Writing for Fun
May 2017
M25 - Jenni Bowers
'Oh no please not the M25 again,' cried Thelma, 'you know I hate that graveyard piece of tarmac.'
Ben looked at her, 'Well if you really want to go the 'pretty route' it will take hours and I thought this time you were keen to get up there fast?'
'Yes, but there must be another way to cut some time off, I love them and want to be with them but the mere thought of that road makes my blood boil and I feel scared already – those huge lorries to try and overtake when they are playing 'silly buggers', racing each other and suddenly swerving in front of us, I can't bear it.'
'Ok, ok, let's have another look at the computer, see which alternate route we can take up to Grimsby this time.'
As they sat discussing various options for a more peaceful journey, where for at least two hours Thelma could happily potter along admiring gardens, floral roundabouts, large, expensive houses, fields, farmland, kestrels hovering over road-kill, windmills and poppy fields galore en-route to see her beloved daughter and the children, it became clear that once again it would not be a fast journey, so they perused the lunch options open to them along the way.
'The bird sanctuary at Frampton Marsh is always lovely and we can picnic there,' Ben proposed.
'But I like the Nature reserve at Mareham Point, also, we know the jacket spuds are great and the walks around the lakes are full of wild orchids, damselle flies, butterflies and bees drinking nectar from the hawthorne.'
'So you want a slow, photography day then after all?!' he replied.
'Well, ok – just let's do the A1 then and stop for our lunch at the Nene Valley railway – that's a compromise and not as scary as the M25.' Thelma smiled, at least she'd almost got her way and she'd still be driving the prettier Lincolnshire bit of the route and the A roads up there were not too slow unless of course they were trapped behind a tractor for miles on the A15!