The outstanding train on the L.M.S. route was the 6.20 p.m. from Birmingham, which reached Euston in two hours after intermediate stops at Coventry, Rugby and Watford Junction, and evoked some sparkling performances from Patriot and Jubilee 4-6-0s.

He was summoned to come before the king.

Josette is pegging out the laundry in her garden. […] She takes a pair of trousers and floofs them so that they uncrumple. A pair of frilly knickers fly out from the leg and I laugh.

Wiganers do like pies, but the term Pie-eaters is actually an insult, dating back to a pit strike when Wigan miners were starved back to work before their St Helens counterparts, thereby eating humble pie.