A Cold Wet Saturday in Crosby

Gormley statues watching the Wirral coast wind farm

Today the weather was cold and miserable; rain with an arctic wind. There was a low-pressure area out in the Atlantic, heading up the Irish and Scottish coasts, dragging a cold arctic wind across the country.

I needed to keep out of the town centre due to the Grand National at Aintree and Liverpool Football Club playing at home. Too many ejits around and noisy pubs, including the Ship. John didn’t play out today as he wanted to watch the Grand National and the Liverpool football match. So, I went to Crosby on my own, to visit some micro pubs that I found in this year’s Good Beer Guide. A small pub crawl, which I shall write about in my next journal post.

To keep out of town I caught an 81-bus along Queens Drive to the Strand, Bootle. Then another one out to Crosby.

The 81-bus brought back memories. From 1979 until early 1985 I used to work in Bootle, in the Liverpool Building Society building (long gone) next to the Triad. Fond memories of writing software for Texas Instrument Minicomputers. Fond memories of lunchtime sessions in the Merton and the Railway, both Higson’s pubs close to the office, now long gone. Higson’s was one of my favourite beers back then, I was weaned on the stuff. A Liverpool microbrewery brews it now, supposedly to the original recipe, no chance.

The 81 along the drive was one of my routes to and from work. The other was by train from Broad Green via town.

I never liked the New Strand shopping centre, a grim place. Apart from Sayers, who used to do fantastic bacon sarnies. The strand is currently being re-developed. Like the shopping centre in Liscard the other day, I doubt if I will like the redeveloped version. I’m just not a shopping centre man.

I returned home the same way getting back just after five.