Coming Home from Liverpool

Alison is back from her holiday today, so I returned home.

Normally, I would catch a train to Stalybridge, then a local to Marsden, with a pint or two at the excellent Station Buffet Bar. But not today, when I get home, Polly wants to go to the pub.

Normally there are two fast trains an hour from Liverpool to Huddersfield.

Today, the Transpennine Upgrade has closed the main line between Leeds and York. So there’s only one express train an hour to Huddersfield. Naughty gnome points for the idiot who decided there should only be one train an hour because of the closed line. They should have kept it at two. People still travel between Manchester and Huddersfield. Why make it more difficult for them?

I decided to get the local train from Broad Green to Manchester Piccadilly and wait 58 minutes for the local train to Marsden. Because of the long wait, I rarely use this option. It arrived in Manchester late. When I got to platform one for the Marsden train, the previous Marsden train was late. I was in time for it. Except some idiot decided it shouldn’t stop at stations before Huddersfield because it was late. More naughty gnome points. Several people on the platform were not very happy. More stupidity by TransPennine Express.

Thank god the railways are going to be nationalised.

At Marsden station, I caught the bus across the village by the skin of my teeth, saving a fifteen-minute walk.

Back home, after unpacking and a hug, my wife and I went to the Travellers Rest for a pint or two. Then back for dinner and some proper TV. Season eight of the excellent French cop drama, Spiral.

Notes About the Trip

The weather was awful. I didn’t do half the things I wanted to do. I only managed to take photos on one day. Alison, please go on holiday when the weather is nice in Liverpool!

On this trip, for reasons I won’t go into here, I decided to eat out. Only having breakfast at Alison’s (my special homemade muselly). I had some good food and some not-so-good food. Because of the weather, I didn’t get to some of the places I wanted to visit for food. Like the West Kirby Tap for one of their excellent pizzas and the pie shop by Anfield football ground.

Of the many reasons for eating out, one was to soak up the alcohol. I was a bit worried that eating at lunchtime might fill me up too much for the pints of real ale. It actually worked; the food seemed to soak up the alcohol. I’ll be eating out in Liverpool all the time now.

The trains were not very good. I get the impression that TransPennine Express doesn’t care about its passengers.

Mum’s Emergency Alarm

Whenever Mum is on her own, she wears an emergency alarm.

If she falls, she can trigger the alarm by pressing the button (assuming she is conscious). The alarm is operated by a company called Liberty Life (sounds like an insurance company).

While Alison was away, the alarm was triggered twice.

The first time, I was on a number seven bus heading back to Alison’s. They phoned Alison in Greece, and she phoned me. Liberty Life said they could hear Mum moving about, so they thought it was a false alarm. It was a false alarm. I arrived twenty minutes after it went off.

The second time it triggered, they phoned me. I was at home, so it was difficult to deal with. I phoned Mum several times; eventually she picked up, and I knew she was OK. I had a worrying ten minutes trying to find someone to go round and check. The neighbour can do this, but unfortunately I’d delete the number. I tried my brother, who couldn’t help. And my cousin Dave, who I could not get through to.

Alison and I are sorting out Mum’s emergency alarm as I write this (on the 4th of November). I’ll write more about it in the future, once it’s all sorted out.

Liberty Life are probably going to be the recipient of a Mariana Trench Award.