence or had something to
do with the gathering of the nerds. I have yet to attempt any understanding of
this new trend, although I should, because our daughter-in-law and two
grandsons, with our son in tow under sufferance, have embraced the new “sport”.
It apparently draws couch potatoes outdoors and this must surely be a
plus.
After ingesting our lunch with little enthusiasm, we returned to St
George’s Hall, this time finding access to the viewing balcony, joined by an
impossibly noisy family; the children were just begging to go out and play in
the wilderness. Visually the experience was brilliant, just a shame about our
fellow tourists!
The weather had improved a little; the forecasted rain not yet
arrived. We made our way down into the pedestrianized shopping areas, to the
forty two acre Liverpool One retail project opened just eight years ago (part
of the quarter owned by the Duke of
Westminster who died just yesterday and whose life was being celebrated on the
news tonight). We returned to Matthew Street where the life and music of the
Beatles is best celebrated outside the Beatles’ Museum which is down at the
Docks.
“What now?” I asked my depressed husband. “Shall we head back to
Aintree and face The Problem with the car?”
Soon we were back on the train heading north, soon entering the
workshop and being shown the damage on the car once more up on the hoist. The
brackets that hold the rest of the rear axle housing have corroded and simply
disintegrated. This makes for a rather dodgy structural situation and had us
wondering how we had managed to get so far around the country, especially
towing our little home behind us. Both mechanics quizzed us on the history of
our ownership and were adamant that we should head off back down to Suffolk,
and insist the vendor remedy the situation or change the vehicle, because this
was a basic trade requirement, that goods sold be fit for purpose. Our three
month warranty was long expired, but these chaps reckoned that this was beside
the point. This workshop was not up to any repair, although they reckoned that
an engineer with an arc welder might be able to make some brackets up and weld
them to the fitting. Replacement of the whole section would be a massive job.
They had no advice but to suggest we set off south and kick up a major fuss. They
reckoned it would be safe enough to do such a trip so long as we took it easy
and left the caravan back here in the north.
We left even more numb and confused.
Chris asked me to do a search on Kia dealers; we found one up
Southport way, so set the Tomtom and headed further north. Arriving at the shiny
premises of the franchise dealers, we received sympathy and solution; Pete
would work out a price for replacement. He was unable to offer a budget for the
work, but as we discussed the matter and threw numbers about, we realised this
could cost as much as £2,000. As I said, absolute numbness!
We are booked to leave here on Saturday and booked to arrive at
our next two forward destinations. Hopefully we can alter these, but as I write
this we are still waiting for an estimate and confirmation that the work can be
done on Monday. Hopefully we will hear
from Peter in the morning and try to arrange our lives accordingly.
On a more cheerful note, Chris’s back is better than yesterday. And
fabulous warm and sunny weather is forecasted for next week.
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