Friday 13 March
Alison, Angela, Carole, Chris (Oz), Chris, Janice, Jeanette, Liz, Joyce, Rosemary, Sally, Sue, Wendy
Alison, Angela, Carole, Chris (Oz), Chris, Janice, Jeanette, Liz, Joyce, Rosemary, Sally, Sue, Wendy
We had rented an 8 bedroomed and bathroomed house in Crosby for our 'When I'm 64' weekend so after discussion and despite the coronavirus crisis unfolding around the country and the world most of us still gathered as planned.
A beautiful house with loads of room - 8 huge double bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, two lounges and a nice, big dining room.
The first four or five of us managed to squash onto the parking area - we weren't planning on moving the cars again - and there was ample road parking for the rest.
We sorted out the bed rooms. Up the stairs. Down the stairs. The house was over four floors so it was quite a workout! We left little presents on the beds.
Gradually everyone arrived so we decided to have a walk down to the side of the Mersey to see if the tide was in or out on the famous Gormley installation 'Another Place' - statues placed for several miles along the beach all looking out to sea. Every statue the same (based on himself) but all in very different states due to where they were on the shoreline.
A straight walk down - 15 minutes to the river and only 5 minutes to the station which we needed to take the train into Liverpool.
The tide was quite far out so we had a good walk and were able to catch the little bit of sunshine as we wandered between some of the statues.
All so different with their varying degrees of submersion.
We took our first group selfie...
Having had a little walk we wandered off back towards the house all anticipating a delicious meal.
We had two sets of keys. Sue had one set and Carole had the other so we lined up along the path all eager to get inside and get the gin out.
Sue tried her key. Nothing. It wouldn't turn. She tried again. 'Come here' said Carole brandishing her key and moving Sue aside. 'Let me do it'. She tried. Again nothing.
They tried again. Nothing. Others tried. Nothing.
We tried to walk round the house to see if there was another entrance although we knew really that there wasn't.
'Ok we need to get in touch with the owner' we said. 'Now where do they live?' 'Somewhere close by round the corner with their six kids ' said Trisha helpfully.
We had no phone number. Well we did but they were all firmly locked inside the house!!
I managed to contact the owners by email to ask if there was a knack to opening the door.
Meanwhile Sally took the key, wiggled and pulled on the door - and opened it first time! We cheered madly. Sally was declared key monitor and we all went in to take photos of the important telephone numbers in case they were needed again!
In we trouped. I quickly managed to send another email to say we had gained entry and we were fine!
A couple of minutes later Chris the owner was on our doorstep - he'd only seen the first email. But all was explained and off he went happy in the knowledge that we hadn't broken in or wrecked anything!
We settled down and started preparations for dinner. Sally, clutching a tray of cutlery, wandered into the lounge where some of us were sitting. 'Where's the dining room?' she said. 'I saw it before'. She'd walked past it but to be fair - it was a big house! Very funny though.
We had a lovely evening meal. There was a very long church pew style seat along the wall which five or six people sat on. There were no problems with it... that evening!...
Having seen Chris's gin and apple cake on Facebook a few days previously we had also put in a request for one of those and she had duly obliged. More delicious cake!
Saturday 14 March
We settled down to breakfast then Liz and Jeanette arrived.
Then we made the short walk to the station - leaving Janice at 'home' to sort out all the breakfast debris.
Liz and Jeanette decided to block book the tickets and approached the man in his little kiosk whilst we all hovered around behind them.
'12 return tickets to Liverpool please'
So far so good. Did we want a group return? No we didn't in case we came back at different times. 'Have you all got railcards?' asked the man. Not sure we said, we'll ask.
Some had, some hadn't. After a lot of hands up, hands down, counting, recounting and changing our minds we eventually got sorted and Jeanette paid for the bundle of tickets the man thrust into her hand. He probably then went for a lie down - that was ten minutes of his life that he was never going to get back!!
Off we went to the platform.
Time to give everyone their tickets. More chaos.
Liz gave out two tickets to everyone. Until she ran out and some people didn't have them. So then she collected them back in. Jeanette went into school teacher mode to sort things out - TWO single tickets for the railcard holders, ONE return ticket for the non card holders. Once happy and sorted we trouped onto the train.
After a quick head count at the other end we walked towards the Albert Dock to meet up with Angela - unfortunately Bridget wasn't able to be there.
Sally told us where we needed to be later in the day for our tour bus.
Then we did culture. Some went to the Tate and some headed towards the river and the Liverpool Museum. Well when I say we did culture we did eggs benedict (posh end of the table!) or bacon butties (the rest!) before we started on the culture.
Then it was time for our Magical Mystery Tour!
We were first on so some sat at the front and some sat at the back.
Off we went looking at where the Beatles had lived, performed and composed their songs. Some really interesting facts that we hadn't known before. Thanks for organising it Sally.
At the end of the tour Kevin (tour guide) played When I'm 64 and we all sang along lustily much to the bemusement of the rest of the passengers who were obviously thinking that we were all mid forties!
Off we went round the corner to Mathew Street and the Cavern.
Coronavirus events and implications were beginning to unravel around us and several of our party began to receive phone calls from family as the measures which were being announced began to impact on plans.
We were able to discuss each problem/change/implication as it manifested and although we weren't in a position to alter anything it was a huge comfort to be cocooned in our practical, loving and supportive sisterhood.
We still managed to play a silly paper based game which made us all laugh...
Sunday 15 March
A leisurely get up and then Sally's famous scrambled eggs with smoked salmon.
Sous chef was Janice and they did a grand job between them cooking bacon, sausage, mushrooms and beans to go with the eggs. Rosemary was toast monitor.
Everyone else hovered and fetched and carried as needed.
A bit more of a subdued morning as several of our party had been affected by the sanctions which were starting to be imposed by the fast moving coronavirus pandemic.
Not an ideal situation but despite all the trials, tribulations and tears caused by events out of our control over the weekend we still managed to have some wonderful belly laughs.
We had been talking about something deep and meaningful and Carole paused mid statement to make her final impactful comment. As we waited respectfully for the profundity to be issued her gaze changed slowly from authoritative certainty to bemused and slightly harried puzzlement. 'Oh' she half whispered, looking blankly into the middle distance 'I was going to say something profound there but it's gone'..
'Yes' I said 'I saw it going. It floated round the room, out the door and up the stairs'.
It didn't come back but we cried with laughter!
We called it Carole's flying thought and fondly imagined it still circling around in the ether on the top floor with nowhere to go.
It's probably still there...
We went down to the beach so Liz and Jeanette could see the Gormley men as they hadn't been there for our Friday evening walk. Definitely colder and more windy this time.
We couldn't find a tea room so we came back for hot drinks and cake and Oz Chris gave us a talk on Tim Tams... well she told us the flavours lol.
Some of our party were leaving early to try to sort things out and others were waiting to find out what was going to happen.
The circumstances surrounding these events and situations mentioned below were changing constantly in ways which we could never have forseen:
Trisha's daughter's wedding in Australia and Carole's daughter's wedding here in the UK were both to be held on 4 April.
Joyce's son's wedding - April 6 (I think?).
Oz Chris - going back to Australia.
Sue's daughter - on holiday in Sri Lanka.
The cancelled holidays to Venice by air and Vienna by train were irrelevant in comparison.
Those who needed to leave or who were leaving anyway departed and the rest of us had a leisurely afternoon reading the papers, doing crosswords, picking at food and generally trying to relax and ignore the outside world for a couple of hours.
Sue, Chris and I went for a walk along the beach in the opposite direction this time. Fabulous light.
This poor Gormley had obviously been patted on the head. Lots!
We had a quiet evening discussing what schoolie trips we might like to make in the future when things got back to normal.
Monday 16 March
Another leisurely upget to a morning of beautiful sunshine. The bedroom Chris and I were sharing was filled with sparkly twinkles on the floor and the walls.
We worked out that it was reflections from the faceted crystal bed knobs on Chris's bed head.
Ours was obviously the disco bedroom - good job Rosemary had gone or she'd have been commandeering it for a dance session!
We had managed to cram several cars on the parking spot and mine was under the tree... which is where the birds obviously held their morning meetings...
Jeanette helped me to clean it so that I could see out of the windows before my drive home. But at least it was my old car rather than one of the newer posher ones lol.
In light of what had been happening we decided to all go straight home.
There had been many and varied unexpected turns to the weekend (including my own tears and meltdown over my sister's cancer) but I know I can speak for our wonderful group when I say that there's no other sisterhood I'd rather have close around me in a crisis than any combination of our fabulous, fantastic, feisty CLASS OF 67.
Updates
Trisha's daughter's wedding in Australia was eventually cancelled. Trisha initially thought that she would be able to get her flight on Thursday and do the required two week self isolation before the wedding. It slowly became apparent that although she had the time to do it others guests, her son included, would not have that luxury and guests started to cancel. Then in light of further updates, cancellation of more flights and the uncertainty of perhaps not being able to get back into this country and back to her mum she made the brave but nonetheless heartbreaking decision not to travel at all.
The venue for Carole's daughters wedding here in the UK rang them to say there was uncertainty as to whether it could go ahead. That then turned to cancellation but because the venue had been so proactive they were able to secure an amended date in late December and they are in the process of trying rearrange everything.
Joyce's son's wedding was a little later but not sure what is happening there.
Oz Chris who was still mid holiday was trying to rearrange her flight to ensure that she could get out of the country and not be stuck here indefinitely.
Sue's daughter has managed to book an earlier flight in about a week to come back from her holiday in Sri Lanka. Tourist places there are now shut down and there has been some reluctance to serve 'white' people - same madness as attacks against the Chinese here. When she got home Sue went to visit her mother in her care home only to find it locked down - with no notification to the families. So bad!
Just within a small part of our group there have been some harrowing and heartbreaking decisions being made - often more or less on the spot. Hugs, tea, sympathy, shoulder to cry on, advice - all have been offered and needed this weekend. But we are a feisty, fearless bunch and we offer and will continue to offer unconditional love and support to all in our little gang.
Long live Class of 67!
(Disclaimer: I have not nicked any of this crowd rousing 'speech' from anywhere but am feeling a strong urge to smoke a cigar, flick the V sign and buy a bulldog...)
Take care everyone and see you soon.. 💗💗
A beautiful house with loads of room - 8 huge double bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, two lounges and a nice, big dining room.
We sorted out the bed rooms. Up the stairs. Down the stairs. The house was over four floors so it was quite a workout! We left little presents on the beds.
Gradually everyone arrived so we decided to have a walk down to the side of the Mersey to see if the tide was in or out on the famous Gormley installation 'Another Place' - statues placed for several miles along the beach all looking out to sea. Every statue the same (based on himself) but all in very different states due to where they were on the shoreline.
A straight walk down - 15 minutes to the river and only 5 minutes to the station which we needed to take the train into Liverpool.
The tide was quite far out so we had a good walk and were able to catch the little bit of sunshine as we wandered between some of the statues.
All so different with their varying degrees of submersion.
We took our first group selfie...
Having had a little walk we wandered off back towards the house all anticipating a delicious meal.
We had two sets of keys. Sue had one set and Carole had the other so we lined up along the path all eager to get inside and get the gin out.
Sue tried her key. Nothing. It wouldn't turn. She tried again. 'Come here' said Carole brandishing her key and moving Sue aside. 'Let me do it'. She tried. Again nothing.
They tried again. Nothing. Others tried. Nothing.
We tried to walk round the house to see if there was another entrance although we knew really that there wasn't.
'Ok we need to get in touch with the owner' we said. 'Now where do they live?' 'Somewhere close by round the corner with their six kids ' said Trisha helpfully.
We had no phone number. Well we did but they were all firmly locked inside the house!!
I managed to contact the owners by email to ask if there was a knack to opening the door.
Meanwhile Sally took the key, wiggled and pulled on the door - and opened it first time! We cheered madly. Sally was declared key monitor and we all went in to take photos of the important telephone numbers in case they were needed again!
In we trouped. I quickly managed to send another email to say we had gained entry and we were fine!
A couple of minutes later Chris the owner was on our doorstep - he'd only seen the first email. But all was explained and off he went happy in the knowledge that we hadn't broken in or wrecked anything!
We settled down and started preparations for dinner. Sally, clutching a tray of cutlery, wandered into the lounge where some of us were sitting. 'Where's the dining room?' she said. 'I saw it before'. She'd walked past it but to be fair - it was a big house! Very funny though.
We had a lovely evening meal. There was a very long church pew style seat along the wall which five or six people sat on. There were no problems with it... that evening!...
Our cake monitor Janice had made another of her delicious creations - we just tell her what we want and she always manages to think of something amusing and appropriate.
So we settled down for fizz and cake.
And we had our usual reminisce and our usual noisy, chatty catch up.
Sorry Carole - couldn't leave out that lovely pic of your pert little bum!
Then a couple of quizzes.
We settled down to breakfast then Liz and Jeanette arrived.
Then we made the short walk to the station - leaving Janice at 'home' to sort out all the breakfast debris.
Liz and Jeanette decided to block book the tickets and approached the man in his little kiosk whilst we all hovered around behind them.
'12 return tickets to Liverpool please'
So far so good. Did we want a group return? No we didn't in case we came back at different times. 'Have you all got railcards?' asked the man. Not sure we said, we'll ask.
Some had, some hadn't. After a lot of hands up, hands down, counting, recounting and changing our minds we eventually got sorted and Jeanette paid for the bundle of tickets the man thrust into her hand. He probably then went for a lie down - that was ten minutes of his life that he was never going to get back!!
Off we went to the platform.
Liz gave out two tickets to everyone. Until she ran out and some people didn't have them. So then she collected them back in. Jeanette went into school teacher mode to sort things out - TWO single tickets for the railcard holders, ONE return ticket for the non card holders. Once happy and sorted we trouped onto the train.
After a quick head count at the other end we walked towards the Albert Dock to meet up with Angela - unfortunately Bridget wasn't able to be there.
Then we did culture. Some went to the Tate and some headed towards the river and the Liverpool Museum. Well when I say we did culture we did eggs benedict (posh end of the table!) or bacon butties (the rest!) before we started on the culture.
We were first on so some sat at the front and some sat at the back.
At the end of the tour Kevin (tour guide) played When I'm 64 and we all sang along lustily much to the bemusement of the rest of the passengers who were obviously thinking that we were all mid forties!
Off we went round the corner to Mathew Street and the Cavern.
Late Saturday afternoon on a damp day in Liverpool - the Cavern was crowded so we had one drink and made our way back to the house and Janice and cake!
A buffet meal this evening.
We were able to discuss each problem/change/implication as it manifested and although we weren't in a position to alter anything it was a huge comfort to be cocooned in our practical, loving and supportive sisterhood.
Carole read this out to us. We decided that it was most appropriate and there was a lot of twatty, twat twatting bandied about that evening!
... and people disappeared from time to time into the other lounge to add a piece to Chris's jigsaw which was residing in state on a table.
Sunday 15 March
A leisurely get up and then Sally's famous scrambled eggs with smoked salmon.
Sous chef was Janice and they did a grand job between them cooking bacon, sausage, mushrooms and beans to go with the eggs. Rosemary was toast monitor.
By now people were getting a bit wary of sitting on the old pew as it had given several sighs and heaves and some very loud CRACKS as it adjusted itself to the bums perched on it. Don't think that there was anything particularly wrong but it was a bit disconcerting to be mid conversation and hear another CRACK which made everyone (except Alison who was very calm) jump into the air!
Not an ideal situation but despite all the trials, tribulations and tears caused by events out of our control over the weekend we still managed to have some wonderful belly laughs.
We had been talking about something deep and meaningful and Carole paused mid statement to make her final impactful comment. As we waited respectfully for the profundity to be issued her gaze changed slowly from authoritative certainty to bemused and slightly harried puzzlement. 'Oh' she half whispered, looking blankly into the middle distance 'I was going to say something profound there but it's gone'..
'Yes' I said 'I saw it going. It floated round the room, out the door and up the stairs'.
It didn't come back but we cried with laughter!
We called it Carole's flying thought and fondly imagined it still circling around in the ether on the top floor with nowhere to go.
It's probably still there...
We went down to the beach so Liz and Jeanette could see the Gormley men as they hadn't been there for our Friday evening walk. Definitely colder and more windy this time.
Jeanette had a theory about Gormley's ahem.. appendage.. but she can explain that one herself!
We couldn't find a tea room so we came back for hot drinks and cake and Oz Chris gave us a talk on Tim Tams... well she told us the flavours lol.
Some of our party were leaving early to try to sort things out and others were waiting to find out what was going to happen.
The circumstances surrounding these events and situations mentioned below were changing constantly in ways which we could never have forseen:
Trisha's daughter's wedding in Australia and Carole's daughter's wedding here in the UK were both to be held on 4 April.
Joyce's son's wedding - April 6 (I think?).
Oz Chris - going back to Australia.
Sue's daughter - on holiday in Sri Lanka.
The cancelled holidays to Venice by air and Vienna by train were irrelevant in comparison.
Those who needed to leave or who were leaving anyway departed and the rest of us had a leisurely afternoon reading the papers, doing crosswords, picking at food and generally trying to relax and ignore the outside world for a couple of hours.
Sue, Chris and I went for a walk along the beach in the opposite direction this time. Fabulous light.
How to manoeuvre round a tree trunk - three people, three different ways...
We had a quiet evening discussing what schoolie trips we might like to make in the future when things got back to normal.
Monday 16 March
Another leisurely upget to a morning of beautiful sunshine. The bedroom Chris and I were sharing was filled with sparkly twinkles on the floor and the walls.
We worked out that it was reflections from the faceted crystal bed knobs on Chris's bed head.
Ours was obviously the disco bedroom - good job Rosemary had gone or she'd have been commandeering it for a dance session!
We had managed to cram several cars on the parking spot and mine was under the tree... which is where the birds obviously held their morning meetings...
Jeanette helped me to clean it so that I could see out of the windows before my drive home. But at least it was my old car rather than one of the newer posher ones lol.
There had been many and varied unexpected turns to the weekend (including my own tears and meltdown over my sister's cancer) but I know I can speak for our wonderful group when I say that there's no other sisterhood I'd rather have close around me in a crisis than any combination of our fabulous, fantastic, feisty CLASS OF 67.
Updates
Trisha's daughter's wedding in Australia was eventually cancelled. Trisha initially thought that she would be able to get her flight on Thursday and do the required two week self isolation before the wedding. It slowly became apparent that although she had the time to do it others guests, her son included, would not have that luxury and guests started to cancel. Then in light of further updates, cancellation of more flights and the uncertainty of perhaps not being able to get back into this country and back to her mum she made the brave but nonetheless heartbreaking decision not to travel at all.
The venue for Carole's daughters wedding here in the UK rang them to say there was uncertainty as to whether it could go ahead. That then turned to cancellation but because the venue had been so proactive they were able to secure an amended date in late December and they are in the process of trying rearrange everything.
Joyce's son's wedding was a little later but not sure what is happening there.
Oz Chris who was still mid holiday was trying to rearrange her flight to ensure that she could get out of the country and not be stuck here indefinitely.
Sue's daughter has managed to book an earlier flight in about a week to come back from her holiday in Sri Lanka. Tourist places there are now shut down and there has been some reluctance to serve 'white' people - same madness as attacks against the Chinese here. When she got home Sue went to visit her mother in her care home only to find it locked down - with no notification to the families. So bad!
Just within a small part of our group there have been some harrowing and heartbreaking decisions being made - often more or less on the spot. Hugs, tea, sympathy, shoulder to cry on, advice - all have been offered and needed this weekend. But we are a feisty, fearless bunch and we offer and will continue to offer unconditional love and support to all in our little gang.
Long live Class of 67!
(Disclaimer: I have not nicked any of this crowd rousing 'speech' from anywhere but am feeling a strong urge to smoke a cigar, flick the V sign and buy a bulldog...)
Take care everyone and see you soon.. 💗💗
