long beach band

What's your favourite part of holiday travelling? For me it's the driving. When I tell people that, they look at me as though I have two heads. I know, most people hate to drive, especially for any long distance, but I'm just the opposite. I love to drive. So much so that if I could get away with it, driving from town to town would be my entire holiday. But alas, the rest of the family would never go for it.

For the last couple of years we've chosen one of the Hemsby holiday parks as our summer holiday destination. We live just to the south of London, so the drive up to Hemsby tends to take at least several hours. While the rest of the family dreads all this “together” time in the car, I actually look forward to it. I love to sit behind the wheel and watch the various scenes go by in the windows. From the tall buildings of London, to the well-manicured suburbs, to the beautiful countryside; it's all glorious to me. Sometimes I get lost in the sights, sometimes I even begin to imagine what life might be like living in one of the areas we drive through.

As much as I love to drive, there are times when I turn the wheel over to my wife. Then I like to pay attention to the occupants of other cars we see on the road. I wonder who they are, where they live, where they're going, and just what their life is like in general. As a child, I used to invent imaginary lives for all the people I saw. I guess I still find myself doing that to some extent today. Driving a couple of hours to the north coast just gives me more opportunity to let my imagination run.

The one downside I can see with my love of driving is the fact that like everyone else, I will get old and will have to give it up. I know that will be a difficult day, but at least I'll still be able to watch the scenery while someone else drives. I only hope that I don't become so belligerent as to refuse to stop driving. It would be a tragedy to someone else's holidays if, on the way to one of our favourite Hemsby holiday parks, I caused an accident that hurt or killed someone.

This year we may not visit our normal summer stomping grounds. If we decide to choose a new destination, I'll be sure that it's at least a few hours away so that I can enjoy the drive. I think it's time to break out the map.