Robert Hampton

This weekend offered a great variety for the intrepid Merseysider intent on transport-related frolics. In the north of the county, the Southport Air Show offered fun in the sky for the whole family. Unfortunately the sky decided to have some fun of its own, depositing a large amount of rain on the showground overnight, causing flooding and a hasty cancellation.

Marginally better off was the Birkenhead Park Festival of Transport, the annual event showcasing all sorts of transport-related… er, stuff. The official web site, which played an embedded MIDI file on a continuous loop (is it 1996 in their webmaster’s mind?), promised “Traction engines, vintage cars, buses and military vehicles, steam engines, steam boats, radio controlled model boats, sailing boats, steam powered carousel and vintage fairground”. Exciting, yes?

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Was this year an exciting way to say goodbye to the decade? Here’s a reminder of what happened on planet Hampo this year (part 2, hopefully, follows tomorrow):-

January started out with one of my favourite shows being revived. Despite being up against EastEnders and being hosted by Ben Shepherd, the Krypton Factor did well enough to be recommissioned for a second series. We found out Who would replace David Tennant, and a year later we still haven’t actually seen him in the role. ITV’s latest attempt to ape the success of Doctor Who was Demons which failed spectacularly; the only creative thing about it being the number of different excuses the writers found for Christian Cooke to remove clothing.

In the wider world, various eras were drawing to a close, as Woolworths closed its doors, Tony Hart kicked the bucket and Dubya left office. Meanwhile, yours truly had an enjoyable night in London Theatreland.

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The original plan for today involved going to the gym, then spending the afternoon in the Odeon watching the new Star Trek film (it’s only been out a few days, but I already feel like I’m the only person who hasn’t seen it).

Two events conspired to alter this plan, however. On Saturday afternoon I apparently overexerted myself in the gym, leaving my arms aching in a most uncomfortable way and certainly putting me off setting foot in there again for a few days at least. Secondly, a quick check of the weather forecast this morning revealed that today was likely to be the only sunny day of the week, so spending it indoors was not the best plan.

So, what to do? I had a vague recollection of a previous trip on the Mersey Ferry, where the commentary had plugged the walking opportunities available along the promenade between New Brighton and Seacombe. Having only the vaguest sense of where I was actually going, I boarded a train into town, Saveaway in hand…

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Every afternoon since Friday I’ve been despatched to Birkenhead to offload my work’s outgoing mail on the unsuspecting postmen of Wirral.

This is quite good because it’s an additional train journey each day for me, and the ticket is being paid for by someone else, which adds to the sparkle. Never has the clank of a “franked mail only” post box sounded so good.

Anyway, still waiting for those things from play.com, so back to work, posties! Off you go now!