Bring on the bevvies!

I went to Liverpool this weekend for my extended 'birthday trip’, to see ‘Blood Brothers’, and also to see something of the city. It was good to be there when it wasn’t mid-winter and blowing a gale, though we did discover that some parts of Liverpool are always windy, and it is not a good idea to wear a full skirt.
And it was quite a weekend, from the taxi driver who took us into town, pointing out its red light district, to the sweltering heat of ‘the largest two tier theatre in Britain’, and a very entertaining night in the pub behind the theatre. ‘Ma Egerton’s’.
Before I go on, I think the pub needs a few words of introduction. We first discovered it over a year ago, on a legendary weekend which involved us taking in Whitby, Birmingham and Liverpool in the space of three days*. By the time we reached Liverpool we were hyper, and gagging for a drink, so we rolled into the pub to discover it had a painting of George Formby*** on the wall, and a free juke box. As this was just before Christmas, we found ourselves singing along loudly to Christmas songs with the rest of the pub joining in.
But I digress, we ate**** and revisited a spectacular fountain, and watched a bit of Dr Who on a huge TV screen, before heading into the theatre. I’ll be writing about the show separately, but suffice it to say that I have seen BB just a few times over the last few months, though there had been a gap of four and a half months since my last visit. Sadly there were a number of breaches of the ‘Theatre Snob’ rules that evening, the most irritating being a mobile phone that went off 3 times in one of the most dramatic scenes.
Post show, we headed for the pub, which, given the show came down just before 11pm, it was good to note had no discernable licensing hours. It was very full on this occasion so with some of the cheapest doubles on record in hand*****we ventured outside, which led to a chance encounter in a pub doorway and a discussion about Fish from the Marillion******. And there we were for the next two hours, for once, not schmoozing with actors, who were a mere stones throw away, but being entertained by Mickey, a Liverpool lad with a certain amount of charm (which was sadly lacking in his brother and his mates) who was greatly smitten by one of our number, and perhaps less smitten by her 'little sister'.
At least he never asked if I was their mother!!

P.S sorry about all the footnotes!

*some of our number had been in London the night before, but I was in Harrogate watching 'my' Aled**
**that would be the ‘Walking in the Air’ one
***the comedy value of this at that moment in time would just take too much explaining
****this is an essential part of any trip
*****one of the ‘minuses’ of the pub is that it serves really horrid wine, so I have to drink vodka
******Really, that has to be one of the strangest conversation starters - 'Kayleigh' - that was their hit!