{"id":1696,"date":"2020-11-15T21:58:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-15T21:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/?p=1696"},"modified":"2021-04-06T21:49:35","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T20:49:35","slug":"everysinglestreet-15-11-20-otterspool-prom-and-grandmas-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/2020\/11\/15\/everysinglestreet-15-11-20-otterspool-prom-and-grandmas-house\/","title":{"rendered":"#everysinglestreet [15\/11\/20] Otterspool Prom and Grandma&#8217;s house!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stats<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Sunday 15th November 2020<\/strong> <\/li><li><strong>37 streets &#8211; <\/strong>Acer Leigh, Silver Leigh (hello to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100009700248840&amp;__cft__[0]=AZUhNweKR8TiRrsANdjE_5NS8bJ7wKrLf4B7btbtsqvqdBE8r_58mwhNr3jI6zxlMnPU-opxP7Xwr8A7slBgBuDH9i7xB15XBW61tEqSlyGJqE6IENszoxm3GBzXCzGF1DqiyVFALuEzySpFimDDbH8N&amp;__tn__=-]K-R\">Margaret<\/a>&#8216;s friend!), Alma Road, Alresford Road, Alston Road, Bentfield, Bilston Road, Braunton Road, Chequers Gardens, Cheyne Gardens, Desford Road, Dulverton Road, Errington Court, Hailsham Road, Hiniton Road, Horringford Road, Ivyhurst Close, Jericho Close, Jericho Farm Close, Jericho Farm Walk, Jericho Lane, Kigraston Gardens, Langford Road, Lynmouth Road, Maybank Grove, Mersey Road, Minehead Road, Mines Avenue, Otterspool Drive, Otterspool Road, Parkgate Close, Rockmount Road, St Annes Gardens, St Annes Grove, St Anne\u2019s Road, Silberton Road, Stratford Road<\/li><li><strong>Total: 1,780 (31.66%)<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Remaining: 3,843<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This was a special run for me as you\u2019ll see when you read my account below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I parked at Otterspool Prom in the Mersey Road car park. Otterspool Promenade (to give it it\u2019s full name) was originally a dump for household waste and the rubble from the Queensway Tunnel. It was landscaped and opened as a recreation space in 1950, and is a popular place for walkers, runners and promenaders. This morning the tide was the highest I\u2019d seen it for a long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mersey Road allotments is massive. You can just about see it from the road but it\u2019s only when viewed from above you appreciate the scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a block of flats on Alma Road in place of where an old house used to stand. The developers left the wall at the front, and the original front gate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mines Avenue and Minehead Road. Local history buffs, was there a mine here by any chance, and if so what did it mine? Given the proximity to the Cast Iron Shore is there a connection?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back when I was a wee nipper and the trains still ran from Gateacre Station my mum would take us to Grandma\u2019s on the train and we\u2019d alight at Aigburth Station. From there we\u2019d walk (OK, I\u2019d probably have been in a push chair!) along the passageway that connects Mersey Road to the bottom of Lynmouth Road. I\u2019ve taken a photo of a section of fencing on the right hand side. This fence replaced a brick wall. In that wall there used to be a single white brick recording the location where a bomb hit during the May Blitz of 1941. My mum tells me nobody was hurt as the bomb didn&#8217;t explode. I often wonder if the house owner who knocked down the wall knew it was there. It\u2019s a shame to lose that little piece of history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Auntie Betty was Grandma\u2019s sister-in-law and closest friend and lived close by. Betty died in 2010 in her 100th year and her funeral was at St Anne\u2019s Church on Aigburth Road (photographed). As I was running past the house I saw a figure in the window so I stopped to wave. I was delighted when Pat, one of Betty\u2019s daughters, came out to say hello. We had a nice chat across the fence and I was able to tell her how the family is doing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grandma lived at 17 Bilston Road. The house was called \u2018Varna\u2019, named after a place in Norway that my Grandma and Grandad had visited. As kids we spent many happy times here and I\u2019m filled with warmth just thinking about them. We used to love going to Grandma\u2019s so much we (Jane, Graham and Sarah-Katy) had our own song that we\u2019d sing in the car on our way there. Sometimes we\u2019d walk down to the Prom. Sometimes we\u2019d walk up to the newsagents on Aigburth Road to buy sweets. Sometimes Miss Harrison at 13 Bilston Road would give us sweets too. We would play in the back garden, and dig for coal buried in the ground where the coal shed used to be or make daisychains on the lawn. Sometimes we\u2019d take Trixie for a walk round the block. Happy days!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some old sandstone cottages on Mersey Road, and a strange looking house at the end of Minehead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the streets here off Aigburth Road are lined with trees that have been cut back over the years. Many of the houses still have the original front doors and windows with stained glass. What amazes me is that a lot of these houses still have their original letterboxes and they\u2019re tiny. I mean, they\u2019s so narrow that you can imagine when these houses were first built the only mail they\u2019d receive would have been DL letter size or greeting card size. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The shops on Aigburth Road either side of Mersey Road have all changed. The bank is now Space Coffee and Restaurant. The chippy and the premises next door are now Justino\u2019s Ristorante &amp; Bar. And Cooper\u2019s Coffee Shop now stands where the newsagents used to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Otterspool Road runs off Jericho Lane. It\u2019s unadopted and is closed off to traffic by a gate. As I was wading through the puddles and mud I wished I\u2019d put on my trail shoes! But I was there, and it was a road to run, and I was curious! At the end is a house, still lived in given that there were two cars outside. They obviously don\u2019t want visitors, as shown by the three signs &#8211; \u201cPRIVATE GROUNDS &#8211; NO THRU ACCESS\u201d, \u201cBEWARE OF THE DOGS &#8211; ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK\u201d and \u201cWARNING CCTV IN OPERATION\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of Jericho Lane is \u2018The Tip\u2019 &#8211; a local authority waste centre. I took some photos of the queue!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a small building with a circular roof inside Otterspool Park. This used to have a cafe selling drinks, snacks, and ice cream. Back in the 1980s a summer season of Why Don\u2019t You? (short for Why Don&#8217;t You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead?) was broadcast from here. This TV show was popular amongst kids because it was presented by a gang of children. (Fun fact &#8211; one of the early producers and directors was Russell T Davies who went on to write Queer As Folk and relaunch Doctor Who with Christopher Eccleston.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Question. We\u2019re in Lockdown 2, so why is Otterspool Adventure allowed to open?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-facebook wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"fb-post\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/grahamholland\/posts\/10158011482026275\" data-width=\"552\"><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/everysinglestreet?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#everysinglestreet<\/a> [15\/11\/20] Otterspool Drive and Grandma&#8217;s house! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CityStrides?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CityStrides<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/runeverystreet?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#runeverystreet<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/EveryStreetInLiverpool?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#EveryStreetInLiverpool<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RunTagIt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#RunTagIt<\/a><br><br>Today: 37 streets<br>Total: 1,780 (31.66%)<br>Remaining: 3,843<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dWSE0yDjL1\">https:\/\/t.co\/dWSE0yDjL1<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZtmQdsgvny\">pic.twitter.com\/ZtmQdsgvny<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Graham runs&#8230; \u5c0f\u5149\u982d \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc65\udb40\udc6e\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc7f \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\uddfc (@itsafrogslife) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/itsafrogslife\/status\/1328057619488120832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 15, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"405\" width=\"590\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.strava.com\/activities\/4341304241\/embed\/bc8818120f5b849750e986db92b2f24affe5ad8e\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<a style=\"display:inline-block;background-color:#FC4C02;color:#fff;padding:5px 10px 5px 30px;font-size:11px;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;white-space:nowrap;text-decoration:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:10px center;border-radius:3px;background-image:url('http:\/\/badges.strava.com\/logo-strava-echelon.png')\" href=\"http:\/\/strava.com\/athletes\/9681964\/badge\" target=\"_clean\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\n  Follow me on\n  <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/badges.strava.com\/logo-strava.png?resize=51%2C13\" alt=\"Strava\" style=\"margin-left:2px;vertical-align:text-bottom\" height=\"13\" width=\"51\">\n<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stats Sunday 15th November 2020 37 streets &#8211; Acer Leigh, Silver Leigh (hello to Margaret&#8216;s friend!), Alma Road, Alresford Road, Alston Road, Bentfield, Bilston Road, Braunton Road, Chequers Gardens, Cheyne Gardens, Desford Road, Dulverton Road, Errington Court, Hailsham Road, Hiniton Road, Horringford Road, Ivyhurst Close, Jericho Close, Jericho Farm Close, Jericho Farm Walk, Jericho Lane, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[311],"tags":[403,333,415],"class_list":["post-1696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-everysinglestreet","tag-aigburth","tag-everysinglestreet","tag-otterspool"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ess051-otterspool-prom.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pahk4Z-rm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1696"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1940,"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1696\/revisions\/1940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}