The things we do

Today's plan was for bro and me to drive up to Northampton, in order to take my 16yr old nephew to rendezvous with his girlfriend and her parents who had likewise driven down from Preston, as has happened several times before. We left home at 10.30 for a journey, which apparently, usually takes 2.5 hours, and ends at a good meeting place just outside Nottingham off the M1.  We would all have lunch together, which I was very curious to do because her parents are both artists and musicians, so we should have lots to talk about. Then my nephew would go on to Preston with them for a week, and bro and I would drive back to Chelmsford, getting home around 16.30. That was the plan. 

Unfortunately, none of us had remembered it was Bank Holiday today, nor did we expect the weather to be quite so awful. In brief, the rain was constant, the M25 and M1 were frequently a carpark and it was 15.00 when we arrived, by which time it was already twilight and wet, and her parents, who'd been waiting a while, were anxious to get back on the road. So, we said hello and cheerio, transferred passenger and stuff from one car to another and, knowing that the traffic was just as bad Southbound, started our homeward journey, stopping only for a drive-thru MacDonalds cup of tea. We finally walked in through the front door at 19.30 after nearly nine hours on the road.

Dinner, two beers and a cup of tea later, bro has now gone home and I am stiff all over. Moral of the tale, don't travel on Bank Holiday and always, always check both the weather and the traffic conditiions before leaving home.