Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same...

I left the land of the Beatles this morning, for a sojourn in the Emerald Isle. So I've digressed a little, to show you where I've been staying. The street looks like something straight out of Eastenders, but it's suburban Liverpool.

The house is two rooms wide - very quaint, but very comfortable.

Liverpool was declared a city by King John in the 1200s, so it celebrated it's 800th anniversary recently. It was a thriving port and the Albert Docks (below) were designed and constructed in the 1860s. The slave trade was also a pretty big deal here in days gone by. 

When the European Union was formed, (and slavery became unpopular) trade through Liverpool suffered and these vast warehouses became disused. They have since been refurbished and now house the Tate Modern Art Museum, the Slavery Museum, commercial offices and living apartments, and many excellent shops, restaurants and bars.

The old industrial buildings have retained many of their original fittings and architects have incorporated these features into the renovations. Being a port, the pigeon population is replaced by seagulls. But these are no ordinary seagulls...they are monsters! I'm sure they are twice the size of Aussie gulls. Watch out for your chips!