This morning’s post included what must be the heaviest party invite of the year. Sandwiched between two thick pieces of perspex, this rather stylish card must have cost a fortune to post. Very nice, though. Much more eyecatching than an email. I still can’t make it, though, as it’s when I’m hoping to be in Brussels courtesy of a few mouse-clicks at lastminute.com. Still, the perspex will make a nice photo frame should any Brussels-snaps prove themselves frame-worthy.

(1) Obviously (2) Apparently (3) Unfortunately

Assuming everything runs to time (unlikely, I know), my trip to Manchester on Friday involves a half-hour change at Crewe. I’m keen to see if it’s like I remember it from trips up to the farm when I was six or seven, and I’ve been looking for pictures through Google. First hit was Steve Jones’ favourite pictures of 1990 with two helpful hints:

1. “While the south end of Crewe station is favoured by spotters the north offers better opportunities for the photographer”

2. “Another shot that shows what a pleasant place Crewe is for a few hours photography, despite the lack of freight through the station.”

So, passenger traffic only, and if I want to take any pictures (!) I should go to the north end of the station which, as I’m travelling from London, presumably means towards the front of my train. Steve seems to have gone a bit domain-loopy and has registered a .co.uk or .org.uk for practically every class of rolling stock in Britain.

The Guardian also has this excellent article about the demise (or not) of Crewe as the hub of the British rail network.

If I’m not careful I could get quite spoody about long-distance rail travel.

I’d completely forgotten I was supposed to be doing an 11.45 interview for BBC Three Counties and it’s only by luck that I was sitting back down at my desk when the phone rang and it was the studio. As it happened, they were running late so I sat there listening to the guy from Time explaining the implications of its take-over of Tiny. They were being quite rough with him and he got on to talking about whether or not the marketing people would be put on gardening leave, which I thought was taking things a bit far. Anyway, I was on at about 11.50, running up to the news, and it went well. We were talking about refilling ink cartridges and why you shouldn’t, which is hardly taxing.

The rest of the working day was fairly productive but unexceptional. Kevin (on the left in the picture) was coming around for dinner this evening, though, so I left the office bang on time and stood on a crowded Central Line train that was delayed because of points problems (or power failure, depending on who you believed) all the way back to Liverpool Street. I just made the train home, which sat around outside Stratford and made me somewhat late. Kevin, as luck would not have it, was bang on time and my potatoes were barely peeled.

Anyway, it didn’t matter, because we opened a bottle of wine and had plenty to chat about. I’d been wondering how we’d fill a whole evening with conversation as we really only speak once a month or so, and that’s at the pub where the music is so loud you have to scream one at a time into each others’ ears.

My milk came out of the bottle in a cheesy lump so we finished with jasmine tea and chatted until just gone eleven when I said I’d have to go to bed or I’d never get up in time for tomorrow morning’s trail. Kevin had to go, too. He’s giving evidence in court tomorrow.

We said our goodbyes and promised to make more of an effort to coordinate pub trips for a drink, but it’s so depressing there now neither of us go all that often, so it’ll be more by good luck than good judgement if we meet.

1. The dangers of fast food
   A rather fun show this evening, I think, and in a horribly geeky way I got all excited about interviewing Professor Kevin Warwick, the guy...
   
   
2. Start of a brand new month
   The first day after we close an issue always feels light. Yesterday we sent the last page off to be printed, and went for a...
   
   
3. Mad for it Manchester
   Crewe station wasn't quite as I remembered. For one thing it wasn't as big, but then nothing you remember from childhood ever is. It also...