Day 93 - Saturday 20th June
I wake with a sense of anticipation - we're not only going out today, we're going on a proper expedition! First, though, we have to get our son out of bed. I begin to call him at 8am, repeating the process in between breakfast, baking a sourdough loaf and getting myself showered and dressed. I hear him in the shower at 8.30. I start my own shower and his is still running long after I finish. We're due to leave at 9 but it's actually 9.30 when I start the car. Our niece is leaving for London late morning so it's important we get there before she goes.
Son had felt carsick on the 15 minute drive home from our daughter's house so he's in the front; hubby gives him the postcode for the satnav and then immediately starts to dictate the route. I find it irritating that whenever I drive he wants to decide the route, especially when we have a device that works out the quickest way based on current traffic reports. I bite my tongue - it's not worth destroying the upbeat atmosphere in the car. Our eta increases by 5 minutes as the satnav catches up with our position. Our son takes over the music, which is an improvement over Chris Moyles and his laddish acolytes on Radio X.
The journey goes well until shortly after we join the M40, when we suddenly grind to a halt. We're pretty much stationery for a while, inching forward but making no real progress. No sign of any emergency vehicles, but we notice a car on the hard shoulder of the opposite carriageway with a shattered passenger window. Blue lights begin to approach - an ambulance, then a police car, then a paramedic. Gradually traffic on the other carriageway reduces to a trickle and then stops altogether. We finally get close enough to see that the blue lights are on the outside lane, and the traffic in all the lanes edges towards the left. I can't see any casualties, thank goodness, but there is a car facing sideways blocking all three lanes and we have to pass on the hard shoulder. We're fortunate to pass before they close the entire motorway.
With traffic backed up behind us, the way ahead is clear and we make good progress until we leave the motorway. As we approach a roundabout we're forced to a stop again. Moving to the outside lane to avoid the obstruction, I'm shocked to see medics working on a casualty on the ground, a battered motorcycle lying on its side nearby. It's unprecedented to see two serious accidents in a single journey and I wonder whether driving skills have been impaired by the lockdown; I certainly feel I have to consciously focus on doing some of the things that normally come naturally when driving.
We're exactly an hour late arriving at my sister in law's but thankfully my niece is still there. We sit in the garden and chat for a while, amused by my niece's miniature dachshound which talks a good game but isn't quite sure whether to approach us or not. My brother in law starts to barbeque and my son and I put up a gazebo in case it rains ... meanwhile my niece eats so that she can get on the road. We say goodbye to her before sitting down to a feast. It rains a little but we all have enough cover to remain dry. After lunch we go for a walk with my sister in law's labrador. Struggling uphill I realise how out of condition I've become due to walking so much less during lockdown. It's refreshing to be surrounded by countryside and wide vistas; I feel my eyes relaxing as I take in the distant views.
Back at the house we enjoy a cold drink and pack away the gazebo. Our son is liaising with his girlfriend who is joining our household today. They haven't seen each other for three months apart from a brief, socially distanced visit last Tuesday and we've said that she can come and live with us so that they can see each other properly. We'll isolate for a week after she arrives so that we don't put anybody at risk, although they are both sure they had Covid at university. We meet her folks in the car park of some services on the M40, and just like that we are a household of four.
Hubby has been fancying a kebab so we stop in Emmer Green where there's an excellent kebab shop and several other options for anybody who wants something different. We are now three veggies and a carnivore. However, after our enormous barbeque nobody is feeling very hungry and our son's girlfriend has eaten quite recently, too. We decide that kebabs can wait for another night; I'll cook instead. We're still eating dinner when hubby takes a call from our daughter - there has been an incident in Reading and she wants to check we're all OK. The news is sketchy but it seems to be a knife attack in Forbury Gardens. We tell our son's girlfriend to let her parents know she's safe, and I confirm that my family are OK. Early reports suggest a link to to an earlier Black Lives Matter rally but that appears to have been over for a couple of hours before the incident.
Hubby and I watch the news after dinner, hoping for more information but unable to find out much more. Unconfirmed reports say a lone attacker believed to be Libyan stabbed several people who were picnicking or drinking in groups in the park, with three people having died and two being seriously injured. No statement from the police, but plenty of speculation. In a subdued mood, we go to bed.
Earlier in the day I was feeling gratitude for spending time with family, but tonight I am grateful nobody I know seems to have been hurt.
Son had felt carsick on the 15 minute drive home from our daughter's house so he's in the front; hubby gives him the postcode for the satnav and then immediately starts to dictate the route. I find it irritating that whenever I drive he wants to decide the route, especially when we have a device that works out the quickest way based on current traffic reports. I bite my tongue - it's not worth destroying the upbeat atmosphere in the car. Our eta increases by 5 minutes as the satnav catches up with our position. Our son takes over the music, which is an improvement over Chris Moyles and his laddish acolytes on Radio X.
The journey goes well until shortly after we join the M40, when we suddenly grind to a halt. We're pretty much stationery for a while, inching forward but making no real progress. No sign of any emergency vehicles, but we notice a car on the hard shoulder of the opposite carriageway with a shattered passenger window. Blue lights begin to approach - an ambulance, then a police car, then a paramedic. Gradually traffic on the other carriageway reduces to a trickle and then stops altogether. We finally get close enough to see that the blue lights are on the outside lane, and the traffic in all the lanes edges towards the left. I can't see any casualties, thank goodness, but there is a car facing sideways blocking all three lanes and we have to pass on the hard shoulder. We're fortunate to pass before they close the entire motorway.
With traffic backed up behind us, the way ahead is clear and we make good progress until we leave the motorway. As we approach a roundabout we're forced to a stop again. Moving to the outside lane to avoid the obstruction, I'm shocked to see medics working on a casualty on the ground, a battered motorcycle lying on its side nearby. It's unprecedented to see two serious accidents in a single journey and I wonder whether driving skills have been impaired by the lockdown; I certainly feel I have to consciously focus on doing some of the things that normally come naturally when driving.
We're exactly an hour late arriving at my sister in law's but thankfully my niece is still there. We sit in the garden and chat for a while, amused by my niece's miniature dachshound which talks a good game but isn't quite sure whether to approach us or not. My brother in law starts to barbeque and my son and I put up a gazebo in case it rains ... meanwhile my niece eats so that she can get on the road. We say goodbye to her before sitting down to a feast. It rains a little but we all have enough cover to remain dry. After lunch we go for a walk with my sister in law's labrador. Struggling uphill I realise how out of condition I've become due to walking so much less during lockdown. It's refreshing to be surrounded by countryside and wide vistas; I feel my eyes relaxing as I take in the distant views.
Back at the house we enjoy a cold drink and pack away the gazebo. Our son is liaising with his girlfriend who is joining our household today. They haven't seen each other for three months apart from a brief, socially distanced visit last Tuesday and we've said that she can come and live with us so that they can see each other properly. We'll isolate for a week after she arrives so that we don't put anybody at risk, although they are both sure they had Covid at university. We meet her folks in the car park of some services on the M40, and just like that we are a household of four.
Hubby has been fancying a kebab so we stop in Emmer Green where there's an excellent kebab shop and several other options for anybody who wants something different. We are now three veggies and a carnivore. However, after our enormous barbeque nobody is feeling very hungry and our son's girlfriend has eaten quite recently, too. We decide that kebabs can wait for another night; I'll cook instead. We're still eating dinner when hubby takes a call from our daughter - there has been an incident in Reading and she wants to check we're all OK. The news is sketchy but it seems to be a knife attack in Forbury Gardens. We tell our son's girlfriend to let her parents know she's safe, and I confirm that my family are OK. Early reports suggest a link to to an earlier Black Lives Matter rally but that appears to have been over for a couple of hours before the incident.
Hubby and I watch the news after dinner, hoping for more information but unable to find out much more. Unconfirmed reports say a lone attacker believed to be Libyan stabbed several people who were picnicking or drinking in groups in the park, with three people having died and two being seriously injured. No statement from the police, but plenty of speculation. In a subdued mood, we go to bed.
Earlier in the day I was feeling gratitude for spending time with family, but tonight I am grateful nobody I know seems to have been hurt.
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