The M5 heading south, near Cheltenham on a winter Friday afternoon, driving to the Calendar sales conference, a moment of magic!

Friday night, the motorway South, a stream of red lights in the dusk.
Over on my right, three lines of headlights flashing past
Like tracer.
Wipers flick across, intermittently, distorting the glow
Of brake lights just ahead.
It feels like winter has arrived, with snow flurries in the wind
And black clouds hiding the last light of day,
But for a lighter streak in the South Western sky.

My eye is caught by movement in the darkness to my left,
Almost felt, rather than seen.
I glance quickly across, keeping one eye on the stream of vehicles ahead.
Yes, there!
Coming in, diagonally across the river of traffic.
Undulating, necks stretched forward, wings majestic in slow motion.
A skein of geese, an arrowhead in perfect formation, almost too many to count.

They sweep across the ribbon of red and gold lights, that is my path.
Momentarily silhouetted against the fading band of light
In the Western sky.
And there, above me from my left, yet more, close overhead.
I quickly kill the radio, wind the window down
And hear the mournful calls, that honking sound, above the traffic noise.
Wings catching the light, they follow their leader
Down towards the estuary of the River Severn.
My heart lifts!