Colchester

We had a ten o'clock meeting in Colchester, this morning. Under normal circumstances, we'd have driven down the night before but this week the miniMinx has her mock GCSEs and we wanted her to be able to sleep in her own bed the night before, which meant a pretty early start.

The maths was rather daunting, actually; four and a quarter hours to Colchester for a ten o'clock meeting, allowing for pit stops and a bit of contingency, meant leaving at 5am. There was a time when I quite relished getting up early - and, actually, sometimes I still do - but this has been hanging over my head all week.

We were up at four-thirty, for showers and shaves* and in the car for one minute past five. It was pitch black and pouring with rain. And the rain didn't stop all the way, although the sun did make a diluted appearance around eight o'clock. With only one stop for coffee, taken on the A1, we made it Colchester for half-nine. Phew.

The meeting started a little oddly - the person who was our contact was off, having had to move house at short notice(!) - but the five people who were there soon warmed to the Minx and the whole meeting went very well in the end. (I took this photo on the way back to the car park.)

At midday we were back on the road. The weather was better but now the traffic was heavy and we didn't get back to Chorley until six-thirty. I took a quick break before setting off again, driving to Oxenholme to pick up my folks, brother, and niece, who are visiting for the weekend. I had originally planned to go home first and do some tidying so there was a little stress there, too.

But I arrived in time to collect them and we drove across to Kirkby Lonsdale where we met Dan and Abi for a curry. My God, that first pint went down a treat!

*me, only

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