liverpool
Drummers, Stilt Walkers, and Fire Eaters - oh my!
Flame Thrower
Drummers outside the Thistle Hotel (Atlantic Tower) Liverpool
Another day in Liverpool, another random event! I heard the sound of drums rumbling through my flat and went onto the balcony and heard complete madness! I ran out to see what was happening (grabbing my camera on the way) and was greeted with a troop of drummers, stilt walkers, a fire eater and some people doing footie skills (I’m not sure how they fit into all this!).
It’s all happening outside the Thistle hotel, their website is pretty rubbish and doesn’t tell you why or what is happening (there were balloons with the number 35, so I’m guessing it’s their 35th birthday - or someones anyway!)
After a bit of digging I found out that the drummers are called “Batala” and they are a Samba band based in Liverpool and I want to join!
Videos below:
Medium Clip with editing (6 minutes - the editing is terrible but you should get the jist!)
Short Clip (2 minutes):
Illustrious Oranges
The great thing about living near the docks in Liverpool is that there’s always something interesting floating outside your window. Two weeks ago the QE2 edged its way down the Mersey and was sent off with a huge fireworks display. This weekend the HMS Illustrious came into port and after a bit of Googling I discovered that it was open to the public for a browse.
HMS Illustrious
Unfortunately, I missed the boat (apparantly puns are the lowest form of humour, I disagree!) and only went to see it at 3pm on a drizzly Saturday afternoon, by which time the queue was about a mile long and I discovered that there was no way I was going to get on board - lesson learnt.. It was still interesting to see a “working” aircraft carrier, complete with planes and guns.
For those of you not in the know, the “HMS Illustrious (R06) is an Invincible-class light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy, affectionately known as ‘Lusty’ to her crew” (thanks Wikipedia).
Today I decided to get in a bit of culture and walked across to the Walker Art Gallery and on the way bumped into the Orange Instituion Parade (well, it was more of a waddle than a parade judging by the waist lines of most of the people taking part!) Video below for posterity:
I think I’m going to start carrying my camera around with me wherever I go, as there’s always something happening in Liverpool! I’m not sure what I’ll go have a look at next weekend - It’d be interesting to go find some old bomb shelters from WWII - time to do some digging around to see if there are any still open to the public.
Update: The tour of the “Western Approaches” looks like the nearest I’m going to get, although it looks very, very boring!
Twitter Me Timbers
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