Bright and cheery

Back blip - told as it happens (don't worry I do make it home).

Today I took the train to Manchester and then the tram to Ashton-Under-Lyne for my step father's funeral tomorrow. As I set off France was going into lock down, but in England people were still standing close, hugging, kissing, going about their business as if they were invulnerable... I must confess I found it quite stressful.

I travelled in the middle of the day hoping that the train would be empty - which it was most of the way to be honest. In the evening I barricaded myself inside my hotel room and watched TV in bed to try to distract myself. There was a few good things on TV, but the averts were so surreal, I thought hasn't anyone told the tourism industry, that 2020 won't happen for them and it's possible 2021 will be rubbish too.

By the time it was bed time, it was pretty clear that I was going to have fun getting home as Brittany Ferries had cancelled my return ferry. The alternate route to Caen, is okay, but with minimal public transport in France it would be an almost all day bus and train journey and one missed connection and I'd be stranded in Normandy.

I must admit I went to bed with a feeling of foreboding, I knew that the next day was going to be hard, I just didn't know how hard at that point...

The blip is the Forsythia bush at the train station, which was very happy, as was the weather which was nice and sunny all day.