Saturday, May 14, 2016

And on the sixth day, God created MANchester...

An unusual start to the weekend, I get up early, pack my bags, get ready and am off. The husband and I do the usual sprint to the train station. No matter what time we need to reach, we are always running and this is always how we start the holiday, so nothing quite unusual about this part.

The Virgin train is waiting for us at the Euston station. As soon as we step in, the doors close and the train bids goodbye to the station. After crawling through several connected compartments we finally reach the reserved seat. The coach seems to be unusually empty, quite a contrast to what the booking website showed when we made the booking a week ago.

There is a group of middle aged woman who seemed to have settled down long time back. They were already half way through their wine bottle and were giggling over jokes that I didn't seem to comprehend. I like to think that it was more to do with age than my IQ. I look around and everyone is already glued to their smartphones so I take the window seat and decide to do the same.

The train is classy and clean with plush red seats. The train zooms out at breakneck speed. The scenery outside changes soon as we slowly move out of the London city centre to the countryside. Large glass building are first replaced by brick houses and then to vast green grasslands. Sometimes I see  the sheep are grazing sleepishly and sometimes there are huge mustard farms. The weather seems to be kind and the sun is shining in bright blue sky.

I walk to the pantry and ask for a tea. The girl acknowledges and asks me something in a heavy Manchester accent. I don't quite understand what she asked but in the end I am handed a hot tea, some sugar and a milk sachet. I am pleased.

I go back to my seat and settle down. I borrow the husband's iPhone and play my favourite songs one after the other. The train moves forward adding a rhythm to the songs and I enjoy my favourite croissant and gaze outside to infinity.

Slowly the scenery starts changing again and we are closing in. I can see some distant traces of old mills and their chimneys rising above the otherwise commercial buildings. Old warehouses now seemed to be converted to shopping  complexes and the train makes a screeching halt.

We are here finally ..the city of Manchester. Time to put on the walking shoes and get ready to soak in some history....

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