Back to school

I had a little lie-in this morning, but I had to be up, have breakfast, shower, and be dressed by 10:30 am to attend my Motorway Speed Awareness course in Corby. I was dreading it, to be honest, and had researched the route as latecomers were not admitted. I didn't want to lose the £100 I'd paid and then have to pay again, only to get three points on my licence!

We awoke to rain and grey skies today, and it was horrible weather on the journey to Corby, a town I rarely visit. Neither of my Satnavs (Trish and Googly) could find the hotel in a leisure park on the outskirts of the town. It was by sheer good luck that I spotted it from the main road after driving through an industrial estate!

I was early, so I sat and read my Kindle and watched my fellow attendees arrive. Some people had seriously nice cars! At about 11:15 am, I walked in and was told to take a seat in reception. Without fail, everyone was on their phone, me included, even though I sneaked a look at the others!

At 11:30 am, the man taking the course took us to a conference room and we took seats at the front two tables. We wrote our names on a name plate in front of us and were told to put our phones away. All of us looked miserable and fed up with having to be there! I could think of plenty of other things I could be doing! One man arrived at 11:45 am, which surprised me as I thought the course started on the dot of 11:30 am!

The first half of the session was interesting, with a video showing what happens in a motorway control room, the reasons behind the speed limits and lane closures and some exercises about braking speeds and the optimum distance to keep when travelling on the motorway. The people on my table were quiet and not as noisy as the ones on the other table, who were told off twice for talking! Some people love to brag about when they were caught and what they were doing!

We had a break, and the second half was a little more patronising; we had to complete an action plan to avoid breaking the law again, and I struggled with this. When I was caught, I wasn't late or rushing, but I think I had an attitude where I didn't actually believe the signs were real! I will definitely take heed of them in future (or in two weeks when we travel this stretch again!). Now that I understand a little more of why there are speed limits - in my case, to probably avoid "phantom queues" - I will behave better!

At 2pm, we were released, and I've never seen people leave a room so quickly! I drove to Brixworth to return two parcels, but as I parked, the heavens opened and the rain came down in torrents. I sat for a while, but it showed no sign of letting up, so I abandoned that idea and went home.

For the rest of the afternoon, I felt discombobulated, but I managed to do the chores, help Keith with the shopping list and vacuum downstairs. Both cats had been in the house for most of the day because of the weather, but went out just before Sophie returned home.

Keith and I played cards, and I cooked a tasty chicken and vegetable tray bake, served with cous cous. We watched Masterchef after dinner, but half of it took place in a professional kitchen, which Sophie and I find boring!