Yes, the medication is obviously working and I’ve been allowed out of the office again.<\/p>\n
Today I went off to play with some nice grown-ups in Liverpool. As opposed (he added hastily) to the nice grown-ups I normally get to play with in Wiltshire.<\/p>\n
Phew, that was close. Think I got away with it though.<\/p>\n
And it meant being on the train again which was brilliant; though strangely, neither the 2+ hour journey northwards from Birmingham New Street nor the return were on an InterCity train.<\/p>\n
On both occasions it was a ‘sprinter’ sort of thing.<\/p>\n
Look, no-one else cares B, let alone knows what you’re on about. Just get on with it, eh?<\/em><\/p>\n The day broke down in to neat little segments:<\/p>\n Waking up: Probably because – for some inexplicable reason – it was switched off.<\/p>\n I blame aliens.<\/p>\n Anyway, a mad dash around the house resulted and I was still on the platform on time.<\/p>\n And noticed a friendly face walking towards me – a guy I worked for on my first contract as an independent consultant.<\/p>\n I didn’t know you lived here!<\/em><\/p>\n Not a brilliant start by me, but at that moment I was desperately ferreting around in the corners of my brain for his name and where on earth I knew him from!<\/p>\n Know how that is?<\/p>\n Just can’t place the face – so many to choose from?<\/p>\n So we had a chat and a catch-up on the way in to Birmingham which was nice.<\/p>\n The on-going train from New Street – as you may have gathered – surprised me, but I’ll let that slide.<\/p>\n It was a fantastic morning; one of those Spring\/Autumn classics – blue skies, not a cloud in sight, slightly frosty start.<\/p>\n Our second stop was in Wolverhampton (the first being one of those nameless, faceless stations lost in the Birmingham urban sprawl).<\/p>\n Wolverhampton – many canals!<\/p>\n Which, incidentally (despite the towpaths being built for horses to walk on to pull barges), horses are not allowed to be ridden on!<\/p>\n Even today though, I could take a horse on a towpath if it were pulling a barge; but not ride one or lead one in-hand if it weren’t pulling a barge.<\/p>\n And not just those of Wolverhampton, this rule applies to every canal side towpath.<\/p>\n Much madness.<\/p>\n Third stop was Penkridge which, from my seat, seemed to be a very small station in the middle of a series of fields. Very pretty.<\/p>\n Then Stafford, which looked like Allotment City.<\/p>\n Crewe, frankly, looks as though it’s been plonked down in the middle of some of the prettiest countryside that England has to offer; many half-timbered countryside residences in evidence on the outskirts of the place.<\/p>\n Winsford, low-lying countryside showing much evidence of flooding but looking very green.<\/p>\n Hartford, very beautiful but I can’t help wondering how they got that commercial airliner to just hang in the sky like that.<\/p>\n Acton Bridge, much prettiness, very green and rural, a real ‘green and pleasant land’ postcard kind of place.<\/p>\n Runcorn, didn’t see much of the place because the railway runs in and out through a deep cutting but the town looks nice from the train. Fantastic views over the river estuary on the way out – and the design of the bridge that carries the railway is brilliant!<\/p>\n Liverpool South Parkway is prefaced with a large industrial area that contains the Jaguar factory (I’ll have one if you’ve any spare on the production line!). This is the started of the Liverpool urban sprawl; light industrial\/small factory units and some late Victorian terraced, red-brick houses.<\/p>\n Liverpool Lime Street, the most striking markers are the towers to the city’s two cathedrals standing head and shoulders about the city skyline. There are other tall structures but I don’t know what they are.<\/p>\n As the train pulled to a halt in Lime Street the girl\/woman\/female opposite me got to her feet and pulled her The Beatles, Rubber Soul handbag over her shoulder.<\/p>\n She was probably born twenty-five years after that album was pressed!<\/p>\n The train journey was pleasant – but the lack of 13amp socket was a bit of a bummer.<\/p>\n Also the steward on the refreshments trolley; his scouse accent was so thick it was impenetrable.<\/p>\n The cab I got in was called Lady Madonna and had a sign down the side saying I should ask the driver about taking The Beatles Liverpool Tour.<\/p>\n Sadly I didn’t, I had a meeting to get to.<\/p>\n And so the face-to-face portion of the day began; on the way up I’d read a 64-page software manual, transcribed four pages of notes in to English from the peculiar type of hieroglyph that is my hurried scrawl and written half a page of observational notes which have become what you’ve just read.<\/p>\n Not bad considering I got to the meeting venue at 09.15.<\/p>\n At the end of the day I got back to Liverpool Lime Street, waited 45 minutes for a return train home and, when it arrived, got on, installed my iPod and listened\/dozed back down to Birmingham.<\/p>\n The only sour note was the toilet at Birmingham New Street.<\/p>\n For crying out loud people – you charged me 20p to pee in a building site!<\/p>\n Not acceptable.<\/p>\n I realise that major work needs to be done from time to time but when total devastation occurs, can’t you see some reasonableness and stop charging people?<\/p>\n B<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yes, the medication is obviously working and I’ve been allowed out of the office again. 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\nNot normally a thing worth wittering about. But this morning my trusty 05.15 alarm didn’t do its stuff.<\/p>\n