I’ve time for a quick blog this morning. Not because I’ve loads of spare time, but because the breakfast service in the place I’m staying is so slow!

I’ve stayed at “Great Expectations” here in Reading several times and found it OK. It’s a Dickens themed pub downstairs and hotel upstairs in a lovely old building on the edge of the town centre.

The rooms are comfortable and well maintained, which is why I keep coming back.

Sadly, The breakfast service this morning is decidedly Dickensian! There’s one young English lad who seems to be trying to do everything. I was waiting 10 minutes for anyone to take my order so wandered up to the kitchen where I saw said lad cooking breakfast. He later appeared and served three breakfasts before he could take any orders. Now, 15 mins later I’m still waiting for my food but two more members of staff have put in an appearence. One of them’s even managed to clear a couple of tables!

So much for my planned early get-away…

As part of my round Britain trip I’m staying in a series of hotels in Cardiff, Carlisle and Perth in the next few days. I hope the service is better there!

Oh, someone’s appeared with food – and served breakfast to two people who ordered after me! I had to ‘have words’ with a (new) indifferent young man before this arrived 20 mins after I’d ordered it…

To be fair, it wasn’t a bad breakfast and it was certainly freshly cooked. A full English is something of a treat for me as I only ever eat them when I’m away (and not all the time even then).

As more staff emerged I got the distinct impression this group of young men take partying more seriously than their jobs!

I’d probably stay here again unless I get a better offer. I’ll just make sure I’m in no rush for breakfast…

There’s going to be a bit of a gap in my blogging activity for the next week, this is because I’ve embarked in my biennial round Britain commission for RAIL magazine.

Every two years RAIL sends me off around the country to experience a week in the life of the nation’s railways, then publishes my adventures in a three-part series totalling 12,000 words and my own pictures. Needless to say, this takes priority over my personal musings.

If I can – and I have time and get sufficiently incensed that I need to let off steam over the utter shambles that is Brexit (Which is most days, to be honest), I may pen a few words…

I’ll be back in the next week otherwise. Thanks for keeping dropping in…

Today’s a ‘catch up with friends’ day so I’m en-route to Warrington to meet up with a couple of other characters from the rail industry before September’s hectic schedule begins.

Walking down to Sowerby Bridge station this morning I could feel the distinctive chill in the air that heralds a change in the seasons. We’ve had such a fabulous summer this year that I’m loathe to see it go, but that’s life!

I was happy to see that work’s started on the station’s platform extensions, in readiness for the arrival of Northern’s new train fleet.

Right now I’m waiting for my connection st Manchester Oxford Rd. I’ve not been here since the Ordsall chord opened and it’s made me appreciate what a busy corridor the two track section between Piccadilly and Deansgate is nowadays. Trains are literally queuing to get through it! The diversity of operators (both freight and passenger) liveries and classes is entertaining – and sometimes surprising. I didn’t expect to see a Northern Class 323 working through to Liverpool Lime St on a local stopper!

Today’s original itinerary has had to be revised due to the change in the weather. The locations I’d hoped to visit are under cloud so I’m winging it a bit and falling back on my ‘to do’ list of shots I need. When you’ve got the whole of the country to cover that’s a bit of a challenge!

Right now I’m on my way to Birmingham via Crewe rather than the direct (but slow) Cross-country route via Stoke-on-Trent.

16:06

I’ve finally had time for a blog update. I’m on my way back from Brum, this time on the direct Cross-Country service. We’ve just stopped at Stafford where a young ‘family from hell’ who’d joined at New St have got off. You know the ones, disruptive and annoying kids whose parents just let them scream, a young father who seems intent on showing off in front of the entire coach with his incessent verbal diarrhoea but who doesn’t have the wit to see no-one in the coach is impressed, they’re just too British to tell him to shut up and stop talking shit – (and tell your whiny brats to behave too)!

Still, Birmingham was interesting. I popped in to have a look at the High Speed 2 (Hs2) railway construction site at Curzon St. The old church grounds that will be used as part of the site have been closed off by hoardings as archaeological excavations and exhumations are taking place between now and 2019. I wonder what they’ll reveal about Birmingham’s 19th century past?

Whilst I was there the increasingly murky skies began to spit with rain so I retreated back to New St. It was a wise move as a heavy shower arrived the same time as me! I’m hoping the weather in Manchester will be better, but looking from my train window I can see the clouds chasing us as we head North…

18:40

I abandoned my Cross-country service at Stockport. I decided to chance the weather and head off down the scenic Buxton branch to see if I could add some shots from the one or two of the pretty and well-maintained stations the line’s graced with. The sun did play ball (sort of) and I managed a couple of locations before I ran out of time and had to head back.

– mainly because of poor timekeeping on Northern. My first train of the day from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester was late due to crawling along once it hit Lancashire. Four minutes delay by Hebden Bridge became 36 minutes by the time we reached Victoria. I get the impression that we were stuck behind a stopping service as we crawled from signal to signal around Rochdale.

Needless to say, this meant I missed my connections, so I was 40 minutes late for my first visit. Heading back I had pretty much an old Merseyrail Pacer to myself.

I managed to claw back a bit of time, so I was only 25 mins late at the second. After that I was back on schedule until a late running Trans Pennine Express service from Piccadilly to Victoria buggered things up again!

As Calder Valley services are more frequent the deficit could have been just 15 mins but then we were treated to a game of ‘change the platform at the last minute’! (from 6 to 5, which means traipsing over a footbridge). This seems a popular game at Victoria, although I’m not sure passengers see it that way…

The bizarre thing was that our train had been sitting in the platform (empty) for the past 20 minutes! The delay grew when the Conductor couldn’t get the doors to open so had to check the controls in each of the four cabs!

Now I’m finally on my way, hoping I beat the stormclouds to my final destination…

I’ve had little time for blogging today as it’s been a hectic one that’s coveted a lot of ground. So, no change there then! We started off in London, ended up in Angmering (then Brighton) before Paul Cook and I went our seperate ways. I hung around to get a few pictures, before sampling the new Gatwick Express stock to get back to London. Back in the capital I headed up the West Coast main line on a poorly Pendolino where the tilt had failed, which meant that I missed my connection in Manchester. Plan B meant I rushed across town by foot (having just avoided a downpour) to get a train from Victoria to Halifax. I’m now on a rather scruffy ex-Scotrail Class 158.

Correction: I was when was writing the last few paragraphs. Right now I’m at Halifax station, trying to remember what this wet stuff is on the road outside. Wait a minute, I remember – it’s rain!

Now that I’m home for the weekend I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging much. I’ve a huge backlog of pictures to deal with and I suspect the missus might have some other plans in mind for me too…