UK Trip 2004

High Street, Wrexham

In July of 2004 me, Sue, Craig and Marcia took off from Boston and headed to Wrexham for a couple of weeks’ vacation. Or as they say over there – a fortnight’s holiday.  Debbie and Pete very bravely put us up during our stay.  We all had a great time and brought back many happy memories.

There was no lounging around on the beach doing nothing for us though; we wanted the kids to see stuff that they would not see over here.

I took some photos along the way and have posted them on this page.  I cropped the pictures so that they would show best when displayed in a maximized Internet Explorer window at a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels or better.  I also optimized the images as much as I could for download, trying not to lose too much picture quality in the process.

Click on the pictures with borders to view them full size.

Click here for a different version of these photos with sounds and animation.  (Turn up the volume on your computer!)

Departure

We flew from Boston's Logan Airport, which was very busy.  On this one runway alone, the planes were lining up and taking off at the rate of one per minute.

This is a view of Boston just after takeoff, about two minutes after the previous photo.

We had a close encounter!  I was gazing out of the window when a big reflection appeared on the wing.  The next thing I knew was that there was another plane in the sky just above us in extremely close proximity. 

By the time I had ferreted out my camera and switched it on, the two planes had diverged to a point where they were not really that close anymore.  Still, it makes for an interesting photo.

This is a photo of a windmill farm somewhere in the Atlantic shortly before we landed.

Arrival

After sitting down for so long during the flight and suffering from jet-lag, we decided to go for a walk to wake up.  The weather was warm and dry and we were told that this was the first nice day in two weeks.  Naturally, we took full credit for bringing the nice weather with us.  It didn't last too long though.

This is Acton Park's version of Stonehenge and we had a little artistic MTV type moment.

Me and Sue at the altar once again.

Craig and Marcia were both delighted to learn that the legal age for drinking is 18 in the UK, as opposed to 21 in the states.  One of their goals was to go to a pub. Well, we hit that milestone on day one! 

We walked around the park and passed the Gate Hangs High pub on the way back.  So – being British – we naturally stepped inside.

The place did not seem to have changed much from what I could remember, although I recall a little farm-type gate that used to swing on an arm above the entrance that was no longer there. It bore the following inscription:

This gate hangs high
And hinders none,
Refresh and pay
And travel on.

If there is one thing I miss about the UK, it's the beer.  American beer is not very good and the British stuff can be difficult or impossible to get.  If you can find it, it is invariably expensive.

And so it was that over the course of the next two weeks I partook of quite a respectable quantity of very excellent best bitter.  That, coupled with eating lots of good food and getting very little exercise resulted in me gaining two pounds in weight!  Well done me.

Get Well Soon

Photos can be a little deceptive sometimes.  At first glance, it looks like we were sitting outside at a pleasant sidewalk cafe on a nice summers' day.

In fact we were in the hospital at Bodelwyddan.  In a masterpiece of bad timing, my dad became ill and was admitted to hospital for six weeks.  He was in there while we were over and was released the week after we returned home!

Skools

In the corridors of old Grove Park
Some shadowy figures lurk.
They're the ghosts of past schoolboys
Who died from overwork.
     – From Sepps Book of Gems
 

Vicky had some of her artwork on display in an exhibition at her school (Yale College) and we went there to take a look.  Just because she is my niece does not make me biased in any way at all but, in my humble opinion, hers was the best work there.  (When you view this picture, you can expand it to see more of the details.)

The other interesting thing was that her school occupied the same buildings as my old school.  In those days it was called Grove Park Boys Grammar School.

Since I escaped from that wretched place 34 years ago, I have not had the slightest inclination to venture anywhere near it ever again.  Now, by a series of coincidental events, fate decreed that I would once more be standing in what used to be the outside gym of Grove Park!

Morbid curiosity got the better of me and I took a look around.  It was pretty much the same and yet different at the same time – much like Wrexham as a whole.

I remember that there used to be tennis courts and a caretaker's bungalow but now they were both gone and a new building stood in their place.  Other than that and a few minor changes, it had not really altered that much.  So I took some photos to add to my web site.

Thusly inspired, I sought out my junior schools and took photos of those as well.  They are the last two pictures in the following group.

The fancy brick path, new steps, railings and bollards were not there when I was an inmate.  Other than that, it looks very much like it did 34 years ago.

I remember dejectedly standing outside this door like a dog so many times, waiting to be let in after being cast out at break time.  It didn't matter too much what the weather was like, we would almost always be kicked out.  Only when the weather was so wet that no teacher would go outside to supervise us would we be allowed to stay indoors.

This is a view of the science block. The classrooms went from one side of the building to the other and there were windows on both sides.  On one extremely windy day we opened all the windows while waiting for the teacher to arrive.

A miniature hurricane ensued within the classroom, with papers flying around everywhere.  As you might imagine, when the teacher finally arrived there he went bonkers.

The sign says Yale now but it will always be Grove Park to me.  This was the backdoor that we used to sneak back into school after making a break for it after lunch.

This wall ran from the outside gym to the back of the cafeteria and at one time had broken glass bottles embedded in cement all the way along the top of it.  There were no cars there in my day, only a few bikes.  I have a little story about that wall on my web site.

This is the Girls School science block.  The girls would often open the windows and wolf-whistle at us when we paraded past them in our little shorts and rugby shirts on the way to the playing field.

      This is Gwenny, looking a lot like it did 40 years ago.

  Rhosddu school does not look much different either.

St. Giles Church

We took the kids to see Wrexham's St. Giles church, or as we used to call it, the parish church.  It has a link back to America because Elihu Yale is buried here.  Elihu Yale – the "Great Welsh American" was the first benefactor of Yale University, Connecticut and so the university was named after him.

A replica of Wrexham church tower was built on Yale Campus and incorporates one of the stones from this church. 

    Inside

Elihu Yale's tomb.

An inscription reads:

Born in America, in Europe bred
In Africa travell'd and in Asia wed
Where long he liv'd and thriv'd; In London dead
Much good, some ill, he did; so hope all's even
And that his soul thro' mercy's gone to Heaven
You that survive and read this tale, take card
For this most certain exit to prepare
Where blest in peace, the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in silent dust.

The inscription on the stone in the photo reads "This stone replaces one presented to Yale University, U.S.A. 1918".

Wrexham has many sinful folks.

Chirk Castle

An Englishman's castle is his home.

It was St. Swithin's Day when we decided to take a tour of Chirk castle – and the rain was chucking it down.  As the old saying goes "If on St. Swithin's Day comes the rain, for forty days it will remain".  I think there must be some truth to that because we did get a lot of wet weather from that point onwards.

You can't really tell from this or the preceding photo but the rain was pouring down on us as we toured the gardens.  The good news was that, even though the inside of the building was crowded, we had the gardens almost entirely to ourselves because of the bad weather. If you look closely, you can tell that those two were very cold.

 These are photos from the courtyard shortly before the heavens opened up:

  Gates to the castle.  It was still raining hard.

Erddig Hall

We spent a few hours roaming around Erddig Hall and its gardens – and it didn't rain!.

Liverpool and the Beatles

'Twas in the month of Liverpool,
In the city of July,
The snow was raining heavily
And the streets were very dry.
 

(Note: This bit makes more sense if you are familiar with the lyrics of Beatle songs.)

It was just another rainy day when we all came together to Liverpool as day trippers (yeah) for a magical mystery tour.

We played the whole tourist bit and did yer Beatles thing.  We took the ferry across the River Mersey to get there – and it's true they do play "Ferry 'Cross The Mersey" by Gerry and the Pacemakers.  Your day breaks, your mind aches – mercifully though, they played only one chorus of it.

There are places I remember all my life
Though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain

Picture yourself in a boat on a river...
This is a photo of the Wacker Quacker.  A wack, or wacker, is a male scouser and a judy is a female scouser.  A scouser is a native of Liverpool, or a Liverpudlian.  The word comes from lobscouse, which is a stew made from leftover meat.

Wandering along the Albert Dock in the rain, we stopped off at the Tate Gallery.  It was full of modern art – oh dear!

Call me uncultured if you will but I fail to see any artistic merit in a foam mattress with a brick though it and cigarettes stuck in it.  There was a lot of that kind of thing and a lot of attempts to shock people.  No one I think is in my tree...

Then we wandered over to the Beatles Story exhibition, which was much more down my alley.  They had just upgraded to a new personalized audio system that was in the final stages of testing.  I thought the price of admission was a little expensive but there seemed to be no shortage of visitors willing to pay the price.

The entire exhibition was very well done, although I think you would have to be a Beatles fan to really appreciate it.  For me, growing up in the sixties and being heavily into the Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, etc, I used to devour all I could about these bands from books,  Melody Maker, New Musical Express and TV documentaries.  I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I've told you before, oh
You can't do that.

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about...

Life-size famous photo of John Lennon standing in a "real" doorway.  See below for a statue in Mathew Street inspired by that photo.

Oh dirty Maggie Mae
They have taken her away
And she never walk down Lime Street any more

  La la how the life goes on...  Hamburg.

  John Lennon's White Room.

It was twenty years ago today
Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play

We thought we would get in the picture with all those famous folks.  Sue found instant karma.  Jai guru deva om...
 

  We all live in a... 

  Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name.

The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still...

Replica of the stage at the Cavern Club.

Leaving the exhibition.  I thought we had spent about half an hour in there but Sue thought it was more like two hours.  Obviously the speed at which time passes is inversely proportional to the level of your appreciation of the Beatles.

The rain had finally stopped, the sun was starting to come out and the weather soon turned very warm.

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
And I say it’s all right
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

We wandered here, there and everywhere on our magical mystery tour and found the Yellow Submarine.

It was some kind of student engineering project or something that was rescued by the city and put on permanent display.

  Sky of grey
  And grass of green
  In our yellow
  Submarine

And my friends are all aboard,
Many more of them live next door...

As we live a life of ease
Everyone of us has all we need...
Proudly displaying out Beatle bags with stuff bought from the exhibition.  I bought a Beatles beer mug.

The long and winding road took us to Mathew Street where the Cavern Club is located.  The original Cavern Club was destroyed when the warehouse above it was demolished in 1973 and The Cavern was filled in.  The area was used as a parking lot by the locals.

The site was excavated in the early 1980s and bricks from the original Cavern were used to build a new club on the old site.  It finally reopened in 1991.  Although it's not the original club, it's as close as you are going to get – and the beer was good.

The new Cavern Club:

Two of us wearing raincoats
Standing so low...
 

  You know I feel alright.  

He got Ono sideboard he one spinal cracker...

A life-size statue on Mathew Street inspired by that famous John Lennon photo.  When viewing the picture, you can expand it to read the words on the bricks.

   
Lady Madonna, children at your feet...

Another Beatles memorial marking the original Cavern.

    Stanley is a very popular name in Liverpool.

We came across a number of street performers.  See how the weather had changed?

  She said she'd always been a dancer

On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home

Take a look at this photo, it's very cool.  We had a ticket to ride and I took the photo from the ferry ('cross the Mersey)  as we were leaving Liverpool to get back to where we once belonged.  The rain clouds were moving in again...

The End

Chester

We went to Chester on a Saturday, which was a big mistake because the place was jam-packed with people.  At least the rain had stopped for a while.

   
The famous clock on the bridge.

    Some old buildings on the rows.

  The town crier.

  Oyez!

  Oyez!

  Oyez!

I climbed up on the rows to take the photo of the town crier above the crowd and took this photo at the same time.

  A bevy of swans on the River Dee.

Part of the old Roman wall that runs around the city.  We walked all the way around it.

We stopped by the Roman gardens and saw an actual old Roman soldier
 

Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo is excellent and we picked the perfect day to go there.  The weather was warm and sunny which is just as well because it takes all day to walk around the entire zoo.  We managed to get around most of it and must have walked about five miles.

The zoo goes to a great deal of trouble to create environments that are as close to the animals' natural habitats as possible.  One aspect of this is that some of the animals are hard to see because they sleep in the day or climb high up in the trees.

  I like this photo of two young elephants getting into a shoving contest.

These are a few of the other inhabitants.  The peacock was just walking around loose.
     

The bat cave was interesting.  You walk into a large dimly lit cave-like structure where bats are flying around all over the place.  Occasionally you can feel the draft as they fly by your head.  Apparently these are the young bats who are still learning their navigation skills.

After a while your eyes adjust to the light and you can see bats all over the place.  Some are flying around, some are climbing up various structures and others are just hanging around.

Panorama, Llangollen and the Horseshoe Pass

      Me and Craig climbed to the top of the Panorama and I took these photos.  The one on the left is the ruins of Castell Dinas Bran.  It was quite a strenuous climb and we were surprised to find someone up there riding a mountain bike.  We learned later that there was an easier way to get up there.

We were in Llangollen a couple of weeks after the Eisteddfod had finished and the place was still crawling with tourists.  Driving and parking were tough.

The road sign in this photo is interesting.  It shows Welsh dragons to the left, and to the right – daleks!  We found plenty of Welsh dragons but although we went in search of them, we did not come across any daleks.

I thought the name of this place was amusing.

    View from Llangollen railway station.

You don't see too many sheep where we live so we drove up to the top of the Horseshoe Pass where there are plenty of them.  Craig wanted to know if it was true that there were more sheep in Wales than women.  Hmmm?

  I was getting out of the car to take a photo when this guy tried to get in.

Miscellaneous

I took this photo at Whittington Castle.  It was raining and there was rubbish lying around everywhere so I did not take any other photos of it.

This used to be the town library.  Now it is used for council offices.  I have marked the location of Wrexham's web cam.

  The Nag's Head pub. This is an old photo of it:

The taxi office where I once worked part-time when it was known as Arrow Taxis.

I used to work on Friday and Saturday evenings at chucking out time, when the pubs and clubs closed.  That's when you really get to see the dregs of society.  Some of the regulars I remember were Pissy Chrisy, Smelly Blod and a guy named Angelo who liked to rip open his stomach with his hands.  He was murdered.