0:00:06 > 0:00:08This is the night mail crossing the Border
0:00:08 > 0:00:11Bringing the cheque and the postal order
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Letters for the rich, letters for the poor
0:00:13 > 0:00:15The shop at the corner, the girl next door
0:00:15 > 0:00:17Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb:
0:00:17 > 0:00:20The gradient's against her, but she's on time...
0:00:29 > 0:00:32The down Postal Special leaves Euston
0:00:32 > 0:00:34For Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Coming over!
0:00:38 > 0:00:40What's the game? Turn it up.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Letters of thanks, letters from banks
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Letters of joy from the girl and the boy
0:00:50 > 0:00:51Receipted bills and invitations
0:00:51 > 0:00:53To inspect new stock or visit relations
0:00:53 > 0:00:54And applications for situations
0:00:54 > 0:00:56And timid lovers' declarations
0:00:56 > 0:00:57And gossip, gossip...
0:01:08 > 0:01:10LAUGHTER AND INDISTINCT CHATTER
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Any more tickets, there? Thanks.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Just nice to get back into our own bed.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Today at dawn, the train is still asleep
0:02:09 > 0:02:14When household staff arrive to make the creature fit to be itself
0:02:19 > 0:02:21Now, once again
0:02:21 > 0:02:25We leave from Euston, Glasgow-bound
0:02:25 > 0:02:27Let's see who makes the passage north
0:02:27 > 0:02:2931 and 32.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32This singing lion conveys an epic...
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Oh, thanks ever so, love. That's very kind of you.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Where the extras all have stories of their own
0:02:38 > 0:02:42With casts of the thousands we shall never meet
0:02:42 > 0:02:46As real and strange as those we find...
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Do you want to take your jacket off, love?
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Aboard this time machine with sandwiches
0:02:51 > 0:02:55And Wi-Fi, where we work or natter...
0:02:55 > 0:02:56Coach H.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Vanish off the clock and read
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Or simply gaze at what the restless window offers up.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13First, a London poet, here to reassure herself
0:03:13 > 0:03:16That London's not the only world
0:03:16 > 0:03:19But one you can escape
0:03:19 > 0:03:21At last, the line is clear
0:03:21 > 0:03:22The lights are green...
0:03:22 > 0:03:24WHISTLE BLOWS
0:03:24 > 0:03:25The whistle blows...
0:03:25 > 0:03:27BEEPING
0:03:28 > 0:03:30We're off.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55London, we see you everywhere
0:04:07 > 0:04:10You weigh on us like empty childhood pockets
0:04:10 > 0:04:14You pull on us like overhead wires in need of water
0:04:14 > 0:04:18And, oh, we need you like multistorey car park bricks
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Whilst we sit stunned by your clouds.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26This train is the 9:34 from Euston for Glasgow Central.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29First stop will be Milton Keynes at 10:30, Coventry...
0:04:29 > 0:04:32So, sometimes, when the low light of your crowded sky
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Reminds us of another life
0:04:34 > 0:04:35We try to leave you
0:04:38 > 0:04:41We board your scarred transport
0:04:41 > 0:04:43Fall past your flesh
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Breathe in your blood until our eyes go red.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50Do you want something to eat?
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Can I have smoked salmon and scrambled egg?
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Of course you can. No problem, darling.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01And then there we are
0:05:01 > 0:05:05Watching fully grown letters graffiti eulogy into your lungs
0:05:05 > 0:05:06As we travel along.
0:05:14 > 0:05:15Cheerio, London.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Yeah, that's it.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20- Not the London that we know.- No.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Straight lines, steel tracks
0:05:27 > 0:05:30Slopes lurching, trees perching
0:05:30 > 0:05:35Laughing at our imagining we'll find somewhere else to accept us
0:05:35 > 0:05:37That journey is longer than we can know
0:05:40 > 0:05:43For now, though, we go hopeful into tunnels
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Stretches of darkness reminding us
0:05:46 > 0:05:49It's nice to look out at something that can't look back, isn't it?
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Right, please may I have 12 full...
0:05:59 > 0:06:04salmon, seven, bacon sandwich, one,
0:06:04 > 0:06:06sausage sandwich, two...
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Er, well, I'm on the train, so it might cut out,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12but, erm...we'll...we'll persevere.
0:06:12 > 0:06:13Erm...
0:06:13 > 0:06:15SHE LAUGHS
0:06:18 > 0:06:22'I'm a political communications consultant...'
0:06:22 > 0:06:23Yeah.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25'..and I've done that all my life.'
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Yeah. And how worried are you?
0:06:32 > 0:06:36'I recently moved from London after living there nearly all my life
0:06:36 > 0:06:38'and swapped the rat race, if you like,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42'and now I go to the lovely, lovely place in Cumbria called Barbon.'
0:06:43 > 0:06:46- Stranger things have happened. - SHE CHUCKLES
0:06:51 > 0:06:54'Yeah, I'm going home. I'm looking forward to going home.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57'You have this sense of relief, really,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01'that you're... You know, you're going somewhere lovely.'
0:07:01 > 0:07:03OK, Simon, lovely to hear from you.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Yeah. And you. Bye-bye. Bye.
0:07:08 > 0:07:09OK, darling.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12You having black pudding, darling?
0:07:13 > 0:07:16- I think so.- It'll be just nice to get back into our own bed
0:07:16 > 0:07:18and our own place. I tell you what,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20I kept getting a crick in my neck with all those pillows.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22I think just to have your own pillows...
0:07:22 > 0:07:24Well, there is that, I suppose.
0:07:30 > 0:07:31'When I initially get on the train,
0:07:31 > 0:07:36'I tend to find my own seat and just kind of sit in the corner quietly.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43'I'm very tired, cos I have to get up early, but I don't sleep,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45'because I've done that before
0:07:45 > 0:07:47'and ended up somewhere where I shouldn't be.'
0:08:00 > 0:08:03'I get the train to see my five-year-old son.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08'He was took into foster care, initially,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12'and then he went up to live with my mum in Preston.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19'I go up there once every two months to visit him
0:08:19 > 0:08:20'and then I see him for four hours,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23'and then I get the train back down to London.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36'It's lovely seeing him, but it's even harder leaving him.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39'It's hard to...
0:08:39 > 0:08:41'walk away and know that I'm not going to see him again
0:08:41 > 0:08:43'for a couple of months.'
0:08:55 > 0:08:58And so we look around the carriage made of constant movement
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Worrying, studying, reading, working
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Distracting ourselves with the insides of others
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Blanketing our veins with blankness for some seconds
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Dissecting what our eyes and ears will give us
0:09:10 > 0:09:13In the space between glass and grain
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Searching for a truth that we can't find in the city
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Travelling along, dreaming metronomes of certainties
0:09:23 > 0:09:28Yearning for a quiet that we can't quite remember
0:09:28 > 0:09:32Travelling along, stringing together better after better.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34WOMAN SIGHS
0:09:39 > 0:09:41THEY LAUGH
0:09:49 > 0:09:52'I just get a little bag, a little gift bag.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56'It makes me happy to buy stuff for him.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58'I want him to know that his mum loves him
0:09:58 > 0:10:00'and his mummy's still here and Mummy's...
0:10:00 > 0:10:02'I don't want him to forget who I am.'
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Yes, ma'am. Hello.
0:10:08 > 0:10:09HE LAUGHS
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Rubbish, please. Rubbish.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16'When I go through the train, what makes me happy,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18'and I can get the smile from somebody.'
0:10:18 > 0:10:21- Thank you.- Thank you very much. - Thank you.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26'I get the smile from your face. It is a part of upliftment.'
0:10:26 > 0:10:30Any rubbish, please? Any rubbish?
0:10:30 > 0:10:34'The part of upliftment makes you feel great.'
0:10:36 > 0:10:38INDISTINCT
0:10:47 > 0:10:52Soon enough, soft waves of hills have replaced sloped roofs
0:10:52 > 0:10:56Exposed tree roots ripple below the shadow of an England flag
0:10:56 > 0:10:59And we've landed without flight in back gardens with trampolines
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Allotments with abandoned greens
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Burnt to ragged smithereens
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Because for once the weather has been too hot, too dry
0:11:06 > 0:11:08It's all right, we're sure you tried
0:11:19 > 0:11:21We glance at blurred patio doors
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Horses nibbling the edges of fields
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Cement mixers stirring ground yet to be walked
0:11:28 > 0:11:30And we know each other for a while
0:11:31 > 0:11:35As we sit with the distinct rattle of a railway
0:11:35 > 0:11:38As we think of the places we've called home.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Right, not far from Milton Keynes now.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Neither here nor there
0:12:00 > 0:12:01Not north, not south
0:12:01 > 0:12:06The town arrives at 10:12 faithfully
0:12:19 > 0:12:21And on the sunlit platform
0:12:21 > 0:12:24Those who plan to leave its quiet life
0:12:24 > 0:12:28Resemble fugitives who any second now
0:12:28 > 0:12:33May still be rumbled and led back into responsible sobriety
0:12:34 > 0:12:36Hail, Milton Keynes
0:12:36 > 0:12:41A garden city built on sound, enlightened principles
0:12:41 > 0:12:43But somehow short of serpents.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Somebody said "thank you" to me. They must have seen the camera.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56- INTERVIEWER:- Do they not normally? - Not often.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04BEEPING
0:13:04 > 0:13:08Now, oh, train, transport us
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Somewhere less discreet
0:13:10 > 0:13:13With idle conversation as a balm for solitude
0:13:15 > 0:13:18This poet hopes to test the edge of things
0:13:18 > 0:13:21The in-between that puts us to the question.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Up to the Midlands pelt inland
0:13:30 > 0:13:32North as fast as the tracks would stand
0:13:39 > 0:13:42The night mail had a pulse, a beat
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Through dim-lit towns with empty streets
0:13:48 > 0:13:53The steam train's steady metronome carried news from home to home
0:13:56 > 0:14:01But this train sounds like a long-drawn breath
0:14:01 > 0:14:04No beats, no breaks
0:14:04 > 0:14:09So thoughts this morning move ungoverned, unconducted.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16Stand up. You're in the man's way.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20- Come on.- He's all right. - Don't be lazy.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23- OK. All right.- He's older than you, brother.- OK, take it easy.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27- He's all right.- Yeah. - OK, friend. All right.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32Oh, you're a bad dog, you are.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37'I think we all like a routine, don't we?'
0:14:37 > 0:14:40- You'd better give him one in case he turns nasty.- All right.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44'Get on train, settle dog down, decide what I'm going to do,
0:14:44 > 0:14:45'which might be read the paper.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52'Often involves having a can of brown water.'
0:14:52 > 0:14:55You guard this nice lady.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57And her son.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00LAUGHTER
0:15:12 > 0:15:18'For the last ten or so years, on very nearly every Wednesday,
0:15:18 > 0:15:24'I've been using the train in order to visit my elderly mother,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28'aged 99, in a very nice care home.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40'A good visit is where she greets the dog,
0:15:40 > 0:15:45'when she remembers not just the dog's name, but my name as well.'
0:16:01 > 0:16:05'I always announce myself. "It's John."
0:16:07 > 0:16:12'And a bad day, "Who's that?"'
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Thank you very much. That was really good.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35We run our finger up the spine of England
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Our touch shivers the oil seed fields
0:16:38 > 0:16:42A copse of rooks goes up like smoke
0:16:42 > 0:16:44A deer stalls at the sight of us
0:16:44 > 0:16:47We steal its look, return it as we pass.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Teasel, thistle, willow herb
0:16:51 > 0:16:52Bank up to let us through
0:16:52 > 0:16:55For we have dates to honour, jobs to do.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05Can I see your ticket, love, please? Righty ho. Thanks. Any more tickets?
0:17:05 > 0:17:06Thanks.
0:17:07 > 0:17:08Yeah, that's great, thanks.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11'I've always loved trains, even as a small boy.'
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Thanks very much.
0:17:13 > 0:17:14INDISTINCT
0:17:14 > 0:17:16That's a good one, that is.
0:17:16 > 0:17:17Yeah, that one's all right.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21'I grew up next to a railway yard.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23'Always wanted a railway job.'
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Any more tickets there? Thanks.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27INDISTINCT
0:17:29 > 0:17:31- Thanks.- Cheers.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33Any more tickets? Thanks.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35'I got a railway job in 1988.'
0:17:35 > 0:17:37- Ta.- Thank you.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41'So that's 28 years.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49'I've got quite an archive of railway recordings of things that
0:17:49 > 0:17:52'I've done, logs that I've kept.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01'I'm a selfie master. I take selfies all the time.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08'All the nameplates that's been on every Pendolino.
0:18:11 > 0:18:18'Every locomotive I've been on. How many miles it's pulled my train.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23'I'll leave them to York Museum.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27'Somebody somewhere will one day want to look at them.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31'Yeah, they're wonderful things.'
0:18:36 > 0:18:38Yeah, that one's all right, thanks.
0:18:41 > 0:18:42Thank you.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52'If I'm on the train watching the scenery go by,
0:18:52 > 0:18:57'that doesn't necessarily mean that brain is in neutral.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04'Might be perceived by others as, "That bloke's daydreaming".
0:19:04 > 0:19:07'Might be precisely the converse.'
0:19:20 > 0:19:24Inside the train, we lose ourselves in work
0:19:24 > 0:19:27Words fail us in transit
0:19:27 > 0:19:32Phrases split by tunnels, questions left unanswered
0:19:32 > 0:19:34As signals gutter out between towns.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39I'm sorry, I can't really hear you. I'm on a train.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42I'm sorry. I can't really hear at the moment.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46We need to pass the test of place
0:19:46 > 0:19:48To see each other face-to-face
0:19:48 > 0:19:53But as we fly apart we tell what truths we can
0:19:53 > 0:19:55In text and e-mail
0:19:55 > 0:20:00Each carriage a cat's cradle of coded words
0:20:00 > 0:20:03For love or money, plans or fears.
0:20:05 > 0:20:11Oh, no, I don't have it. I haven't got any PPI, no. No.
0:20:11 > 0:20:12Thank you.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Thanks very much. Thank you. Bye.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21PPI. Oh, my goodness, they just don't leave you alone, do they?
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Never have anything...
0:20:23 > 0:20:27- That was a call you could have done without.- I know. I know.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30'Jan comes across as a very forthright lady.'
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Can you pass me that menu, please, just so that I can see?
0:20:34 > 0:20:38Cos I didn't... I don't know if it's coming round this afternoon or...
0:20:38 > 0:20:45'In actual fact, underneath, she has a very, very bad mental situation.
0:20:45 > 0:20:46'Basically nervousness.'
0:20:48 > 0:20:51I didn't think I'd like the train, really, but I do.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53- I much prefer this to driving. - Yeah.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59'I think primarily that's the reason why we've had to give up
0:20:59 > 0:21:05'travelling down south in the car and choose the train route,
0:21:05 > 0:21:09'because she feels so much happier and so much more secure that way.'
0:21:10 > 0:21:14'I'm bipolar so I had a lot problems in my life.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17'You're either one end of the spectrum or you're the other.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22'Derek's been very good and he's very calm and he looks after me
0:21:22 > 0:21:25'and he understands me.'
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Have we got an arm in the chair? Oh, yes, I believe we've got...
0:21:27 > 0:21:30Have you got one as well, or is that one between us?
0:21:30 > 0:21:31- Oh, I think it's... - It's a shared arm...
0:21:31 > 0:21:33I'm going to have this one down as well. Yeah.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41For some, the train holds all
0:21:41 > 0:21:44Late gift of love and company
0:21:44 > 0:21:48A fellow traveller to complete your thoughts, your compliment
0:21:48 > 0:21:52That somebody who lifts the journey, makes it sing.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Oh, dear. I've knocked over your gin and tonic.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03For others, this is respite from hopes and harms
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Halts and missed connections
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Held in abeyance as long as the West Coast Line.
0:22:11 > 0:22:12It's raining, doggo.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16The line darkens as it thickens, as it slows
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Now is our last chance to tell you what we mean
0:22:20 > 0:22:22We have it drafted
0:22:22 > 0:22:25But thumbs hesitate above the lit word "Send"
0:22:25 > 0:22:27Too late.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Yeah, it's Birmingham now.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Used to be the workshop of the world. Not any more.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49All England is an elegy
0:22:49 > 0:22:53And here we enter England's iron heart
0:22:54 > 0:22:58Its time is done and here is immortality
0:23:03 > 0:23:08It is so beautiful, this afterlife of brick and viaducts
0:23:08 > 0:23:12And the descent beneath the earth to New Street
0:23:12 > 0:23:13In its fresh clean trim.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Come on, dog. Have you got your bits?
0:23:34 > 0:23:38It needs a song to praise it properly
0:23:38 > 0:23:42The sound she makes emerging from the underworld
0:23:42 > 0:23:45The singer of its loving tongue.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54North now from Birmingham
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Forward, like its motto
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Beyond New Street's shining cathedral of rail
0:24:12 > 0:24:16Its concrete and its tunnels
0:24:16 > 0:24:22And out into the Black Country's surprising green and blue
0:24:25 > 0:24:32Where you, iron horses, little wenches of the sidings
0:24:32 > 0:24:36Watch over us on our journeys, our passings
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Our homecomings
0:24:40 > 0:24:42Through the Smethwicks
0:24:42 > 0:24:45The factories laploved and tumbled
0:24:45 > 0:24:46The trolleyed cup
0:24:46 > 0:24:49With its rainbow of boat oil
0:24:49 > 0:24:53And behind the overgrown buddleia
0:24:53 > 0:24:55A dozen banqueting halls
0:24:55 > 0:24:59Fizzing like bottles of pop on a Friday afternoon
0:24:59 > 0:25:02With stunned new brides
0:25:02 > 0:25:05And their bhangra-armed grooms
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Their love is a journey to an unknown station.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22- Good morning.- Thank you. - There you go. OK?- Thank you.
0:25:22 > 0:25:23You're welcome.
0:25:23 > 0:25:24SHE CHUCKLES
0:25:24 > 0:25:30'I suppose you never know who you're going to sit next to on a train.'
0:25:39 > 0:25:40SHE CHUCKLES
0:25:40 > 0:25:44'How I met my partner was sitting next to somebody on a train.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51'By the time we got to Preston, I think we pretty much had
0:25:51 > 0:25:53'exchanged life stories.'
0:26:12 > 0:26:15- ANNOUNCER:- Welcome to Sandwell and Dudley.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Have you got your charger?
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Yeah. Do you need it? We've actually got a plug.
0:26:25 > 0:26:26That is brilliant.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29Are you cooking?
0:26:29 > 0:26:31What are you looking at me like that for?
0:26:31 > 0:26:35- What have you done?- I forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37You forgot to take the chicken...
0:26:37 > 0:26:38THEY LAUGH
0:26:38 > 0:26:41- So what are we eating? - I'm so sorry.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44- I'm so sorry.- That's not even funny.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47I was meant to take it out after uni and then I forgot.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50- So it's still in the freezer? Are you kidding me?- Yeah.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54- Yeah.- Have you got a mic?- Have they got a microwave?- Yeah.
0:26:54 > 0:26:55Defrost it.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58You idiot.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00- Yeah, but...- You're an idiot.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18- I'm so sorry. Let's swap back. - That is my drink.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21I know but it's mine cos I've been drinking from it.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23But this is nearly finished.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25THEY LAUGH
0:27:25 > 0:27:28'Sharna, she's my best friend.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33'I have known her since the third day of college
0:27:33 > 0:27:35'so that would be in 2012.'
0:27:35 > 0:27:39- Let's swap back.- That's just greed. - I'm so sorry.- That's really greedy.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41I don't know what overtook me.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44I don't know why your hand is coming over here.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50'Sharna's just about to move into London and start uni.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57'I've been at uni for two years now so I am being like the nagging mum.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01'Nearly every day I tell her the same things on WhatsApp.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03'"Have you got a job yet? Have you signed your contract?"'
0:28:06 > 0:28:09Oh, my God, do you know the exam that I did for this course?
0:28:09 > 0:28:12- Mm.- I got the highest.- Well done.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16I remember when you used to get zero out of five in psychology.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19THEY LAUGH
0:28:19 > 0:28:22- Why are you so stupid?- Shut up. - Do you remember that?
0:28:22 > 0:28:23You're such a good friend(!)
0:28:23 > 0:28:26I think I've got a picture of your zero out of five.
0:28:26 > 0:28:32Can I ask you a quick question? Why have you got one pink nail?
0:28:32 > 0:28:34THEY LAUGH
0:28:36 > 0:28:40Little horses watch over the wenches
0:28:40 > 0:28:44Laughing in their gorgeous make-up
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Off into their new life or just off chapping it...
0:28:48 > 0:28:50INDISTINCT
0:28:53 > 0:28:55Watch over the babbies dozing...
0:28:55 > 0:28:58Are you going to see Daddy? Yes.
0:28:58 > 0:29:03As their mums press their cheeks to rain-jewelled windows.
0:29:05 > 0:29:11Watch over Sam solving six down for Leila from Stafford
0:29:15 > 0:29:17Mikhail on the early shift
0:29:21 > 0:29:26Mrs Begum alighting for HMP Featherstone
0:29:33 > 0:29:35And as we pass
0:29:35 > 0:29:41Watch over Sharon-Ann's Academy of Cheer and Dance
0:29:41 > 0:29:45A sparkler of joy in the trading estate's gloom.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Watch over the blokes at the breaker's yard
0:29:50 > 0:29:54Dismantling acres of vans and rusted Fiestas
0:29:54 > 0:29:59The old boys downing Banks's in Keighley pubs
0:30:01 > 0:30:04The terriers snookelling off
0:30:04 > 0:30:08To the secret nettled heaven of the allotments.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23I just wonder how many times I've been past here.
0:30:24 > 0:30:25Many, I think.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33'There's, I mean, jobs where you become the job.
0:30:33 > 0:30:40'And you work hard, then all of a sudden you've got
0:30:40 > 0:30:44'a seven or eight-year-old girl, child, she's your daughter,
0:30:44 > 0:30:48'but you're still at a loss to know what to do with her.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50'You don't really see her cos you're always at work.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54'I don't see her now.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01'She's went to university and got a degree
0:31:01 > 0:31:04'and that's the best I can hope for her.'
0:31:19 > 0:31:21'I often think to myself, "What does he think?"
0:31:21 > 0:31:24'Why doesn't he see Mummy as often as he should?
0:31:28 > 0:31:31'There's only so much you can tell a five-year-old.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38'I tell him Mummy's not been well. That's part of the truth.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43'I had a lot of personal issues.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47'I just used to drink to block things out.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51'But it cost me... It's cost too much in my life now.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54'It just makes the depression and the anxiety worse.
0:31:58 > 0:31:59'To have your child took
0:31:59 > 0:32:03'is just the most horrible pain that you can even imagine.'
0:32:22 > 0:32:25- Thanks very much, ta.- Thank you.
0:32:25 > 0:32:26All tickets, thanks.
0:32:28 > 0:32:29I'll come and see you in a minute.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31Any more tickets? Thanks.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46Bless them all, little horses
0:32:47 > 0:32:49As the estates yield
0:32:49 > 0:32:53To wild fields of clover and straddling pylons.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57Bless us all.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59Where are we now then?
0:32:59 > 0:33:01- We're heading for Crewe. - Crewe?
0:33:06 > 0:33:10For some days, it feels life is nothing but travelling
0:33:11 > 0:33:13Waving goodbye to all we know
0:33:13 > 0:33:17Never quite certain of who we leave
0:33:21 > 0:33:23And who we take with us
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Carried in our souls like precious luggage.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32Watch over those who have long gone
0:33:32 > 0:33:36Taken the dawn train with a one-way ticket.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Coming into Crewe station.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47And those not born yet.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51Those sweet, unseen passengers
0:33:51 > 0:33:54Still held in the darkness
0:33:54 > 0:33:57Waiting for the signal
0:33:57 > 0:33:59The green light and the whistle
0:34:00 > 0:34:05To call them into that first great station of their lives.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18When railways built the universe
0:34:18 > 0:34:20Crewe Junction was the centre
0:34:20 > 0:34:23Through which all the world would pass.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33We glimpse rail's wrecked cathedral now
0:34:35 > 0:34:37The platform desperate to be off
0:34:39 > 0:34:41The place is all goodbyes.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48Suppose the secret rule of life is loss
0:34:48 > 0:34:51And yet this poet travels to affirm
0:34:51 > 0:34:54That still we're moving.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57Watch the lines divide and cross
0:34:57 > 0:34:59Divide and cross
0:34:59 > 0:35:02Breathe in and brave it out
0:35:02 > 0:35:03And go.
0:35:07 > 0:35:08The piston kiss
0:35:08 > 0:35:13Door hiss of mechanical arrival, departure.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Past the towns that rise and fall
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Like breath from the fields.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Listen. The bricks are sighing
0:35:38 > 0:35:41The windows wheezing with the dusty light.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46Towns like these were built
0:35:46 > 0:35:50On the backs of what the night carriages chuffed in.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55500 bags must be unloaded,
0:35:55 > 0:35:581,000 loaded, engines changed,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01and some of the English crew exchanged for Scots.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11ANNOUNCEMENT
0:36:24 > 0:36:25Thank you.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27Bye-bye.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34I'd like to welcome customers with Virgin service to Glasgow Central.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38Calling next at Wigan North Western in ten minutes.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41- Coffee with milk for you, madam? - Yes, please.
0:36:43 > 0:36:44Thank you very much.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48I was thinking tomorrow, if it was nice, we might go over to Lismore.
0:36:48 > 0:36:49What do you think?
0:36:49 > 0:36:53Yes, that would be nice, but once we get over there,
0:36:53 > 0:36:56I can't ride a bike now!
0:36:56 > 0:36:58Well, we'll have another taxi on that.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01Yes, we could go to the little tearoom, couldn't we?
0:37:01 > 0:37:04- We could go to the tearooms, have a coffee or something.- Yeah.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10- 'We've gone to Scotland for a long time.- 37 years.'
0:37:12 > 0:37:15And we used to go as a foursome with our husbands.
0:37:18 > 0:37:24And then Iris lost her husband in 2003.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30And Brian died last year.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40I miss Brian terribly, terribly, terribly.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42He was my rock, he made me laugh.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46He was awkward.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49But...I loved him to bits.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59- I wonder how many years it is since we've been.- Gone where?
0:37:59 > 0:38:01- Gone to Lismore.- What would it be?
0:38:01 > 0:38:03- 15 years? - It's meant to be quite nice.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Yes, I should think it is. No, more than that, probably.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Dragged by the empty carriage of your body
0:38:13 > 0:38:17Into a stillness which keeps moving
0:38:17 > 0:38:21You are coupled to the thought of him.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25His arms, his laugh
0:38:25 > 0:38:28The thatched fields of his stubble
0:38:28 > 0:38:31The gradual nature of his leaving.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42His name whistling through your ribs
0:38:42 > 0:38:47Echoing through the empty midnight platform of your person.
0:38:47 > 0:38:48The motorway's gone now.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51SHE LAUGHS
0:39:01 > 0:39:03Train's two minutes late at Preston.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06- We're almost up.- I know.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11Preston will be the next stop in a minute or two. Thank you.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16What is a journey
0:39:16 > 0:39:21If not the constant leaving behind of things
0:39:21 > 0:39:24And the potential for potential itself?
0:39:28 > 0:39:30New connections
0:39:30 > 0:39:33Brief stops by the body of another.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46It's worth the journey, it's worth the journey, without a doubt.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51Even if I saw him for an hour, it would mean millions to me.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55Because it's my birthday on Friday.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59It's going to be the best birthday present for me, basically,
0:39:59 > 0:40:01seeing my little boy.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04I just can't wait to give him a great big hug.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19I've had relationships and, you know, I've been in love
0:40:19 > 0:40:23but when you've got a child, it's just a different bond.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30It's the deepest love that I've ever had.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48You might have noticed
0:40:48 > 0:40:53That even families who live with the backs of their homes to a rail line
0:40:53 > 0:40:56Will still stop in their garden
0:40:56 > 0:41:00To watch and wave as a train goes by.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05What I mean is there are things you might not get used to.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12But there is, in a bedroom of a house like that
0:41:12 > 0:41:14A child who no longer wakes
0:41:14 > 0:41:19For every horn, bark, brake, squeal that shudders by.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23What I mean is it is possible
0:41:23 > 0:41:27To settle into a life that feels constantly in motion.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35Oh, I'm tired.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40- INAUDIBLE - Yeah. Really early.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44It's all this week, catching up with me.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46What you talking about?
0:41:47 > 0:41:49What is he doing?
0:41:50 > 0:41:54Make sure you've got nothing... It comes up like Beyonce.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57I'm literally going to die.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00It's going to be so good. Oh, I'm so jealous.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02I would actually cry.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06Just listening to her on YouTube is getting me hyped,
0:42:06 > 0:42:08never mind seeing her in real life.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11# ..If you don't You'll be alone
0:42:11 > 0:42:13# And like a ghost I'll be gone
0:42:13 > 0:42:15- # All the single ladies - All the single ladies
0:42:15 > 0:42:17- # All the single ladies - All the single ladies
0:42:17 > 0:42:19- # All the single ladies - All the single ladies
0:42:19 > 0:42:21# All the single ladies
0:42:21 > 0:42:23# Now put your hands up, oh oh oh
0:42:23 > 0:42:26# Oh oh oh oh oh Oh oh oh oh... #
0:42:26 > 0:42:29- This is a really good service, isn't it, on the train?- Yes, it is.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31It's very good indeed.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33I can cope with this for a long time.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36THEY LAUGH
0:42:36 > 0:42:39- # .. All the single ladies - All the single ladies... #
0:42:39 > 0:42:42Like a dance floor or a buffet car
0:42:42 > 0:42:45The same awkward gathering
0:42:45 > 0:42:49Rocking side to side with people you've never met
0:42:49 > 0:42:52Other people as of yet unknown to you
0:42:52 > 0:42:56Other than the smell of the day they've had
0:42:56 > 0:43:00And their yearning to get somewhere soon.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12- Time to leave.- Yeah, I think so. Lift the arms up.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14- Make sure you get everything.- Yeah.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16We don't want to leave anything behind. OK?
0:43:16 > 0:43:19- You get the big case, love.- Right.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22'To be honest, when I got married the second and third time,
0:43:22 > 0:43:24'I knew it wasn't going to last.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28'But when Derek and I got married, I knew it was for life.'
0:43:30 > 0:43:32There they are, down there.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34'You just know. I felt that that was destiny.'
0:43:34 > 0:43:36No, don't you take it, lovey.
0:43:36 > 0:43:41ALL TALK AT ONCE
0:43:42 > 0:43:46- It's great to see you. - And you, love.- Give us your stuff.
0:43:46 > 0:43:47Thanks, lovey.
0:43:47 > 0:43:48Thank you...
0:43:48 > 0:43:51'He's my companion, he's my soul mate.
0:43:51 > 0:43:56'He's just there, we're just there together, we do everything together.
0:43:56 > 0:43:57'Everything.'
0:44:00 > 0:44:06It is possible to move forwards and remember both the same.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09- It's nice to be home.- Yes.
0:44:09 > 0:44:10It's nice to be home.
0:44:10 > 0:44:15To see someone leaving as opening a space
0:44:15 > 0:44:18You can step full-hearted into.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22Do you remember when we went on the little train up to Oban?
0:44:22 > 0:44:25It stopped at every little station, didn't it?
0:44:27 > 0:44:29And it isn't until the end
0:44:29 > 0:44:32As you pull in to your destination
0:44:32 > 0:44:35That you realise there even was a journey
0:44:35 > 0:44:38That things have shifted
0:44:38 > 0:44:42That your heart is not the place you thought it was
0:44:44 > 0:44:48That the empty seat beside you can be filled
0:44:48 > 0:44:51That someone can ask if they can sit by you
0:44:51 > 0:44:54And you will say yes
0:44:54 > 0:44:56Yes, please, I'd like that.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07Now, this is seriously north
0:45:07 > 0:45:09The forests wear a darker green
0:45:09 > 0:45:12Soon now will come the border.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16Past Carlisle, a colder air
0:45:16 > 0:45:18Will bring the heart to order.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36For the end of this affair
0:45:36 > 0:45:39Almost more than we can bear
0:45:39 > 0:45:41Our final poet takes us there.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56Heading north is a leap of the heart
0:45:56 > 0:45:57On the map, on the phone
0:45:57 > 0:46:00The blue dot is the pulse that crosses the border
0:46:06 > 0:46:09Clouds swing open over the hills
0:46:09 > 0:46:11And train chases river
0:46:11 > 0:46:13Races after it like a Border reiver
0:46:13 > 0:46:15Like a long-distance runner
0:46:15 > 0:46:17Breathing hard into the wind
0:46:17 > 0:46:20With its flag of light flying behind.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30- This is a side road.- That's right. - That's a motorway up there.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32There, yes.
0:46:32 > 0:46:33Anyway, go on, yes.
0:46:35 > 0:46:36And then they had a chicken breast
0:46:36 > 0:46:39- and a mushroom and wine sauce. - Oh, yeah.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42- The main course. - That'd be nice, wouldn't it?
0:46:42 > 0:46:44Yes, it was, it was very nice.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46There's the motorway there now, look.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49- To where?- The motorway, over there. - Oh, yes.
0:46:50 > 0:46:51Anyway, go on, yes.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57So that was very nice, and then they had a trio of sweets.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00- Oh, yes, what did they have for that, then?- Like that.
0:47:00 > 0:47:02They had cherry cheesecake.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06I wonder if there's any salmon in there.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08SHE CHUCKLES
0:47:08 > 0:47:10Yes, anyway, go on.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12Well, in my opinion,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15the cheesecake was a little bit big
0:47:15 > 0:47:18and it had this huge cherry on the top.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20Afternoon, ladies. Can I get you any fruit today?
0:47:20 > 0:47:23- Oh, I'll have a banana, please. - Banana?- Would that be all right?
0:47:23 > 0:47:27- Yes, of course.- Thank you very much. - What about yourself?- No, thank you.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29- OK, no problem at all. - That's lovely.
0:47:45 > 0:47:46'I'm not very good at relaxing.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51'When I go over the border, I relax.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53'Once I get into Scotland, I relax.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58'The river's beautiful and we recognise things from the train
0:47:58 > 0:48:02'that we used to see when we went up in the car.
0:48:03 > 0:48:08'It's memories, but it's sort of doing things differently.'
0:48:10 > 0:48:11I brought you, um...
0:48:13 > 0:48:15- ..to show you.- Oh, wow.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22- CHUCKLING:- And when I was going through the photographs,
0:48:22 > 0:48:23I found that one.
0:48:25 > 0:48:30I think that's the first time I ever thought you looked a bit like me.
0:48:30 > 0:48:31Don't you think so?
0:48:32 > 0:48:35- Oh, I think you may be right, yes. - SHE CHUCKLES
0:48:37 > 0:48:41- Deary me.- It's your default position, is asleep.- Cheeky!
0:48:47 > 0:48:50Between home and elsewhere
0:48:50 > 0:48:52Between in here and out there
0:48:52 > 0:48:55One journey is layered over the other
0:48:55 > 0:48:57One time on another
0:48:57 > 0:48:59Meeting a stranger on a train
0:48:59 > 0:49:01Getting to know them better
0:49:01 > 0:49:05Is like opening an unexpected letter.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11I can't tell whether that's Graham or Bri.
0:49:12 > 0:49:13Who do you think it is?
0:49:13 > 0:49:16- It's Graham.- It's Graham? - Oh, no, it's not, it's Brian.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19No, it isn't, it's Brian, because he's got a deer stalker.
0:49:19 > 0:49:20Oh, has he?
0:49:24 > 0:49:26In here is a steady hush
0:49:26 > 0:49:27And a shush
0:49:27 > 0:49:30That carries her back to the songs she sang
0:49:30 > 0:49:32When she was young
0:49:32 > 0:49:34She floats and rocks
0:49:34 > 0:49:37And someone talks out of the past
0:49:37 > 0:49:38The hum of the train
0:49:38 > 0:49:41Becomes the voice of her mother
0:49:41 > 0:49:44Then deepens to be the voice of her lover
0:49:44 > 0:49:47So she dreams him back in the jacket she liked
0:49:47 > 0:49:49To share half a sandwich
0:49:49 > 0:49:51Tea with milk and one sugar
0:49:51 > 0:49:54His arm brushing hers
0:49:54 > 0:49:57And then he will tell her he once went to Ecclefechan
0:49:57 > 0:49:58Before he met her
0:50:00 > 0:50:02The presence of him
0:50:02 > 0:50:04Is the whoosh of wheels
0:50:04 > 0:50:07And she is glad he came back
0:50:07 > 0:50:09For a while, for a while
0:50:11 > 0:50:13In her sleep, she smiles
0:50:20 > 0:50:23The train is a memory-keeper
0:50:25 > 0:50:29It carries something alive, like the words in a letter
0:50:29 > 0:50:32Not gathering dust, but held in trust
0:50:32 > 0:50:34Because this is how love moves on
0:50:34 > 0:50:36And survives
0:50:43 > 0:50:47In the window, her life looks back at the man on the phone
0:50:47 > 0:50:49And reflects his own
0:50:49 > 0:50:52The future comes in and puts down its bags.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08'I'm 60 next year. I've got the option of retiring.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12'Oh, I keep saying that I will do, but I don't think I will.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16'I think... The Rolling Stones, you just don't stop.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25'If I retire, you know,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28'sometimes I think, "What am I going to do?"
0:51:33 > 0:51:36'Working on the trains, working for Virgin,
0:51:36 > 0:51:38'it's like being married,
0:51:38 > 0:51:40'from what I can remember.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44'You love it sometimes and you absolutely hate it others.
0:51:45 > 0:51:46'But when it's gone...
0:51:48 > 0:51:50'..you'll miss it.'
0:51:56 > 0:51:59May I see your tickets, ladies, please?
0:51:59 > 0:52:00- Oh.- They're fabulous!
0:52:00 > 0:52:02- That's me when I got married. - Is that you?
0:52:02 > 0:52:03CONDUCTOR GASPS
0:52:03 > 0:52:04Oh, how beautiful.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08- Yeah, and that...- There's nothing like having a big one, is there?
0:52:08 > 0:52:11THEY LAUGH
0:52:11 > 0:52:13- Is your husband still with us?- No.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15- No, neither of us.- Aww.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19'Well, she's coped better than I would have thought
0:52:19 > 0:52:24'and in a way, I think Hazel, she gets more determined on things now,
0:52:24 > 0:52:27'which is great.'
0:52:27 > 0:52:30- How old were you there?- My daughter said, "Look at you, posing!"
0:52:30 > 0:52:34- Got to pose for a photo. - Well, yes. 21.- 21.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37And I'd just got engaged to Brian, that's what that was.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45'Her husband just used to run everything
0:52:45 > 0:52:47'and I think she's sort of quite realising
0:52:47 > 0:52:52'that she's got some control over her life and what she does.'
0:52:54 > 0:52:57That's my sister at my wedding.
0:52:57 > 0:52:58- Wow!- Can you recognise her?
0:53:02 > 0:53:03Now I've seen this one, I can.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27Down the carriage, a clicking and pecking at keyboards
0:53:27 > 0:53:31Half-heard, half-knowing, tossed away in the coming and going
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Like all the other used-up things
0:53:34 > 0:53:36The cardboard wrap, the cellophane
0:53:36 > 0:53:39The paper napkins, time pass
0:53:39 > 0:53:41Stifled yawn.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43OK, thank you.
0:53:43 > 0:53:44Thank you.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47Rubbish, rubbish, please.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50All right, thanks for that, dear. Thank you.
0:53:50 > 0:53:51All right.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54'I tell you the best thing I like about doing my job.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57'It makes me be an independent person.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59'That is number one.'
0:53:59 > 0:54:01Rubbish, rubbish, please. Any?
0:54:02 > 0:54:06'If you go into the pub and a man says, "I'll buy you a drink,"
0:54:06 > 0:54:07'you can buy him a drink.'
0:54:07 > 0:54:10Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13'It wouldn't maintain me with a house and a car,
0:54:13 > 0:54:15'so I don't bother with the car!
0:54:15 > 0:54:17'I leave that alone!'
0:54:18 > 0:54:20Thank you. Thank you very much.
0:54:20 > 0:54:22OK.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25'We're quite happy. We're quite happy with that.'
0:54:28 > 0:54:30The rubbish collector gathers it in
0:54:30 > 0:54:32Stopping for breath in the vestibule
0:54:32 > 0:54:36His back to the door, feeling the change in the sound
0:54:36 > 0:54:39The different drumming, the slip and shiver
0:54:39 > 0:54:42Of in-between and far below
0:54:42 > 0:54:45The long embrace of wheel and rail
0:54:54 > 0:54:57Over the Clyde, where the great ships were born
0:54:57 > 0:55:00Over the water, a ghostly foghorn
0:55:00 > 0:55:02Over the bridge to the city they come.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07- ANNOUNCEMENT:- Service now approaching our final stop.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09This is Glasgow Central.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13Some of them visiting, some returning
0:55:13 > 0:55:16They take up their baggage and their belongings
0:55:16 > 0:55:18They take up their longings
0:55:18 > 0:55:21And the train brings them in to Glasgow Central
0:55:24 > 0:55:26The tall windows, the glass bridge
0:55:26 > 0:55:30The Hielanman's Umbrella, lit to gather them in.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47- We are at the platform, I think. - Are we?
0:55:47 > 0:55:49Well, it'll be on that side.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52SHE CHUCKLES
0:55:52 > 0:55:54Oh, yes, there are our bags.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58As if someone has waited for them too long
0:55:58 > 0:56:01As if they are love letters delivered home.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13BEEPING
0:56:13 > 0:56:15I'm desperate for a wee.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35All gone
0:56:36 > 0:56:38The present is another country
0:56:40 > 0:56:42Where the cleaners in their different accents
0:56:42 > 0:56:44Check beneath the seats
0:56:44 > 0:56:49And haul a tonne of bagged-up rubbish from the vestibules
0:56:49 > 0:56:52All glance at headlines in discarded papers
0:56:52 > 0:56:54Turned into history
0:56:58 > 0:57:01Meanwhile, the train is emptied of itself
0:57:01 > 0:57:03And will retire to sleep
0:57:07 > 0:57:10Forgetting everything it's seen and carried
0:57:10 > 0:57:12On this day
0:57:12 > 0:57:17Like a thousand days that all seemed so important at the time
0:57:22 > 0:57:24Suppose a train could dream...
0:57:26 > 0:57:28First division, coming over.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30- And again, Bill! - Harry, second division!
0:57:31 > 0:57:32What might it see?
0:57:33 > 0:57:35Eight carriages, perhaps?
0:57:36 > 0:57:40The empty vehicle flying home to nowhere, all alone...
0:57:40 > 0:57:42TRAIN WHISTLE HOOTS
0:57:45 > 0:57:50Meanwhile, the travellers disperse along a thousand streets
0:57:50 > 0:57:53Into their lives, their names and obligations
0:58:00 > 0:58:02And in an hour, or a day
0:58:02 > 0:58:06This journey will become as if it never was
0:58:08 > 0:58:11Until once more we find ourselves aboard
0:58:11 > 0:58:15Accelerating as by magic
0:58:15 > 0:58:16Gone!
0:58:17 > 0:58:21Till then, farewell, be lucky...
0:58:21 > 0:58:23CARRIAGES CLATTER Oh, listen!
0:58:23 > 0:58:25That's a train.
0:58:30 > 0:58:33MUSIC: Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by The Cleverlys
0:58:33 > 0:58:35# All the single ladies, all the single ladies
0:58:35 > 0:58:37# All the single ladies, all the single ladies
0:58:37 > 0:58:39# All the single ladies, all the single ladies
0:58:39 > 0:58:42# If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
0:58:42 > 0:58:44# If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
0:58:44 > 0:58:46# Don't be mad once you see that he want it
0:58:46 > 0:58:48# If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it
0:58:48 > 0:58:51# Whoa-whoa oh-oh-oh-oh
0:58:51 > 0:58:53# Whoa-whoa oh-oh-oh-oh
0:58:53 > 0:58:55# Whoa-whoa oh-oh-oh-oh
0:58:55 > 0:58:57# Whoa-whoa oh-oh-oh-oh. #