We are in the first days of the New Year, 2025 limping to a close, and after a week or two of inertia over the festive period I dragged myself over to Manchester to see what was going on somewhere else.... It was certainly a change going to Manchester; I hadn't moved far over the first 3 days of 2026. The first two days I had been very local, my first pint and the only beer I consumed being Bradfield Farmer's Blonde at the Dusty Miller in Hove Edge, a beer which can often be rather bland, but is normally very good here. I did get some football in though even though there was a blank fixture list in the National League, and so it was the local derby just around the corner from me where Brighouse Town lost 2-0 to Bradford Park Avenue in the Northern Premier League East. The day was cold, the air crisp, the sunshine bright in a clear blue sky as I waited for the Victoria train to arrive at Halifax station with very few other travellers around. The trees in their skeletal winter fo...