Sunday, November 25, 2012
Journey
Today is about a journey - one that started and finished with heavy rain.
Oh dear - there has been a lot of rain. People in the southwest of England have suffered most as a result of the rain. But in the north east, too, there is flooding - but mostly in the fields. Some roads have had to be closed, though as a result. The rivers look very full, brown and wild.
But fortunately for us, the rain stopped, the clouds were blown away and we enjoyed sunshine. The low light of a winter's day enhanced the beautiful winter trees, silhouetted against the blue skies.
The miles passed.
We stopped for pots of tea at a service station.
And then on we went - the journey was going well. I calculated we should be home by half past four - still in daylight.
Sadly, no! We were on the M25 after all!
We passed one of the overhead gantries with the message that time to the M3 junction would be just 4 minutes.
More like 54 minutes.
The motorway ground to a complete halt.
It was clear that something had gone badly wrong - police cars, fire engines, ambulances all arrived - not very far in front of us.
The fact that this bad accident was such a short distance ahead was to our advantage; once the police had sorted things out as much as possible, they were able to open one lane (of the 5 available lanes).
It didn't take long for all of us at the front of the queue to pass by, seeing a car on its roof amongst all the blue flashing lights.
By this time it was dark and raining hard. We could see men on their knees, working on the overturned car - presumably there were people inside.
I just felt so sad for everybody. We had been delayed - but at least we would sleep in our bed tonight and be up in the morning to continue with our normal lives.
Maybe dealing with these things is normal life for emergency service workers, but I wouldn't have liked to have been in the dark in torrential rain in awkward positions and having to make life and death decisions.
Just as we got home, another traffic report came on the radio.......the queue we had almost headed had by this time stretched to 10 miles long.
It has been a lovely few days with our Newcastle family.
I do feel quite tempted to go and live there too. I doubt that Bill would feel the same, though.
We have enjoyed a time of history, culture, art, religion and churches......and eating and drinking. (Mostly drinks of the tea variety)
I have a lot of photos to sort out.
But not tomorrow.
Normal life for us means Mondays in Dorking. I shall take in the stuff I bought in Tynemouth yesterday and get it written up and priced and as much as possible can stay there on my shelves.
Oh dear - there has been a lot of rain. People in the southwest of England have suffered most as a result of the rain. But in the north east, too, there is flooding - but mostly in the fields. Some roads have had to be closed, though as a result. The rivers look very full, brown and wild.
But fortunately for us, the rain stopped, the clouds were blown away and we enjoyed sunshine. The low light of a winter's day enhanced the beautiful winter trees, silhouetted against the blue skies.
The miles passed.
We stopped for pots of tea at a service station.
And then on we went - the journey was going well. I calculated we should be home by half past four - still in daylight.
Sadly, no! We were on the M25 after all!
We passed one of the overhead gantries with the message that time to the M3 junction would be just 4 minutes.
More like 54 minutes.
The motorway ground to a complete halt.
It was clear that something had gone badly wrong - police cars, fire engines, ambulances all arrived - not very far in front of us.
The fact that this bad accident was such a short distance ahead was to our advantage; once the police had sorted things out as much as possible, they were able to open one lane (of the 5 available lanes).
It didn't take long for all of us at the front of the queue to pass by, seeing a car on its roof amongst all the blue flashing lights.
By this time it was dark and raining hard. We could see men on their knees, working on the overturned car - presumably there were people inside.
I just felt so sad for everybody. We had been delayed - but at least we would sleep in our bed tonight and be up in the morning to continue with our normal lives.
Maybe dealing with these things is normal life for emergency service workers, but I wouldn't have liked to have been in the dark in torrential rain in awkward positions and having to make life and death decisions.
Just as we got home, another traffic report came on the radio.......the queue we had almost headed had by this time stretched to 10 miles long.
It has been a lovely few days with our Newcastle family.
I do feel quite tempted to go and live there too. I doubt that Bill would feel the same, though.
We have enjoyed a time of history, culture, art, religion and churches......and eating and drinking. (Mostly drinks of the tea variety)
I have a lot of photos to sort out.
But not tomorrow.
Normal life for us means Mondays in Dorking. I shall take in the stuff I bought in Tynemouth yesterday and get it written up and priced and as much as possible can stay there on my shelves.
