One of Allan and Dot's favourite hobbies is buying and selling at markets and car boot sales and Allan has an arrangement with his employer not to work on Wednesdays, when he runs his stall in Widnes Market. Today, we went with Dot to see the stall in operation. We were very impressed - Allan takes great pride in the displaying of his goods and has some excellent things to sell (we were restricted by weight, otherwise there were several things we would have liked!!). After we had taken a couple of photographs, Ron and I headed off to the station to catch the train into Liverpool, for a last look around. We had a lovely, leisurely wander around the various places we had been to before, buying a few things (in particular, for me, another pair of Birkenstocks - in Australia I paid $150, here I paid the equivalent of $80!!!). We visited Mathew Street, home of The Cavern made famous by the Beatles, although the original Cavern had to be demolished in the 1970s to make way for a shaft to be built over a proposed underground carpark. However, the shaft was never built, meaning the Cavern was demolished unnecessarily. It was rebuilt, using 75% of the original stone, a few metres away from its original site. In and around Mathew Street are several shops and pubs connected with the Beatles, with stories and pictures relating to their early days.
We had another walk around Albert Dock, visiting the Customes and Excise and Maritime Museums, both of which were very interesting (especially to Ron!). We eventually caught the train home around 6pm, again in the rain! It has apparently been the wettest August on record - unsurprisingly.
In the evening, Dot's friend Joan came to visit, as did Dot's daughter, Janet, who goes into hospital in the morning for what will hopefully be a minor operation. Our thoughts and prayers will be with her tomorrow.
