Train ride to Edinburgh

The first leg of my journey to Inverness is over and I am relaxing in the hotel room, drinking rioja whilst on the TV in the background is some programme about celebrity chefs. The journey to Edinburgh went really smoothly - I worked for a bit but have now put work away for my long weekend away. I took the picture below from the train window as we sped towards York. It's taken on my mobile phone so not great but I like the beams of sunlight and the murky winter colours.

The big excitement on the train was that fresh milk had been reintroduced to the first class complimentary tea and coffee. Some time around new year National Express East Coast introduced some efficiency measures one of which was to only provide those evil little pots of uht milk that, A) taste horrid and B) spill everywhere when you attempt to open them. Anyway after a lot of complaints and I am guessing a few dry cleaning bills NXEC have relented and returned to real milk. Yay, for common sense! But unfortunately NXEC in my opinion have really downgraded their first class service but haven't really reduced the prices. I generally travel first class because as a visually impaired person the extra room, less stress and knowledge that I don't have to navigate the train to get to the buffet just make it much easier and more accessible for me than standard. I have only recently been able to afford first class, I now have more money than I used to. The whole - have NXEC downgraded first class? debate - is causing a stir on the forums.

Tomorrow I head up to Inverness to stay with my friend Lorraine. It's been nearly 18 months since we have met up so there will be lots of gossiping and catching up to do.