Friday 23 April 1937

This evening I drove from Ealing to see John, at Staines. A very long stretch of utterly straight road… two painted streaks divided this into three traffic lines. I drove along at 50mph, offside wheels just in the middle lane. A car appeared ahead, coming towards me. With terrific suddenness it grew larger in my vision – was near – had passed with a swish! As I drove on I thought; that happens every few minutes on main roads. Two objects controlled by frail mortals rush towards each other at a speed of something over 100 miles per hour. To pass without hesitation, perhaps space about the length of a man’s body between… What precision!

And what an age of Speed!