Warm down in Liverpool

The Liverpool warm-up is now the Liverpool warm down, and it didn't go without incident for our HK bound personel. Meister mis-read the train time on his ticket with the result that at the time his carriage of choice left Euston he was still finishing his final lunchtime pint in the City. He did at least make it the same day though, unlike our errant Kiwi. John lost his ticket altogether only to find it too late to catch the train up on Friday. Using a series of unused return tickets, short hop tickets, and going via Bradford and Manchester John finally made it to Liverpool about an hour before the big game was due to start.

Probably the less said about the football the better. Expecting a goal fest and an easy three points against newly promoted QPR, the Everton fans were soon feeling their season was over after watching Rangers go one up in the first half then failing to convert a number of chances themselves. The ironic taunts of "That's why you're going down" from the QPR supporters elicited some quite graphic Anglo Saxon from the chaps around me.

Spirits were not however dampened too much and, after a meal and some misguided investments at the casino, the guys headed out for their third night of clubbing and dubious dancing emporiums. Old stagers as we are, Meister and I were a little more choosy, prefering a few pints in a proper pub and getting back to the hotel before cock-crow. For oldest teenager in town Kiwi it was a different story, as he joined the youngsters on the clubbing trail until the early hours. I had to politely decline when at 4.30am he phoned me to ask if I wanted to go back to the casino.

So along with Meister and Kiwi I have to thank Greg (our stag), Doug, Pete, Lars, Franny and Howard* for an excellent weekend in Liverpool as a warm up for HK.

*Please note that names have been changed in order to protect the guilty.