On the red-eye

Alarm call at 4 am, grrr. Worth it to see a gentle dawn spreading its bright tentacles through a granite sky. We relished the sight of it as we drove along the southern section of the M25 to reach Heathrow in time for a 5.30 a.m. check-in for J, who was off to Florida for a week's break with an old chum. What joy to be on the M25 at a time of day when, for once, it wasn't emulating a car park.

This vibrant corridor wooed my eye as I walked back from the terminal to the car park. That really is the colour of its illumination, although at that early hour it could have been reflecting my eyes.