retiredmartin

All these trips to Merseyside over the years and I never thought to use Suzanne’s classic (and it is).

“If you lie on the ground
In somebody’s arms
You’ll probably swallow some of their history” Suzanne Vega, “In Liverpool”.

Perhaps no town outside of New Mills has inspired such great music over the years.

Having just returned from Waterbeach on Monday morning a quick scouring of Booking.Com found a nice central hotel for £40.50, and cheap direct trains, too. By noon I’d done the laundry, packed the overnight bag and booked that Z hotel.

“Can I come too ?” said Mrs RM. “Can you be ready in ten (10) minutes ?”.

All that rushing seemed rather pointless at 3pm.

Trespassers on the line at Heaton Chapel delaying our train to Liverpool to tick a Wetherspoons.

Can @oldmudgie go and move them, please ?

— retiredmartin (@NHS_Martin) July 24, 2023

Never mind, by 6pm we were walking past St Georges Hall (first time I’d seen it without scaffolding for years) and I was contemplating how I’d be able to avoid the temptation of revisits to the old classics,

with seven (7) Merseyside new entries to tick (I failed).

We’d both used Z Hotels before, in Bath and Glasgow. Some folk won’t touch them as the rooms are small and often windowless, but Mrs RM rates the free cheese and wine highly, though you only get that if you book direct. And we’d have missed our cheese slot due to trespassers on the line, anyway.

The Z on North John Street is about as central as you could wish, 2 minutes from 2 new ticks and 2 metro stops.

We’ll come back to Rigby’s later.

And we’ll come back to my emergency operation, which I assure you this fella is nothing to do with.

The commercial district around Moorfields is packed with classic boozers, though somehow I’d never been noticed the Denbigh Castle.

I mean, it just looks gorgeous, doesn’t it ?

I guess you need beers from obscure micros to make the Guide in 2023, though increasingly it’s the established regionals like Salopian and Ossett and Kirkstall that pop up time and again.

Being contrary, I had the Oaks Pale from Chester and got Mrs RM a beer that might have been named for her, or at least for her blog which remains “imminent”.

Cool beer (NBSS 3+),

nice people, decent soundtrack,

and comfy seating.

Oh, and a classic “Otters playing cricket” scene. Stafford Paul will know which “Seven Stiles” that is.

All it lacked, perhaps, was a bit of Scouse life. But I’ve been in the Lion at quiet times, too.

See Chris’s thoughts here https://chrisdyson55.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-diamonds-of-dale-street.html?spref=tw&m=1

A decent start, and Mrs RM was snapping away happily inside.

“I’ll join you for one more pub then you’re on your own” she said.

She didn’t know the next one was a Spoons.