Alice in Wonderland

Sorry I was in a rush on that last post. Basically what I was trying to say was that Liverpool has a very distinct style... Something us Vancouverites might call 'Surrey Girl' style. But it's maybe more of a 'Hard living, Surrey Girl' style. On Saturday night (no wait, cancel that, even during the day) almost every girl was walking around in the shortest skirt, 3 inch heels, and the most blinding top (like hideously blinding) you can think of. But then as you panned up to their face, it was like some sort of living dead, horror movie. They all looked like they had prematurely aged twenty years! For a split second, I thought it was the rainy, English lighting... and that somehow I had transformed into that as well. But no...

On Sunday, I took a mini-trip out to the beaches around Liverpool. The tourist office had given me a map and some instructions of a 8k run I should do so I decided to check it out. And this is when Alice stepped down the rabbit hole. There were awesome views of the ocean of course, but they were speckled with a very unique art exhibit: Antony Gromley's 'Another place'. Basically about 50 life-sized naked cast iron figures anchored at various spots along the beach. Luckily, the tide was in so I was spared the reccuring sight of his nether regions (not impressive from what I hear). Anyways, I stopped noticing them (the sculptures) after awhile so that was fine. But then about halfway through my run, the marked trail just stopped. I looked down at my instructions and saw 'now follow the well marked trail through the dunes and submerged forest'. No joke, at least 6 trails to choose from... and I would soon find out that they zig zagged everywhere. I asked at least five people for directions and when nobody knew, I made a very educated guess... ini mini miney moe? So I ran for a bit - up and down, left and right, through endless dunes - until I was completely lost. Just when I thought all was lost though (melodramatic moment), this dog appeared (lassy in a mutt's body). I followed him out back to where I started. At that point, knowing I wasn't going to get through this leg of the trip without a more detailed map, I decided to head towards a residential development and follow the road instead. I managed to get pointed in the right direction which was a small sail boat club. This factored back into my written directions so I knew I was back on course. However, before I could head down the next path, an old couple stopped me and said 'don't think you want to go down there love. There's a firing range at the end and Sunday is their practice day'.
Obviously I didn't totally believe them so I went down anyways. Parting words, 'Don't worry I'll duck'. Sure enough, halfway through, suddenly I hear gun fire and smell smoke. I kept going though since there was a woman walking her dog up ahead (deaf maybe?) and FINALLY managed to make it to the end. I stepped out onto the final street and looked down to brush myself off... it seemed that dozens of happy bugs had joined me for the ride.:)

Okay have to run and catch my bus to Edinburgh. Tell you about the rest soon