Well, another good time had by all. The train journey was only notable for having to sit between a Daily Mail reader on one side and a Daily Express reader on the other. After that start things could only pick up. John the Mountain Goat showed us the beer list he had printed off for the festival and it looked like we should have booked tickets for the week judging by the number of brews on offer. The Mountain Goat had, in time-honoured tradition, indicated not only the beers he wanted but the order they were to be sampled in. Did someone say 'anorak'? Not me your honou
r.When we reached Liverpool we met Wet Nigel (not as in Softie Walter, but wet as in walking half an hour to the station in Manchester in the pouring rain). Unfortunately Nigel had brought the weather with him and it was raining steadily by the time we left the station for the Walker Art Gallery. Yes, we needed our fix of culture before the festivities.
We saw the model Lutyens started of his design for the Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool. Unfortunately the costs escalated and the project was abandoned and 'Paddy's Wigwam' was built instead. Even to a confirmed lapsed Catholic as myself it seems a shame the original was not erected. It would have dominated Brownlow Hill and been on a huge scale.
Enough of arty stuff though - it was now time to walk up to the crypt of the current cathedral for the festival. Typically the rain had got worse so when we got there at about 11:30am (for 12 noon doors) there was a small crowd sheltering under some concrete steps ready to dash for the doors when they opened. Now I'm not saying the seven of us were particularly aesthetically pleasing (as you will see later) but compared to the mob already gathered we were the equivalent of, er, well ... Take Fat? As Steve said when asked if the crowd might start to get angry if left outside much longer, "Can an ugly crowd get ugly?"
Fortunately the stewards took pity on us and opened up 10 mins early.
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