I have just returned from a lovely weekend away. I travelled to Kent via the Dartford Crossing both ways where the speed on the M1 and M25 motorway was slower than B roads for long stretches. There is something very wrong with our infrastructure if people cannot travel without excess delay. As I approached the Dartford Tunnel the red-lit road signs said "40mph". If only we could have gone that fast. I went through the tunnel at a maximum of 20mph. This was a Sunday morning, not even a week day.
On the way down to Kent on Friday afternoon the traffic dawdled along the motorway and I noticed that the bridges over the motorway were also chokka. Lorries were lined up and stationary in many places. We hear complaints from the government that we are not productive as a country. While the roads are blocked, we can't be totally productive. Drivers are earning money sitting behind a wheel and going nowhere!
Despite the slow journey, it was well worth the trip. My friend, Jane, and her family had organised a celebration for a lot of family milestones at Kench Hill country house - and what an amazing place it was. In the grounds were vegetable plots, a polytunnel, fruit trees, animals and playgrounds for children- a mini paradise.
The house itself was once a nursing home and some of Jane's guests had actually been born there. In fact, I might have gone to the toilet in the very room that David Frost was born in! Now the house is a charity run by Hackney Borough Council for children to holiday in. It was extra nice to be part of such a big gathering of a wonderful family. The circumstances of me being an orphaned, only child who is now divorced made me so aware of how marvellous it is to be part of a very big clan.
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| Cliff on the BBQ |
The small irony was that Danielle was due to come with me but at the last minute, Ezra-Mae had really bad diarrhoea and sickness so that put the kybosh on that and then Danielle contracted the same bug. I took the lovely cake she had made down to the party and it was very much appreciated by all who had a bit. Basically the cake was one of her chocolate heart attacks on a plate! Talking of plates, Sophie stepped up to the plate in my absence and was Danielle's angel of mercy while I was miles away having fun. Thank you, Sophie!!!
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Mattaya trying cheer her sister up
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