Home Sweet Home

Andy and I went to the Everton v. Liverpool match today... otherwise known as the Merseyside Derby.

We played really well today, much better than over the last few weeks but we still lost 0-2. It was a very unlucky loss and even Liverpool supporters who called in on the radio on the drive home admitted that they were lucky today.

But oh well... life goes on. We have some really hard matches over the next two months so hopefully the team pulls together or we are going to find ourselves at the bottom of the table with half the season already played.

High: 41°
Low: 36°
Forecast: Rain
Sunrise: 8:00 AM
Sunset: 3:56 PM

Andy and I were in Liverpool today for the Everton match against Stoke. We park pretty close to Andy's old school so I thought I would share a picture of it. He was here from 1989 - 1994 for secondary school.

We drew today 1-1. Honestly we did not play our best so to come out of the match with a point I think we did really well. We should be beating teams like Stoke though!

High: 52°
Low: 44°
Forecast: Sunny To Partly Cloudy
Sunrise: 7:17 AM
Sunset: 6:39 PM

Andy and I were back in Liverpool today. We were at Goodison Park at 7:45am so that when Season Tickets went on sale at 8:00am we could be first in line. Well it turns out we were actually second in line but hey who is counting?

We told the gentlemen at the box office that we would like to look at seats in the Park End so he wrote a few of them down and we there then taken into the grounds by a steward to be shown the available seats.

After walking around for about 5-10 we made our way down to PE2 (Park End Section 2) row F and decided that we liked these the best. And... it is quite funny but they are actually the same two seats that we have been sitting in for the FA Cup Matches. So really we did not need to be taken around but it was a great experience to see the seats without there being a ton of people there. Like I mentioned in the attached post they are not actually sitting next to each other. We have one aisle seat and then there are two next to it that are taken then our second seat. The man that has the two in between has not had a problem letting Andy and I just sit next to each other and I can't see why he would have a problem for next season. I am sure he will be renewing his season tickets also.

And since you guys have seen quite a few pictures of Goodison and are probably tired of it... I am posting another picture also.

After we were done picking our seats Andy and I made our way to Prince Rupert's Tower which is in the town of Everton, just outside Liverpool. I wanted to get a picture of this as it is used in Everton's crest and did not know it was still around until Andy was telling me about it the other day.

This was built in 1787 and was used a lock-up to incarcerate wrong doers until they could be taken to the magistrates the next day.

Could you imagine being locked in this little place overnight?

If you enlarge the picture you will see downtown Liverpool just off the right of the tower and the first building you can see there is the Royal Liver Building. I love that building!


Here is Everton's Crest and you can see how the tower is used in it.

When Andy and I were at the FA Cup Match back on March 8th we discovered that a little work had been done to the car while we were watching the match.

Andy's dad had met us at the grounds and we were giving him a ride back to his ship so he walked back to the car with us. We have always parked around 1.3 miles from Goodison near a park. Well when we were walking up to the car we noticed that the back seat had been lowered down and we opened the passenger side car door to find that it was unlocked. But we knew we had locked both doors.

It was apparent that somebody had broken into the car.

We stopped by Andy's Nan's house to pick up his dad's things before we took him to the ship and it was not until then that we noticed that the lock on the passenger's side door had been knocked out and that is how they were able to get into the car without breaking a window... *ugh*

This is the first time I remembered to take a picture of the damage. Can you believe this? Andy and I have bought some car body filler and some wire mesh so that we can just cover up the hole. Let us hope that it does not happen to the driver side or we will be crawling in and out of the car via the trunk (boot).

The only thing that was in the car that they could take was a £4 wind up flashlight that was in the glove box... and they did in fact take it! I hope they got a good price for it!

Well... today was the day. Long story short, I got my Indefinite Leave to Remain Visa! I followed all of the guidelines and had all of the paperwork that they asked for. Bank statements, bills in both of our names, lease agreement, etc... and what did they ask to see?

1) My passport and Andy's passport
2) My certificate that shows I passed the Life in the UK test
3) £950.00

They never asked for ANY of the supporting documents that they said they require.

There was a little hic-up at the start with them trying to tell me that I already had Indefinite Leave to Remain. So I had to explain that my current Visa was in fact only a Spousal Visa but it look different because we have been married for more then four years. We had to wait while the lady called her supervisor. Then we got called to another window for the actual interview part. She took my passport and my new passport photos and told us it would be an hour for the Visa to be issued and that was it. We waited and they called me back up to collect my Passport.

I am now allowed to live in the United Kingdom for as long as I wish! Now there is some noise going around that they are going to try to force citizenship but I planned on getting that anyway when I am eligible so that is not a big issue. I am just glad my last Visa is sorted and now I do not have to worry about it any more.

So... after that was over Andy and I went on a little Beatles sightseeing tour of our own. We went down Mathew Street to see the new Beatles Hotel and of course the Cavern Club.

Then we drove to a little town called Woolton, it is just south of down town Liverpool. We went to St. Peter's Chuch, Strawberry Field and down Penny Lane.

The above picture is of one of the gravestones at St. Peter's Church and is one of the speculation stories about where Paul McCartney came up with the name Eleanor Rigby. Paul and John actually met at this Church's Hall and they spent quite a bit of time here.

It was also a lot of fun to go see the gates to Strawberry Field. It drives me crazy that so many people have written all of them but I guess you can not stop people from being stupid.

I took quite a few pictures of our little drive around today so if you would like to tak a look you can go see them here.. you do not have to be a Beatles fan to enjoy!