The Road to Wigan Pier

“We are living in a world in which nobody is free, in which hardly anybody is secure, in which it is almost impossible to be honest and to remain alive.” 
George Orwell The Road to Wigan Pier
 
When the train stopped at Wigan this morning and I looked out of the window I thought of George Orwell’s iconic book.
 Did it not resonate with the world today?
 
After a quiet week in the desert  (albeit in a posh hotel) it was a rude awakening to arrive in Glasgow this afternoon to find all trains out of Queen St station cancelled.

How to get to Stirling?
The answer eventually came with Scotrail ordering a fleet of coaches to take passengers to Aberdeen and further north. We hitched a lift to Stirling.
  
To say we were glad to get home would be an understatement- having experienced the Trans Pennine rail service with no food, no wi-fi  coupled with a 40 minute delay at Carstairs.