Thursday 19th March 2020



We went for an interesting walk in the morning, around the outside of the Boat Museum. There are so many changes here from when I was a kid.

The views from the banks of the Ship Canal are quite stunning. Clear, uninterrupted views right across the River Mersey with Liverpool in one direction and Runcorn in the other.

From our house in Bridge Street, it was a short walk to the Ship Canal where there was a ‘beach’, much used by locals. It was here, as well as in the canal basins, that I learnt to swim and we regularly used to swim across the Ship Canal. My childhood was never neglected, but the thought of a 12-year-old child having the freedom to swim across a busy waterway carrying seagoing commercial traffic of up to 20,000 tons fills you with horror.




The ‘Beach’ on the Manchester Ship Canal on the Right-hand side

 and Stanlow Oil Refinery in the background



There are just the two pubs left from when I lived here and, while I was far from drinking age when we left, my father would have been a regular customer. So we duly called into the Horse and Jockey on Dock Street, right outside the canal basin. An absolute dive in which, especially with the Corona Virus, we felt very uncomfortable.

Brenda spent the afternoon reading, while I revisited the museum. Like the rest of the world, it is due to close tomorrow for the foreseeable future due to Corona Virus. The world is a mad place.      


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