Phew!

I have arrived at the lovely home of my God-daughter, Lou, and am writing this (starting it at least) while I wait for her and Gerry to come home.  The house is under the shadow of the Pennines and, although on the edge of one of the old Lancashire mill towns, it is secluded and at the end of a no-through-road road.  It's therefore very quiet - by sub-urban standards.  I am sitting in the sun in the back garden with a coffee, surrounded by plants and trees and there are no midges!

I find it hard to believe that half an hour ago I left a manic motorway system behind me.  I drove all the way down the M74 and the M6 stopping for an hour in Penrith.  The drive was fairly relaxed and, apart from a couple of maniacs driving at high speed, it was noticeable how the speed of most people was relatively law-abiding and the driving considerate.  As an aside one of the two speeding cars looked as though it had had a tyre blow out and had ploughed up a bank.  The police were in attendance.  There is a certain poetic justice in such situations.

However things changed dramatically when I got onto the Manchester urban motorway network.  Speeding, lane changing, tailgating, under and overtaking with no though for anyone else and a general lack of consideration seemed to be the norm.  I do not know those roads so if I had not had satnav in the car then negotiating the five (?) motorways I had to traverse to get round Manchester whilst coping with the traffic would have been virtually impossible.

Friday morning:  Last night we went out for a meal with Lou's Mum whom I have known since we were both aged 4.  That's a long time ago.  What an excellent night it was too.  

Life's pretty good really.

Now for the next leg of the journey to Exeter.  More motorways.  Ah well.