The Special Benches Of Birkenead.

After a rousing and comprehensive, full English breakfast ..........

 ...... at their forever hotel of choice in Liverpool, The Liner ......

...... including pocketing three different cheese portions for a snack later on in the day, should hunger call  ......

...... before departing Liverpool and heading back home, Eric and Lu decided to pay a visit to Birkenhead to catch a cheeky glimpse of the sea (?), as well as a lung full of bracing Liverpudlian sea air!

It did not disappoint ......

 ......... despite the aforementioned bracing part .......

..... and it seemed as if every man (and woman) and his/her dog had the same idea.

 Let's just say, any metaphorical cobwebs ........

..... were well and truly blown.

Now, along with a very impressive Home Bargains on the front, Birkenhead has another phenomena that Eric didn't think he'd ever seen before, on any of his travels .....

...... to wit, memorial benches, so many he lost count.  He'd seen benches with plaques on before, but never ones pictures of beloved, lost ones or vases fitted on to the back to hold flowers.  It was all quite moving and seemed almost too personal to encroach upon when reading, but as Eric reasoned, when someone is no longer with us, talked about, or in this case "seen", then, they are truly gone and that's too sad to think about.

Eric has oft mused that if he was no longer with us, he'd wouldn't mind being remembered with a plaque that said "Paradise found", on a bench, overlooking a beach in Greece, possibly Elounda, but now, after seeing all these benches, instead of a single floral receptacle, if we didn't mind, he wouldn't be averse to a whole window box on the back of "his" bench.  Good grief ........ what on earth is he like?