5. Ferry Cross the Mersey

Sunday was to be my last day in Manchester. I awoke early and went downstairs to read my Roald Dahl book. I quite like his autobiographical style and found myself wandering why I had never read any of his children’s books. In my early reading days I was a Dr. Seuss connoisseur, with my favorite being The Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. I must have gone straight from Dr. Seuss to the Hardy Boys because I have little remembrance of anything in between.

Louis was the first downstairs to join me, followed close behind by Elli. They wanted to know if I was going to see Alina again. Elli had drawn a picture of our night at the circus, showing not only Alina performing both her hoop and cube routines, but also a diagram of the audience and arrows pointing to where we were sitting. She asked if I could get it to Alina somehow. I praised her work and assured her that I would make sure that Alina got the picture.

Slowly the household awoke. Tina and Theo were next down. She and I had coffee. Well, I had coffee. She might have had tea. I sat at the kitchen table with the kids while they drew more pictures. Elli was writing down something in her diary. Tina said that after breakfast we could all go take a walk. Elli rebuked that idea.

“Why don’t you want to go for a walk, Love?” Tina asked.
“It’s boring.”

I had to purse my lips to keep for smiling.

“We always go for a nice walk on Sunday.”
“It’s always boring.”

I interrupted.

“Elli! That’s a great idea for a book. Why don’t you write about a girl who has to go on a walk with her family and she discovers all sorts of mysteries?”

She straightened up in her chair and her eyes got wide.

“What kind of adventures?” She was keen to wonder.

I tried to think about some of the features of her neighborhood. The first thing that came to mind was a patch of sidewalk down the street that was broken up. Workmen had dug a deep hole, probably repairing a sewer line. We had to walk around it whenever we to see Alan’s mother or to go to the corner café.

“What if, the girl was bouncing a ball on her boring walk and it rolled into a hole in the sidewalk. When she goes to get it out she discovers that there is a tunnel that goes down to an under ground city that no one knows about.”

That was all the priming that that pump was going to need. She engulfed the idea. Soon she had come up with ideas for not only one book but for an entire series. She invented a friend to share the adventures with: Louis wanted it to be the girl’s brother but Elli insisted it had to be a girl. Louis was disappointed that his character had already missed the cut. The first book was titled, My Boring Neighborhood. I suppose the British release would naturally be spelled, Neighbourhood.

The city under the streets began to take form. Strange and wondrous citizens inhabited the world. Louis suggested dinosaurs, which was also vetoed by Elli. He threw down his crayon and put his head on the table.
“Hey Louis. Why don’t you write a boy’s adventure?” I encouraged.
“I don’t want to write a book.” He pouted. Obviously my child psychology skills of were beginning to wane. Good thing this was my last day here.

Alan was the last to arrive downstairs. He had been formulating his own plans for the day.

“I think we should all get dressed and drive to Liverpool.” He announced.

That seemed to meet with the approval of everyone.

“We can take the ferry on the Mersey.”

This was an unexpected treat. Not only were we going to the stomping grounds of the Beatle’s but we were also living out the lyrics to a Gerry and the Pacemakers song: Ferry ‘Cross the Mersey. Pinch me.

We loaded up the car, which was quite an adventure in itself. Elli sat on Tina’s lap in the back seat. Liverpool is only 30 minutes away from Manchester. Some days it takes me that long to get to Kodak Theatre and that’s only eight miles from my house. I entertained Elli by pretending to interview her about her best-selling book. She had some marvelous answers. Louis chimed in about his dinosaur book and Theo growled a lot.

As we got into the greater Liverpool area the affects of an economic downturn were pretty apparent. Whole blocks of row houses were boarded over. Maybe every fourth or fifth one would still be inhabited but the area was definitely in decline. Amazingly, when we got closer to the waterfront, the neighborhood began to improve. There seemed to be a renaissance of sorts taking place in the heart of the city. Old buildings had been, or were being, renovated.

The city wasn’t anything like what I had expected. I suppose I had never really given it any thought: aside from being the home of the Beatle’s. This was the 5th largest city in England, which really began to grow in the 18th century as goods from the colonies began to come in from across the Atlantic. It became the 2nd busiest port, behind London, and was all the more important as it gave the country access to supplies from America to help support the war effort. That’s why it was bombed so much by the Germans. Again, second only to London.

Two massive cathedrals dominate the skyline of the city. The Liverpool Cathedral is the largest Anglican cathedral in the world. It sports a classy neo-Gothic design. In contrast, The Metropolitan Catholic Cathedral of Christ the King, looks like Space Mountain. I’m not kidding.

We boarded the ferry for our hour-long afternoon ride upon the Mersey. It was packed with sightseers. The ferry cruises down the Mersey for about 30 minutes before turning around and heading back. Along the way it stops at two other docks; one on the Mersey side of the river. There is a running commentary from a pre-recorded voice highlighting the history and landmarks of the area. Amazingly enough the “voice” didn’t mention that the Catholic cathedral resembled Space Mountain.

We all sat out on the upper deck like a group of idiots, as the wind was bitterly cold. That lasted about 5 minutes and then we moved inside the cabin and had hot chocolate. I ventured out a few times to take pictures. After returning to the dock we had a nice lunch at the Tate Museum and then headed home. It was getting late in the afternoon and I needed to get to the airport. I had a 7:00 am flight out of Gatwick, to Tenerife, in the morning so I would have to fly to London tonight.

I think Elli was realizing that I was leaving for good and she followed me around the room as I packed up. She asked to help so I had her fetch things for me. I jokingly said I might need her to sit on my suitcase to help close it, and she was quite disappointed when I didn’t need her to do it. All the while we came up with ideas for her book.
The time had come to go. It was disappointing that Tina had missed most of my stay but I enjoyed getting to know Alan better. We had some great conversations on wide ranges of subjects, from airplanes and beer, to Life and British pride (or lack thereof). I was looking forward to seeing him again after I returned to London from the Canary Islands. I had invited him to come down and meet Bob Doe with me and he was thrilled. Tina was going to London that weekend for a friend’s wedding or birthday and Alan would slip away and join me. He could provide the technical questions about flying as he has long held the dream of becoming a pilot.

Hugs and kisses all around. I had planned to take a taxi but I was over ruled. Alan drove me to the airport and walked in with me as I had a bit of a wait. We had some coffee and talked about Life some more. I was glad that we got on together so well. I had felt early on that I was dumped in his lap after Tina had invited me to stay and then confused the dates of her ski trip. Alan assured me that that was not the case and that I was welcomed to stay there anytime. I knew he meant it. We shook hands and I headed off toward the gate.

The flight was quick and unremarkable. I grabbed my bags and found a place to stay for the night. A shuttle took me to an airport hotel where I pretty much brushed my teeth and went to bed. Tomorrow would be a long day of traveling. As I lied there trying to fall asleep I recounted the events of the past week. It seemed like I had been here for months; in a good way. Spending time with friends. Seeing Alina. What a great way to start off a trip. And, the best part was still ahead of me. By tomorrow afternoon I’d be lounging with Cerstin in the Canary Islands.

I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.


…. So ferry ‘cross the Mersey ‘cause this land’s the place I love, and here I’ll stay. Here I’ll stay. Here I’ll stay.