In fairness, it was what the Irish call a "soft day". An extremely soft day. A "Merde Il Pleut" day. I was in Rochdale to visit a friend whom I'd not seen for a while, and cast extreme value over and above the effort it would take on a very wet Mancunian day to visit him. First impressions, I was surprised. The bus station (I'm a public transport user) was clean and unusually, didn't have that "Eau de Urine" smell we have now come to expect and enjoy from bus stations. Add in despite it being a Saturday, there were staff on duty. Any very helpful staff they were too, able to give me a quick direction that didn't involve a reverse finger version of the "V" sign made famous by neighbouring town Oldham's one-time MP Sir Winston Churchill. One exits the bus station and is greeted by a quite futuristic and European-style tram stop, again, clean and well maintained. And a little on the impressive side, if I may say. And that's ...
On my soapbox again!