The Mince Pie Express

I watched the smoke today, but it was a guest who really saw it. He leaned in and told me the scent was wrong - that the Polish coal they use now doesn't smell like the Welsh steam coal of his youth.

It was a strange thought: that even our nostalgia has a different chemical scent these days. But as the whistle sang and we pulled away, no one seemed to mind the 'modern' smoke; we were all too busy looking for the 8-year-olds we used to be.