The top two photos were taken on Friday during our long drive home in the floods. I have lots more but just didnt' get time to upload them to my USB key. The thistles is when we stopped for a few minutes. The next picture is of my Dad, Sister, Mum & Allan, just setting up the table with picnic food at the concert. The next is me taking it easy with my crisps & savour drink with a wine glass of sparkling water. My Dad is dressed up against the rain, even though it wasn't very heavy!!
Well, what a journey we had going back to Allan’s last Friday, it took us just over 5 hours to get home. Going by the news the next morning though, people had it a lot worse than us, so I think we were pretty lucky.
I’d spent all Friday morning at work looking at websites for traffic reports & keeping an eye on what was happening on the M4, as this is the road I use to go to Allan’s. As the reports weren’t good, I’d decided to leave work at 1pm, but about ½ hour before this, the rain cleared up and the sun came out in Slough (where I work), so decided to stick it out until 2pm.
Thank god I did wait as Allan called me just before 1pm to say his job had been cancelled & he was on his way home. I let him know what was happening in the M4 and asked him to come & pick me up, which he did, bless him.
Anyway, we got on the M4 at Junction 5 and we were going along great until we hit a couple of junctions up and then it took about an hour to get to the next junction. We just sat there in a queue of traffic that stretched as far as the eye could see and on the radio they were saying there was a queue of hardly moving traffic for the next 20 to 30 miles.
Allan took the decision to come off the motorway and head up towards Didcot & Oxford, then go cross country to his home. Everywhere we went though was just solid traffic and I was just so pleased that Allan was driving, as I would have been stuck on the M4 for goodness knows how long, at least we were moving, albeit very slowly.
I did get bored after about 2½ hours in very slow moving line of cars, so started taking pictures of flooded fields, cars going through deep’ish water, a little soggy bunny at the side of the road, just to pass the time and keep a record of our mammoth journey home. It was funny though, as people were quite chatty in the cars going in the opposite direction. We’d be finding out where they’d been, what the road was like, finding out where they were going and telling them what it was like where we’d been, it was all very jolly really.
At least we got home that night anyway, which was more than some people could do as they were stuck on the M5 over night!!
Anyway, Saturday, day of the open air concert (which was in Gloucestershire) started off not too bad, I spent the day making up a bed for Mum & Dad and making sure Allan’s house was looking not too untidy. We also phoned the venue to see if the concert was still going ahead and the message said they were, great. Just before Mum, Dad & sister arrived; it started to rain again, quite heavy and for the rest of the afternoon. We kept ringing the venue, who said it was still going ahead. It got to about 5pm and we decided to go. We set off and when we got nearer to the concert, it was getting drier, we were still a bit dubious though as the Friday night’s concert had been cancelled due to weather & waterlogged field.
We got to the place and it wasn’t too muddy and in fact, where we set up all our stuff it was remarkably firm underfoot. We had an absolutely fabulous evening; it only rained lightly a couple of times, even though my Dad & sister look like they’re dressed for a force 10 storm, it even warmed up in the evening.
While the others were having their picnic, I had my crisps & a couple of savoury drinks, as we’d taken a flask of hot water for me. In the interval we had a walk round the venue, but it wasn’t really big enough to have a really good wander round as the area was fenced, not like the one we go to in West Wycombe, which has huge grounds to walk & explore. We then had pudding and I had my lemon bar, which I was going to make into biscuits beforehand, but just didn’t get the time and I thought I’d better not as I was already cooking the crisps. I stuck to my sparkling water and didn’t feel tempted with any wine, even though bottles were being popped all round us.
The fireworks at the end of the evening were spectacular and just kept on going. Every time we thought they’d finished, the orchestra would strike up again and more fireworks were set off. So we had a brilliant time and were so glad we decided to go in the end.
Sunday I found a bit hard and we had a BBQ and because I wasn’t having any, there was a space in front of me on the table and Allan proceeded to put all the meat in front of me. I didn’t say much about this, but I think Mum realised that I wasn’t that happy & when I got back to the table it had all been moved, thanks Mum. I didn’t have any problem whatsoever when I was preparing the salad bits and potatoes, it was just the smell of the cooked meat. Anyway, I stuck to the food packs and felt better for it.
I think I am now a hardened walker as my friend and I went out walking last night, even though it was raining. We were both really pleased that we did it and didn’t just sit at home watching telly. I must admit, I never thought I’d ever put down here that I enjoyed walking in the rain, getting soaked and looking like a drowned rat, but I did. Lesley, your energy must be rubbing off, although I don’t think I’ll be running yet!!
I’d spent all Friday morning at work looking at websites for traffic reports & keeping an eye on what was happening on the M4, as this is the road I use to go to Allan’s. As the reports weren’t good, I’d decided to leave work at 1pm, but about ½ hour before this, the rain cleared up and the sun came out in Slough (where I work), so decided to stick it out until 2pm.
Thank god I did wait as Allan called me just before 1pm to say his job had been cancelled & he was on his way home. I let him know what was happening in the M4 and asked him to come & pick me up, which he did, bless him.
Anyway, we got on the M4 at Junction 5 and we were going along great until we hit a couple of junctions up and then it took about an hour to get to the next junction. We just sat there in a queue of traffic that stretched as far as the eye could see and on the radio they were saying there was a queue of hardly moving traffic for the next 20 to 30 miles.
Allan took the decision to come off the motorway and head up towards Didcot & Oxford, then go cross country to his home. Everywhere we went though was just solid traffic and I was just so pleased that Allan was driving, as I would have been stuck on the M4 for goodness knows how long, at least we were moving, albeit very slowly.
I did get bored after about 2½ hours in very slow moving line of cars, so started taking pictures of flooded fields, cars going through deep’ish water, a little soggy bunny at the side of the road, just to pass the time and keep a record of our mammoth journey home. It was funny though, as people were quite chatty in the cars going in the opposite direction. We’d be finding out where they’d been, what the road was like, finding out where they were going and telling them what it was like where we’d been, it was all very jolly really.
At least we got home that night anyway, which was more than some people could do as they were stuck on the M5 over night!!
Anyway, Saturday, day of the open air concert (which was in Gloucestershire) started off not too bad, I spent the day making up a bed for Mum & Dad and making sure Allan’s house was looking not too untidy. We also phoned the venue to see if the concert was still going ahead and the message said they were, great. Just before Mum, Dad & sister arrived; it started to rain again, quite heavy and for the rest of the afternoon. We kept ringing the venue, who said it was still going ahead. It got to about 5pm and we decided to go. We set off and when we got nearer to the concert, it was getting drier, we were still a bit dubious though as the Friday night’s concert had been cancelled due to weather & waterlogged field.
We got to the place and it wasn’t too muddy and in fact, where we set up all our stuff it was remarkably firm underfoot. We had an absolutely fabulous evening; it only rained lightly a couple of times, even though my Dad & sister look like they’re dressed for a force 10 storm, it even warmed up in the evening.
While the others were having their picnic, I had my crisps & a couple of savoury drinks, as we’d taken a flask of hot water for me. In the interval we had a walk round the venue, but it wasn’t really big enough to have a really good wander round as the area was fenced, not like the one we go to in West Wycombe, which has huge grounds to walk & explore. We then had pudding and I had my lemon bar, which I was going to make into biscuits beforehand, but just didn’t get the time and I thought I’d better not as I was already cooking the crisps. I stuck to my sparkling water and didn’t feel tempted with any wine, even though bottles were being popped all round us.
The fireworks at the end of the evening were spectacular and just kept on going. Every time we thought they’d finished, the orchestra would strike up again and more fireworks were set off. So we had a brilliant time and were so glad we decided to go in the end.
Sunday I found a bit hard and we had a BBQ and because I wasn’t having any, there was a space in front of me on the table and Allan proceeded to put all the meat in front of me. I didn’t say much about this, but I think Mum realised that I wasn’t that happy & when I got back to the table it had all been moved, thanks Mum. I didn’t have any problem whatsoever when I was preparing the salad bits and potatoes, it was just the smell of the cooked meat. Anyway, I stuck to the food packs and felt better for it.
I think I am now a hardened walker as my friend and I went out walking last night, even though it was raining. We were both really pleased that we did it and didn’t just sit at home watching telly. I must admit, I never thought I’d ever put down here that I enjoyed walking in the rain, getting soaked and looking like a drowned rat, but I did. Lesley, your energy must be rubbing off, although I don’t think I’ll be running yet!!
3 comments:
Well done you for ploughing through your weekend plans despite adversity and despite things not looking promising. Sometimes getting moving is half the battle isn't it and when you actually do something you realise what fun there is to be had!
Also well done for resisting temptation at the BBQ - it can be so hard when soemthing looks and smells gorgeous and is within your reach!! So easy just to take a bite - and you didn't!!
Re the walking - it's when you get out and about despite bad weather or other excuses that your realise that the 'exercise for life' message is really sinking in. I'll let you off not running, as long as the possibility of one day running is still on the table for sometime in the future! You'll probably be surprised in a few weeks time, when you've lost even more, how much more you can do than you could even think about before!! That's all I'll say - but, I'm very proud of you for the walking!!
((((((((big hug)))))))))
Lesley x
Thank you Lesley, you got me welling up there.
Amanda x
I enjoyed the weekend as well, it was really good fun. I think we should gone for a walk whilst Allan went to B & Q. Must remember that another time.
Looking forward to the walk this afternoon.
Well done at the BBQ, keep up the good work. For our BBQ on 5th August you must have a bowl and plate in front of you so that no food can be put under your nose.
lots of love
Mum
xxxxxxx
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