Easter weekend

We had a lovely family day on Saturday with a trip to Fordingbridge where we visited a few shops and spent some time watching the ducks on the river which is in full flow, not surprisingly. It was a lovely venue for a pub lunch which we enjoyed in The George. We were right next to the water but inside keeping nice and warm. Bridie and Joseph had the vegan burger, Maria, chips and the house salad, Alison, the vegan curry and for me, the vegan pasta. All very nice indeed.

Bridie took the youngsters to the cinema to watch Dungeons and Dragons and I got an early night ahead of the trip to Liverpool the next day. 

I was up at 5am and ready to go by 6am having had a coffee and toast, given Juno a short walk and packed a few things for the trip. I ended up driving up without stopping and listened to a lot of the audiobook of The Grapes of Wrath and a bit of the Classic FM Hall of Fame. It meant I was in Liverpool by 10.45 and ahead of Paul who was flying up from Newquay to Manchester with the remainder of the journey by train.

We met up in The Captain Alexander and had a bit of food and a few drinks before checking into the hotel over the road, just for a bag drop. We took a taxi to Anfield and had a couple of hours warming up for the game in the bar area and taking photos. 

The game was amazing and even more so given the awful half hour played by Liverpool who were down 2 - 0 and looking hopeless. There is an argument to suggest they ought to have won in the end but it was a memorable game with Bobby Firmino scoring with a few minutes left. 

As we walked back toward town, we were able to hop on a bus without having to pay and it dropped us off almost alongside the famous Cavern Club where we had a drink and listened to the musician who focused on Beatles covers, unsurprisingly. We weren't up late though, given the early start and drinks but were both feeling the benefit in our early start to the return journey. Paul was out by 5.30, so I slept on till 7.30 and was home before 1.00pm having driven it right off but having to take a little more time with the rain pouring for most of the 260 miles.

What a game though, amazing atmosphere and a great match to be able to look back on.