The next day broke with mild and continued wet weather. The wind had picked up and the rain lashed down on the city. Robbie ate his breakfast and looked gloomily out at the wind blowing the rain and the last few remaining autumn leaves from the trees, flinging them against the windows with a force and a thin rattle of raindrops.
He had packed his holdall the night before and he was pretty much ready to leave apart from adding in his toothbrush and razor and a few other essentials. He looked again at the weather. It was hardly seasonal, not like the winters of his youth or even from a mere few decades ago. He thought miserably of the gulf between the present and memories of Christmas past; snow flurries with just enough on the ground to take the kids for a slushy sledge ride, icy streets and gritty pavements, everyone wrapped up in winter coats and woollies against the wet sleet, shivering on the streets and then into hot and busy department stores and shops on seemingly endless Christmas present buying sorties with Val. Lewis smiled sadly to himself. Those days were long gone. He knew that. Val was gone; that too he had come to accept and along with the acceptance was a knowing that deep down he yearned for what was missing. His thoughts flitted to Laura again. She was perhaps the one constant in his life other than his family. Perhaps even more so. Afterall, Lyn had her own life now with her partner and a successful career. Robbie was happy she was making a future for herself in manchester but it did mean he'd not seen as much of her as he'd liked. The situation was even worse with Pat. His son had left the country after Val had died and had only been back a handful of times and the reunions had been awkward and short, saved only by heartfelt and genuine goodbyes at the airport. Robbie sighed. Things were just so different now. Even with the prospect of spending time with Lyn he felt somehow incomplete. He pushed the thought aside, as he always did, and putting his coat on despite the mild temperature he gathered his bag and keys before heading out into the blustery and unseasonably warm winter day.
Hathaway was waiting for Lewis on time, outside his flat and drawing deeply on a cigarette which would be his last, he expected, for a while until they stopped at the services on the way to Leicester. Hathaway popped his bag into the boot of Lewis' car and they were soon on the road, heading back through the streets of Oxford on the way to the motorway. The route took them past the station where there was considerable traffic congestion. Cars and delivery vans, taxis and coaches choked the road and the air with fumes and noise. As they drew nearer to the station they saw further chaos, the whole area was rammed with cars and taxis, all at a standstill while people stood about in what looked like confusion and in most instances consternation. There were a few officials about in hi-vis jackets with communication radios and they were talking in turn to a melee of people all asking questions to which there seemed to be little resolution or satisfaction. While Lewis negotiated the slow crawl of traffic and the stream of people coming and going and stepping out in front of the slow procession of cars, Hathaway peered into the station as they passed. He could just make out the electronic matrix board, with its orange illuminated letters parading across the blackness proclaiming the word CANCELLED next to most of the services it displayed in chronological order. People looked aimlessly at the board, some just arriving, others on phones clearly trying to make other plans. There were more station staff present inside, heads shaking as they were constantly quizzed by each disgruntled traveller. As Lewis slowly inched the car forward through the rain and the crowds Hathaway saw a familiar figure.
"Sir, look, Doctor Hobson"
Lewis glanced in the direction that Hathaway had nodded to. There on the pavement just ahead of them, amidst the crowds and the wind and rain, was Laura.
She was on the phone, scowling a little as the wind and the rain lashed at her hair which she tried to keep out of her eyes with her free hand. At her feet there was a small suitcase on wheels and over her shoulder was a large leather handbag.
"Let's see if she's ok; I thought she was supposed to have got the train early this morning from what she said yesterday when I spoke to her" Robbie said, instantly on a mission to pull up next to Laura who had now finished her call and was still scowling as she looked up and down the road. Checking his mirror Robbie negotiated his way out of the queue of slow-moving traffic and pulled the car up by her side.
Still scowling but with a touch of surprise Laura saw straight away it was Robbie and Hathaway. Robbie opened the car window, rain and wind blew into the car.
"Are you ok Laura? I thought your train was early this morning" he said, raising his voice over the keen of the wind.
"It was. There's been a landslide at two of the main junctions apparently, pretty much everything's been cancelled, four of the tacks are completely blocked or flooded and the lines are closed. I don't think I'll be getting to see my family not by train anyway, I'm going to see if I can get a coach down to London and get from there, although I don't think I'll be the only one trying to do that" She looked up and down the road at the teeming traffic and crowds, all in the same predicament
"How about a lift up to Manchester? You could get the train to Liverpool no problem from there. I'm heading up there after I drop Hathaway off. Why not come along too? It'll be a better option than going down to London" Robbie raised his eyebrows hopeful that his suggestion might help.
"Are you sure?" Laura already knew her decision. The thought of going further south instead of the direction she needed to go in seemed absurd in itself.
"Of course. Come on. Get in and we can be on the way in no time."
Laura nodded in agreement with a smile and quickly got her bags into the boot of the car. Within a few minutes the three colleagues were heading out of Oxford leaving the chaos behind them.
I'm glad you are all up for festive Robson fluff! This is the worst possible time for me to write - horrendously busy at work, no day off since mid-November (my own fault, I'm a self employed workaholic), I havn't got anything ready for xmas and have my self-assessment tax to do - but what the heck - fluff is far more important than all that! :/ So, many thanks everyone for joining me for the ride!