Time of Arrival [antikvár]

OneIt was 1951; the Festival of Britain would be ofFicially opened in May and now, in April, there was a mood of expectation in the country. People were going to London to look at the newly completed South Bank before the crowds got in the way. Summer was in the air, hope too. Surely, if we really had won the war, things would soon get better.The huge steam engine stood at the head of the eight forty-five train from Temple Meads, Bristol, to Paddington, London. It was already fired up from the previous trip and though the pressure gauge was low, it seemed to be breathing in energy slowly and surely. Albert Priddy, the driver, and Wilfrid Pickering, the fireman, were already in the cab. Albert was wiping over the controls with a piece of cotton waste and keeping an eye on the gauge; Wilfrid had slammed the door shut on the firebox after frizzling his breakfast bacon on the shining