Woke up at five o’clock this morning and went out on our balcony, hoping to catch the sunrise, and to start the day with a great big lungful of fresh sea air. The sun had just come up, but there were lots of clouds, which probably made a better photo than just a plain sunrise. The way the swathes of grey, purple and orange were smeared across the sky just looked as if someone had painted them, with uncertain brush strokes.
I then went back to bed, and got up later on around 8.00am. The weather was still dry and there was a bit more blue among clouds. We were due to arrive in Liverpool around lunchtime, and stay in port overnight.
We had been discussing Liverpool, and whether we would be going ashore today at all. We could imagine the city to be absolutely packed to the gunwales today; not only is it Bank Holiday Monday but, later on today, Liverpool FC would be parading through the streets in their open-topped buses to celebrate becoming the Premier League champions. With such a football-loving city like Liverpool, we could imagine absolutely everyone turning out to see that, and we didn’t really want to be caught up in big crowds.
Trevor and I decided to go to the Pavilion Wellness Café for breakfast for a change. We took a seat overlooking the pool, and ordered an unusual sort of porridge to start; it was made with three grains rather than just the traditional oats. We followed it with scrambled eggs on sourdough bread, and washed it down with fresh orange juice and coffee.
Afterwards, we had a look at the Daily Programme to see what was lined up for us this morning. We saw that Peter the Beefeater was doing another presentation at 10.00am, and that would be followed by a Q & A session with the Royal Court Theatre Company, so there certainly wasn’t a shortage of anything to do. 🙂
We enjoyed Peter’s presentation as usual, but while we remained in our seats waiting until the next talk, Captain Hudson’s voice came over the PA to say that our arrival into Liverpool would be delayed until 5.00pm; from what we could hear it was something to do with the tides in the Mersey. We don’t know whether that was actually the case, or whether they didn’t want to arrive in the thick of all the football crowds. Who knows? Either way, we could not expect to be in port until after five tonight.
In the meantime, the entertainments team were working hard to create a new activities programme for us today, and this would be delivered to our cabin later on.
We enjoyed the Q & A session with the theatre company; it’s very interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes, and how competitive it is to become an entertainer on a cruise ship.
It brought us nicely up to lunchtime, and this time we decided to go to the Golden Lion for a pub lunch. I had a fantastic Ploughman’s Lunch while Trevor had cottage pie; we each washed them down with a pint of cold beer.
At two o’clock a special matinée performance was put on by the fantastic juggling and acrobatics couple Cameo Rascale. It was good that they were able to come up with something at short notice. Their show was brilliant once again, and the dancing, gymnastics and juggling were all fantastic, with an element of comedy woven in.
Back in 4066, we sat out on the balcony for a while, enjoying a glass of prosecco each and watching as the Queen Anne glided along in the calm Irish Sea. At one point Billy appeared on his balcony, and said we were invited into 4064 at 4.30pm to share a bottle of champagne with them. Sounded good! 🙂
I got showered and shampooed, then blow-dried my hair and put my makeup on so I would be ready to go next door, then to dinner afterwards. In the meantime, we watched as Queen Anne made her way up the famous Mersey River, to Liverpool Cruise Terminal which is just where the Royal Liver Building is. Trevor and I have cruised in and out of Liverpool lots of times, but it was the first visit for Billy and Carole.
However, there was something distinctly different about the city today. A massive pall of red smoke arose all around the city, and red flares were being set off at regular intervals from the top of the Liver Building. We could hear the sound of cheering and football chants and songs as the Queen Anne was made fast in her berth for the night.
We picked up our champagne flutes and took them next door, where Billy popped the cork on a bottle of Veuve Clicquot and it was dispensed into the four glasses. We had a great vantage point from the Deck 4 balcony, and we could see the streets through the gaps in the waterfront buildings; they were thronged with people, as was every high balcony, rooftop and vantage point around the city. The sound of air-horns was all around, and Queen Anne joined in by giving a good, long blast on her foghorn. This was great! 🙂
Even though we were not Liverpool supporters, the excitement in the air was infectious. Suddenly, the sky was lit up as a load of red fireworks were set off, banging and crackling and adding their noise to the ever-increasing sound of the crowd. We could tell the way the singing was getting louder that the open-topped buses weren’t far away, and sure enough we spotted them through a gap in the buildings, as the singing and cheering reached a crescendo, and more fireworks were launched, some of them from the top deck of Queen Anne as she blasted away on her foghorn. More red smoke was released as well as red flares – talk about painting the town red. They really were. 🙂
We could see drones flying around, videoing it all, as well as news helicopters; no doubt this would feature on the front page of the sports pages tomorrow.
Our 5.30pm dinner slot came and went; this was too exciting to leave and go to the restaurant. We would just eat in the Artisans’ Foodhall on Deck 9 later on; there was no hurry.
It was just around six o’clock when we procured a table for four in the self-service buffet, quite near the port-side window, where we could still watch the proceedings in the streets below. We watched as a series of blue flashing lights penetrated the red haze. Was it the police? Ambulances, perhaps. In large crowds, accidents will happen more often than not, or someone might have had just that bit much to drink and taken poorly. Sirens and blue lights are a part of city life.
And then it happened.
Just then, we noticed a different helicopter; this wasn’t the media. This was an air ambulance, and as we watched it descended and actually landed in the street, in front of the Royal Liver Building. Something was going on…
After dinner, we made our way along to the Royal Court Theatre as usual, and Trevor went in to bagsy the seats while I went to the loo. When I was in there, a lady rushed in and said “Some nutter has driven his car right into the crowds!” “What’s happened?” I asked, “was it an accident?” “No”, she said, adding that as far as she knew it was a deliberate act, and it had happened just after 6.00pm. That would explain the emergency vehicles and the air ambulance then.
In the theatre, I joined Trevor and told him what had happened. At this moment we didn’t know any more than that.
The show tonight featured a singer called Callum James, who was joined by the ship’s amazing orchestra for a night of swing music. He was very good. Around 15 minutes into his performance (which would have been about 8.15pm), a “bing bong” went off to precede an annoucement from the bridge. It had the effect of muting the singer’s microphone, so the music stopped to allow the captain to make an annoucement.
“Ladies and gentlemen”, he began, “It has come to our attention that an ‘incident’ has taken place in the city tonight, and the police and other emergency services are in attendance. I ask that, if you are going ashore, please exercise extreme caution and be aware that certain areas of the city have been cordoned off.”
There was a moment of silence in the theatre as we all digested this information. Then, the band struck up again and Callum James continued with his show.
Afterwards, Trevor and I returned to cabin 4066, where I changed into jeans, a t-shirt and trainers before we decided to go ashore. Putting on the TV, we watched BBC News, which was full of the story about a guy in a grey people-carrier who had just driven his car straight through the crowd, injuring over 27 people. Apparently four people were still trapped under the vehicle, and the fire and rescue service were working to free them. This was a very serious incident indeed.
We knew a pub in James Street, called The Liverpool, which we have visited before, and we imagined that it would be full of Liverpool supporters and have a wonderful atmosphere. But now matter how joyous and how wonderful, it was now going to be dampened and sobered by this dreadful event. 🙂
We disembarked the Queen Anne and set off, through the cruise terminal, into the street beyond. The streets contained the aftermath of a massive party; they were liberally littered with empty bottles, cans, used fireworks, red streamers and crepe paper, empty burger wrappers and crisp packets… the local council’s cleansing department would really have their work cut out tonight!
On the way to James Street we passed Water Street, where the incident had occurred. It was cordoned off and was crowded with emergency vehicles and press and TV people. We couldn’t understand it – who would do this? Such a happy, jubilant and victorious day for the people of Liverpool… then this has to happen? Was it planned that way? No doubt we would find out all in due course.
When we arrived at James Street and approached The Liverpool, we noticed that there was a Wetherspoon’s pub over the road, called “The Captain Alexander“. We could hear all the singing from outside! We decided to go in, and it was just a sea of red shirts. People were singing, cheering, blasting their air horns and even dancing on the tables. It was great! As Sunderland supporters we also had something to celebrate ourselves, so we really enjoyed the joy of the Liverpool supporters.
Trevor went to the bar while I looked around for somewhere to sit. It took a full circuit of the room before we saw a high table, with a bloke sitting on his own. He wore a t-shirt with a picture of Bill Shankley on the front. There were a couple of spare seats and I asked if he minded if we joined him.
We got our drinks and sat down, and it was the start of a pleasant evening. The bloke introduced himself as Paul and said he had recently lost his wife. We spent a lot of time talking about football, the fortunes of Liverpool and Sunderland and great players past and present. The general noise level in the pub increased as the drink flowed, and the singing, cheering and chanting never let up. Some people might have been put off going in a strange pub in a strange town when it was full of drunken football supporters, but to be honest genuine football fans get a bad rap from the small number of complete idiots who spoil it for everyone.
At 10.30pm, they stopped serving booze in the pub, and the crowd rapidly thinned out. We finished our drinks, then shook hands with Paul and thanked him for his company. Then we used the loos before the 10 minute walk back to the Queen Anne.
Outside, the darkened streets were much quieter, and now a slight drizzle had started. The bin wagons and street cleaners were already out in force, getting the main roads ready for the working day tomorrow. As we made our way back through the cruise terminal, I was able to get a photo of Queen Anne, all lit up.
It was 11.00pm now, too early to go to bed, and in any case we weren’t tired after all the day’s excitement. We decided to go to the Golden Lion for one drink, before returning to 4066 for a nightcap. I took it out onto the balcony, where I could see Royal Liver Building, all lit up in red. We stood there, just staring and lost in our own private thoughts.
Words just cannot describe the incomprehensible actions of a madman.
