30th April 2010 - Alexandru's Accordian

Accordian player Alexandru plays most days in the city centre, he says it is not the money he plays for but the enjoyment he gives to people. A truly beautiful sound from a truly talented man.

Is it that incomplete song

you sing for me April

or the soulful song of

a nightingale or a song

from the heart of Earth

A song long heard

which is lost in the waves

(Photographs from April, which didn't make the blog, are added to the slide show.)

April 29th 2010 - 1st Class Conical Radar Buoy And Anchor

I have passed this scene thousands of times in Everton valley and have never really paid much attention to it - until today. Mersey Docks and Harbour Company maintain buoys in the river Mersey. These buoys mark the position of the deep water channels used by shipping and shipping hazards. Each buoy has a number which appears on the buoy and charts of the river. This buoy was commisioned in 1950 and it has been stationed in many positions including Garston docks. On the 18th October 1976 off the coast of Formby at Q7 4T the buoy sank and was lost, it was found by accident as the new buoy was being stationed on the 23rd March 1979. It was raised and salvaged. The buoy was restored to its original condition and bears the number of its last station.

April 28th 2010 - The End Of The M62

This is the scene that many homesick Scousers want to see - the end of the M62 and the begining of Liverpool - One of the best cities in the world!

April 27th 2010 - The Crown Vaults

The Crown Vaults Public House in the Everton Brow area has been there for well over a hundred years, and now it's up for sale. Let's hope it remains open and keeps its traditional look. If you look very closely you can see the Everton supporting 'Toffee Lady' and Liverpool 'Kopite' fan on the pub's front. These two characters appeared at the top of the city's football results newspaper, the 'Pink Echo', on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, the 'Pink' has stopped being printed as a separate paper on Saturdays. The two people waiting at the bus stop remind me of the two said characters.

April 26th 2010 - The Liverpool Collegiate Institution

This former school was opened on 6th January 1843. The Institution was a day school for boys - designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes in a neo-gothic style (architect of St Georges Hall). The building has now been renovated, after a long period of dereliction, into a series of luxury apartments designed by Urban Splash. Former pupils include Leonard Rossiter, Ted Ray, Philip Fox, Sam Kelly, ballet dancer Robert Smith, Everton footballer Brian Labone, Holly Johnson, Pete Best and not forgetting Billy 'Hold Your Plums' Butler.

April 25th 2010 - Bootle Wind Turbine

I have driven down this road in Bootle many times and on every occasion I get enjoyment from this city scene. It captures the essence of better times, with 'new technolgy' looming up behind the now derelict pub and council houses. One of my favourite landscapes in Liverpool. Once over the brow of the hill, the giant wind turbine disappears from view as if by magic.

April 24th 2010 - Evening Coat

An evening coat on display at Sudley House. Although there are no surviving clothes belonging to the house owners, the Holt family, there are clothes on display belonging to the Holts' close friends and business associates; the Hollands, who lived nearby in Carnatic Hall. This 1934 coat of black silk with a velvet lining and rabbit fur collar always scares my children... I love the drama of it myself, I can just imagine the parties it must have been to.