Goodbye Salford

An early start, and we were on the road to Salford by 6.40. We stopped for petrol and bought Costa coffee from a machine, and had one more stop at Blythe services for the loo. Arrived at 60 Coronation Street, Salford, for the final time, at 11.15. Very good going as we had a trailer. The A1 and M62 were quite busy, but not hellish as they normally are. I still felt surprised at how many people were on the roads though.

Once there, I started on the cooker, and kitchen stuff, while Mollie packed up her room. This room has been her home for the last 2 years and she has gathered lots of stuff. But we got it all in, got things cleaned up, and were back in the car 3 hours later heading home. One stop in a lay by where Jon fired up his stove and made us a cup of tea, before heading back and arriving home at 7pm. Pretty much a 12 hour round trip. It has now all come out of the trailer, and fills the area at the bottom of our stairs. We will sort it out at the weekend. Mollie has an assignment to upload by 4pm tomorrow and then her final piece of work must be submitted a week later. Then she waits for a result, and begins the rest of her life. It is going to be a year noone will forget, and for some, like Mollie, finishing their degrees without any of the parties, celebrations or farewell to friends and tutors, even more impactful. We are hoping that graduation, once results are known, will be arranged so that they can all gather and celebrate together.

End of an era for us. Henry has no plans to go to university, so not counting his apprenticeship we have finished with formal education for now.

We won't miss those long drives! And are in no hurry to rush back to Salford. It did give us the excuse to visit Manchester, which we did once (for about 2 hours) and Blackpool (for a day and evening). Salford Quays was nicer, but all 3 now ticked off a list, and don't plan to visit any again.