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mitchy at 12:35pm on 20/11/2004
mitchy at 12:35pm on 20/11/2004Yesterday I went over to Maldon to have lunch with a friend. Maldon's not far from me, about an hour's drive or so, depending on the traffic. Now I have a choice of two routes. I can go the route that looks the most direct on the map, which is basically to follow the A414 all the way from Hatfield (5 mins away) to Maldon. Except that this route involves two major town centres and 9000 traffic lights/roundabouts and requires deep concentration on road signs(remember this for later). The other route is to go down the A1(M) onto the the M25, go clockwise to Junction 28 (Chelmsford), and ride the A12 up to the A414 and into Maldon. This is actually a very straightforward route and works out quicker IF the M25 isn't solid traffic (remember this for later).
So I drove over via route 2, intending to arrive at 12.45. I've left myself 15 mins for navigating in Maldon, because I'm not meeting Moira at her house, but at a car park in town, near where she works. All is going splendidly, until I reach the Maldon Road...it's closed. There's a police car blocking the road and no diversion signs. I follow the other cars that are heading straight on. If I'd stayed on this road, it might not have been so bad, but I decided to get clever. "Ahh!" I thought. "I have a cunning plan! I'm heading east, Maldon is north of me. If I take a left turn off this road, it should lead me back around to the Maldon road eventually!" So I did! And it did! But when I got to the junction to turn right back onto the Maldon road, I saw that it was blocked there, too. *sobs* So I had to turn around and go all the way back, muttering. By now I was late and as I don't have a hands free mobile, I couldn't ring Moira to say why I was late. And besides which, I needed all my concentration on where the heck I was going to end up at.
By a huge bit of good fortune, the road turned out to lead me straight onto the bottom of the street I actually needed and which the car park was on! Hurrah! And then I took two wrong turns into the wrong car park and ended up having to circle up around the high street until I found the top of the road and the correct car park sign. I finally found Moira, a mere 25 minutes late. Oops.
Anyway, we had a superb lunch at a cafe wonderfully called "The Chocolate Theatre Cafe". They make their own chocolate on the premises as well as some of the yummiest cakes ever. But first we decided to try the all day breakfast. My god, the size of the plates! You could have fit a roast oxen onto 'em :P Having demolished vast amounts of sausages, eggs, beans, tomatos and toast, we indulged in the aforementioned cakes. *droooooools* Moira had the toffee & butterscotch and I had the coffee and walnut. Gorgeous!
We waddled back to the car and then to Moira's house, where more tea was supplied, and I finally got to meet Moira's hubby Mark. After much more yakking, I finally prised myself off the sofa at about ten to four and headed off home, hoping to miss the rush hour.
HAH!
It was a Friday, everyone leaves early. I am SUCH a dolt because I thought the M25 would be painless. It was solid. Totally utterly solid. It took me a full hour to get from the A12 junction to the M11 junction, a trip that had taken me 10 minutes that morning. At the M11, I prudently abandoned the M25 and headed up the M11 to pick up the A414 with the intention of resorting to route A. It would be busy, because it was now 5 o'clock but at least it would be moving traffic. And it was all working splendidly until I missed a crucial road sign at a roundabout and got hopelessly lost in Harlow. At one point I drove twice round a roundabout because there were 3 exits, two of which were signposted "Chelmsford M11". I was confused and I knew I didn't want to go that way because it was back the way I'd come! Bah! I finally hacked my way back to the junction where I'd missed the turning and once I'd got back onto the right road, I was home inside fifteen minutes.
Total time of journey home: 2 and a half hours :P
Fortunately, I can safely say the company and the cake were worth it :)
And now - squee! "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" DVD! And "Without A Trace" Season 1 DVDs! Once I've done a quick bit of shopping, I think we can safely say my afternoon is booked solid :)
So I drove over via route 2, intending to arrive at 12.45. I've left myself 15 mins for navigating in Maldon, because I'm not meeting Moira at her house, but at a car park in town, near where she works. All is going splendidly, until I reach the Maldon Road...it's closed. There's a police car blocking the road and no diversion signs. I follow the other cars that are heading straight on. If I'd stayed on this road, it might not have been so bad, but I decided to get clever. "Ahh!" I thought. "I have a cunning plan! I'm heading east, Maldon is north of me. If I take a left turn off this road, it should lead me back around to the Maldon road eventually!" So I did! And it did! But when I got to the junction to turn right back onto the Maldon road, I saw that it was blocked there, too. *sobs* So I had to turn around and go all the way back, muttering. By now I was late and as I don't have a hands free mobile, I couldn't ring Moira to say why I was late. And besides which, I needed all my concentration on where the heck I was going to end up at.
By a huge bit of good fortune, the road turned out to lead me straight onto the bottom of the street I actually needed and which the car park was on! Hurrah! And then I took two wrong turns into the wrong car park and ended up having to circle up around the high street until I found the top of the road and the correct car park sign. I finally found Moira, a mere 25 minutes late. Oops.
Anyway, we had a superb lunch at a cafe wonderfully called "The Chocolate Theatre Cafe". They make their own chocolate on the premises as well as some of the yummiest cakes ever. But first we decided to try the all day breakfast. My god, the size of the plates! You could have fit a roast oxen onto 'em :P Having demolished vast amounts of sausages, eggs, beans, tomatos and toast, we indulged in the aforementioned cakes. *droooooools* Moira had the toffee & butterscotch and I had the coffee and walnut. Gorgeous!
We waddled back to the car and then to Moira's house, where more tea was supplied, and I finally got to meet Moira's hubby Mark. After much more yakking, I finally prised myself off the sofa at about ten to four and headed off home, hoping to miss the rush hour.
HAH!
It was a Friday, everyone leaves early. I am SUCH a dolt because I thought the M25 would be painless. It was solid. Totally utterly solid. It took me a full hour to get from the A12 junction to the M11 junction, a trip that had taken me 10 minutes that morning. At the M11, I prudently abandoned the M25 and headed up the M11 to pick up the A414 with the intention of resorting to route A. It would be busy, because it was now 5 o'clock but at least it would be moving traffic. And it was all working splendidly until I missed a crucial road sign at a roundabout and got hopelessly lost in Harlow. At one point I drove twice round a roundabout because there were 3 exits, two of which were signposted "Chelmsford M11". I was confused and I knew I didn't want to go that way because it was back the way I'd come! Bah! I finally hacked my way back to the junction where I'd missed the turning and once I'd got back onto the right road, I was home inside fifteen minutes.
Total time of journey home: 2 and a half hours :P
Fortunately, I can safely say the company and the cake were worth it :)
And now - squee! "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" DVD! And "Without A Trace" Season 1 DVDs! Once I've done a quick bit of shopping, I think we can safely say my afternoon is booked solid :)
amused
(no subject)
mmm ... english breakfast