This train stops on Merseyside
(Hidden depths? The earliest deep-level underground station in the world (1886) at James Street, Liverpool Metro)
Departing one of the many multi-faceted museums of Liverpool, I was asked if I had enjoyed the visit. As I said to the staff, enjoyment is the wrong word for an experience so edifying and humbling, given the horrifying histories associated with the city. Having just returned to work from an extended strike for better pay, they seemed to appreciate my comment. Their work is more important than mere entertainment. I did however enjoy the frisson of a delicious dislocation while travelling by train between Northwest Cymru and Merseyside.
Trafnidiaeth Cymru (Transport for Wales), a not-for-profit company, essentially nationalised, runs a train between Caer (Chester) and Lerpwl (Liverpool). The service is totally within the bounds of what is now England, which would not have been the case 1000 years ago, but they had no railways then. Announcements on the “Tannoy” are in Cymraeg first, and why not? Maybe Tannoy should be pronounced “to annoy”, as this certainly seems to have upset more than a few on social media. I wonder if some would claim that the announcements had all been in English until the moment they boarded the train, an echo of the infamous pub myth. I won't dignify them by providing links to their anti-Welsh venom, ignorant of what had been their original British tongue. The service is provided by TfW primarily for Cymry’r Gogledd (people of North Wales) to visit their erstwhile de facto capital, Liverpool, just as London, or maybe Bristol, had a similar relationship with the south of the nation. The Cheshire complainers can always take the alternative route of the Liverpool Metro up The Wirral and under the Mersey if they prefer.
The city has long been associated with migration, whether voluntary, desperate or enforced: from Ireland, Africa, China or elsewhere. Seeking vicarious justification for writing this blog, Linda’s grandmother had been one of the Cymreig diaspora. Born in Blaenau Ffestiniog, she went to New Brighton to work in domestic service, where she married a “motor man” (tram driver) in Penbedw (Birkenhead), returning later to live in Cymru.
Under development in the Martin Luther King Building, the International Slavery Museum is one of the museum sites. The largest of its kind worldwide, it is eye-opening and certainly not for enjoyment. I learned from another about the enforced repatriation of up to 2000 men from the Chinese Community in 1945/6.
A music installation showcased many local songs, and introduced me to the original of “Does this train stop on Merseyside” (2005). I had first known it through Christy Moore’s 2009 cover, who, with his typical gravitas, outlined the associations with the horrors of the slave ships, the famine ships, and latterly the Hillsborough disaster. I felt privileged to hear Ian Prowse's original in the museum. The same exhibition taught me about the spirit of the city in the face of adversity through Jegsy Dodd’s performance poetry: “Liverpool - so good they named it once” (he could have made that "thrice", as it is also known today as Lerpwl, and at one time as Llynlleifiad).
Even just scratching the surface, Liverpool is a perfect location for psychogeography, as can be seen from just a few examples in the links below. The museums helped me to peel away the layers. Dodd’s poem describes a post-industrial landscape reframed as a chic destination, and for me likewise it was the ungentrified, unmodernised, unRodneyfied pubs and restaurants that were the most appealing.
The visit felt as if these lyrics from another song were being sung to me (it surely needs no reference): “We don’t care what your name is boy, we’ll never turn you away”. I’ll be back soon to explore more deeply. It’s but a short journey from home across the border, and figuratively still in Cymru if I catch the right train.
LINKS
From Monday: Chester - Liverpool services will double (railmagazine.com)
Welsh woman on bus shuts down racist who told Muslim passenger to 'speak English' - BBC News
'It's a way of life' - The Wales connection and how Welsh scousers shaped the city - Liverpool Echo
Ghost Town: A Liverpool Shadowplay by Jeff Young | Psychogeographic Review
The Mersey seat - Will Self (will-self.com)
Liverpool (So Good They Named It Once) - Jegsy and The Original Sinners (youtube.com)
Short Film РAn Impossible D̩rive. РCelluloid Wicker Man
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I look forward to your comments. Also it would be nice to know where you are in the world. Thanks for reading.