Have you ever thought about Service Stations?

I spend  a lot of time in my car, or in hotels. Or on one spectacularly wet day, in Warwick Services, waiting for the rain to stop.

As I'm not a great telly watcher, I use the time in hotels to do some hand sewing, and usually take my big sewing bag with me with an assortment of projects as I never know a) what project I want to work on and b) how good the light is.

So often find myself with a few small projects on the go. A few weeks ago I was cutting out fabric for the Little Joys Quilt

And making yet another owl

And of course there are days like today, when I just randomly chuck things in a bag, with no idea what I'm going to do.

It's always a bit easier, when the hotel is part of a chain as you tend to know the facilities you'll get.

Motorway Services, on the other hand, are a bit 'hit and miss'. To lots of people they're an expensive place to stop, as they have a 'captive audience', but for those of us who spend many, many hours in our cars, they're a necessity. Most people can't (and shouldn't) drive 5 hours without stopping.

But driving home a week or so ago I noticed something odd...

On the M25, clockwise, the distance between some services is 40 miles. Now I never really noticed it, because it's generally at the beginning of my journey, but I had an idea that services where generally closer together.

And they are. I've no idea what it is that dictates how far apart they are, but a casual glance gave me the impression that 20-25 miles is about average. Obviously there are areas like Cumbria, where there aren't many, but they seem to appear quite often.

And then you get to a particular stretch of the M6. And this is probably a sign that I need a life!

From Stafford to Keele is 10 miles.

From Keele to Sandbach is 11 miles .....and

From Sandbach to Knutsford is 12 miles.

After that it changes again, but why are they so close together? Answers on a postcard please!