Reflections on Being a Liverpudlian

[Rudolf Wagner]

Thanks for letting us know how much you enjoyed the Advent Calendar! It surely was a lot of work but we want the Club to be well worth joining and you all to have a great time 🙂 And it was honestly real fun to put together!

To answer your question. There are many pros and cons about living in Liverpool like there would be anywhere in the world. Obviously we’re not speaking about each and every person we’ve met here but in general we really like the humour and openness about the people here. If you ride the train, people chat with one another, people tend to be really polite and not take themselves too serious. Not as many grumpy, snobby waiters as in Vienna (though they know how to play one 😉 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCANQRkzKtY )

After playing Saturday nights for two years and fighting our way through the nightlife scene for every gig, that is something we got to dislike a little bit about the city. Not at all when we were on stage playing for what always was an amazing audience but the whole drinking and nightlife culture that surrounds the inner parts of the city. We don’t believe it to be much different to most cities in the UK, but Liverpool specifically attracts a lot of “Hen parties” and “Stag does” (aka British bachelor/ette parties) that for some reason seem to get out of hand quite often. So going home or out after a gig resembled more of wading through a battlefield 😉

But other than that, there isn’t much we could point out that we don’t like about the city as a city. It’s clean, fairly save, with a diverse music, art and entertainment scene (yep, we have checked out, played or at least visited most of the music venues around town), rich history, loads of galleries, museums, shops, restaurants and the like. It’s pretty, not too crowded and fairly spacious and green. Super happy here 🙂

And yes, of course we had Scouse before, We’ve been given the title of Scoustrians after all 😛

[Robert Blume]

Thank You Lisa,

As always, your responses are insightful and entertaining to read.

The musical nightlife you describe in Liverpool sounds pretty familiar….in my own city and others I know. We have seen footage in The Two of Us video of you and Mona lugging your gear into the Cavern Club. It never occurred to me that the neighborhood environs might be a bit different while packing it all out in the dead of night.

Lastly, regarding the Advent Calendar….before the holidays began I made a suggestion in another part of the site about a Christmas idea I thought might be good. What you finally did with the AC was 25 times better!

I hope the entire Wagner family got to take a breather between Christmas and New Year’s. You certainly earned it.

Seattle Bob

[Steve]

My wife is from Liverpool… Liverpool, Pennsylvania, that is.  And yes there really is a Liverpool in my state.

[Michael Triba]

Therefore Steve, she is a Nittany Lion while you, yourself are a Cougar?  My fave Pennsylvania hamlet is Latrobe, the home of the late, great Arnold Palmer!  Never been there, however!

We got at least 5″ of snow overnight in Omaha.  🙁  How much did you get?  Wait a minute; am I confusing you with Seattle Bob?  Sorry; I’m getting old.

[Robert Blume]

Hi Michael,

How could you confuse us? I’m the white silhouette with the gray background.

Sorry to hear about the snow. If that happened in Seattle I’m pretty sure we’d need to declare an emergency, close everything and hunker down for the melt.

Cougar Bob

 

[Jacki Hopper]

Frikkin Deep Freeze going on here…. Had a dumping somewhat of snow .. But at least for those who love skating on our Rideau Canal… (NOT ME.)…They’re rejoicing because more of the Canal is now open to skate on due in part to this Deep Freeze session going on…. And yes despite the nearing – 30 windchill factor…. There are some insane folks who go out and skate… Even if dressed properly for weather… They’re insane… My idea of warming up  is to stay inside at home or mall or library or Tim Hortons with Tea and MLT music in my headphones ????????????????????☕????????????????❤️????

[Howard]

I’m with you for snuggling up in the cold Jacki. It’s a pity we can’t trade some of our heat for some of your ‘big chill’!

And Lisa, Scoustrian is okay. Just don’t let them ever call you a ‘randy scouse git’.

“The phrase “Randy Scouse Git” in Britain directly translated to, according to Mickey Dolenz (of the Monkees), “horny, Liverpudlian jerk”, was taken from the 1960s British sitcom ‘Till Death Us Do Part’, in which it was regularly used, by the loud-mouthed main character Alf Garnett, played by Cockney actor Warren Mitchell, to insult his Liverpudlian (“Scouse”) son-in-law, played by Tony Booth.”

As I have stated in another thread, Liverpool sounds lovely, like my home city of Brisbane. Except we don’t have so many live venues or the rich history. But we are a river city also!

[Jung Roe]

Lisa, is there tipping in Austria?  I know tipping is a big North American thing, not done in many other parts of the world.  Nothing drives me more crazy than a waiter with an attitude, especially in an expensive restaurant, but I can feel better by not leaving a tip in Canada when I leave, or leave bread crumbs everywhere 🙂

[Howard]

Hope you don’t mind me putting my two bobs worth in Jung!

We don’t tip in Australia as we pay hospitality staff award wages, unlike the US where wait staff are paid poorly. As for Austria:

“If you receive good service you can leave a gratuity of around 5%, or round-up the bill – the same applies for bars and cafés. There is often a service charge already added to the bill (around 12.5%), but it’s customary to round-up the bill in addition to this. Only leave a gratuity if you are happy with the service.

Give the tip as you are paying the bill. For instance, if the bill is 18.50, you can simply give the waiter/waitress 20 and say danke (thank you). However, don’t say danke if you want any change back! Don’t leave the money sitting on the table.”

It will be interesting to hear Lisa’s experiences!

[Jung Roe]

Howard, in Canada I think the tipping concept have gotten out of hand.  Some restaurants under pay the waiters expecting they will make up the rest through tips, so tipping becomes expected instead of something you can give for good service.  Any way about Liverpool, I had the pleasure of spending the night onboard the Queen Mary last summer which is a famous product of Liverpool, next to the Beatles and great music.

[Howard]

Jung, I don’t know if Lisa is still following this thread. Maybe you need to put your tipping question as a separate Topic. Was out with some Guzzi riders for dinner this evening. This is my ‘California’.

 

[Jung Roe]

Hi Howard.  I missed this post some how.  Thats an awesome ride, the Motto Guzzi.  Thanks for the pic of your bike ????.  Hope you are enjoying the open road these summer days where you are at!