Up North

Later this morning I'm hitting the road to spend a lovely long weekend with great friends who I haven't seen in a couple of years.  Nothing quite as fancy as going abroad to Madrid, but still, it's a journey up north to Birmingham and it should take a mean 3 hours by car. 

Sadly the weather is foul, the roads will inevitably be full of spray and the windscreen wipers will be on full charge.  But as bad as it sounds I'm looking forward to driving on good tarmac, following clear road signs and being thankful for people who use their indicators, mirrors and who sometimes go that extra mile and flash their headlights to let you pull  in off the slip road. 

This is a novelty compared to what I'm used to - a stretch of dirt road that's swamped with rain, main roads often badly potholed, the lack of concern for anyone else travelling on the same strip of ragged tarmac, vehicles coming towards you without any lights, mopeds coming towards you, swaying, as they carry their cargo of 5 children or 2 pigs.

By contrast this should be a breeze, but the more I think about it the more I hope Nic and Dave and their little boy Edze are waiting for me with a stiff drink.  I may need it.