Writing to Describe Example

Unusual Journey- Writing to Describe Example

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a journey as ‘an act of travelling from one place to another.’ How simple this seems to make it. If only the intellectuals that created this definition had actually been in my shoes last week, they may have devised a rather differing definition altogether.

Have you any idea how long it should get to travel from Calais to Dover? I was led to believe it would be ninety minutes; exactly the length of time for a football match to be played and, if the tabloids are to be believed, how long it takes Katy Perry to put on her make up before a gig.

I can barely find the words to elucidate the travesty that was the eight hour crossing last Thursday. I was with my family, my trusty Honda and about fifteen carrier bags (half of which were filled with  French confectionary) and we were attempting to get back to Dover by 5:15pm. The weather was calm, the sea was flat as a mill pond and the sky was still bright yet all of these perfect conditions did nothing to help us on our way. About two boxes in to our delicious ‘bonbons,’ we were forced to grab what we could as the emergency foghorn pierced the calm tranquil of our cabin and we had to make our way up the dark, cramped and slippery stairwell to the upper deck. James Cameron would have eaten his heart out! I have never seen panic like it since the climactic scene of ‘Titanic;’ women (not to give us a bad name but they were really the ones to blame) were screaming and shrieking like banshees and tottering up the stairs in ridiculous five inch stilettos. There was, quite frankly, more chance of them slipping and breaking their necks than our ship slipping beneath the waves. Perhaps more disturbingly, a group of youths behind me who had made the most of the Duty Free alcohol were playing what I can only describe as a man sounding like he was vomiting over the top of loud drum banging and guitars wailing through the speakers of their phones; not quite the calm ‘Nearer My God, To Thee’ that was gracefully played when Titanic floundered. When we finally managed to get to the deck, it was clear that we were in no immediate danger which was fortunate as there did not seem to be a crew member in sight.