10:30.

The snow returned overnight but thankfully only on the high ground above us, although we’re still seeing the occasional flurry. Here’s the view across the Calder Valley to Sowerby this morning.

I’m back in the saddle and preparing to head down to London for the next couple of days. From what I can see there’s no disruption on the railways that’ll affect me getting to the capital, so let’s see how things go…

12:00.

I left home later than expected due to having to sort out a few things, including recovering my Netflix account as some barsteward had hacked the account and changed the email address! The joys of cyber-security (or not)…

Right now I’m on the slightly late running 11:44 from Halifax to Manchester Victoria which is worked by the first of the 2-car CAF class 195s, number 001.

There seem to be a few teething problems still, it’s not exactly baking hot in here, in fact I’ve had to put my coat back on. The wifi isn’t working and the reservation screens are showing the code ‘DILAX’ (whatever that means). On the plus side, this is a reasonably fast journey now that several stops have been cut. We only call at Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Rochdale. Of course it could be faster if some of the generous ‘pathing allowances’ were removed, which mean we amble through Lancashire! We even have a five minute layover at Rochdale, which the conductor announces.

As is often the case, the Pennines form a border between weather fronts. It’s actually been a sunny morning for much of the time in Yorkshire, despite the odd snow flurry. My walk to the station was really pleasant. Here in Lancashire the clouds are far more built up and threatening more than a flurry!

13:46.

I’ve now set up office on a nice warm Pendolino, which is such a contrast to the chilly CAF unit from earlier. This time of day/week the train’s reasonably quiet so I’ve got a table of four all to myself. My fellow passengers in coach U seems to be business travellers, mostly. A pair of them are holding a meeting on another table nearby. A quick look around the coach confirms my suspicions, 90% of folk in this coach are staring at a screen of one form or another, whether it’s a laptop, ipad or smartphone. Just two women (who look like leisure travellers) are actually sat chatting!

Outside my hermetically sealed and tilting bubble the world’s flashing by. Rural Cheshire doesn’t seem as badly flooded as many of the places I’ve visited recently although there’s still plenty of standing water on flat roofs, pavements and fields. Right, it’s time to knuckle down to work and clear some emails…

15:10.

I’m now within the orbit of the M25 and my email inbox has been considerably slimmed-down, although it’ll be a while yet before it’s a single page! Disappointingly, the sunshine the forecast predicted has failed to materialise. In truth, it’s far duller ‘dahn Sarf’ than it was up North, which is a bit of a bummer. Still, I’m sure I can find something to occupy myself with for the next few hours…