A Change of Scene - and Weather!

So, today was the start of a change of scenery.  I headed out of London and started out began about a five weeks' road trip before I return to the city, this time with my sister.  And, the weather has changed - for the much worse.  It was pouring rain when I left the Maida Vale flat for Paddington.  Yuck!  This is exactly the kind of weather Kathleen thought England was going to have when she arrived - and it has become her self-fulfilling prophesy!  We met up at Heathrow around 1 p.m. and, after we got our rented car, we headed off.  The good news is my newly acquired Garmin works over here; the bad news I didn't react quickly enough when I was told to turn and, just when we thought we were headed for the M25 and on our way south, we found ourselves at the Heathrow Terminal 3 passenger pick-up and drop-off.  After about 20 minutes, we got all that sorted out and got on the M25 - often referred to as London's biggest parking lot.  The traffic wasn't too bad - although the pouring rain didn't make driving easy, especially for someone just getting used to having the major part of the car on her left rather than her right!  We managed to get on the M3 (the motorway going to Southampton).  Oh yes, then there is the shift when you realize the 50 showing on the speedometer is actually in miles per hour and not kilometres!  There's a 1.6 that comes into the equation; I just have to make sure I convert the correct way!  At least the Garmin got us to the little village of Ampfield, outside of Winchester and then there was the biggest change of the day.  The Shard, Gherkin and Walkie-Talkie of modern London have been replaced with a lovely thatched country pub and the very nice hotel attached to it.  Sometimes change is very good!