MOTORWAYS, the M6, petrol stations and self-service cafes, how we take them all for granted.

We accept them all as part of our motoring lives – it seems as if they have always been there.

But I have to rather reluctantly admit that I can recall going to London in my elder brother’s car when we had to travel by ordinary roads to Birmingham, before we could get on a motorway.

I recall a million years ago, when I was landlady of the Jubilee public house, that a few of us went up to Preston to be present at the opening of this ‘new and exciting’ link, which was the M6.

This new road was going to open up the north for us.

Now, this is where the memory fades a little, where was it taking us? I think it was Lancaster.

It’s rather difficult now to imagine the time before the motorways.

Driving to London was a day of a job, and when you got there, there was always the problem finding somewhere to park.

But then, let’s face it, ‘us’ living up north were always looked upon as a little bit backward, not thick, but just a little bit out of touch.

Now, funnily enough, this for me was an advantage.

Being from Lancashire, most people I met and dealt with had visions of clogs and shawls.

They assumed I was a bit slow and so were not always as careful as they should have been about the finer points of the transactions we were negotiating.

But me, despite being a ‘thick northerner’, always was!

Now, I do think that over the years this north-south divide has disappeared and we are almost accepted as equals – cheeky whatnots!

I HAVE got a very bad cold at the moment and, funnily enough, there is not a lot one can do about it.

Clean hankies, yes, warm clothes, yes, but as my mother always used to say “Margaret, an untreated cold lasts a fortnight and a treated one two weeks, so relax there is nothing you can do”.

A hot toddy, or maybe two, at bed time does help a little bit, well that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

I’m also so glad that someone invented paper hankies, which you can just throw on the fire.

Now you must excuse me while I go and blow my nose...