I had reason this week to be in Liverpool – it is many years since I was there. Certainly before the purple wheelie bins arrived!

Red Rum immortalised in Bronze

As I arrived I tuned into Radio City – the music and presenters may have changed but the accent’s certainly haven’t!

I lived in Southport between ’76 and ’78 and as I was so close I decided to drop in on the old place. It hasn’t changed much. This is real Liverpool commuter belt. Audiences famously don’t clap – they rattle their jewellery!

But one thing has changed – my old school. It is no more – it is now the North Sefton City Learning Centre. This sounds like the sort of name Councillor Kay Cutts would appreciate – like the loss of Greater Nottingham. It means nothing to those of us who went to Ainsdale Comp! On reflection this was such a rough school (at least it was for a Forest fan growing up in the posh end of Liverpool in the glory years of 1978) perhaps my mate John Lyle would say it needed re-branding! It certainly needs some tlc.

Lord Street is pretty much the same – Victorian seaside glory at it’s best. But now with a Starbucks – from where this blog has been penned! I can usually find a Starbucks by the smell.

And ‘the Brick‘ is still there. Many hours spent there – learning the fine art of 8-ball pool! Perhaps this had something to do with my school results?

Red Rum still sits (small) and proud in the Wayfarers Arcade. I remember my Great Uncle visiting from Canada and telling me that he wouldn’t go in the tea rooms as it was ‘full of old people’. He was 85.

It seems funny going back somewhere you haven’t been for many years. Funny but fun.