Tag: market

Ergo In Arcade Games Est

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Yep. Three floors of video games set to free play…say what! I mean if you’re going to a party but you’re not a party person and then this happens. Hidden in an old industrial area now full of up and coming artists and shops and clubs in a part of Liverpool known as ‘The Baltic Triangle’ is a pub. Hidden within that pub is a video game need fest. ArCains. (No, they’re not paying me to write this)

Moments after the first lager had hit my lips I found myself battling at Pac Man, then shuffleboard which, being a physical game required a different kind of skill. Onwards to the haptic interface that is a ride upon plastic motorbike for a race or two through snow and pixelated jungles. In a moment of quiet I found the old school original Space Invaders and remembered very quickly how bad at it I’ve always been! Pong was next. This time a physical representation of the OG of all video games. Too easy. It was about now that I realised a)I had not eaten and that lager was going to my head and b)there were two more floors of games. I had originally thought the £18 entrance a bit steep for one room but nooooo there was so much more. All the games were set to free play and as such you’d well ‘ad your money’s worth (as they say in Liverpool) by the time you left. TBH we are planning another visit once the schools have gone back. Less kids embarrassingly beating me at Mario Kart although the fact that it was more like actual driving than on the console at home meant I was able to win a few rounds which never normally happens. The top floor had a wall of PC games hoked up. Clearly this was for the serious players who seemed somewhat less boisterous than the rest of the place. My advice, take earplugs or, better, just join in with the screams and squeals be a kid again (or at least a moody teenager)

Onward to the Baltic Market inside another of the old brewery buildings. Grab a table scan the number with the app and place your order. All four at our table ate from a different street food stall. All meals delivered to the table as they were prepared. Naturally everyone was eating everyone else’s food. There’s a drink selection too. Saturday night it was rammed and loud and we were, at least, outside avoiding the worst of the pumping sound system.

Falafel. Humous. Fries.

The ‘party’ was dispersed across several tables including those who represented the vanguard at our next venue, Sugar and Dice (nope, not sponsored) hidden behind Liverpool’s Nordic Church and a haven of sweet treats and coffee (although they have upped their bar game since last I was there). cake, yes please, tea for me I’m diving tomorrow, and a round of Cockroach Poker, Fluxx and something suitable for the kids on the next table that I never did learn the name of. Board games havens such as this often form a focus of any visit to a new town. Usually the coffee and cake is excellent and the clientele are happy to chat and give you great hints about local (possibly hidden) places of interest. The premise is simple buy your refreshments pay a small deposit or rent a chunk of time at a table and you may try out any of the 100s of board games they have in stock. Many such places will sell games too. I can get very boring about board games but board games are never boring. If you find yourself in a given location see if they have a board game café. I bet you’ll make a new friend and learn a new game.

I wonder if we’ll find a games café on our big trip…(I just checked. the answer is a definite yes) I know there’s a pack of cards on the carry on…do we have room for another one… just a small one…

Market Day

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There’s been a market in Ormskirk the town where I live for over 400 years. I forget what a cool thing this is. This is not a tourist market selling souvenirs and this is a working everyday goods kind of market. You can buy food or shoes or toys. My favourite stall is run by a friend and former lecturing colleague who has many degrees and publications to his name but now runs the sweet stall. It’s always a pleasant thing to stop and put the world to rights with him and, of course, to buy sweets. Next to him there’s a stall which sells cakes and the speciality of the town a particular gingerbread so famous that Queen Victoria used to buy hers here and have it shipped to London. That was when the town was a major rail head. If you’ve read Warhorse (it was a book before the musical) this is the town they used to ship the horses from too. Anyway it was market day and I had to go into town to see a man about my dodgy back.

We have a couple of chiropractors here which strikes me as odd in such a tiny place. I go to get tuned up once a month. Keeps me in trim for scuba. I say it’s a small place but we have a big University here. I used to work there. There’s some ‘town and gown’ but to be honest I think a lot of the businesses and even the market might struggle without the influx of students. There are plenty of bars and places to eat a book shop, three health food shops and a whole pile of charity shops though the indoor market (once open all week) has gone about to be turned into student flats. There are a lot of formerly historic buildings which have become student flats. It is an odd mixture. For many who come here to study the small town feels safe for others it is too small and they choose to commute from the city so they have the best of both worlds.

Market day though is pensioner central. Many people come in from surrounding areas specifically to come to the market. Thursday is old folks day and Saturday is a bit more of the general population. Even our ‘Big Issue‘ guy likes market days as they are better for sales. It is hard to imagine the place as a major hub given its current small stature but back in the day that is exactly what it was. Sometimes, when people are swerving to get around a pensioner and trolley parked inconveniently mid footpath, I like to remind myself that I have no idea what past glories these people have. You never know. I also want to ask that you look up next time you’re in a small town. Anywhere without huge modern skyscrapers. Look up. Even in the centre of a city. Above the shop fronts you’ll get a view of what was there before. One of our shoe shops was a theatre and inn. Unless you look up you would miss the relief of a ship cast into the wall and may not see the archway that lead to the coaching yard.