Sunday 24 March 2013

Daft as a brush in Liverpool


 
In my last feeling good window, we went to France for a week. This time, we spent a few days in Liverpool, to coincide with daughter Jess’s last performance of her drama degree course. It seems ridiculous that her 3 years as a drama student only has a couple of months left to run. Leaving her at her halls of residence for the first time feels like about 6 months ago, not 3 years.
Jess, in her last ever play at uni..... "We Dark Horses"....she played a bank robber, here being threatened by her co bank robber.....who she eventually shoots dead.

 Jess’s ambition has been to be a drama student, and she is heartbroken that it is nearly over. However, as well as all those “transferable skills” she has developed.....( let’s not kid ourselves, a drama degree was pretty unlikely to lead to a job !) .....she has made some wonderful friends, she has come to love Liverpool with a passion, she has had amazing fun, she has learned a great deal about theatre, drama, politics, the world and society,and of course, she has grown up. She was a pretty mature 19 year old when we dropped her off there 3 years ago, having done a fair bit of independent travelling and working in a gap year after A levels. Now, she is nearly 22, daft as a brush sometimes, but with a sensible head on her, she appreciates the advantages she has in life, cares about other people and is looking forward to the next stage in her life, training to be a teacher.( Albeit with considerable regret that she can’t be a drama student for a few more years).

We combined seeing her performance with some sight seeing. Liverpool is a very exciting city. Our hotel was on Hope St. which connects the 2 cathedrals. I love the way they look at each other, sort of anchoring the city, so different, and seeming to respect each other’s magnificence, but maintaining their distance.
 

We went to the Catholic cathedral, having spent time at the Anglican one last time we were in Liverpool. I love the colours, the light,  and the complete turnabout in design from the  Lutyen’s cathedral originally planned for the site.

 
 
 
We went to a Glam rock exhibition at the Tate, on the dramatic Albert Docks.
Albert Dock, the Liverpool Tate Gallery on the far left.
We spent time discussing whether we had realised that we had lived through such an important cultural phenomenon,  as we spent our late teen age and early 20s during the 70s. Suddenly Celia Birtwell, Ossie Clark, David Bowie, Andy Warhol, the New York art scene, attitudes towards gender, and the final UK legalisation of homosexuality all linked together. The make up and clothes I wore and the music I listened to in those far off days felt far more significant than they had seemed at the time.
 
The Walker Gallery
 We went to the Walker Art Gallery and saw an impressive collection of 7 screen prints disseminated from 7 days of following Obama’s first presidential campaign.
An unexpected display at the entrance to the Walker Art gallery
 We saw a small collection of fabulous clothes collected by a Liverpool doctor’s wife in the first half of the 20th century. Some of the items were sheer fabulous Hollywood glamour, but were apparently never worn by the shopaholic woman, as they were considered far too glamorous for someone in her position. My heart went out to her... imagining her showing her husband her latest purchase, only to be told...."Well you’re not wearing that out in public".

One of the best bits of Liverpool on this trip was the liveliness of the coffee shops and tea shops where we stopped for frequent refreshments. Best of all was the cafe connected to the Catholic cathedral. It was buzzing when we entered. The food was good, the place was heaving with people chatting, and laughing. The atmosphere was amazing. Jess tells me that it is basically because people in Liverpool love talking to each other ! It is such a lively and sociable place.
view from our hotel window
The weather made the trip quite interesting too. It was very cold the whole time we were there... but the view from our hotel window changed a few times during our stay.
 
and
 

Our next visit to this lovely city will be for Jess’s graduation in July. We’ve booked the same hotel and are planning to spend another couple of days enjoying time here. No wonder Jess loves it so much.
 
 I don’t think there’s much chance of getting her to live  back in Yorkshire for a while yet !

Jess, with her daft as a brush head on, pointing to some of the photos of her most recent performances.
 

 

25 comments:

  1. A lovely, warm post, Janice, despite the chilly weather. My niece is in Liverpool too and she loves it too. We went last year at Christmas and had a great day seeing the sights you have mentioned. It feels like a place that is very much alive and a perfect place for a coffee bar culture to thrive.

    I know how proud you are of Jess and with very good reason. It's lovely to know she has a daft head as well as a sensible one - she seems such a rounded, together person who really knows how to squeeze the best out of every situation. Takes after her mother! Axxx

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    1. I am proud of Jess, and I recognise how lucky I am to have her. I am just so pleased that she has squeezed the very best out of her time as a drama student in Liverpool. Its what you want for your children isn't it ? You want them to emerge with sensible life skills.....but to have a ball on the way to acquiring them. Her approach to life, work and her studies seems to have enabled her to do that. Long may it continue ! Jx

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  2. Aren't girls wonderful - I'm so glad I have two granddaughters!
    I've been hearing a lot of praise for Liverpool lately. Must visit soon.

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    1. Liverpool is a great place to visit. There is so much going on, the architecture is great, the older and new galleries are excellent, and the new(ish) LIverpool One shopping centre is not one of those souless mall developments, it links various parts of the city, is outdoors, but with sheltered sections, and has enabled some of the smaller independent shops to survive alongside the chain giants. I love it.

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  3. It's super that she's had such a wonderful time in Liverpool...and super too that she wants to teach.

    I do hope the weather will be warmer for graduation or that gorgeous cricket sweater might be making another appearance..

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    1. That cricket sweater used to belong to husband Mark, it was part of the pile of stuff destined for Oxfam when we were downsizing....and Jess found it....stretched it , and has loved it ever since.Hopefully a July graduation will mean slightly better weather. Somehow though, Liverpool's vibrancy managed to shine through the cold this last week. We had a great time, and are looking forward to the July visit.

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  4. It looks like a fabulous time, Janice, and your daughter Jess is beautiful. What a remarkable experience she has had. Whether she gets work some day in theater is really not as important as the life experiences she has had and her theater education which I am sure will serve her well in teaching or whatever else she may endeavor to do. Liverpool seems like such a lively place to be. Someday . .

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    1. I dont see how anyone could not like the city. It is such a culturally fascinating place, and with an incredible history....much of its early wealth was built on slavery, and then trade, and then of course, the starting point or a staging point for many Europeans leaving the old world for the new. Jess has made the best of her time there so far, and I know will continue to enjoy living there.

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  5. Dear Janice.....Congratulations on raising such a beautiful and well sensible rounded daughter. I know you are extremely proud of her and have good reason to be. I think she will make a great teacher, for anybody who takes drama has a sparkling and intriguing personality....and she's gorgeous.

    Liverpool looks very inviting....with lots to see. It looks like you had a very pleasant time....and probably can't wait till July to go back for the Graduation.
    Hope all is well with you and that you had a chance to visit Liverpool to see your daughter....take care. My thoughts are with you. XXXX

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    1. Thanks Erica. Maybe it is seeing a city through someone else's eyes that makes it seem so interesting. I have been to Liverpool many times before over the years, but have never really thought about it as a whole before. Seeing the background to Jess's last 3 years and thinking about it in terms of what has been available to her has opened my eyes to the tremendous opportunities she has been surrounded by. Maybe it's that I know I would have loved to have had her experiences too, even though my own student experience 40 years ago was pretty good ! Thanks for your kind thoughts. Jx

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  6. Dear Janice, I am glad you are using your feel-good windows to have fun. Congratulations on having a lovely talented daughter, you must be so proud of her. Liverpool looks really interesting; of course I always associate it with the Beatles and the whole 60s thing. Love the coloured birds at the Walker Art Gallery. xx

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    1. We started our visit with a quick coffee in an underground starbucks....on the Albert Docks. I dont usually favour chain coffee places, but it was cold, and starbucks was conveniently placed for our look around the dock area. It was great.... fabulous brick vaulted ceilings, from old dock storage spaces, with wonderful early Beatles photos on the walls....some I had never seen before, and Beatles music playing. It felt a bit cavern like, which was clearly the intention. The city does make a lot of being the home of the Beatles, and the 60s music scene is celebrated. It does it well, meaning that tourists like it, as well as people who live there, which is good.

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  7. Liverpool is one place I would love to visit. It was where my daughter and her husband spent their honeymoon, much to the surprise of their friends who wondered why they wouldn't go for a romantic beach setting abroad. They are both music lovers, and even though they are only 30 yrs old, they enjoy music from as far back as the 1940s. Naturally they did the Beatles tour and visited the Cavern Club.

    I assume your daughter will go on to teach drama? Will she also seek acting roles too?

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  8. What a great place to spend a honeymoon... I can understand that completely.
    Actually Jess is not going to be a drama teacher. Her logic is interesting.Whilst I know drama and the theatre will always be part of her life, she has decided she does not want it to be her whole life. Her concern was that drama teachers who have gone from school to a drama degree and then onto become drama teachers have never really worked in the world of drama... it has all been part of an education process. her real world drama experience is from a few bit parts on TV soaps and some extra work that she has combined with her studies over the last 3 years. Her decision to teach, is about wanting to teach children, rather than a particular subject, and she has been accepted on a work/school based programme to get her teaching qualification, teaching primary aged children, so teaching the whole range of subjects. AS an ex teacher myslef, I know that her drama experience will be useful... I think most teachers are drama experts......certainly I know a lot of what I did verged on the "interactive performance" side of things !
    I think she may carry on with some acting work, if she can fit it in, but may end up using her drama in other ways. Who knows.....I'm enjoying watching her to see how things turn out. Jx

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  9. I sometimes accuse my daughter of being a drama queen, but you are lucky to have a real one. Good luck to her.

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    1. Once, calling someone a drama queen was an insult in our house...now it's just a factual statement....she's doing a walk on part(as a nurse) in Emmerdale this afternoon, I might have to start watching it.

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  10. It seems to often happen.... falling in love with the college town where you first establish some independence from your parents. Liverpool was a good choice for a drama course, such a lot of creative energy there.
    I used to feel very much onstage when I taught, did you? It was helpful sometimes to actively view it as a role to step into, if I was feeling weighed down emotionally or a bit under the weather. (And in that sense it was also therapeutic)
    Impressive array of photos of her performances! Your daughter looks to have a lovely sense of humor, no doubt she'll be a great teacher too.

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    1. Thanks Jill, yes I certainly felt as if I was on stage when I taught, or it would help sometimes to act it out, as you say, when things got tough. I think Jess has the right temperament to make a good teacher, I hope so anyway.

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  11. Good to hear about your weekend away in Liverpool. The obvious pride you have in Jess and her aspirations shines through the post.

    I'm sure she will become an excellent teacher. Many of my teacher friends try to put their offspring off teaching as a profession. As I teacher, I am acutely aware that without able and enthusiastic young people coming into the profession education is doomed! We need teachers; they are the future.

    Good on you, Jess....and Mum!

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    1. Thanks Gaynor. I am very proud that Jess has made the decision she has. I am certainly not one of those ex-teachers who tries to put people off the profession. It is a wonderful professsion, and I have great admiration for people who spend their time working hard to improve the life chances for future generations. I also know, that despite the difficulties involved with the job....overall, she will have a wonderful time...surely not much could be better than helping people to learn.

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  12. What a brilliant reason for your blogging break, Janice and knowing Liverpool a little I can well imagine how much you enjoyed your visit and was a wonderful place it must be to spend one's student years. It's such a vibrant, buzzing city that is making the most of its history while looking to the future. When DH and I were there last year on a family visit, we all had lunch at the restaurant at 'Paddy's Wigwam' and very good it was too. :-)

    Well done to your beautiful daughter for choosing teaching as a career. She will make a marvellous primary teacher and I can foresee some fantastic school productions in years to come. :-)

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    1. It did make me ever so slightly jealous of her life ! However, I overcame that, and was once again so happy that she has enjoyed her life so much so far. I'll have to ask her about Paddy's Wigwam...chances are, if it is good, she'll have been there. Hope you are still keeping warm. Jx

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    2. Sorry, that was misleading of me, Janice. Paddy's Wigwam is the affectionate nickname given to the Roman Catholic cathedral when it was first built and it stuck. Not surprising given its very revolutionary architecture, but I should have guessed you wouldn't know it. It means we ate in the very restaurant you wrote about. :-)

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    3. of course.... how stupid if me. It's a brilliant name for it. I can remember the fuss there was when the cathedral was built, but now it is clearly a very well loved building. Jx

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  13. Jess will bring an extra dimension to her teaching with the background she now has :-) I loved reading about Liverpool (and the photos too of course)...on our whirlwind 8 day bus tour of the UK in 2008 that was not one of the cities that we visited. Hope to remedy that omission one day
    :-)

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