The Beach

So I went to the beach yesterday and it was fun. Cold, windy, empty - but fun. It was one of those days which more than most deserves the description 'character building'. In the space of 3 hours we were hit by strong winds, driving sand (we were literallybeing blasted with sand), a wee bit of hail and some sun too.

It was a good day for arty photos, though a bad day for my camera and my phone - both these modern impliments of technology appear to have been severely damaged by a few tiny grains of sand. How ironic. My cameras lens cap will no longer close, whilst my phone appears to be developing new ailments as time goes by. Think i might go and get an upgrade phone wise, given that it was something i was thinking of doing anyway, whilst my camera seems to be working ok aside from the lens is now unprotected. Maybe a new one for my 24th this year mum and dad? Ha! (I am being cheeky but they don't read this as far as i know so its not too bad).

However it was a fun day - like being a little kid for a few hours. Running up big sand dunes and watching your feet and legs start to disappear in wee avalanches of sand; nearly getting to the top of big sand dunes and running out of steam and just falling on your face and sliding down them; building some random sandcastlymoundthingy. All marvellous. Oh and time for an ice cream too. Plus lots of fresh air, and the fact that it isn't Liverpool. Bonus. Here are some pics...




Hmm... My feet appear to have disappeared...



This rather embarrasing picture, showing why long hair ain't always a good idea, was taken when i was in a lot of pain - strong wind and sand. Not a good combination...


Character building situations require numerous naps...



Cold, windy, about to hail a few minutes after this - time for an ice cream if your British...

A Close Shave...

This may, or may not, be of interest to you dearest reader, but for the first time since August I treated my ugly mug to a proper shave the other night, removing the 'fluff' that has generally recieved only a trim of late. Marvellous. The difference can be seen in a recent picture with 'fluff'...


...and one taken today without 'fluff', though i was cold and facing directly into a very strong wind when the last one was taken. Splendid.

Carnatic Halls

Ok. So it appears that the 'Which halls of residence is the best?' debate has reached the confines of my blog, and having lived in Carnatic for a year, as well as being involved in Carnatic hall groups with the CU for about four years, I'd have to say that my allegience lies firmly with the Carnie. Here is a pic of beautiful Carnie out of the window of my first year room...


But that doesen't mean that Carnatic is the best of course. From what I have observed and heard, the Greenbank halls are very nice places to live, whilst Carnatic probably wouldn't go down as one of the nicest places I've lived in my life. My hall in particular, Rankin, kind of lived up to its name - it had a certain prison block feel about it. Ha! Plus the food was a little, erm, wrong. Yeah thats a good word to describe it really - wrong.

The architectural beauty of Rankin Hall...


However Carnie does have one thing going for it. And thats got everything to do with how it got its name...

Carnatic Halls are built on the original site of Mosley or Mossley Hall, which came under the ownership of a Liverpool based shipbuilding in 1779. Like other Liverpool businessmen and traders of the time the owner of Mosley, or Mossely Hall, entered into the business of 'privateering' (basically a 'privateer' ship was an armed ship of civilians authorised by the government for use in war), to compensate for the loss of trade due to the American Revolutionary Wars. During the course of his 'privateering' our shipbuilding friend captured a French vessel called the Carnatic and...

'...returned with the richest prize ever brought into port by a Liverpool privateer, having on board a cargo of spices and "...a box of diamonds of an immense value" estimated at between £135,000 and £400,000.'

The blokes shipyard prospered, he became Mayor of Liverpool and died in office in 1796. And the locals referred to Mossley Hall as Carnatic Hall because of the source of his fortune.

And for that reason Carnatic Halls are better ;-). Here are a few more pic of my room from first year.




All info re Carnatic was written by Naomi Evetts and was sourced from the Old Ordnance Survey Map of Mossley Hill, 1905.

Penny Lane

Another blog, and another blog about walking around Liverpool. I do actually have plans to follow up the Sarah Toth blog with a whole series on the Agape STINT team, but for the moment lets look at Penny Lane.

So, Penny Lane. Probably the most famous road in Liverpool, and certainly well known around the globe thanks to the Beatles song. And also less than 5 minutes walk from my house, and a road that I have walked the length of so, so many times in the last five years. But if you are a tourist then all you ever see really is this sign...


...and if you've never been to Liverpool, or this part of the city, then your ideas of how it will look are probably going to be either based entirely on the song (so a banker with a motor car etc - a busy little commercial street), or will relate to the name of the road, which probably suggests a quiet and quaint English road.

On the contrary, Penny Lane in reality is not the street descibed in the song (thats either nearby Smithdown Road, or Allerton High Street depending on who you believe), nor is it a quiet and quaint English road. Rather it is a long, pretty standard Victorian road with houses along one part and then after a railway bridge, a long almost treelined stretch with a school and a private hospital on either side, with a Liverpool University hall of residence at the end.

So in otherwords not what you might expect, but I like it for that reason. Here are some pics of Penny Lane, and of the Dovedale Towers, the pub with character that sits about half way along Penny Lane.

Sarah Toth

Although I'm running the risk of posting a lot, its time for yet another addition. And its a tribute no-less. A tribute to Ms Sarah Toth..

So... Ms Sarah ‘SS’ Toth, Agape ATL extraordinaire. This is a lass known for her love of all things relating to American TV. Indeed, she could even be regarded as a ‘mastermind’ of all things relating to the OC and other similar TV programmes. She is also famed for her love of Coldplay, Guster and other assorted bands. However Sarah is perhaps best known for her highly infectious laugh which has the ability to create the funniest situations this humble author has ever witnessed. And it is marvelous in many unique ways. Ms Toth is also a master of disguise and her repertoire includes among other things ‘The Koala’. Add to that her love of fashion and the great historical text ‘In Style’ magazine, as well as a mean ability to make sweet potatoes with marshmallows, then you have Ms Sarah Toth. Splendid..

A Reflective Day...

So today I've had a bit of a reflective day with some good company and a bit of fresh air thrown into the mix. I started the day pretty early with a much appreciated cup of coffee with Mr Andy Moll.

Ah the incredible view out of Urban Coffee on Smithdown Road, and Mr Moll in deep photographic though...



After that we spent a bit of time in the park, where, as you will notice those elusive daffodils are starting to come out in force. Not all of 'em yet - but getting there...





And then it was on to much appreciated coffee number two, with mr Andy McMinn. Marvellous. Here you will find Mr McMinn and the picturesque view out onto Allerton High Street from Yaffes coffee...

An Announcement...

I'd like to take a wee bit of time to introduce you to a new member of the blogging community and a more prolific blogger.

So the new blogger first. Mr Kevin Hawley, a man who likes to hug things whilst not working for Agape. Kevin has succomed to getting a blog himself and it can be found here:

http://kevinsuccumbed.blogspot.com/

Here is a picture of Kevin hugging a tree.


And then we have Mr Andrew 'Woody' McMinn. Woody is from Birmingham (Ha!) and his blog can be found here:

http://spaces.msn.com/amcminn85/

And here is a picture of Woody.


Now go and read their blogs. Ha. Marvellous.

Commonwealth: Take Two

And yet more sport. Hmm... I reckon Danny T must have put something in that cup of coffee he made me the other day. Or do I secretly just have an affinity for sport?

Anyway the Commonwealth Games just came to an end and England didn't fair too badly, finishing second in the medals table. Of course Australia made us look silly and a bit useless but its nice to be second...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/commonwealth_games/medals_table/default.stm

Ok I hope you are all having an amazingly good day. The picture is of England's gold medal winning badminton players. Marvellous..

Oh When The Saints Go Marching In...

Now if you know me, and if you know me well, then you should be aware that I am not a sporting man. I don't particularly enjoy playing sports, and I won't often go out of my way to watch sports either. However, I do every now and again enjoy having a kick around in the park, and I also have moments when I will watch sport and enjoy it. And I'm having one of those moments right now.

In particular I'm enjoying my home town's rugby team, the Saints, sit at the top of the Super League table having not lost a game, while our traditional arch rivals Wigan languish at the bottom the table.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/table/default.stm (Bare in mind this is correct as of the 24/3/2006 - I will no doubt be cringing in a few months time as Saints begin to slide down the table)

This is a very rare moment indeed as Wigan have in the past, along with Saints, dominated the sport of Rugby League and thus both teams would be normally scrapping it out at the top the table. Its also something to savour given that Wigan and Saints have a bitter, and long standing rivalry. With both teams dominating the sport and coming from towns that are not only very similar in their history and make up, but also less than 10 miles away from each other, there is a lot at stake in which team is doing well and which isn't.

So yeah... Go Saints!!!

Almost daffodils...and Robots???

I'm afraid its back to Sefton Park again, as I haven't really done anything exciting for the past week and a half. I've spent some quality time with some great people, had an interview for Relay stuff and got a wee bit of work done, but otherwise - its been quiet. But still I had my first walk of 2006 in a t-shirt, heading down to the Park. And it was cool. I actually wanted to go and see if the literally millions of daffodils had come out in bloom yet but alas they haven't. Some have managed to get a head start though and here is a few pics of those things...




On a very random aside I had an equally random dream last night. In the dream I was attending an Agape conference - at least i think it was Agape - and in our lesiure time we were put into groups and given some very rudimentary supplies. We were then asked to build a robot, but not just any robot - an underwater, evangelistic, attack robot. I mean... WHAT?!?! WHY?!?!? I woke up and just sat perplexed as to why my brain would dream about that. Whats even more random is that the things we were given to build it were so simple - plastic rulers for the frame etc - and yet the end product was 8 ft long and made of titanium. Hmmm... My very odd brain ladies and gents.

Disclaimer: Obviously Agape conferences don't involve the construction of odd robot things and this is just my slumbering subconsious being very odd. Ha!

Star Student... Apparently

I've been inspired by Ms Stephanie Gillette (www.sgillette.blogspot.com) to give you all a glimpse of my brief 'fame' last year. Ha... Well it was fun anyway, and a real blessing to be awarded three awards. Marvellous. Anyway enjoy my rather random picture as placed in the University of Liverpool magazine, Precinct.

Palm House and Sefton Park

I like the Palm House and Sefton Park a lot. I like them for one, as they have been as much a fixture of my time in Liverpool as Steve Attwell and Evans Sarpong, which is saying a lot if you think about it (I've lived with them both for 4 years now).

Infact they have defined my Liverpool experience right from the start (thats 5 years), and it is with great joy that I can now go down to SP not only for a walk, some fresh air and some pondering time, but also to reminisce about the last five years. Five years of ups and downs, of weddings, of firework displays, of strange laser show things, of friends, of snow, of sun, of football, of bikes, of stars, of squirrels, of ice cream. Marvellous. Here is a shot if the Palm House and some ducks in the Park.

Colour...

I've decided my blog is pretty much devoid of colour at the moment. So here is a picture I actually took a few weeks ago on the way down to Sefton Park of some crocus', which i think are my favourite flower. Not that I am much of a flowers bloke but I like em - got a lot of bold colour going on.

And the other is a quick sketch I did of some hills etc, scanned onto my laptop and then coloured in using the microsoft paint package. Its colourful at least...

Snow, Glorious Snow

Another day and yet another blog.

WHAT is going on with all of this snow? It is very,very, very cool. But seriously, what is going on. When people say that you don't get snow in Liverpool or the north west they are being honest.

If you are wondering what on earth I am talking about then it snowed today. As in really snowed. There were a good few inches of proper powdery snow this morning, which made going to Church a bit more akin to an expedition than a Sunday morning saunter.

Evans' post-bike covered in snow...


Neil and I as we headed out into the wilds on the way to Bridge Chapel...


Allerton high street looking an awful lot more like some place much colder and bleaker - Canada say... Ha!


It really was cold waiting for that bus...


And I even ran into one of Mr Pumpernickel's friends, Mrs Tillytop up visiting for the weekend...

Chester

Today I went to Chester with some Americans. Oh and a British person. This is becoming quite a common occurance and I like it. Here are some photos of the day.

They are all in black and white as the light was bad. Therefore bad light=black and white. Good tip for you all there and it also rhymes. Splendid.

To begin one of the last pictures I took, but its of the clock tower on the main shopping street and its also by default probably the most recognisable feature of Chester....

Sarah Toth, Agape ATL, sat in Starbucks looking very pensive. Obviously thinking about the new fashions being discussed in the massive 'In Style' magazine KC's mum had sent over from America recently. Seriously guys that magazine was HUGE... Glad you could take time to chill out though Sarah...

And then its back to scenic Chester. Me and Andy Moll had time for a bit of wander around the city walls and these are some of the results of that walk. This was a fairly nice looking building by the city 'Castle', which is itself a bit of disappointment. But yeah... This is a fairly nice looking building...


The token 'arty' photo... Oooohh... Ahhhhh...


This is a rather spiffing shot of the River Dee...


A building with a great message...


And after all that walking around the walls and the city, we went home on a state of the art British train... Awesome.