Wiganers

So, three weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit some friends, the Hilton's, about 30 minutes drive outside of Liverpool! It was a great weekend filled with friends, futbal, and pubs ;)

Some highlights to start off with:
1. "The Road to Wigan Pier" was written there and
2. Wigan beat Bolton in their darby Premier League futbal match 1 nil!!!!
3. A women was punished for adultery by being made to walk 3 miles from her home on the summit of what is now a municipal golf course, down to the center of town a couple hundred years ago and there is now a monument at the point were she had to walk to.
4. UK beat Australia in Rugby for the first time in 40 years during my visit!!

The trip started off with a flight from Paris to Liverpool's John Lenon Airport on Thursday morning. When I arrived the first thing I noticed was the row of taxi cabs that looked like old Ganster movie hit man vehicles and I kept looking for the Tommy Gun hanging out the window. Didn't see any of those though. Anthony Hilton took the day off work and picked me up from the airport. Right away I made my first mistake by walking to the "wrong side" of the car. They drive on the left hand of the road in the UK. I've experienced this in Australia and New Zealand but I had forgotten all about it. No problem, I hopped in to the real passenger seat and off we went. That first night Anthony set up a futbal (soccer to everyone from the US) and I tried to represent the US to the best of my abilities. It was pretty near freezing and we were playing outdoor, but quickly we all warmed up and it was a good hour and a half match. No score was really kept, but I think the team Anthony and I were on came out on top.... (of course)

The next morning Anthony and Katie, who both took the day off from work (actually Katie had a "study" day off, but I don't remember seeing any books.... ) We started off with a train ride in to Liverpool. The train was a bit like the Boston Green line with just a few cars, and nor really all that fast. Once in Liverpool, we headed down past "The Cavern Club" and ducked in there for our first drink of the day..... (I don't usually drink much, but I figured "when in Rome do as the Romans"). The Cavern Club is where the Beatles were first discovered and this little basement club was filled with memorabilia from the Beatles and many other great bands of their era. This picture really stood out to me because they all look so young. I wonder if they had any idea at that time what their future would hold.

Next we went down to the Docks of Liverpool and just had a nice stroll. Went past the Beatles Museum, but didn't actually go in. It was a nice day to be outside and although I like the Beatles, I'm not really a crazed fan. It was fun enough for me to see what I could from the outside as well as the club they started at. We had a nice lunch at Est Est on the Docks and then headed back towards centeral Liverpool. There is a lot of renovations going on right now since Liverpool will be the Cultural Capital of Europe for 2008. A lot of very nice buildings going up and overall looks to be a good boost to the city. We hit a couple more pubs before heading back to Wigan for the evening. Friday night we all went out to a couple bars. The first one was filled with 18-22 year olds, and the second was filled with 40-50 somethings. Quite a contrast and we were kind of stuck in the middle. I was a lot of fun though and we had some good laughs.

Saturday was probably my favorite day. Started off with a Rugy match on TV between England and Australia. England one the match for the first time in 40 some odd years. That was followed by a trip to Bolton Stadium to join all the Wigan fans in support of their team. Most of the bantering and yelling was in good spirits, but a few of the chants were a little off color. Still, the excitement in the air was amazing!! Espectially after Wigan scored the only goal of the match with about 15 minutes left. The last 15 minutes was tense and there was a lot of energy. Wigan held off Bolton and one the match. So we were 2-0 for the day so far. After the game we went back to the Hilton's and relaxed for a bit. That night some friends and family of the Hilton's came over to meet the "American". It was a lot of fun and it was also the night before Guy Fox day, so we had a bunch of fire works along with a great meal. The food the entire time was excellent!

Guy Fox tried to burn the Parlement building down and ended up burning himself to death in the failed process a couple hundred years ago. So every year, all over England, towns, families, random groups build huge bon-fires and burn a scarcrow man on the top to represent Guy Fox. If you think about it to hard, it's a little distrubing, but really its just a good reason to let off fire works, have a huge bon-fire and a good party.

Sunday was a relaxed day in Wigan. Started off with 9 holes of Golf in the morning at a municpal course overlooking the valley of Wigan, and got to learn a lot of interesting details about the town itself from my golf partners, Paul Hilton and his friend Gary. Went down to the Wigan Pier for a drink after and then back to the house to watch Chelsea - v - Tottenham in another Premiership futbal match. Tottenham won that match, which was the first time they had beaten Chelsea in something close to 50 matches. So, now we were 3-0 to make the perfect clean sweep of the weekend. Sunday night we had a great traditional Hilton family sunday night dinner, and took a nice after dinner walk along the footsteps of the ill faited women I mentioned earlier.

Monday, I did some work from the Hilton's home and then caught my flight back to Paris that evening. All in all, it was a really nice escape from Paris and an excellent first visit to England!! I thank the Hilton's (and the Clark's who introduced me to the Hilton's) for their wonderful hospitality and flexibility on such short notice!!

Pictures to come later....