M5

There was a little bit of concern a few days before we were due to fly out of Heathrow Airport, due to all the unexpected snow fall across England. Most of the smaller airports around us were closed and nightly news reports showed stranded passengers everywhere - not really what you want to see and hear just before you are about to fly out of the country (with connecting flights to catch) but we remained positive and hoped for the best! Our good friend Kevin kindly offered to drive us to the airport on Sunday morning, which we were really grateful for because it saved us a lot time and made things 100% easier. A lot of the "A roads" (side roads) were closed due to all the snow freezing and turning to ice, but fortunately the motorway had been gritted and well looked after - making our 2 1/2 hour journey from Taunton to London a breeze!

I had mixed emotions travelling along the M5, a road we have travelled quite a lot over the past 12 months. I felt sad not knowing when I would be seeing the English countryside again. England really is a beautiful place and although I missed the mountains here, there is something spectacular about looking out in every direction, trying to see the earth's edge as it stretches as far as the eye can see! For our last time - we saw it all covered in white!

I'm sure for you looking at these 2 pictures you just see a snow covered field, but for me, I see England, I see our little family packed into our Peugeot driving along the M5 with 3 lanes of cars, some racing past at 90 - 100mph. I see myself staring out the window, with feet up on the dash or trying to check my email on Mick's iPhone before feeling sick. Mick is singing along to loud music or playing a game with the girls. Leilani and Emily are talking to each other in the back, usually about where we are going or what we are going to do. They find shapes in the clouds or sing songs over and over. We would never get far before we would hear 'Can you turn Man in the Mirror on please?' We will miss our drives along the M5.