After I planned today the rules were conveniently changed to permit what I wanted to do, so I didn't have to pretend to be Dominic Cummings. I hired a car and drove to London to collect my mum to come and stay (which is why I haven't been out for the last fortnight, other than that brazen foray to the end of the street).

What a day to drive! The rain was as torrential as forecast, the spray from all the lorries was blinding and every time I left enough space in front of me to brake if I needed to, the gap was filled. But at least the traffic was bowling along so when my SatNav told me to turn off and add an extra 30 miles to my 70-mile journey and go to London via Essex I ignored it. More fool me. Round the next bend the M40 was at a standstill and my SatNav told me I had to expect not to move for 38 minutes. Wrong, it was almost 50 minutes later that I drove past workers removing cones from the road and we started bowling along again. So when my SatNav told me to turn off and add an extra 30 miles to my journey and go to London via Essex I obeyed. The spray on the M25 and the M11 was just the same as the spray on the M40 and it was frustrating knowing that for about 40 minutes I was getting no closer in miles to my destination. But I was in terms of time and I completed my should-be 65-mile journey after three and a quarter hours.

The journey back to Oxford, mostly in sun, was a doddle.

Black and white in colour 200