Communicate!

I set off after work today to go up and meet Dave in Lancaster so we could discuss our proposed podcast over a couple of beers.

We were meeting at six, and there was a train from Salford Crescent at 16:51, which took precisely an hour. Perfect.

Except I lost my nerve and got the train an hour earlier, which was just as well. 

Part of my concern was that the trains heading out of Manchester get properly sardine-level packed after four o'clock, so taking the one just before four seemed prudent. 

It was delayed, as is so often the case at the moment, and eventually it became apparent I would miss my connection at Bolton. 

And so I had a wait at Bolton for the next train, which was also delayed due to "a fault on this train". I lost my nerve again, and took a train to Preston and thence to Lancaster.

Anyway, I had a splendid evening with Dave - such a lovely chap - before taking a deep breath and heading back home. 

Almost inevitably there were more train shenanigans, but this time there was a subtly different message: "due to fault on this train which is now fixed."

"Which is now fixed". Four little words but what a difference they made!