Liverpooled

explore london/liverpool — *strikes through*

i thought i know a lot of words but the thrill of this experience is something i could not quite articulate. unreal? satisfying? surreal? — i don’t have, not even the letters to make up the word for it.

although i could not exactly tell when did i start avidly calling myself a beatle fan, i can say with certainty that i grew up (c.a. the ‘90s) listening to their music — thanks to my folks and their rather adorable quirk of keeping the radio on or filling the house with music as long as they are awake. we didn’t have much (we didn’t even have more) when i was growing up but we were never without a ‘sound’ sound-system. i’ve seen us phase from transistors, to cassettes of different shapes and sizes (one of which i broke when i forced the ‘pause’ button back to how it was). we once had that huge karaoke where you could record yourself singing to a minus-one. those things which i don’t know even know what to call, with its colorful lights that dance with the music. we had amplifiers and speakers that were so unbelievably humongous relative to the size of our tiny house.

needless to say, our home was always cradled with sounds, and those sounds often come along with dramatically narrated anecdotes (thanks, folks) dating back to the glorious times that have been. and the most passionate of those anecdotes would often involve the one band that changed the world.

maybe it’s the gullibility of a kid but when you hear the most influential adults in your life (while singing to a random song) tell stories about these four lads from england with funny haircut, who back in their time were immaculately popular and as incredibly talented as they are charismatic — you simply find yourself believing and sharing the same intense admiration. i’ve always felt that the closest i have been to experiencing beatlemania was through riding the wings of those stories that sort of take the wonder-filled little me, back to the 60s, fangirling with the rest of the world.

just about a month ago, when i had the chance to visit the UK, i have made it a point to make liverpool a non-negotiable part of my itinerary — that one day made my whole trip. it triggered the unearthing of those core memories from my younger days, fresh as they were a few decades ago. it felt to me like a coming to life of a dream of not just mine but collectively, all of ours who were once in that cramped house halfway across the globe —the one that was always filled with music and stories.

just walking the very streets that the beatles themselves have graced

immersing myself in places that inspired some of the most timeless songs.

in a way, it felt like a part of me lived in those places as well.