MANCHESTER. Day 1
We arrived safely and in time in Manchester from Reykjavik. Took an Uber to our hotel where we met Jim’s brother and sister (Tom, Annette).
Tom was going to the ELO concert that evening so we had the afternoon with Annette checking out a canal tour in the city. Not recommended… pretty boring but good to get out and about.
MANCHESTER Day 2….LIVERPOOL
Took an early train to LIVERPOOL to take a Beatles Cab Tour. It was 3 hours or so. We all really enjoyed this tour. We saw all the childhood homes of the Fab Four. The guide had all kinds of stories and explained some lyrics to their connection to people and places in Liverpool. We saw the places they met, the local bars that were part of their childhood, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields, Eleanor Rigby’s resting place to name a few!
After the tour we took a return train trip to Manchester for the highlight of our trip to England….
Jeff Lynne’s ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) Concert
We were all pretty excited for this concert in a really nice venue! We had great floor seats with an excellent view of the stage. We had been told by Tom how great their shows are… so we were pumped. This band started in the 70’s, took a long break and has been going strong since 2014(?). The just finished their tour in the USA and decided to wrap up forever in their home of England.
Then….ELO cancelled right at start time. 23000 people are seated, buying drinks and merch. A guy comes out (not sure who he was) and says Jeff will not be coming out tonight… he is not well. Okayyyyy… so maybe the band comes out and plays anyway? No no no… it’s shorthand for concert cancelled… no Jeff, no nothing. Then he non-chalantly mentions if you’d like a refund you can go through the process….
People begin leaving…the arena is stunned, they begin herding people out of the arena.
Interesting way to drop a canceled concert bomb! No explanation… no warm and fuzzy apologies… no human kindness. Very abrupt and curt. This guy must have drawn the short straw for delivering this bad news!
For their final tour in their home country they planned to play 3 cities… 4 shows. Birmingham(1), Manchester (2) and London (Hyde Park finale as part of a festival). The day before Birmingham it’s announced the lead, Jeff Lynne, was a passenger in a taxi that gets in an accident in London. He breaks his right hand (guitar hand) …. Not to mention all the muscle contractions and bruises one who is 77 yrs old might have after such a collision. Following this accident ELO plays their concert in Birmingham and the first of 2 nights in Manchester. He struggled to finish in Manchester, the crowd was keenly aware he was not well. Things looked “iffy” for the 2nd show but nothing was announced all day. The show must go on.. until it doesn’t. We walked back to our city center hotel with thousands of other disappointed fans.
At this point we haven’t yet heard about the show to take place 3 days later in London. It’s an outdoor festival, in a heat wave, and ELO is the evening headliner. 60,000 tickets were sold in minutes for this final event. Jim, Annette and I do not have tickets to that show but Tom does. I might mention he is an avid ELO VIP superfan! So disappointing for him. He has followed them all of his adult life… so many concerts. We were coming to join him in his farewell to ELO.
LONDON Day 1
It’s about 10am and we’re on the “Fast train” to London… power goes out within 1/4 mile of leaving the station. Hmmm…. Currently experiencing a heat wave in England. How’s this going to go?? We stopped for a triple reset … should take 10 minutes.
Train ends up being over an hour late. As our story goes.. applied for refund compensation when delay is 1+ hours. We shall see? Do you see a pattern in our vacation so far?
We arrive in London with a half mile walk (with baggage) to our hotel. The walk is fine but it is the heat of the afternoon. The hotel lobby feels great…air conditioning! We head up to our rooms. The hallway to the room is hot and the room is hotter. There isn’t air conditioning in the rooms… just a little desktop fan. Doesn’t bode well for sleeping tonight. We end up asking for another fan.
We found a nice pub around the corner with good beer and appetizers. After that we’re ready to spend the late afternoon/evening walking to the River Thames and the strolling along the river from bridge to bridge. It’s Friday night, quite warm and people are everywhere! We had a nice evening, walked about 5 miles and saw a few city highlights along our route. We stopped for a quick bite on our walk home. Little Vietnamese shop open past 21:00 (9pm).
and probably pickpockets! Hate places like this but it was short.
Now it’s just a place to get out of the rain?
Yes… it was a hot evening sleeping but the two fans helped alot. Unfortunately for Tom & Annette on the 6th floor it was unbearably hot! They did insist and managed to get a lower level room for their second night.
LONDON Day 2
We only have one whole day in London. One of my friends told me about a “taxi-tour” of London in 4 hours. Great idea…I booked a taxi tour. 8am-12noon. Our driver showed us all around city center, took us into little pockets, side streets, The Stone, the Hat Shop, another church remnant from WWIi bombing that is now a garden, London’s smallest sculpture….and the big stuff St James Cathedral, the Borough Market, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, etc. Our last stop capped off the Beatles Tour with a stop at Abbey Road! We did have a few chances to get out and walk while enroute.
and the great fires
the threshold down
down a narrow street
still remains in the city
many visitors signatures
We had tickets to tour the Tower Bridge for late afternoon. A tour consists of walking between the towers at their high point for a nice view of the River Thames and London skyline. After our taxi tour we actually knew what we were looking at so that was enjoyable.
We walked across and back on the span at the highest point of the towers
across the bridge.
This is freaky to me
where the Sky Garden is located
We took a walk into the heart of the city to the Walkie Talkie building… we had reservations for dinner and tickets to the Sky Garden at the top of the building. It’s the ultimate 360 view of London. Great finish to a “lovely” day (as they say around here). They also say “lovey” a lot as opposed to dear or honey or love. At least the taxi driver used it!
Home to the Crown Jewels
We spent the rest of the evening in the Sky Garden waiting for the sunset on the city. (9:15om). The end of a short visit to London but better than nothing. My first impression is a good one.
The Gherkin (pickle)
Followup on ELO concert scheduled for London on Sunday July 13.
By late afternoon Saturday we were receiving social media posts that the Festival Concert for Sunday was canceled. Jeff Lynne is seriously ill with a systemic blood infection. Isn’t that Sepsis? Doesn’t sound good at all. I do wish him well. Seriously disappointing to his thousands of fans hoping to see him sing and play for the very last time! Feeling really bad for Tom… he does love him so!
Tomorrow morning we leave our family… taking the train to Glasgow Scotland. We will arrive mid afternoon.
cinnicrew 