Today was supposed to be a day of retail therapy. Esther, William and I were going to Blue Water with their Godmother and my best friend, Michele. We had a very important brief for the day to look at navy blue dresses to identify some bridesmaid possibilities for our wedding in September. The date had been set for weeks.

David dropped Esther, William and I at Michele’s. We enjoyed a lovely hour of playing with the babies and catching up on news. We began to plan our day.

Just after 11.00am we got in the car and headed for the M25. We were on our way.

On the motorway Esther began to cry. This is something that she does not do. I was trying to soothe her and wondering what could be wrong. Most likely diagnosis, dirty nappy! There was a noise getting louder. It sounded like it could be the exhaust of the sports car over taking us at first, but the car accelerated away and the noise lingered on. In fact, it got louder. Michele began to worry that there was something wrong with her car. We were in the fast lane, thankfully not going too fast. Michele saw the smoke. She realised that she must have a flat and proceeded to make her way calmly and safely across the lanes of the M25 to get us safely to a stop on the hard shoulder. As I got out of the car I did see the smoke and I just said, without thinking, “We have to get the babies out of the car.” We took the babies behind the safety barrier and settled on what little grass there was. The babies were calm, William was fast asleep at first, soothed by the lorries thundering by!

It was very annoying for Michele that her new car had lost a tyre, she was shaken thinking about what could have happened, but we were safe. The babies were safe. We took them behind the barrier and waited for our rescuers. Michele did not have a spare tyre and so she had to call a recovery company whilst I called David who came to collect the babies and I.

While we waited we sang songs for the babies, took photos, talked about dresses and decided that dress shopping is safer online. We were lucky that it was a warm sunny day or I am sure that we would have been feeling far less jolly than we were. The babies were so well behaved, they didn’t cry, but then why would they? They didn’t know anything was wrong. The Mummy Milk Bar was open for business and there were cuddles aplenty for everyone. We even had music and toys!

At the end of our wait poor Michele was towed away to get a new tyre and David took us home.

Once we got home, David and I decided to do something together as his planned day of work had been so disturbed already. We decided to roadtest the buggy with the forward facing seats. And guess what? Esther and William loved it! They loved looking out at the world around them and they were also able to nap safely and soundly in the reclining seats. I think that we are going to pack away the carry cots and move to this new mode of toddler transport permanently. Another milestone, a proud but sad moment for Mum!

The walk we did this afternoon made me realise why it is so lovely to live in Kent. We walked up the hills behind our village to a pub called The Bowl. We had planned to have a quiet drink in their extensive rural beer garden. When we got there though we found that there was a country dancing festival taking place and so we introduced William to the delights of Morris Dancers. Esther slept through the entire thing, in her new forward facing buggy seat!

As we walked home through the pretty country lanes on a glorious Spring afternoon I felt glad to be alive and so proud of our little growing family.

They say that good always comes out of bad. David and I badly needed an afternoon like this one. Some time out together, as a family. It was great!

Where we live in Kent is a beautiful, peaceful place to be and days like this one serve to remind us of that, particularly in stark contrast to an hour beside the terrifying roaring of the M25.

So Motorway blowout to country dancing extraordinaire, what a lucky people we be! Everything happens for a reason and good does come out of bad.

Oh! And I am certain that in that car Esther knew. She had not done a poo, she knew that something was wrong and that is why she cried. I know! She knew. She was crying to let us know that something wasn’t right. I am sure of it x