Visit to Mendips

by Eilat Jelin
(Buenos Aires, Argentina)

April 2007, Liverpool (England, of course!!). I've already kissed the ground when we arrived at the Lime Street Station, the day before. This, after all, was "Holy Land" to me.

John, a friend of mine from London, had joined me on this visit. I wanted someone to be there, so I could share my feelings, have them pass me a tissue every now and then to wipe my emotional tears. We had booked a visit to both John's and Paul's homes ahead of time. And GOD know I was dying for the visit to begin.

So we went and waited at the encounter point we were told to go to. It was early in the morning - cloudy, somewhat chilly - everything I needed to feel I was actually IN Liverpool. The minibus with both John's and Paul's faces imprinted on it arrived promptly, and as it turns out, we were the only ones who had booked the early morning tour. The driver introduced himself, and explained that both he and his wife were the keepers of Mendips. They actually LIVED there!!! He was in charge of driving the tourists to and fro the house, and then on to Forthlin Rd.

He was very warm, told us fabulous stories - and the one I recall the best is about the "ghost cats" in Mimi's old bedroom. He and his wife have actually heard cats in there...when there actually were none in the present!! Apparently, Mimi adored cats and had more than one while she was alive and lived in the house.

By the time we arrived there - it was about a 20 minute drive - the day had already cleared up, the skies were blue and beautiful, and we could see the house in its full glory. Although I had seen the house in photos many times, it wasn't the same seeing it in person and in technicolor. It's actually quite large - at least by my standards, and has a great yard all around it. It's very well kept, and the back yard is gorgeous.

We were introduced to the wife, who then proceeded showing us around. It was just John and I, and this wonderful lady. We took a look at the back yard, the grass, the trees. Were referenced direction-wise to Strawberry Field, and told that the tree John sang about in the song ("No one I think is in my tree...") had to be taken down some years ago - it had died. Then we were showed INTO the house through a side door - leading directly into the kitchen. That's when we got a double "shock": the lady explained that this is how John and Paul and, well, most people, had usually entered the house, and not through the main door at the front. And then, what we saw, was a kitchen that looked almost exactly the same as it did in the fifties and early sixties...I could picture Paul and John making tea, having a laugh...It was very odd. Very powerful and strange to BE there. The SAME house. Very very very strange...I was smiling like mad, not quite knowing what to make of my feelings.