Authors: Colin Griffiths
‘I told you to go before we left ‘scalded Eileen, as if Peter’s impatience had somehow instilled itself upon her.
‘Mum that was five hours ago ‘groaned Lily, Eileen looked at the clock on the dashboard, it was coming up to 5.30, it had been almost five hours ago and she could do with a wee herself, she felt guilty for chastising her daughter, she looked at Peter for answers’ why she didn’t know because he very rarely had those type of answers, this time he did.
‘I’ll have to pull up on the hard shoulder and wee behind the car as he set his indicators on.
‘I’m not doing that’ shouted Lily, determined not to be seen weeing in public,
‘could be perverts and all sorts about’
she told herself, she slumped in her seat with her hands folded but soon had to cross her legs again such was the need to wee.
‘You’ll have to wee yourself then ‘said her mother ‘because that’s what I’m going to do’
So that’s what they did, as did so many others stuck in that traffic amid the storm that rained upon them, and for the time it took them to take a wee, which because of the rain took no real time at all as they rushed as fast as they could, they were now both sat in the car drenched to the bone, but at least thankful that their bladders were now empty, the air was still humid and muggy, Peter pulled back onto the motorway, Eileen turned the blower on the car in the hope it would dry her clothes, the thunder clapped and the lightening flashed as if applauding them for completing the task.
‘That’s the wettest wee I’ve ever had’ said Lily and they all burst out laughing even Nathan, and for a moment, Lily wondered what they were all laughing at, until she realised what she said, then she joined in the laughter, and for a moment everything appeared okay again, Nathan went back to his tablet, all four looking forward to the holiday that lay ahead, if they ever get there.
It was only a storm, it would soon pass.
Ten minutes later the rain eased enough to allow the wipers to be switched to its normal setting, which was something as the noise of the wipers swishing at speed was beginning to annoy all who sat in the car, when they were stationary Peter had turned them off until he realised that he could not tell if the car in front had moved or not and not being able to see made it seem all the spookier, ahead of them the overhead gantry’s illuminated with the word ‘Accident’ and still they crawled along at a snail’s pace, 20 minutes later and still no real distance covered and with the growing anxiety and frustration beginning to show, and what appeared to be no let up in the storm as it did appear to be following them, Peter noticed another sign that said ‘M50 South Wales, exit 3 miles’ he had enough of theM5 now as the radio reports told him it was miles and miles of chaos and traffic jams and all the services were so crowded that they had to shut of the slip roads leading to them.
‘Get the map and have a look at that way see how much longer it is’ He told Eileen, with the enthusiasm of a child.
Eileen got the map from out of the glove apartment and studied it for a while before saying
‘it’s a bit longer, you head through Monmouth, then head for Newport, and if it’s clear we take the Severn Bridge and it brings you out by Bristol, but they say it always rains in Wales’.
Peter rolled his eyes, ‘that’ll do me’ he said, he rolled down the window and lit a cigarette amongst everybody’s objections ‘
it had been 5 bloody hours
’ he thought ‘
they’ll just have to get wet’,
just as the cigarette did as Peter held it out the window only for the rain to douse it.
‘Shit’ he said.
The M50 was very busy and took them 30 minutes to travel the three miles to the exit, it appeared obvious that a lot of other people may have had the same idea but eventually they were moving along at 20-30 miles an hour, and it felt like it was incredibly fast compared to what speed they had been travelling at, the rain had eased considerably, but the skies remained dark and threatening, the spray was a clear nuisance making the roads treacherous, though Peter never had much patience, as he had recently been demonstrating on this particular journey, he was a good driver and an even better one when his kids were in the car, always making sure they were belted up and comfortable before making any journey, and at 7.30 after making a little headway, they pulled off the M50 into a services, much to the gratitude to everyone, a sense of relief filling the claustrophobic air of the car they had been sat in, it was as if they had just pulled up at the holiday camp itself.
From the cafe they ordered hot sandwiches along with chips and hot drinks and they all scoffed them down as if they had just found out they were able to eat and this was their first meal, Eileen ignoring the healthy choices as she poured the ketchup over her chips, and Peter smoked three cigarettes in an outside smoking area one after another, enjoying the last one as much as the first, he licked his lips as if something tasty had been on his tongue, the café full but friendly as everyone discussed the awful weather, Peter was beginning to feel a bit more cheerful with a full belly and his nicotine addiction fixed, at least for the time being, he stuffed his pockets with sweets and chocolate bars for the rest of the journey as did the two children, there was no protests from Eileen.
Lily spent 20 minutes in the toilet after she had eaten brushing her long fair hair that she loved to keep in good condition and was forever brushing it or doing one thing or another with it , for fourteen years of age she was very pretty with a few freckles around her nose which complimented her, her big eyes were opened wide as she brushed her hair in the mirror, and as Eileen watched her brush her hair, she could see she was already growing into a woman, she would be no tom boy, she was no longer her baby girl and in some ways that saddened her, she wanted her to always be her little girl, Eileen wiped her eyes although there was no tears, it was because her children were growing up and that frightened her a little, ‘
where did all those years go’
she asked herself.
Lily would easy pass for a girl 2 or 3 years older, she was very mature for her age and she reminded Eileen so much of herself when she was that age, though Eileen thought she wasn’t as developed as lily and Eileen also thought that she had never been as pretty as Lily, she chastised herself for thinking it, her thoughts made her feel as if she was jealous of her, whilst the truth was, she was so proud, Lily was confident, cheeky, articulate with a solid determination, she was every ones best friend at school, one of the most popular children in class with teachers and peers alike, everyone wanted to befriend her, she was as good if not better a scholar than Nathan, but the opposite in every other way and as she looked Eileen again realised how lucky she was to have a beautiful daughter.
‘My hairs ruined’ said Lily as she screwed up her nose in the mirror, Eileen laughed, took hold of the brush,
‘Let me’ she said.
Nathan and Peter were identical in looks but that’s where it ended,, Peter was s broad handsome looking man 43 years of age, with walnut brown hair that matched his rugged looks, a strong man and in his teens all the girls chased after him, but Eileen knew she was “the cat that got the cream” Nathan was so much like him in looks, Eileen imagined Nathan when he was 43 looking exactly like Peter did now. She had seen pictures of Peter at Nathans aged and they looked so much alike in looks alone, although Nathan was never going to be the size of his father, nor have the same confidence as his dad did, she suspected, there was a nervousness about Nathan, as if life was difficult for him, and every challenge that life threw at him at times appeared one challenge too many. Unlike his father who would relish every challenge that life through at him and relish it with a determination to succeed, he was once on the books for Sheffield United but never quite made the grade, it was then he decided to make a career in plumbing and excelled at his job as he worked his way up, he had never had any real weaknesses, well other than the three people sat in the car with him.
At just after 8.15 they left the services and travelled through Monmouth onto the A49, Passing a sign that said Welcome to Wales,
‘But I haven’t got my passport’ Nathan had said, and they all had a giggle over that, Nathan not getting the joke until Lily told him it was part of the United Kingdom and you didn’t need a passport, they were feeling much better with a full stomach, and nicotine cravings gone at least for the time being, however it still rained but the traffic was thinner now and thankfully moving along, and as they travelled Peter sung to the radio as he drove amid the protests of all who could hear, he was pleased with himself for taking this route, and he wanted to show it ,and he chuckled to himself when he thought of all those stuck on the M5, he munched on a peppermint aero and he just hoped by the time they joined up with M5 again it had been cleared or at least moving, though the radio stations at that time were still reporting long delays but it would still be sometime before they reached Bristol, and maybe it would have cleared a bit by then, at least Monmouth was a nice drive from what they could see of it, even though it was very wet, but they could just make out some mountains and trees and what appeared to be a river, and for a moment things were okay as they all seemed to be getting into the holiday mood once more,
‘Wales doesn’t seem a bad place after all’ Peter had said and at the time everyone had agreed.
Sometime later Nathan had dozed off, Lily was sat restless and moaning that she kept losing Facebook on her phone and how was she supposed to keep in contact with everyone without her Facebook, Eileen had never stopped smiling since she left the house, despite the awful journey they were still experiencing, and despite the occasional moan from her lover and grunts from her children, she loved their holidays with Peter and the kids, and she knew that sometime soon the kids would no longer want to go with them and that saddened her a little, but she was determined to make the most of the holidays they had left together, and unbeknown to Peter, she was planning on 2 holidays a year from now on in, however long from now on in would be, she was going to enjoy this holiday no matter what because she would never know when the last one together would be, she found it hard to imagine not going on holiday with the kids but knew she had to except that sometime soon they would no longer want to go with them, Lily was almost a young woman now, soon she would be holidaying without her parents, and as she travelled she thought of a great idea, she would take Lily’s friends with them, that would solve the problem for a year or two, though she had no intention of telling Peter just yet.
Their newly planned route was to follow the A49 to the Coldra roundabout just outside Newport, then join the M4 until it took you to The Severn bridge, and Peter had the biggest grin on his face when he found out that you only paid the toll one way, and their crossing of the bridge would be of no cost, not that he was tight with money, it just made his decision to do a detour even more satisfying, and for him it all seemed so easy, though the journey had been long and arduous, everyone was pleased with the detour they had taken, even if the roads had not been clear it had taken away the monotony of the M5and at least they had been travelling, though at times not very fast, soon they would be back on the M5 towards Cornwall, they had phoned the Holiday camp to tell them that they were running late, the receptionists indicated that so were many others, and regardless of the time they got there, someone would be able to check them into their caravan, ‘okay today had been a bit of a washout’ but the forecast was good for the rest of the week thought Peter, even the nicotine craving didn’t seem to bother him now as he drove along eating sweets and singing along to the radio.
‘Oh shit’ said Peter when they got to the Coldra roundabout, the signs were saying the M4 was closed due to an accident, he briefly wondered how many accidents there had already been that evening, it was nearly 9pm and the roads had gone extremely quiet as it seemed people would rather stay in their homes then travel in this awful weather, or they had stopped off somewhere and settled for the night until the storm was through.
He could see a colossal hotel called the Celtic Manor, up on top what seemed to be a hill, he recalled there was golf tournaments played there, he wasn’t sure if the British open had, and for one moment he was tempted to book in for the night and travel again in the morning, but it could still be 5 hours from here to their holiday destination, even on a good day, and he didn’t want to waste another day travelling, and who knows what the roads would be like in the morning, they could still be in utter chaos, at least they were quieter now, eerily quiet he had thought, so he decided against it, at least they would wake up in the morning in their holiday camp, all going well, a quick check of the map suggested that things were not too bad after all, if they took the Magor road the Severn Bridge was less than ten miles away, so that’s what they decided to do, they were on holiday and nothing was going to stop them getting there, they drove along the Langstone road which was where the map told them to go, Peter fiddled with the sat nav in his car but it didn’t want to work so he started looking for the sign to Magor, as they drove the heavens seemed to open again with a forceful downpour as the lightening lit up the skies once more and the thunder appeared to shake the road beneath them as they drove, the storm had come back with a vengeance, 2 miles down the road they took a right turn to Magor, Peter only just seeing the sign, they passed a hotel offering cheap rooms, but again Peter decided against it, if they were going to stop off somewhere for the night, he would prefer it closer to Cornwall.