1) A travel day, so it was time to get packing. The hotel made a costly error (for them!) by dry cleaning all my laundry. The advantage for me was that it was much more compact than otherwise.
1a) Also, those packing cubes I was given for Christmas have changed my life.
2) Except for breakfast, I stayed writing in my room until 15 minutes before checkout time. I had asked to check out an hour later, and they asked for £20! No, thank you kindly. That said, my hotel was a most wonderful part of my time in Manchester, and I highly recommend the Alan.
3) Less than half an hour later I was wheeling my bags into Manchester Piccadilly station to the tinkling melody of “Lady Madonna” that someone with skill was playing on the station piano. Later he moved on to “The Beautiful Blue Danube.”
4) My train journey was unremarkable, the best kind to have. But it felt comfortable, on arriving at Euston Station, to know exactly where I was going and how to get there without having to look it up: the hotel where I’d stayed previously.
4a) Manchester had been chilly and gray and damp. London was automatically warmer and sunnier.
5) For dinner I just kept walking down the street until I found a likely enough place, an Italian restaurant that looked established rather than fashionable. Garlic bread, pollo ai funghi, and rosé, in the company of Queen James.
6) Walking back to the hotel, I passed through twilit Russell Square and found the delightful memorial plaque photographed at top. What a lovely memory to have of a friend!