Double decker bus....

I had my first wander about city centre Manchester this year. I’ve not been in since before Christmas. With the decorations coming down and the Christmas Markets gone it had an empty look to it. In the cold Winter months, Manchester isn’t the best city for street life. We are too far north of Barcelona for that. There were some people wrapped in coats, under heaters, outside some of the cafes but it was a grey day, not one of those cold, blue sky, winter days that would encourage you to sit out. But, depending on the weather, we’ll be out again around Easter.

Having said that it was busy. But not round the university where the students aren’t back yet. Just outside the School of Art at All Saints there was the old double decker bus. They used to be the workhorse of public transport carrying people around the big cities and towns of the country. They are a British icon that visitors expect to see on our streets. But they were cold and uncomfortable and these have all but disppeared, replaced by warmer, more comfortable models. They are not as beautiful but much better for us.

Some of the old ones, like this one, have survived, lovingly restored and used on special occasions. The last time I rode on one was at a flashy wedding in Cheshire. It took us from the the ceremony at Tabley Hall to the reception in Cottons Hotel near Knutsford. This one used to run around the streets of the industrial town of St. Helens, to the west of the city, where they still make vast amounts of glass in spectacularly ugly factories. But so ugly that they have a kind of bizarre beauty. Each town had its own colour livery. St. Helens was red and cream. Manchester had solid red like London.