Paolo at The Carlton Club

I'd arranged to see Dom for a drink in Chorley, this evening, taking the train up from Salford and back.

Times have changed, though: trains are no longer the solid service that one can take for granted. Cancellations and overcrowding are now routine, this aspect of public transport is simply not dependable.

As a solution, the Minx suggested that she might drop me in Chorley on our way down to Salford, thereby reducing the reliance on trains by half. Noting that the seven twenty-four from Chorley was already cancelled, I suggested that she might drop me off at about five, and I'd get the next train after the cancelled one.

Dom and I met at the Ale Station, as we always used to when the Minx lived in Chorley, and enjoyed a few glasses of wine, and some wide-ranging conversation that bounced enjoyably all over the place.

My train wasn't cancelled - hooray! - and the Minx picked me up in an Uber at Oxford Road just after nine, following her evening at The Everyman*. The fact my schedule had shifted forward meant that we had the opportunity to go and see Paolo playing at The Carlton Club.

You might think that I could have taken a better photo, but what I wanted to capture was the little group of young people dancing just in front of the stage. Their moves were semi-formalised - i.e. there were certain repeated steps - but it absolutely added a vibe to the evening, and enhanced to my enjoyment of Paolo's band and music.

*'Pretty In Pink', which she saw with our friend Annette.