Posts Tagged ‘Liverpool’
Posted by Shirley Anne on May 5, 2012
In the early 20th century, rivals Liverpool and Everton produced a joint matchday programme. This example is from April 1910. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As I said in my previous post I did manage to go to my local pub. The afternoon went like this, I made the 900 or so yards to the pub on foot. It was a pleasantly warm and sunny afternoon and I arrived around 3.45. Only a few people were present and I was immediately greeted by two of those who were sitting near the entrance. Two guys were in the side room to the bar carrying out repairs to the pubs plumbing system but there was no sign of any staff. As I walked to the other end of the bar toward the kitchen so that I could pop my head in and let my presence be known there were two middle-aged guys sitting in the raised area beyond who told me it was serve yourself day. I smiled because it was a phrase I’d used myself when I found others in the same situation. However it wasn’t long before the staff appeared. They had been busy elsewhere. Asked what I wanted I said a bottle of red wine and a diet cola as a side drink. The wine would last me quite a few hours and I would only need to buy the occasional cola after that. I was going to seat myself on one of the lovely sofas they have in that raised area, a place I like to sit in because it is comfortable. The two guys invited me to sit with them at a table nearby instead so being the gregarious girl I am I joined them. Introducing themselves as Keith and Mike they told me that I had met with them the previous week but that event I did not remember. They told me I was drunk at the time! Charming! Even had I been drunk I still would have remembered meeting them if that meeting had lasted any length of time. Occasional contacts are easily forgotten aren’t they? We sat and enjoyed some good conversation and I was asked many things about my electrical and other knowledge and why I’d taken up electrical work as a career. Quizzed about some electrical theory and expecting me to fall at the first fence no doubt I left them in no doubt about my qualifications. They were blinded by science as they say but were very impressed at my knowledge as they sat there jaws agape! I suppose they though being a woman would make me incapable of learning such things. I was able to show the how knowledgeable I was in other subjects too, to their amazement. I felt I was being flattered though eventually but it was fun whilst it lasted. It would be around six o’clock in the evening when I was asked by Mike if I would like to dine out with them at a specific Italian restaurant about 5 miles away in one of the town’s local district. I knew the place very well. I had to decline the offer though as I had already eaten a large lunch at the pub I’d visited earlier in the day. It wasn’t a problem they said as they could get something to eat where we were, which they duly did, but chose sandwiches. That evening there was to be a couple of football matches televised, both local teams, Liverpool and Everton, rival teams in Liverpool. I have always been a Liverpool supporter but that night they were going to watch Everton (the pub manager is an Everton supporter) and we decided to stay and watch the game alongside many of the now filled pub of Everton supporters! The game ended in a draw, a goal apiece. Unfortunately I discovered my own team, Liverpool had lost their game to an unlikely opponent. Typical! The supporters dispersed and we were left alone again. By this time all the wine had been drunk but Keith had bought me a large glass of wine. I told him not to as I didn’t want more wine but rather than be anti-social I accepted. They had been drinking too and then they asked if I would like to go to ‘theirs’ for a nightcap. Where ‘theirs’ was is anybody’s guess, either one of their respective homes or the other but I wouldn’t have gone anyway. I think the reasons are obvious. We parted on good terms though and no doubt I shall see them again before too long. I guess it was around 10 o’clock when I decided to walk home but I wanted to see if I could call in to see Sue, a new friend who has recently injured herself and has a broken arm. After several attempts to visit with her recently without success I though I might catch her before she retired for the night. I rang the doorbell and was greeted by Sue and her partner Jack who welcomed me inside. I had called at an opportunistic moment. I apologised for the lateness of my visit but they didn’t mind at all. Before I could say no there was a glass of red wine in front of me! We talked a little while and then I left for home. Jack was going to order a taxi for me but I insisted that he didn’t, I wanted to walk. I think it was around 11.15 by the time I was home and I went to the kitchen to fix myself something to eat as I hadn’t eaten since about 1 o’clock. I didn’t feel hungry earlier when asked at 6 o’clock but I sure felt hungry now. I was able to sleep in until 10 o’clock and then I received a call to do a small job. That more than paid for the previous day’s excursions.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
One blogger likes this post.
Posted in Enjoyment | Tagged: Cola, Enjoyment, Everton, Liverpool, Public house, Wine | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on April 16, 2012
A picture taken, of Champagne. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’ve not been enjoying the best of health lately and it’s been mostly due to the common cold. All the usual symptoms, aches and pains, lethargy, dull headaches, sneezing and runny nose as well as cold sores have been my lot this time around. One day I’d be feeling fine and the next day not so good. Added to all of this I have toothache, one of my fillings needs replacing I’m sure but I had a toothache in the same place a few weeks ago and it disappeared. Perhaps it is just an infection. On Thursday afternoon as with the rest of that day, it was warm, sunny and cloudless. I felt like some company so I took a walk to the pub. The place was almost empty so I bought a soft drink, a diet cola to be exact, and I sat on one of the large sofas they have there. I could have sat outside where there were people eating but I don’t much like sitting in direct sunshine and as they were eating and I didn’t know them anyway, I stayed indoors. Lots of people eat there during the day but many of them are simply passing or they are not regular customers there. I sat and waited and as I did I began to see more and more people enter as the afternoon wore on. I did break into conversation with a couple of people eventually and my drink became a bottle of red wine. Once the wine was finished I took the walk back home, it was about seven o’clock. En route I called into a friend’s house to ask if he could fit my roller-shutter door for me as the guy who is supposed to be doing it keeps giving me excuses as to why he hasn’t been able to come. As it turned out my friend who incidentally fitted my gates and railings said he refers people who want garage doors fitted to the same guy who in return directs those who want electric gates and railings to him. A bit of a coincidence! He said he would pursue my case for me and see if it can finally be fitted. This same friend as it turns out is a brilliant guitarist, far better than I am and he demonstrated some of his talents while I was there. I told him that his talent is being wasted and that he should take it up professionally. His wife in the meantime poured me a large glass of red wine. I stayed there a short while and was persuaded to return to the pub with them as it was quiz night. I could hardly refuse but I think it was more for the company than the drink nevertheless I ended up having more wine there which I shouldn’t have done. I met two new people who sat with us and are neighbours to my friends and we got along like a house on fire. When the evening was over I walked with them on my way back home but they pleaded with me to go to their place for a nightcap. I said I would but didn’t wish to stay long. Their house is literally less than one hundred yards (metres) from the pub, a large house with a Rolls-Royce parked in the front gated garden. They obviously weren’t short of a few shillings as they say! As it turns out they plan to get married in August, I could get an invitation, who knows? The house was lavishly decorated inside and I got to see quite a bit of it. I got very friendly with them both but the woman more so. She showed me her collection of dresses and I was admiring one in particular. I was gorgeous, a summer dress with a full skirt in a large floral print. She told me I could have it! No way would I accept such a gift in the circumstances. When back downstairs she showed me a lovely framed photograph of herself hanging on the lounge wall. I like it so much she presented me with a smaller framed photograph exactly the same and insisted I took it. How lovely is that? Even the smaller one is around 8 x 10 inches in size. The three of us sat together and drank a couple of pink Champagne bottles between us. How naughty is that? I was asked if I liked John Bishop (a Liverpool-born comedian) to which I replied that I liked him a lot. Out came the video and we had a good laugh for a half hour or so. At the end of the video John starts dancing with others on the stage whilst the three of us joined him in our lounge! I was asked if I wanted to stop over but of course I declined. A taxi was called to take me home but I would rather have walked the few hundred yards home. There was no way I was going to be allowed to do that so I graciously accepted and said my farewells. I arrived home around 2.20 am, the taxi fare had been paid by my hosts. I wasn’t feeling tired although I should still have gone to bed and I ended up sitting at my computer until six. I couldn’t stay up any longer and grabbed a few hours in bed sleeping soundly until just after ten. My phones were ringing but I didn’t answer them. I was feeling a little uneasy when I got up, a few aches and pains attributed to the cold I knew I had. I had a late breakfast/early lunch of kippers. I just fancied kippers. Mistake number one, I suffered the rest of the day with trapped wind and an acid tummy. I resorted to drinking warm glasses of milk to settle my stomach and eventually things improved. I felt lousy still having aches and pains and a toothache. I just cannot shake it off. Well that’s what I thought. It is now Monday and I am back to my normal self.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Drink, Enjoyment, People, Socialising | Tagged: Champagne, Cola, Common cold, Friendship, Fun, Health, Herpes labialis, John Bishop, Liverpool, Socialising, Soft drink, Wine | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 27, 2012
I accompanied Jane to the venue for an evening meal with her archery club friends on Saturday and we arrived a little late, the last to arrive in fact but we settled down and soon found ourselves enjoying each others company. A few of the regulars came over and greeted us personally which was nice. I suppose there were about forty or more guests in our group but in other areas of the restaurant were more groups of people celebrating birthdays. It appeared to be a popular place and I imagine the restaurant to be filled most evenings. I am not sure when Jane and I left but it was getting late when we did. Jane took me back home before returning to Liverpool for the night. She said she would be travelling to Brighton sometime on Sunday as I recall but using the train services rather than her car. I seem to remember her saying she hadn’t as yet received her residents parking permit so was leaving her car in Liverpool for a couple of weeks. I gave her a hug and she was on her way. I didn’t go to bed immediately as I wasn’t that tired but eventually hit the sheets around 4 o’clock having forwarded all the house clocks by an hour so technically speaking I really went to bed around 3 o’clock I suppose. I was dressed and eating my breakfast at 9 o’clock but was still a little tired. Around noon I decided I had to get motivated and mow the grass which was by now getting rather long but I hadn’t taken into account that it was still mostly wet with dew. The sun was shining but only half the lawn was in sunshine. Part of the lawn, that which is closest to the rear of the house, doesn’t receive full sunshine until we are nearer summer and then only in the morning or around sunset. The rear garden is on the north side of the house but most of it is in full sunshine at some point in the day and some parts all day during the summer months. So I set up the extension lead and mower and began to cut the grass. I got about a quarter of it done, that part which was in full sunshine and then began to struggle somewhat because of the dew that had elsewhere remained. I took a break for lunch and returned to complete the job later hoping that the grass had dried enough by then. It hadn’t. I struggled but found I could still cut the grass by pulling the mower backwards rather than forwards as it didn’t clog up the blade as quickly. It still took me a couple of hours where normally I could get it done in forty minutes when it is dry. It may have been easier with the larger petrol-driven mower we have but it was out of fuel and it needs servicing. What I might do is purchase a hover mower for use when the grass is damp as they are not affected in the same way as other mowers but they don’t really cut the grass as short as I’d like. Nevertheless having one would enable the grass to be cut much more quickly and I could always use the other mowers when it is drier weather. By the time I’d done the lawn I was really exhausted but I found the strength to get out the heavy wooden garden furniture that had been stored in the old garage over the winter months and put it into the patio area. I noticed that the floor paint I’d put on the patio concrete floor had peeled away in many places. The concrete had been treated with a sealant to keep out the water and the paint is supposed to be suitable for outdoor use but eveidently it isn’t! I doubt I shall repaint it though. I didn’t rake off the grass cuttings, I was too tired but that can be done during the week. Gardening is hard work especially if it hasn’t been done in months! The garden plants are in full bloom and I took some photographs while the sun was still shining on them…..
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
3 bloggers like this post.
Posted in Drink, Food, Friendship, Gardening | Tagged: Brighton, Drink, Food, Friendship, Garden, Grass, Lawn, Lawn mower, Liverpool, Mower | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on February 29, 2012
Image via Wikipedia
On Monday I put my vehicle in for its annual MOT test. I have driven less than four thousand miles since my last MOT test in this vehicle so I expected it to sail through this time. Thankfully it did. It has been 14 months since I had the vehicle serviced at the same service station (they checked their records for me) and similarly I have not driven four thousand miles since then either, in fact the mileage on this vehicle is still less than 16 thousand miles after four years on the road! The guy at the station asked me when it was last serviced but I couldn’t remember because I look more to the mileage when thinking about servicing. Of course these places would have me servicing the vehicle once or twice a year irrespective of the mileage! According to the manufacturer, Peugeot, the maintenance interval is 12 thousand miles but nevertheless I have had it serviced twice since new at 6 thousand mile intervals, mainly for oil and filter changes. It is a diesel engine so it will be less prone to the same wear as a petrol engine would be but for peace of mind I like to change the oil more often. There is a minor oil leak, very minor really but I will be taking the vehicle back within the next month or two to have it checked out. So now I have another twelve months ‘free’ motoring! Not exactly free though is it? It will be free from requiring official documentation replacement that’s all. When I take my vehicle in for its MOT test I generally wait at the station until it is done, no so when it is having a service though for that takes much more time to complete. This time whilst waiting, a young woman came in asking if they could check her oil as she thought it had all drained out. Having driven from Liverpool some twenty or more miles away I said that her engine would have seized-up had she no oil at all in the sump. It turned out that in fact half of the oil had drained out, evidently through a loose oil filter. She told me that she never checks anything under the bonnet except maybe the water reservoir for her screen wash! I thought that these days it was a requirement to know what goes on under the bonnet as part of the driving test.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
One blogger likes this post.
Posted in Driving, Maintenance | Tagged: Driving, Liverpool, MOT test, Oil filter, Peugeot, Vehicle | 3 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on February 23, 2012
Image via Wikipedia
After the debacle on Monday we are still no closer to having our roller door fitted. The ball, as they say, is in the other persons court but I am optimistic it will get done soon. So most of Monday was spent elsewhere for me doing jobs away from home. I lay awake for the third time on Tuesday but finally got out of bed and downstairs by 09.30. By ten o’clock I was busy getting ou the ladder and tools ready to install the extract fans grill for the new wet room. Ordinarily this would be a straight-forward task but its position on the wall made access difficult being too close to the window for positioning the ladder and too far to be able to work from on top of the garage roof. The ladder was the safest option but even then it had to be securely tied because of the angle being a little steeper than it would normally be. This was due to the fact that it was in a narrow passageway. I used my little grinder to cut the brick and mortar but even so it was hard going. The bricks are called ‘Stock bricks’ made in the latter part of the 19th century (the house was built in 1877) and are very hard indeed. Then I had to drill the bricks for the fixing holes and almost wore out the new drill bit as the bricks were so hard. The otherwise simple job took me two hours if we take the time for setting up and clearing away into account but at least it got done. I went indoors and channeled out the plaster ready for installing the electrical wiring. So I am on track now and hopefully much more progress will be made now. E and I were thinking of a trip into Liverpool one day this week but our eldest son asked if we might like to dine out with he and his wife and their little daughter on Friday. We have accepted of course and Liverpool will have to wait until another day. As I write this on Tuesday evening I have no work scheduled and if I don’t get any I shall carry on working at home. I’ll have to see what happens. It looks like we are in for some fine weather which would be a handy thing if I could do some work in the garden. I still have to dig out the roots and balls of those trees and shrubs but at the moment it seems unlikely that I’ll get the chance.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in House and Home | Tagged: Brick, Brick and mortar, Friday, Home, Ladder, Liverpool | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on February 20, 2012
Image via Wikipedia
Well what else? I am not a drinker, honest! On Friday, I took to having a day off, free from all work and left to my own devices! Yeah, sure, who would leave me to my own devices? As it happens, me! I had no work scheduled so I invited E out to lunch. No problem there because E is usually very accommodating as a dining partner, especially if it is free. As is usual I let E decide where we were to go and she has no shortage of places in her preferences. We ended up at a place we had come across some time ago when out looking for somewhere nice to eat and we have been there on a number of occasions since but it has been some six months or more since we were there last I think. I’d had a vodka-laced coffee about a half hour before we left and on the way to this restaurant, which lies about fifteen miles away from home, E dropped me off in the village in order that I could collect my hormone prescription. We call it the village and although it was once a village it has now become a part of Southport as there are no natural boundaries now between them both. The area in which we live comes under the same name as that of the village and our house is just over a half mile from the centre of the village. The main rail link between Southport and Liverpool runs through the village too so it is easy for those commuting. I digress. After I had collected my prescription I had to walk some way to where E had parked her vehicle as there was no available spaces near to the chemist (drug store). We drove out-of-town to our destination. I ordered a bottle of red wine, a Merlot, and when I tasted it I got a pleasant surprise. It was mildly sweet and had a soft fruity bouquet, something I like in a red wine rather than the drier varieties, although I like those too. I like to try new wines so I am not always aware what they will taste like. Sometimes I choose a wine by name. This wine was made in Chile and like so many of the new world wines, it was very palatable. We spent quite some time in the restaurant and soon the wine bottle became empty. Now any sensible person would have stopped at this point but I fancied having a glass or two of cider and had some when E left the restaurant to visit a cash-point about a mile down the road. For some reason the card reading machine wouldn’t work and rather than leave my card details for the restaurant to debit my account later I asked E if she wouldn’t mind getting some cash for me. I gave her my card and off she went. We stopped for a short while then drove back home but on the way E dropped me off at the pub as I was desperate to use the toilet. I met with some friends and had one or two more drinks of cider. I really must stop doing this stopping off at the pub business, seriously, I end up drinking far too much and although it is very infrequent it is still unnecessary. I am going to promise myself not to do that in future which will be easy to do, all I have to say to E is don’t drop me off and I know she won’t! If I want to visit the pub I shall have to walk which is probably not going to happen if I’ve been out dining. One thing is for certain, I am determined to limit my alcohol intake when I dine out!
On Saturday morning I went out to do some shopping collecting more materials for the new wet room, cable for the shower unit, a wall mounting fan heater suitable for bathrooms, switches and accessories, some mortar and plaster and piping for water supplies and such. I hope to do some more work on the wet room during this week.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Drink, Food, House and Home | Tagged: Chile, Food, Friday, Liverpool, Restaurant, Southport, Wine, Wine tasting descriptors | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on January 3, 2012
Image by teachernz via Flickr
Well it is Tuesday morning and I am off to Liverpool today, to the Queen Elizabeth 11 Crown Court to do another stint at jury service. I have no idea if my services will be required or not, nobody does until the day itself but it would be a shame to have to take time out if I am not subsequently elected. There is a possibility that I won’t make it as a juror but I’ll have to wait and see. It was Christmas Eve when I last did some electrical work and it might be a further two weeks before I get the chance to work again but if jobs are scarce I do have work to start on at home. Late last summer E and I purchased materials and fittings for converting our downstairs toilet/cloakroom into a wet room containing a shower, toilet and wash basin but we never got round to starting the job. Presently the room is stripped of wall and floor coverings but still has a working toilet and wash basin which must be removed before we can begin the installation. Happy days again. Work at home never seems to end. We plan to completely renovate the second largest bedroom on the first floor at some point. At the moment the room is full of odds and ends which need to be thrown out or stored in the cellar, the carpet requires changing and no doubt I will need to add a couple of extra power outlets too. Then there is the furniture to buy, bed, wardrobes and such. To be fair the room hasn’t had a proper make-over for years and it really needs it. There is no special reason for doing it up but it will allow its use as a guest room. There are two spare bedrooms on the top floor (the third bedroom is being used for storage and as an office) but they are only fitted out with the bare essentials so it would be nice to have a larger and better appointed room as one of the four main bedrooms situated on the floor below. This will mean that we have six of the seven bedrooms available for use, although E and I are using two of them. For the moment I am focused on my trips to Liverpool and all of this can wait. When it gets a little warmer I really must push to get the garage finished too but the main thing there is getting that roller door installed! No, it hasn’t been fitted yet but all that is needed is to get it raised to ceiling height and onto the brackets I fitted a few months ago, the rest should be easy. It is hard getting things done when there is no-one available to help.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in House and Home, Law | Tagged: Bedroom, Crown Court, Home, Liverpool, Sink, Tuesday | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on January 1, 2012
Image via Wikipedia
Being as it is the start of another year I am wondering just how long it will take me to get used to writing 2012 instead of 2011? In the past I have taken a few days to get used to the change to the year number when writing cheques or letters and such but I have never had a problem with the month change. To me, the first day of the year is no different than it was yesterday, is no different to all the other days but it sort of interrupts a routine. The daily name changes and the monthly name changes seem more finite than a simple number change at the beginning of what we accept as a new year, so we initially make mistakes. Although today is no different from any other day it does mark the beginning of changes in my life. I will not be doing anything today or tomorrow but on Tuesday I will be starting my jury service as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. It has been about twenty-five years since I was on jury service and no doubt many things have changed since then, for one the venue. I remember little about the procedure but having read the booklet that is supplied I shouldn’t have any problems adjusting to my responsibility. All I remember about my last duty as a juror was the one case I was involved with. My electrical work is on hold for the next two weeks depending on my duty as a juror. There will be other ongoing changes in my life. I just hope they will be for the better for all around me I see changes in the world which are not. Whatever happens I will have to make adjustments according to my own circumstances and try to accept the things I cannot change elsewhere. How long it will take me to adjust to changes I will have to wait and see. I have an inkling what some of those changes might be both in my personal life and those in the world around me but I live from day-to-day and do not worry about such things.
“What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That’s not been said a thousand times?
The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.
We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.
We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.
We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our prides, we sheet our dead.
We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that’s the burden of a year.”
Copyright unknown
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Life, Philosophy | Tagged: Crown Court, Jury duty, Life, Liverpool, New Year | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on December 29, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
I decided to go for a dummy run into Liverpool earlier in order to discover how long I would need to get to the Crown Court on Tuesday. It has been quite some time since I was in Liverpool so as I had nothing else to do it seemed a good idea to go today. It cost me nothing in fares because I have a travel pass which is free to use after 9.30 in the morning, When I go on Tuesday I will be obliged to pay for the journey there but it will be free on my return. I have had this pass for three years now, although I could have obtained one six years ago but didn’t see the need. In fact I hardly ever use it anyway but it is handy to know I have one should I need it. When I boarded the train at my local station it was fairly empty of passengers but two stations later it became full. Not everyone was going to Liverpool and by the time I arrived there were few people left. I left the station and walked the quarter-mile or so to the Crown Court building, or rather the square in which it stands but didn’t go inside, instead I decided to walk down the main shopping streets before returning home via the next railway station to see how long it would take from there. The weather was awful, occasional blustery showers and high winds didn’t keep people at home and the streets were packed with shoppers. I could have spent the afternoon there but somehow it’s not the same shopping by myself, I like some company when out shopping for clothes but I did visit one of the main stores for a few minutes. I really wanted to get back home. Three hours and fifteen minutes after I’d left home found me back safely there, so by that reckoning I will need an hour and a half to get to court next week. On the return journey, about half-way home, I and a few other passengers noticed two small dogs running along the other track at the station where we had stopped. I hope they didn’t get electrocuted as they were running quite close to the live rail. How they got on the tracks in the first place is a wonder.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
One blogger likes this post.
Posted in Activity, Travel | Tagged: Crown Court, Liverpool, Merseyside, Network Rail, Train station, Transport | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on December 21, 2011
I have not moved far away from my place of birth nor the places where I grew up. I was born in the heart of Liverpool on one wet Wednesday morning in the city’s Royal Hospital in November 1945. For the first three months of my life I lived with my parents in my aunty’s home after which we moved into our own home almost in the city centre and stayed there until 1958 when my family and I moved to the suburbs. By 1955 our family was complete, five children for mom and dad to look after. When I married in 1974 we couldn’t afford to buy our first house so we decided to rent an apartment for two years until we had a big enough deposit for a house. The apartment was in Bootle, just a couple of miles outside Liverpool city centre. Our first house was bought in a small town north of Liverpool about sixteen miles as the crow flies. We moved there in 1976 and left again to move into the house we now live in which is about 22 miles north of Liverpool, in Southport. We came here in 1988. Our decisions to move where we did were all based on our work and the need to be reasonably close to it. Had our circumstances been different we may have decided to locate in another part of the country. Compared to some parts of the country this area is perhaps lacking in dramatic scenery but it has a great heritage and history. The people who live hereabouts are some of the finest you will meet anywhere and some of the most friendly and welcoming. Having said that though I do find that people who were born in this town are less friendly than those who migrated here from Liverpool but that is a generalisation and it would be unkind to suggest that folk here are not friendly. I like being here because it is near the shore, the weather is fairly reasonable and the air coming from the Irish sea is fresh and clean. I think people grow to like the place where they live. When I first came here I was a little apprehensive as to what it would be like but I settled down soon enough. I have travelled across the globe but each time I have been away I longed to get back to my home territory and all these familiar places. It is good to live here as I am sure it is for those who live elsewhere. I suppose we make the places we live as our home and make them places where we can feel at home in a world that is often hostile and unstable. Home is where the heart is and my heart is here
Image by djmcaleese via Flickr
.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in House and Home | Tagged: Bootle, England, Liverpool, Liverpool City Centre, Merseyside, Southport, Wednesday | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on December 17, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
I’ve been considering my life quite a lot lately, much of that about my gender transition but also about my life in general, work, relationships, health, lifestyle and so on. I suppose it is all to do with age and how I am reacting to the changes that come naturally with it. Some things I have no control over but over much of it I do maintain control. I know I am not able to do things as quickly as I once did, in all areas of my life. I am finding that I like the free time I get when not working and the fact that I can accept work or not. I have turned down a few jobs of late, mostly because they were too big to take on when I don’t want to work full days, especially as the work was highly labour orientated. I get much satisfaction in doing smaller jobs whilst still earning a decent wage, not that I actually need the cash but one day I might so I save what I can too. My health has been suffering a little lately, aches and pains in my back muscles for a few days forced me to take things easy for a while. I am generally quite a fit and healthy person and I do look after myself, eating the right food and getting exercise when I am able. All of my life I wanted to transition and there have been a thousand and one reasons for me not doing so early in life but when I did transition over nine years ago, well nine years since my operations, I was as happy as I could be. The change in hormones fuelled a change in my perceived sexuality which was rather confusing at first but I finally settled down to what is normal for me. These days I feel I am asexual, having no urges to indulge in any kind of sexual acts either with myself or with anyone else. I have never enjoyed self stimulation of my vagina but was readily aroused if someone else did it! I now have a vagina that gets no sexual activity at all so dilation is pointless and this is the way I want it to be. Some might say that is a waste of all that I have gone through to get where I am but life is not about sex, especially when no interest is taken in it. Yes, I could still be stimulated and probably, no, certainly would get aroused (I still get feelings of arousal but take no action on it) if I pursued a life that involved sexual activity. However and although I have a high but suppressed libido, I choose not to. Some things in life I can choose to leave without missing them, sex is one of them. I still get advances from guys though. How does the saying go? I would much prefer a pan of Scouse (similar to Irish stew in Liverpool for those who may not know). So where am I now? Well apart from my family and one or two friends I am quite alone, no relationships. no lovers and happy as I can be.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Happiness, Lifestyle, Transsexual | Tagged: Happiness, Health, Human sexual activity, Lifestyle, Liverpool, Scouse, Sexology, Sexual arousal, Sexuality, Transition | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on December 10, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
I wrote this letter (email) on Friday after a rather funny time I’d had with a friend on an afternoon out together. I thought it would be fun to post it here……
Hi Lucy. I hope you don’t mind me writing to you but I wanted to tell you something. Today I arranged to dine out with a friend, someone I’ve known since 1999. I went to collect her at her home so that she could enjoy a drink whilst I stayed with soft drinks as I was driving. She lives some 17 or 18 miles away from me. I asked where she would like to go and in the end we decided to go to a place about thirty miles away, somewhere we’ve been to quite frequently either alone or with my ex or my family. It is a lovely restaurant/pub and very popular. My friend ordered a bottle of red wine and I a cola and we sat there mulling over the menu. After a short while the waitress came over and explained that we couldn’t order a meal as their gas supply had just failed. We had to find somewhere else. We were not charged for the drinks. So off we went to find another place, which we did but there was no service, no bar staff and one waitress serving a host of Christmas partying people. We decided to leave and try somewhere else, all the time returning whence we came. We found another place and although not really an inviting place as far as atmosphere/decor go we were able to order a half-way decent meal, I suppose anything would have been alright as we were so hungry by this time. My friend was slowly getting tipsy on her red wine and we enjoyed each others company, laughing and joking about things and for part of the time talking about her transition experiences. She talked about hormones and the fact that she had not been taking the right amount. She was taking a third of what she should have been prescribed. I think she was concerned that they weren’t having the desired effect to which I replied give them time and you will see the difference. I told her about your recent post where you mentioned the same thing regarding changes or the apparent lack of them. I suggested she look at your blog via the link on mine to see your pictures. Then I mentioned your name. Well now, get this……..she knows you already! She told me about Lucy, Amanda and is it Alison? (It was Alice). Yes you know her too….Jane from Liverpool. A small world eh? I thought you might be interested in that.
Funny things happen around Shirley Anne……………LOL
(Lucy’s blog link can be found in my blogroll over on the right. Have a look at an interesting post she wrote in response today on her site)
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Enjoyment, Friendship, Fun | Tagged: Alcoholic beverage, Christmas, Health, Liverpool, Soft drink, Wine | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on December 4, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
It was around this time ten years ago that I decided to go for full transition. I had been out for three years to all my new friends and some others but not to my family although by this time they were aware of my dressing. I started the ball rolling by making an appointment with a laser clinic in Liverpool and the first session I think was on 19th December that year, 2001. I had much more to do and to make decisions about and all of that is recorded in one of my pages above so I won’t go into detail here. As soon as the Christmas and New year celebrations were over I set about doing what I had to do and I then had the daunting task of telling my wife and family. That too is detailed in my page above. I am in my tenth year now as a fully transitioned female and although many things have changed about me I remain just the same inside. The real me, my spirit, the person writing down all of this is the same one that used to play in the street with other children sixty years ago, who went to school, who was bullied, who made something of a life, got married had children, got divorced and is still plodding along as best she can. Yes, nothing has changed inside for me over the last ten years or even over the last sixty-six years but the outside has changed dramatically. I live my life differently in some respects than I did ten years ago but the basics remain the same. I sit here reflecting on what has happened in my life and I wonder if I could have made a difference to the way things turned out. Probably yes, I could have but would it have made any real difference to me, the person inside? To the outside world we change, we fit in or we adjust so that we are happy with life. With me, ten years ago I had to make another of those changes so that I could remain happy. In doing that though made changes to other things, not least of all relationships. Not my marriage, that had died five or six years earlier and for other reasons but relationships with others did change in some cases. I never had many friends throughout my life. When I was young I had one friend but I moved house and we lost contact. He tried to re-establish that friendship some seven years or so later but I wasn’t interested, I had become very anti-social. From that point onward I never had friends by my own choice until I got married when we both shared the new friends we had made during the previous two years. Again, we moved on and lost those friends due to the pressures of life. When we divorced I had no friends apart from the one girl I had met in Spring of 1999 whilst out socialising as Shirley Anne. We have remained friends ever since but we don’t see much of each other now. Other friends either live too far away or have dropped off the radar. My family is dispersed and for the most part out of contact. I wrote a letter to one of my sisters some weeks ago but she couldn’t be bothered to write back. My children have flown the nest and I get to see them quite often but fleetingly. Basically I have nobody at all except my ex who for the moment is not very close at all. Am I better off now than when I was ten years ago? In some ways absolutely! In other ways no! That’s life and try as I may to change things it doesn’t always mean that it will improve. A happy and sad Shirley Anne at the same time.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
One blogger likes this post.
Posted in Family, Friendship, Life, Philosophy, Relationships, Time, Transsexual, Values | Tagged: Christmas, Family, Holiday, Liverpool, New Year, People, Relationships | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on November 15, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
Whenever I receive a brown paper envelope through the post I immediately think ‘official documents’. Formal documentation from councils, solicitors, organisations and others usually arrive in brown envelopes so it was with some trepidation I opened the brown envelope in my mail on Friday. It was a call to jury service. It has been many years since I last did jury service so I was taken by surprise to be asked again. I wonder if that is because they don’t know I have switched gender and they are treating me as a new person? There is no reason they would know I suppose. Anyway I have filled out the fom and sent it off. My duties are expected to begin on 3rd January in Liverpool, which is some twenty to twenty-two miles away. Something to look forward to I suppose. My last duty call lasted but for one day and then my services were no longer required, though I still had to attend each day for a week just in case I was needed. I doubt that I will be called upon after this time due to my age but it is still possible up and until I reach 70. At best jury service is a necessity and at worse an inconvenience. Being self-employed I will have to submit proof of loss of earnings but that is impossible unless they accept my average daily earnings from my previous tax year. I would think having a standard fixed amount allowable refund would be sufficient but that I suppose wouldn’t suit everyone. All travelling expenses are covered of course. It will be a first for me as a woman to sit on a jury. At least the experience won’t be as bad as that in the link below….LOL
Shirley Anne
- Jury Duty Sentence (barbsblast.wordpress.com)
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Law | Tagged: Envelope, Jury duty, Liverpool | 5 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on October 25, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
As children we have to learn quickly that sometimes we can be defeated. Learning to accept defeat can be hard for those who are proud and want to show that they can excel in all things. It is a learning curve of course for as we grow we realise that we are not the best in everything we do and there will always be others who do better than ourselves. Sometimes we find ourselves at the top of the pile and that can be something equally as difficult to deal with. We have to learn that defeat can be a good thing for in defeat we are built-up. One thing we have to learn as Christians is to be able to take defeat and realise that fact. We learn by mistakes and those who maintain that they never make mistakes never made anything! On Sunday afternoon in the UK many football games are played. I like football but I am not that fond of it at the expense of more important things. I do have a favourite team which is Liverpool and they are not doing too well so far this season hovering around a third of the way down the Premiership table. They are doing better than some though. One of my sons, the younger one, loves football too but he supports Manchester United and often ribs me that I support a lack-lustre team like Liverpool but he forgets that Liverpool has won many trophies over the years but just lately are not doing quite so well. There is always rivalry between football supporters, for instance in Liverpool we have Liverpool and Everton, reds and blues and in Manchester they have Manchester United and Manchester City. City football team have never done as well in recent years as United generally speaking but on Sunday the tables were turned. Manchester City team are enjoying a very good season so far, much as they did last season but even better and they have become serious rivals for the Premiership title. Sundays game began slowly but eventually, at half-time the score-line was 2-1 in favour of City. The second half saw them defeat United to the tune of 6-1, something hardly expected. My son watched the game but dashed out of the room when the score was 5-1. I could tell he was annoyed by his reactions, door slamming and mumbling to himself he left the house and drove off somewhere. A dangerous thing to do in my estimation. He might be involved in an accident whilst driving in that mood. He obviously cannot handle defeat as well as he should. He normally has a short fuse anyway and is sometimes difficult to deal with for that reason. He was taught to accept defeat as a child but I guess it got the better of him. One day he may realise that being defeated isn’t the end of the world and somethings he shouldn’t take personally. Handling defeat is a challenge and something we must learn to deal with before it destroys us.
Shirley Anne
0.000000
0.000000
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
Posted in Behaviour, Philosophy | Tagged: Behaviour, Liverpool, Manchester, Manchester City, Manchester City F.C., Manchester United, Manchester United F.C., Philosophy, Premier League, United | 2 Comments »
