bon voyage

This is not what I had in mind today.  The image breaks all my rules; when I first started blip I decided that whatever image I tried to take, it should be in focus, properly exposed and free from noise.  In other words, as technically good as I could make it.  Whether or not it’s ‘artistic’ or a ‘good photo’ would be another question altogether.

This is the drop-off point at Manchester Airport at about 10 this morning.  I’m just about to drive off when I grab my compact, and run after Anniemay, calling her to stop.  She eventually turns and waves and I grab this as drivers queuing to drop their passengers off glower at me.  Technically it’s rubbish but it’s her.

And the story I intended to write is quite different too.  I was thinking along the lines of how it seems harder for the one left behind.  Time seems to pass more slowly.  The one going off has all the excitement and new experiences to look forward to.  But the one left behind has the same old routine.  Well today showed that not to be the case.

While Anniemay is having fun at a pre-flight party in the airport lounge, I’m heading South on the M6.  There’s a section of roadworks near Stoke and the road is heavily congested.  I’m in the middle lane and there’s a lorry in the slow lane to my left, just ahead.  The car in front of me pulls into the slow lane and as it does, clips the lorry.  

At this point people often say that things seem to happen in slow motion.  But it wasn’t quite like that.  It was more stop-motion.  The car hits the left hand crash barrier and everything seems to stop.  Then it’s thrown across the road in front of me and hits the central barrier, where again it stops.  It then crosses back in front of me again, leaving a bumper and other bits behind. 

The lorry swerves to avoid the car and forces me towards the fast lane.  I can see cars in my rear view mirror - presumably unaware of the drama unfolding.  There’s a gap between the debris and me and one car overtakes and gets through.  I avoid the lorry but can now see more cars bearing down on me and I’m thinking ‘they’re going to hit me, they’re going to hit me’.  Somehow I get through the narrowing gap unscathed.

All this is happening at about 50-60 miles per hour.

The car eventually comes to rest alongside the left hand crash barrier.  The lorry has now stopped and the driver is out and running to the car.  I pull alongside - the driver and his passenger seem unhurt but terrified.  I decide not to stop because cars are still speeding towards us and I assume that it’s best to get out of the way.

I stop at the next service station for a cup of tea.  I’m surprised because I’m not shaken - a little stirred perhaps, but otherwise quite calm.  It wasn’t so much fear I felt when I thought I might get hit - it was more like ‘what a bloody nuisance’. 

Looking back it all appeared to happen right in front of me - as if the image was foreshortened.  But in reality it must have been more like a snooker ball bouncing off the edges at an angle and making its way down the table.  Because the car crossed the road twice and still ended up ahead of me. I’ve been driving for over 40 years and this is the closest I’ve ever come to a serious accident.  

It’s twenty past one by the time I get home - which by strange coincidence is the time that Anniemay’s flight is scheduled to take off.  I miss her already.