Wednesday, August 24

At 8:20 the plane took off for Manchester and an hour later, thanks to the wonders of time zones, it begins its landing in Manchester. I have a window seat and I watch as the specks turn into toy buildings and the dots turn into toy trucks. Then they grow in size while the overall patterns, human and natural, of the land below become visible and then disappear into the increasingly prominent detail.

We will land, carrying only hand luggage, and walk to the rail station, where we will get a train to Liverpool. We will find Castle Street easily enough and then sit outside on a terrace waiting for the text message that will give us the codes to get into our apartment.

It will arrive halfway through our second pint.