Today we took the slow lane to Hamilton.
The slow lane is on the M74. There are three lanes. Slow, slower and stopped. We were in ‘Stopped’ for a while, but then we moved on to ‘Slower’ and finally found second gear which you can only achieve in the Slow lane.
We parked in the retail park in Hamilton wondering if three hours would be enough to visit the two shops I wanted to go to, M&S for Scamp and Costa for a brown water – Hamilton hasn’t got a Nero yet. As it happened, it only took us a little over an hour to complete our walk around this failing town. It used to be a vibrant, busy town. Mobbed on a Saturday. Today there were more folk in the retail park than in the town centre and there were To Let signs on a load of shuttered shops in the retail park. Such a shame. However it provided today’s PoD one of the Twa Dugs that decorate the seating in the town square.
I thought we’d investigate the new M8 on our trip back to Cumbersheugh, but the road builders thought otherwise. Halfway up the Bellshill bypass, the signs for Glasgow petered out to be replaced with signs for Embra. It looked as if the road to Glasgow wasn’t quite ready for us yet, so we did as we were told and took the road to Embra. We took it as far as Shotts before we could turn and head back to Glasgow again. The road is a great improvement on the old one and when all the links are working properly it will speed up the east/west trip for all those commuters who face this moving carpark every day.
While we were taking our enforced diversion, we met with some really heavy showers. It was good to see rain again after almost a month without. However, I hope it remembers to turn the tap off some time soon. I’m perfectly ok with with it raining all day, just as long as it stays dry for most of the day.
Dinner tonight was courtesy of Golden Bowl, the best and most consistent Chinese take-anywhere. Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice for Scamp and Special Chow Mein for me was a pleasant change from our fish diet this week. That said, today’s lunch of reheated Simple FIsh Stew was excellent.
Tomorrow? I think it’s going to rain again, so I’m starting the boxer shorts Hazy. The pieces were cut out tonight so tomorrow may be the big day.