Old Trafford from Salford Keys

 

As an Ipswich supporter, I don't really want to put this in, but the picture shows one of the main reasons why Manchester United are successful.


Their ground is large and they have been able to expand the stadium without moving. It is much less expensive and a more orderly in terms of cash-flow to expand stand-by-stand.

Look at the number of clubs, who've built new grounds and suffered.

A Result from LateRooms.com

 

The Lowry Hotel is one of the best in Manchester. Celia stayed there and in a couple of others of the so-called best and she felt it was streets ahead.


I stayed in the hotel on Thursday night and got a room for £125 from LateRooms.com.

That must rate as the best value I've ever had and a real result for the Internet and LateRooms.com.

Stuart Sutcliffe Retrospective

 

The Stuart Sutcliffe Retrospective is being held in the Victoria Building at Liverpool University.


The exhibition is certainly worth a visit.

The fifth Beatle certainly had a lot of talent, produced a large variety of work and would have been a lot more significant if he hadn't died tragically at only 22.

You can read a review here.

Liverpool University Goes Metric

 

Look at this direction sign at Liverpool University. It's all in metric.

Great!

Super Lamb Banana

 

Liverpool is the European Capital of Culture in 2008. It has lots of Super Lamb Bananas.

Liverpool - St. Luke's Church

 

St. Luke's Church in Liverpool sits at an important cross-roads in the city and it is a church that has a deep significance, as it was destroyed by an incendary bomb in the Second World War.

Liverpool

 

Celia and I met in Liverpool and as I'd been invited to the opeing of the Stuart Sutcliffe Retrospective at Liverpool University's new Victoria Museum and Gallery, I decided to spend a day in the city.

Liverpool has changed in recent years and especially since we met there forty years ago, but perhaps the biggest change in the centre is the new shopping centre called Liverpool One.


But some of the old favourites like Phred are still there on the rather tatty Lewis's.


The University always called him Phred, but apparently he does have a real name of Liverpool Resurgent. The statue was by Jacob Epstein.

In Panto Week, engineers used to march down Brownlow Hill and pay homage to the statue. I wonder if they still do?

The Three Graces at the Pier Head are still there too.


I walked there because I wanted to go to the Klimt Exhibition at the Tate in the Albert Dock.


I enjoyed the exhibition, but I can't say that for most of the other junk in the gallery. On the other hand I did like the Andy Warhol.

On the other hand I had a very good gluten-free lunch at the restaurant in the gallery.

I walked back to where I'd parked my car on Mount Pleasant by way of St. Georges Hall and Lime Street Station.


I think that from where this picture is taken Celia had a rather strange incident before we were married. She used to wear a green cloak, which was the uniform coat of the Friend's School Saffron Walden. She bought the cloak, whilst working in the School Uniform Department at Selfridges.

She literally took off in the swirling winds.


It's probably lost in antiquity, but one of the years whilst we were at University, was when they roasted an ox on the steps of St. George's Hall. It was also used to see how many students you could get into a Morris Minor during Panto Week.

Opposite St. Georges Hall is Lime Street Chambers.

Chinese and Eights

 

The Olympics will open at 8:08 on the 8th of the 8th, 2008.

Perhaps they will be lucky as eight is the Chinese lucky number!

Twenty years ago, my late wife, Celia, had a horse called Golden Panda, who she had named after a Chinese friend’s restaurant in Ipswich. On the 8th of the 8th, 1988, Golden Panda ran in a handicap at Nottingham. Given a superb ride by Steve Cauthen, she won easily at odds of twelve to one.


Some Chinese restaurateurs couldn’t hold back and there were rumours of bookmakers losing large sums of money. Whether these were true or not, I do not know, but we did get lots of free meals!

Fast Payments

 

I've just had a cheque for one of Celia's cases from the Legal Services Commission. She did the work in January 1999 and was partly paid in February 2000.

But the final payment was nine and a half years after she did the original work.

Where's the interest?