M6 toll road
here is britains newest and only toll motorway. it cost £2 and was definately worth it. it’s a bit of cheek that we pay our road tax etc and then have to pay some more to have a decent road, but there we go (very fastly).
the government had arranged for a number of roadworks on the non-toll road before and after the proper toll bit so you felt like you were really getting the benefit of paying. i appreciated this as it was a kind of reverse familiarisation routine.
here is a rain white-out to make things even more fun:
a row of blue cars
kids love cars. and colours. so kids love a line of cars all the same colour. at least mine did.
another name change
kezia’s dolls changed names again. tiny baby is now called olivia.
anyone with little kids knows that sometimes you need a ‘code name’ for familiar items so you can talk about it without the child knowing. we used to call Esther’s comfort blanket Bernard so she wouldn’t realise.
Olivia, aka Tiny Baby, is called TB which meant for comedy moments shouting “have you got TB ?” “no, you have” “no i haven’t seen her since we took Kezia for a Preecy Egg” etc.
roadchef
there’s much i could say about motorway service stations, but i shall spare you. this one is called Roadchef which conjures up images of a line of chefs cooking roadkill (well it did in my mind)
and look at it inside with it’s wifi capabilities and airport waiting lounge style comforts. things never used to be like this.
the road to the north
scotland is a long way from the south of england, especially if you go by car and have two little kids with you. our 7 hour journey stretched to 11 hours and we had many a happy toilet stop.
i was allowed to take a few shots on the way when i wasn’t driving. here’s one that jane took of the motorway split just before birmingham. it’s got a jaunty jiggle hasn’t it ?
cashpoints
in the UK there are two main domestic financial institutions where you can stash your cash – banks and building societies. there is a difference, but i don’t know what it is !
anyroadupdown, banks used to be the kings when it came to extracting your cash and they had the whole hole-in-the-wall thing sewn up (if you see what i mean).
but the building societies got themselves together with their LINK network and soon they were allowing other building society card holders to use each other’s machines.
the latest ‘craze’ is cash back in supermarkets which are neutral on the whole bank vs building society debate (as far as i’m aware).
but there’s another force going on. it’s portable branded cash machines. they’ve appears in 24×7 grocery shops and here are a load in a motorway service station. note the branded bin in the middle. probably for making deposits.
these machines seem to run off a mains socket and a normal telephone line. i may get one set up at home. be ideal for if i realise i’ve run out of cash in the morning before heading off to work.
it’s good to be back
holidays are good, but it’s nice to come home too. especially when the weather is loads drier and warmer than on holiday !
but i have so much to share (700 photos – i’ll try and narrow them down). i’ll do it a week in arrears over the next 7 days starting tomorrow.
back in real-time for a moment, here are two ‘finds’ near our house upon our return. a comb and a snapped plastic spoon.
update: now i’ve looked at how much photos of quality items i’ve taken i think i may spread it over the next few weeks !
the south bank
london’s south bank is a bizarre concrete monstrocity. no bad thing of course. and it does mean you get some nice contrasting images.
black and white
not everything in life is black and white. but some things are.
tied and tired
this man was standing on a first floor window tied on with a rope. i didn’t think he looked very safe.
bollard with a view
(from Dan who may wish to comment on his photo in the comments)
time travel
old meets new. but there’s only one way to go. and that’s towards the old.
A4 to infinity
misleading advertising or can you really get a poster printed as large as infinity ? how do they charge for such a thing ? and how do they deliver it ? and where would you put it ? everywhere ?
