Cultural Exchange

Recently, Mu and I went as part of a team to Liverpool on a Cultural Exchange. The idea being to share some of our North Eastern ways with Scousers. That said, the numbers on our "Team" had had to be made up by Mam, (due to a late drop out) who's from Yorkshire, which needs a cultural exchange all of it's own, so we were down one man from the off...

Visiting the Capital of Culture 2008 I had high expectations, and our merry band of Mackem's had received significant training in how to make the most of their time.

Arriving late on Friday evening we were treated to dinner, however, it turns out that it's customary in Liverpool to engage in some form of Krypton Factor style challenge before you are allowed to eat. This took the form of Dad and his counter-part on the Scouse side, wrestling a travel cot out of one bedroom and into another. This, you may think was a 5 minute task, however, Dad got caught out by the collapsable drop sides and had to be rescued by Uncle Dave, who, although a trainee father himself, was not versed in this particular make of Travel Cot, and thus the two of them only managed to fold down 2 out of 4 sides and neither one put up the 'bonus points' black out blind...That said, standards are clearly low over there, as we were allowed to eat regardless of the incomplete nature the task was left in...wouldn't have been allowed in our house.

Dinner was lovely, in fact, food over the whole weekend was exceptional, I would like to speak very highly of the chicken I sampled on Sunday, and while some team members did voice doubts over the chicken, both I and the digestive systems of those who par-took of it speak for itself. Can't say the same for the vegetarians who, due to an oversight, were given a papier mache chicken breast and no gravy...

The church service on Sunday was like coming home. Mam particularly enjoyed the fact that the drummer in the worship band actually kept time, something which seems to ironically escape a lot of drummers. Dad's church service highlight was the fact that the 86 year old lady sat next to him had an iPad. All of the Mackem Team was impressed with the Scousers commitment to Sunday Lunch, where not even the built-in oven falling on a pregnant woman got in the way of us being fed. Commendation to the Scouse Team.

Overall the weekend was a success, with both parties enjoying the foibles of the other. The Scousers misunderstanding the Mackem's when they addressed women as "Man' - which in some cases was really quite awkward. The Mackem's wondering what exactly was 'fair' about Fair Trade Tea served to them throughout the weekend...both sides were, however, united in their confusion over where the relevance of the woman leading the Sunday morning services' menopause came into any of it, despite her speaking about it during a period of the service entitled "Good News"...

And while those Liverpudlians will always have a place in my heart, with their sing-songy accent and ever increasing need to calm down, and the North East now being my adopted home, I will say life isn't quite the same when everyone you associate with has legs that match their bodies...