Way out West (incorporating Way up North)

The ferry across was fine, and we had got to the other side of London by lunchtime. To add to the general misery, the M1 was closed, due to an accident of sufficient magnitude to require partial resurfacing. No bother, divert to M25 and up the A1. This was where it all began to go wrong, we got about halfway before the A1 was closed, diverted across country to the M1 again, and got to within about 30 miles of Sheffield before the motorway gridlocked. Eventually, we made it into Sheffield after going across country as far as Buxton, and managed to unload, even though parts of the store was 4" deep in water. I then attempted to return the van, and to recover my car, not realising they were right in the heart of the flooded area. Eventually I gave up, and headed back to Nottingham.

Next day it took me seven hours to get through to the depot, it was weird and slightly eery, driving through a normally vibrant industrial area; smashed and filthy cars washed into the gutter, or simply abandoned; doors open, in the middle of the road. Reminiscent of some sort of post-apocalyptic disaster movie, albeit on a rather more domestic scale.