Movies and Motoring Misery

Day Twenty-five – Liverpool

Today we had intended to do a little shopping and then visit Albert Docks and perhaps the Maritime Museum. In the end we kind of gave up on the back half of the plan, partly due to apathy, partly due to weather once again.

We left home about 10:00am and drove into town to a shopping precinct called St Johns or something like that. The roads in Liverpool are something to be seen (or is that avoided?). It's damn hard to go in a straight line, despite what maps say, largely due to roadworks and traffic diversions. Our reason for driving was that we'd be able to come home when we liked and the bus fares would be more than the parking costs.

By the time we reached the shops we'd already had enough. Thankfully parking was simple by comparison. Inside the shops we wandered about a while buying odds and sods we needed. I was looking for a book shop having run out of book this morning. I had no luck whatsoever.

We gave up on St Johns and walked down into Liverpool One, a "snazzy" new(ish) shopping mall which at least did yield a large bookshop with the second book in the series I've been reading. By now we were hungry and a little fed up. Jenni has a sore ankle and walking was starting to get old as well.

Lunch was simple enough to resolve thanks to pizza. Two minutes after we sat down Jenni read my mind and suggested we give up on sightseeing for once and go see a movie. I didn't need any convincing and we went to see Inception with Leonardo Di Whatshisface.

Jenni quite liked it after it got going and the kids are not as critical as me. To say I was underwhelmed is an understatement. The best way I can describe it is a cross between a Matt Damon thriller and a Keanu Reeves sci-fi but with a script both would have turned down in a flash. The plot is machiavellian and jumps about, the acting is pretty wooden at times and the special effects, although half decent at times, certainly don't make up for the rest. I actually nodded off twice for a few minutes and it made not the slightest difference. I'm giving it 2.5/5 and it only gets that because I could sit down out of the rain.

Getting home was no easier. Another couple of mental road diversions ("road closed for 30 weeks"!?!?) meant a pretty sensible and straight trip was a pain in the rear once again. By the time we got home we were happy as to be able to shut the door and have a cuppa.

Dinner at least was pleasant and sitting in front of the tellie is improving my mood. We're going to Anfield tomorrow for the stadium tour. I'm tempted to ask for a discount after the shambles of a performance in the Carling Cup last night. Maybe we've hired a Scouse traffic engineer as our "master tactician"...

PS. As you can imagine there are no photos today!

Cheers,

Millsy