Before lockdown we used to manage at least one visit a year, often football related.
Now Liverpool has lost its World Heritage status and do you know what I couldn't care less. It's still there, it still has the same attractions and the same history and it still has thousands of visitors every year (COVID allowing). Losing its status I guess might cost it a few grants but it's still the same magical place to me.
Many years ago I used to join in all the Liverpool jokes and remarks (Don't take your car to Liverpool as they'll nick the hubcaps. The only time I've had a hubcap nicked was in Norwich). I laughed like a drain when it was announced that Liverpool was to become the European City of Culture.
But then I started going there and I got steeped in the history of the port, its connection with the slave trade, its regeneration after the Toxteth Riots and, above all, the fact that music oozes from every pore of this wonderful place.
Just to ride on the local ferry whilst they are playing Gerry and the Pacemakers singing Ferry Across the Mersey gets the old goosebumps going.
So ferry, cross the Mersey
'Cause this land's the place I love
And here I'll stay
People around every corner
Seem to smile and say
We don't care what your name is, boy
We'll never turn you away
Has a greater song ever been written about a place? Well yes it could be matched by "Penny Lane," "Eleanor Rigby" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" and of course they are all about Liverpool.
Then there's the museums, the Cavern Club where Merseybeat began (although the current club is a faithful reproduction of the original and a few yards further down Matthew Street), the walk across Stanley Park from Anfield (home of Liverpool FC) to Goodison Park (home of Everton FC), some of the best shopping in Europe, the wonderful architecture (the incomparable Liver building) and the fact that Scouser isn't a derogatory term at all. Scouse is a meat stew beloved by dock workers in the past and still served up in some cafes.
The list goes on and on and I could go on and on. So the fact that Liverpool has lost its World Heritage status because of proposed new building in the city doesn't concern me one jot. The fact that anonymous men in grey suits have made the decision thousands of miles away rather sums up the contempt I have for them anyhow.
Liverpool is still undergoing a regeneration process and that's where the problem has arisen. In fact one of the buildings decried by this ridiculous World Heritage group is a new football stadium for Everton which can only enhance the city and not detract from it. Even Strawberry Fields which was a salvation army boys home when John Lennon wrote about it has been turned into a new park with cafe and museum and which is on our bucket list for the next visit.
So when I heard about Liverpool being taken off the list, I just laughed. Really who cares - certainly not people like myself who love the place and probably not the locals who have a pride in all that it stands for.
* * *
On Wednesday evening we went to Carrow Road (home of Norwich City FC) for a celebration evening for gaining promotion to the Premiership.
The evening was much delayed by COVID restrictions but finally went ahead. There were interviews with players Todd Cantwell and Kieran Dowell and with the owners Delia Smith and Michael Wynne-Jones and with the manager and chief executive Daniel Farke and Stewart Webber.
It was a pretty jolly evening. Delia, completely belying the fact that she has just had her 80th birthday, was in good form. This lady has no hint of ego and is a true Norwich City fan as well as majority shareholder along with her husband.
She was asked which were her favourite grounds to visit and had no hesitation in naming Tottenham Hotspur whose chief executive had sent Norwich a simple message when we were relegated - "We will miss you," and Everton because of the hospitable way they treated visiting fans and clubs. Everton of course is in LIVERPOOL.
I spent ages trying to work out Kieran Dowell's accent during his interview and then realised he was a Scouser from LIVERPOOL.
I promise not to mention Liverpool again for at least a few months!
I will just wish my wife a happy 45th wedding anniversary today. We got married in West Yorkshire on 24th July 1976. It was mainly sunny but I remember a bout of torrential rain during the reception.