Manchester

Back to our Manchester office today. Woke up in Malcolm's Liverpool flat early (6.00 a.m.), made some tea, had a shower and got dressed. Malcolm woke a little later and made me some toast with his mother's marmalade on the top. We drove to Liverpool South Parkway Station to catch the 07.52 train to Manchester Piccadilly. This train, which starts from Liverpool Lime Street, goes all the way to Norwich but consists of only four carriages. Consequently it is extremely crowded. Malcolm and I did manage to get seats and we remarked, as we passed through the suburbs and into the centre of the city how "Lowryish" the landscape is. Although the weather was cold and crisp when we left Liverpool, Manchester was grey and misty and the whole city seemed to have a very dank and gloomy feel to it. I walked the half mile or so from Piccadilly Station to our offices in Great Ancoats Street on the northern side of the city centre. I had meetings up until about 12.30 p.m. and left the office at around 1 p.m. to catch the 13.37 train back to Liverpool. This time a two-coach train from Norwich. I left a grey drab cool Manchester and arrived in a bright sunny warm Liverpool - such an amazing contrast and hard to believe that Liverpool is only 30 miles west along a straight railway line. Having retrieved my car from the Park & Ride car park I set off back down the motorway to Wiltshire arriving home at 6.30 p.m. Nobody was at home and then I realised that Sara and family would be up at Tom's football training at Old Sarum Airfield. It is Wednesday night which means emptying all the bins and putting out the rubbish and recycling. Feeling very tired I wrote up this blog and watched Auf Wiedersehen Pet again. This week the "Magnificent Seven" were reunited at Barry's new home in Wolverhampton. After my traffic jams in Wolverhampton yesterday, I think I've seen enough of that city for the time being. A bath and then to bed.