Cowboy monday
(Suzy at Lymm service station with a wooden cowboy: Lymm, England)
Yesterday was a long day. It was longer for my chauffeurs than for me – Ian and Suzy did a sterling job of driving all the way from London to Glasgow, contending with two false starts, two map reading errors and an extended dinner stop in Carlisle. We ended up dropping in on my mum on the final stretch, leaving us about one and a half hours to go. We had been travelling all day by this point.
My day began in North London at Chalk Farm where I was staying with my friend, Mark. When he left for work, I pretty much did too, but for the tube. I left the house just before 8am, caught the Northern line all the way to South London at Oval. My first setback was discovering that Oval was definitely not the station I anticipated arriving at. Obviously I realized this only when I emerged. I walked out of the doors on to a huge junction and immediately thought, “damn.” I had to pick my way to Alyn’s house (where Ian and Suzy were waiting) after making a hurried call. I made it there with burning hands from my useless ‘weekend’ suitcase; the wheels are so close to each other that the entire case rolls over like an obedient dog each time I hit a kerb or a slight undulation in the pavement. I believe I might have sworn at it a couple of times out of the many infuriating rolling incidents.
Once I arrived, we set off almost immediately as time was racing towards 10am. We were set back instantly as some way down the road, we reaslised something had been left in Alyn’s flat. We went back and picked it up. Once partway around the block, Ian’s phone rang with a call from Alyn. This prompted Suzy to admit suddenly, “I’ve left my phone”. We retreated again to his flat where we retrieved not only the phone (which Alyn had not yet discovered) but the phone’s charger – this was the item Alyn was in fact calling about. Finally after a few hairy moments, we escaped London to general cheering in the car.
The only other major setback was a substantial detour on leaving Lymm services. We had stopped there for a doughnut refresher break, the inevitable toilet trip and to pose with some wooden cowboys. Upon leaving the carpark (which, I might add was confusing enough and took several minutes) we met with two routes; one leading East, one West. Requiring a route North, and at an excessively busy roundabout, we chose what we hoped was the more northern of the two routes, but our choice was unfortunately flawed. We ended up in a pretty English village where all the M6 signs had been turned the wrong way. Frustrating. I’ve realised communication is key when navigating and that a little assertiveness goes a long way – literally. A driver doesn’t want a lot of backchat from a navigator, just short, simple instructions. Anyway, aside from these slight mishaps and a couple of other minor ones, the journey was pleasant but long. We even managed to stop in Carlisle for a relaxed dinner with my mother, so that was a definite bonus. It might have led to us not arriving in Glasgow until almost 11pm, but it was worth it.
– Today Rosie is having her camera fixed in Glasgow, Scotland–
