Planet...

It was the first full day out for me since my rather traumatic day on Wednesday. So I was in charge of what we were going to do and where to go. We got day passes for the tram system that cost £5. These are brilliant value if you are going to do a lot of travelling on the system. You can bob about all over the city. I recommend them.

When I saw a puff of smoke on a bridge near the Museum of Science and Industry I insisted that we investigate. It turned out to be PLANET. PLANET is an old railway engine (1830ish) that ran on the first passenger line between Manchester and Liverpool from the station that now forms part of this museum, unromantically called Station Building 3. When it was built it was the Bullet Train or HS2 of its day, transporting people at speeds never before experienced by anyone. It was thought to be too fast from the human body with frail ladies particularly at risk.

We also visited BABY, the world's first programmable computer, built under the leadership of Alan Turing, the brilliant mathematician whose work with the ENIGMA machine shortened WWII. His work on computers laid the foundations of the modern world we have now. Sadly he died too young, having committed suicide after being arrested for being gay. And in Manchester, now one of the top LGTD destinations on the planet.

After visiting the working machines from the cotton mills that once multiplied across the city, we were struck by how much Manchester has formed the modern world.

I liked the contrast in the picture between the engine and the Hilton Tower looming over the museum. If the former hadn't been invented the latter would never have been built...