25th Birthday Celebration

Yesterday we collected ourselves together and made our way to Milton Keynes (MK) -"the land of the concrete cow", to celebrate the birthday of my nephew. He's 25 - that makes me feel old! He has a two bedroom flat that he is in the process of decorating, and although he's been there quite a while, its the first time I've travelled to see him. We all went (except Jo, who has a fever, and was not well enough), and collected Karen on the way.

Holmesdale Tunnel
There are two tunnels on the M25, between the junctions of the M11 and the M1. The second is the Holmesdale Tunnel, when travelling anti-clockwise. For the last , I don't know how long, it has been undergoing refurbishment. This journey was the first time through for me since it re-opened. The lighting has been significantly down graded - I had thought it was temporary, but apparently not. Here's a clip, which shows the patchy lighting - watch from about 2 minutes in. I found driving through at about 65 MPH that the lights appeared uncomfortably flickery. Does anyone think its an improvement?

Celebration, TV, and Wii
Anyway we got lost in Luton! How many times have I been there? So Liz phoned Karen and got directions. We found our MK destination easily enough. As you enetr his flat, the first thing that greats you is a huge TV. It really dominated the room. His flat is quite spacious, and a very respectable for a 'first time buyer'. He is inevitably doing lots of work, and most of it is still in progress. None of that spoilt the celebrations. It is an ideal lounge for playing on the Wii - the strangely named games machine that gets you up and active, and all the 'children' really enjoyed themselves. If the children are happy, then their parents have no cause for concern - so it made for a relaxing afternoon. No, in case you're wondering, I don't join in with the video games. New hand-eye coordination skills, especially those with a 'digital delay' do not suite me at all.

We eventually left, and the worry about the car got worse. I think the blow-out at the beginning of the month has caused some more problems - may be damaged the shock absorbers. Cars are great when they're working ...

We got home without incident, and I can confirm that the tunnel is no better at night.