As the days fly by

As promised an update on what happened in York. Like the other International Society trips to various destinations, we were all sardined into a coach again. Departing at 8.00 from Liverpool Guild of Students and arriving in the beautiful Roman city of York at 11.00 ish. It was a very nice clear day, the sky was a gorgeous light blue but it was absolutely freezing. While we were walking the old Roman wall that surrounds the inner city we were told that on this day a Viking vs. Saxon battle re-enactment would be taking place just outside the city centre and not surprisingly, the city was overrun with people dressed up as 9-11th Century Norsemen clad in spear and shield. It was immensely busy with people, but that didn't deter us from enjoying the city sights. The York Minster is a world (or at least national) famous cathedral in the city centre. Although they charge you an insane amount of money to enter (without concessions about 8 quid) it turned out to be one of the nicest churches I've ever had the pleasure to visit. Unfortunatly, it is so big that it is impossible to get the whole thing on a photo, you'll always end up with only part of the façade or side.
We also visited 'The Shambles' an overrated little street, overcrowded with eager tourists queuing up for some overpriced fudge. Next we walked around the city a little bit to end up at the National Railway museum at the edge of town. However, a picture says more than a thousand words so here goes:



















The Monday after, me and my friend Julia decided to go on a little trip of our own. The small towns and villages that surround Liverpool in the Wirral area are easily reached by train, the Merseyrail system is a cheap way to get around in Merseyside. New Brighton was our destination, a deserted beach resort kind of town with nothing much to offer but a nice sea view, an unused war fort and a pretty lighthouse. Although it was obvious that it didn't look anything like Brighton or any other southern beach place, it was a very nice outing. We walked along the promenade and had a pleasant amble on the beach. We then thought we could make a little stop at Birkenhead Park, the first public park in the whole world situated just below New Brighton in Birkenhead. This is a very large and very attractive park, much like the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. As soon as we entered through the gates we were virtually attacked by a horde of grey squirrels that seem to have made their home there. They got absurdly close to the visitors, but we figured that generations of squirrel feeding might have made them a little tame. Closing off the day with a blueberry muffin overlooking the goose pond in the middle of the park was very delightful indeed.


On the Sticky Floor Improv show side of things, we had an eventful week. This Wednesday we hosted our second shownight in the Mandela Bar in the Guild. We didn't make as much money as last time (40 quid) but it was again a very succesful evening that we will be repeating every other Wednesday from now on. As a special treat, we were invited by the Guild of Student's President to preform during the Culture Fusion event on Friday. This is a big internally hosted party where loads of different acts took the stage in the gigantic Mountford hall and display different cultures and arts. We were sort of there to represent English culture. We got a 15 to 20 minute slot at the end of the night, and it was a huge success. We had the crowd roaring with laughter at some point, one bloke even fell off his chair. Everybody was hugely positive and I can definitely say this has been my/our largest audience to date. From now on we might be taking the Troupe into town to preform at various venues that support amateur stand-up/comedy. Really exciting if you ask me.

(this is the Poster that is going up all around Campus next week; the faces are (clockwise from the left) Camilla, Richie, Mark, Hari, Me, Matt, Jack, Owen, Paddy, Jonny, Will and Laura.)