Together Again

Introduction

This morning, I woke and my phone was on 3% power, not ideal when I needed it for my visit to Preston. My phone has my train tickets and railcard on, so without it, my journey would be a little difficult, to say the least. I think my charger is not working, but it was a cheap Poundland one, and I have had it for a few years, so it has now gone.

We are so reliant on our devices, so we always need a backup plan and mine was to use my Kindle Fire and train Wifi for communication, and I printed off my tickets so I had a copy to get me on to the train, although I then thought I only have digital Railcard, so that might be an issue.

I managed to get my phone charged to 30% so I didn't need the paper tickets, but it was an interesting start to the day.

These meetings in Preston started with me and my sister Yvonne, and have now grown to ten friends, most of whom I had not seen since the seventies, and hopefully, there will be a few more who join us.

This is the last piece I wrote about this.

So What Happened With Me In Preston 24/7/25?

After the morning trauma, the train journey, as usual in the summer months, was gorgeous, leaving Newcastle over the Tyne.

Then across to Carlisle, where I change to get a southbound train to Preston.

Southbound is through the Lake District, and there is some beautiful scenery, so I always make sure I get a window seat.

And as I come into Preston, I pass Tulketh Mill, which used to be the home of Peter Craig, a subsidiary of Littlewoods, where I started as a computer operator and stayed for a couple of years.

I often go round Winkley Square and Avenham Park, and last month visited the Japanese Garden, which you can read about here:

There is also an interesting circle in Winkley Square Garden about the famous people linked to the area, which I documented here.

I often end up at Action Records and always have a crack with Gordon and the girls and usually buy a record.

On this trip, I bought three, plus another three from the record stall on Preston Market.

I bought the "Clogs" one because it had Steeley Span's take on Buddy Holly's "Rave On", which I have included in this piece.

I have been waiting forever for the Harris Museum to reopen, but we now have a date of September 28th. The Spud Brothers had a queue waiting as usual before they opened.

We had decided to meet in the Dog and Partridge, but when I got there, it was shut. So I went across the road to a Bubble Tea place and got an excellent Mango Smoothie and waited:

I walked across the road, and a postman tried to deliver something and banged on the door. Someone came, and it turned out that the bar staff were very late, so I came in and opened a can of my own Pepsi Max.

Eventually, the bar staff turned up and everyone you can see in the main picture, and we drank, talked and laughed. Harry had everyone in stitches as usual, with tales such as the lady who told him a rich neighbour had bought a new car, which she thought was an Astra or something, odd for a monied person.

When Harry was walking down the road, he heard something akin to a jet engine. It turned out the "Astra" was actually a very expensive Aston Martin.

Then we went to excellent Fryday's for fish and chips, before a final drink at 1842 where we took the main picture.

Another excellent day in Preston for all of us.