We travelled down to Liverpool tonight as we are going to support Naomi tomorrow. She is conducting the LIPA Big Band at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, and we are looking forward to the concert. Alison and George are staying at Dan and Naomi’s so we are staying in the van this time. Our journey down tonight has not been the greatest. We took a detour to Leeds to buy Kevin a coat as he’d come away without one. By the time we got back on the road, and onto the M62, the rain was pretty horrendous, and driving conditions were windy too. It was not a pleasant journey at all, and was a stressful one for Kevin, especially when travelling in the dark. We arrived at site after teatime, and just got ourselves some food, and settled for the evening. \
Dan picked us up as we were going to have Sunday lunch before heading into Liverpool for the concert. It’s always so good to see Dan as we miss him very much. We don’t often get time on our own with him either so it was great to catch up on all of his news. Dan had booked a table at The Elephant pub – we’ve been here before with him and Naomi – and we had a lovely lunch together.
After that we headed into Liverpool to get parked, and to take our seats for the concert. The Philharmonic Hall is a lovely venue, and it was packed! It must have been daunting for Naomi to step out onto that stage alone, after the band had seated themselves, and I admire her for doing it. The concert was very enjoyable, the standard of the band and other performers was high, and we had a really entertaining evening. Martin Usherwood, who is the head of music at LIPA, tried to take the glory for the event, and we were cross that he didn’t give Naomi the credit she deserved for holding the whole thing together (he’s got a very high opinion of himself but no one else seems to have the same opinion as him!). Max conducted the choir who also sang beautifully.
Afterwards, we had a quick catch up with Alison and George until Naomi was ready to leave, and Dan dropped us off at the van on his way home. Our time with Dan and Naomi is always brief as they are so busy, but we really value it and appreciate the time we get to spend with them, however short that may be.
Unfortunately, Kevin was ill during the night – not an ideal place to have an upset tummy in a motorhome – and Dan told us later he had also been up with the same thing. We still managed to get home although Kevin could have done with time off on the Monday. We don’t expect to be away again now until after Christmas so will put Phoenix to bed for the winter over the next couple of weeks.