miles

If you’re heading off on a staycation or a day trip this summer, beware of hidden costs on UK toll roads

Those setting off on a staycation or enjoyable day out should bear in mind that their journey might come with some unexpected expenses. There are multiple toll roads scattered across the UK, with some potentially costing over £15 for a return journey.

Branded the UK’s priciest motorway, the M6 in the Midlands, which stretches over 230 miles, can set drivers back more than £10 for a return trip – while not a massive sum, it could quickly chip away at your lunch money or similar. The M6 Toll, the 27-mile route between Cannock and Coleshill, cost £900million to build.

Northgate Vehicle Hire, a commercial vehicle leasing specialist supporting businesses nationwide, has flagged that the M6 and other toll roads are alerting travellers to these concealed expenses.

Discussing the M6, they note that for a standard family car, a return journey runs to approximately £10.50.

Meanwhile, those behind the wheel of a heavy goods vehicle could face a bill of £20.20 for just a single journey, while a motorhome costs £19.20 one-way.

The M6 connects drivers to major tourist destinations during the summer months, including Drayton Manor Resort, and reportedly saw 45,749 vehicles per day in 2025.

Spencer Davi, Sales and Marketing Director at Northgate Vehicle Hire, offered some insight on toll roads: “Toll charges are a real consideration, especially for those making regular cross-border trips.

“What surprised us most about this research is how much variation there is across roads within the UK.”

However, while the M6 may hold the title of the most expensive motorway and toll road, experts have warned that there is another UK route that will set drivers back considerably more.

Specialists at Northgate Vehicle Hire revealed that the London Congestion Charge is in fact the UK’s most expensive crossing for cars.

Costing drivers £15.00, the crossing is a key route for anyone planning a trip to the capital this summer, with the charge applicable to drivers entering the Congestion Charge Zone between 7am – 6pm Monday to Friday, and 12pm to 6pm on Saturdays, Sundays, and bank holidays.

The UK’s most expensive toll roads for cars

1. London Congestion Charge, London – £15.00
2. M6, Midlands – £10.50
3. Durham Road User Charge Zone, Durham – £5
4. Mersey Tunnels – Queensway: Liverpool – Birkenhead and Mersey Tunnels – Kingsway: Liverpool – Wallasey – £4.60

For those considering a staycation this year, it’s well worth doing your homework on your route beforehand, as some roads can come with a surprisingly hefty price tag.

The Canary Islands are experiencing a tourism crisis, with activists warning the coastline is unsustainable as locals say the ‘land is being destroyed and speculated on’

The Canary Islands have witnessed mounting demonstrations in recent years. Frustration has been building amongst residents, who argue the surge in tourism to the sun-soaked Spanish archipelago is unmanageable. They point to outdated regulations that allow property speculators to purchase land for hotels and holiday flats, while paying only minimal tax.

Consequently, Canarians claim they receive the lowest average salaries in Spain and face difficulties securing affordable accommodation. Yet now they have a further complaint against holidaymakers. The islands are suffering coastal erosion at an alarming pace. Campaigners say the Canary Islands’ coastline is on the brink of disaster.

Each year, based on a report from SOS Costas Canarias, approximately 21⁄2 miles of coastline disappears. Anne Striewe, the foundation’s director, states that hotels, apartment blocks, housing estates and marinas, amongst other structures, are being constructed on this “lost” territory.

The organisation cautions that throughout the eight islands, roughly 18% of the territory within the first 500 metres from the sea has already been developed. Beyond protected natural areas (PNAs), this figure skyrockets: it surpasses 40% on multiple islands and coastal sections, reaching 43% in Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.

Nearly 20% of the living space on the Canary Islands is dedicated to tourism – in comparison to around 4% on the Spanish mainland. Five municipalities on the Canaries possess more tourist beds than permanent inhabitants: Yaiza (Lanzarote), Pájara (Fuerteventura), Mogán (Gran Canaria), San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Gran Canaria) and Adeje (Tenerife).

Ms Striewe highlights that, beyond holiday accommodation, there is a vast array of tourist-related infrastructure including access roads, golf courses and desalination plants, which fail to show up in hotel occupancy figures yet remain part of the same problem.

Sharon Backhouse, director of GeoTenerife, told Sky News that the Canary Islands are a “biodiversity jewel in the Atlantic,” yet local authorities provide minimal protection for the islands’ natural habitats.

She warned that each year more “beautiful landscapes are cemented over” to make way for new tourist resorts.

She added: “The problem with these resorts is that we just don’t have enough resources in terms of water, what happens to all the rubbish, how is it all recycled.”

Carmelo Javier León, director of the UNESCO Chair in Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPCG), describes a conflict between those who wish to protect the islands’ natural beauty and “the development of ever more accommodation options.”

The authors of the SOS Costas Canarias report are demanding an immediate halt and the scrapping of planning permissions for undeveloped coastal land.

They argue that the seemingly relentless construction not only obliterates irreplaceable natural habitats and undermines the very scenic beauty that attracted tourists to the islands in the first place, but also dramatically heightens the risk of localised flooding. Approximately 80,000 inhabitants are already vulnerable to coastal flooding risk, yet almost half of flood-susceptible territory has already been designated for housing.

Irma Ferrer, a lawyer for Urban Planning Transparency and Civic Action Against Corruption, highlights that this demonstrates the institutions are failing to operate properly. “In urban planning and environmental matters, legislation is not enacted to defend the public interest,” she complains.

She added that the islands now possess an economy which is essentially “based on the destruction of the land and on speculation.”

Thirty-five years after his death, jazz giant Miles Davis, who would have turned 100 years old Tuesday, remains a truly larger-than-life figure in music and well beyond.

Still possessor of the biggest-selling jazz record in history, “Kind of Blue,” Davis casts a huge influence over the whole music world for his uncompromising artistic vision, constant evolution, style and more. Though he came from jazz, he may be the biggest rock star there ever was. Talk to any musician, regardless of genre, and they will tell you Davis defined swagger and cool. He had a vibe unlike that of anyone else.

In honor of Davis’ centennial, The Times spoke to an array of notable artists from all walks of music, some who knew and played with him, some fans of the man, but all agreed, Miles Davis was and is a singular force in music, an artist like no other in his vision, passion and feeling for the music. In short, there was only one Miles Davis.

‘A complete innovator’

Chuck D, rapper: I like Miles Davis and all the exterior aesthetics. I like the Blue Note album covers, Prestige album covers, his style, his way of life.

Cindy Blackman Santana and her husband Carlos Santana in 2019.

(Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

Cindy Blackman Santana, drummer: Stylistically, Miles was a complete innovator. I remember hearing him say that he didn’t play right if he wasn’t dressed right. That is completely something that inspires me as well, because it becomes not only what you’re putting out on your horn or your drums or your guitar or your piano, but it’s your whole being that is expressing this innovative approach to music and to life.

Bilal, singer: If you play the music you’ve got to look the part, and it was almost like he got into a movie role or something like that. But he was always into the clothes … It was almost like every era had a different outfit. But, yeah, I definitely take his style. The clothes make you feel a certain way to play that way. So that’s the vibe. You’ve got to have that character, that attitude.

Emmet Cohen, left, performs with Terence Blanchard at Lincoln Center in 2025.

(Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images for Find Your Light)

Emmet Cohen, pianist and composer: I think when you listen to Miles’ records you can really appreciate them all the way through and there’s something in there for all sides of humanity. Whether it was the Prestige records that he pumped out in a couple of days, or there was “Birth of the Cool,” he just knew how to assemble musicians and let them tell their stories. And the storytelling is really where I think the deepest connections are made. He was a rock star, but he had a story to tell. And that always comes first.

‘Always evolving’

Guitarist Lenny Kaye performs onstage at Carnegie Hall in 2023.

(Noam Galai / Getty Images for Tibet House US)

Lenny Kaye, guitarist: He started in the bebop era, with the immortals of that moment in time. But I always got the sense that he was looking for something else. He didn’t want to participate in the faster-than-light speed changes and virtuosity. So, I really respect the fact that when he moved into “Birth of the Cool,” he pulled it back so he could inject more of his human self into it. And over the years, he kept on doing that, “Sketches of Spain,” “Kind of Blue,” one of the most jazz friendly records of all time.

Flea, bassist: Every time Miles changed it up, he destroyed everything that came before. He is the ultimate artist, always evolving, always coming organically from the depths. His music is the warmest and the wildest.

Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers released a solo jazz album in March.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Bilal: I really like his electric era, but I would say I keep discovering and rediscovering stuff from Miles that I’m just like, “Damn, man. It’s like it’s another artist because he went through so many different changes.” … The other day I found his “Sketches of Spain” record. I put it on. I was like, “This is crazy. I forgot he was into this too.”

Wyclef Jean, rapper: When you go through Miles’ whole catalog, you see you can have quiet days. You can have loud days. You can have explosive days. But the key is that consistency. And that discipline.

Kaye: I respect Miles. For me, he’s an artist that transcends the jazz genre. He’s so alert to the shifting moods of the culture, the directions of the music. And what I find fascinating about him is his ability to morph into new styles and to keep challenging himself. One thing about Miles is that he doesn’t repeat who he is.

Musician Ron Carter in 2011.

(Theo Wargo / Getty Images)

Ron Carter, bassist: We always thought that we were honored to have Miles hire us out of other guys who were available to him. The first few gigs, we had a couple of weeks up and down the West Coast, and everybody but Miles was trying to find out what the tunes were, what the changes were. I was just trying to do what I thought was necessary to make this guy think he hired the right guy and make the band sound good. … Whatever his method was, it was successful.

Ibrahim Maalouf, trumpeter: Quincy [Jones] always spoke about Miles not just as a genius, but as someone who knew when to move on. And that’s a lesson I still carry with me every day.

Kaye: In “Bitches Brew” he created the template for what would be jazz fusion and made rock ‘n’ roll an important part of his evolution. Just an artist who never stands still and that is what I personally respect and honor within his work. When he saw what an artist like Jimi Hendrix was doing, he thought, ‘Yeah, I know how to access that and not be Jimi Hendrix. I can be myself.’ He understood the tides of cultural transformation as much or better than most musicians of the 20th century.

Don Was performs onstage at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in 2022.

(Jason Davis / Getty Images for Americana Music)

Don Was, musician and producer: In life, as exemplified by music, if you don’t change, you stagnate. And the thing about Miles that really stands out, I think, is that he was always willing to risk losing his audience in order to keep moving forward. He was courageous in every era, including eras when maybe courage wasn’t held at a premium.

‘More than that’

Maalouf: For me, as a trumpet player, of course, the musical influence; space, phrasing, silence, we can talk about this for hours. But I think that more than that, there’s an attitude.

Ibrahim Maalouf performs at the Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad at L’Olympia on July 24, 2024, in Paris France.

(Julien M. Hekimian / Getty Images)

Trombone Shorty, musician: Miles has inspired me because of that attitude, ‘I’m going to do what I want.’ He was playing what he felt in whatever time period or whatever decade he was inspired by. He really embraced that tremendously. And that’s always the thing that I admire about him as a person and as a musician. Whatever the spirit is, he’s going to go with that. That’s what I always got from Miles.

Nas, rapper: With Miles it wasn’t just about the music he made, it was about how he carried himself as an artist and a pioneer. His impact on me personally is as much on a human level as it is on the artist level.

Trombone Shorty performs at the Anaheim Convention Center in 2015.

(Jesse Grant / Getty Images for NAMM)

Trombone Shorty: The swagger, he may have created the swag.

Vince Wilburn Jr., nephew and drummer, who now co-manages Davis’ estate: He liked to catch things, that’s why the tape kept continuously rolling, because he said it was songs inside of songs.

Carlos Santana, guitarist: “I recommend that people who never heard of Miles Davis, I’ll say start with “Kind of Blue,” then move on to “Bitches Brew.” Because the thing about Miles Davis is that he teaches people who have never meditated how to stop and be coherent about absoluteness. In one note, Miles can play absoluteness. One note for Miles, like Billie Holiday, like Cindy says, that’s enough to understand all the whys and all the reasons why it’s sacred to be alive.

Was: He probably changed the face of music more than anybody did, at least four or five times. Maybe more than that. It’s a combination of mastery and an unstoppable spirit of adventure that I think make him unique. Because he was absolutely a master of harmony, rhythm, of creating a vibe. Yet he loved upsetting the cart and I think went out of his way to create friction musically, within the band, to keep things stirred up constantly and make every day an adventure. It requires tremendous courage. But also, supreme excellence to do it on the level that he did with the level of musicians that he surrounded himself with. That’s another thing, too. He wasn’t just the most innovative man on the horn. His genius was also as a curator of human chemistry.”

‘Larger than life’

Musician Wyclef Jean performs in 2023.

(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

Jean: The main thing that I learned from Miles at a very young age is just the braveness, you can’t be scared to just go. Going doesn’t just mean learning one part of it. It means learning the entire metrics. … When it comes to Miles, he’s just a complete teacher; even on how he sees art, how he sees shapes, and also there’s a whole part of Miles that’s tough love when it comes to it. So, all of that instills character.

Bilal: As an older musician, you could see all of the building blocks are in those records. If you take some of those records out, I don’t know where jazz would be. You can see the essential building blocks.

Izzy Escobar, singer: Miles Davis made jazz feel cinematic to me. When I listen to songs like “It Never Entered My Mind” or “Flamenco Sketches,” there’s mystery, romance, restraint and tension in every note. Nothing feels overdone, yet somehow it says everything. As a songwriter, that’s deeply inspiring because the best music doesn’t just sound good … it creates an entire world you can step into. I think that’s why his influence has lasted a century. His music still feels fearless, elegant and emotionally alive — all of which never go out of style.

Jorma Kaukonen, guitarist: I had always thought of jazz as somewhat of a haughty art form. Probably because at the time many of the time signatures and chordal progressions that Miles used were over the head of a young guitar player still functioning in the blues and folk idioms. … The growing rock and art movement in the Bay Area in that era taught us to eschew boundaries and labels, and it became possible to see similarities and possibilities with jazz music that would have gone previously unnoticed. Our harmonic tendencies were nowhere near as complex, but they were rapidly becoming more sophisticated thanks to our exposure to such great improvisers as Miles! Miles knew no boundaries.

Jean: One thing that I learned from Miles is someone can have the best technique. They could be moving around. But if you can dig and play from your soul, this instrument just becomes a vessel of sound and orbit, bro, it’s over. There’s a connection with the soul. And I wouldn’t be able to do that, bro, if I didn’t have people like Miles to really teach me how to hear.

Theo Croker plays trumpet the Kennedy Center in 2018.

(Paul Morigi / Getty Images for Thelonious Monk)

Theo Croker, trumpeter: He was definitely a larger-than-life figure. And it encourages me to be a larger-than-life figure. Growing up as a kid, we sit in a room all day and play trumpet for hours. You see somebody like Miles Davis and you’re like, “Wow, I can be a rock star.” Because I couldn’t sing, otherwise, you end up being a pop star, Prince, Michael Jackson and Stevie and all that. But Miles was that for the trumpet, of course. So, it’s so much bigger than music.

Musician Mia Doi Todd performing in 2012.

(Paul Redmond)

Mia Doi Todd, musician and singer: Miles Davis was such an outstanding band leader, bringing together a group of musicians and seeking to break the boundaries. That is what I look to him most for as a celestial mentor, being a band leader and creating those sonic landscapes. The records that I love most of his are from that electronic jazz fusion era, which weren’t his most popular at the time. I love “On the Corner.” I’m a person of mixed race, so the records that he was bringing together, all these different musical elements, those are the ones that I really admire … “I wish I could play in that band.”

Maalouf: There’s this idea that music is not about providing something. It’s about searching. It’s about staying alive artistically. I think that strength goes far beyond music, it’s really a message for all the musicians that we are. Never stay where people expect you to stay. Every time the audience thought they understood him, he changed direction. And I think that’s definitely one of the most inspiring parts of his musical life.

Was: I never met him. But he was a heroic figure to me as a teenager, very much in the same way that simultaneously, like Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones were, or John Lennon was, or Allen Ginsberg was.

Bilal performs in New York City in 2023.

(Roy Rochlin / Getty Images)

Bilal: That [artistic vision] is a major influence that I take from Miles. … I always approach the music in that way where you got to do your own thing. You’ve got to have something to say, and you’ve got to want to evolve and always look for ways to grow and change and with the music. Miles was quintessential at that.

Trombone Shorty: To me, Miles Davis was a real rock star. It just wasn’t the sound. When he walked on stage … he looked the way that the music sounded to him. … And as he grew, he just really embraced everything that was coming to him, and he didn’t run away from it. He wanted to have his influence and also be tremendously influenced by things that were happening. He was just the coolest; when they say cool, Miles Davis has to be next to that word.

‘Playing within the language that he created’

Nas performs in New York City in 2018.

(Bennett Raglin / Getty Images for Jenn-Air)

Nas: I think Miles’ impact on every inch of music after him is the most impressive part. Musicians from every genre speak on his influence. It has no language or cultural barriers.

Jean: I would literally tell everybody to do a deep dive and start with early Miles, start from the bebop and the blues, don’t just go in. I started my daughter with “Birth of the Cool.” Now she’s vibing and slowly working her way up.

Musician Vince Wilburn Jr. in 2011.

(Theo Wargo / Getty Images)

Wilburn Jr.: Style, creativity, forever evolving, ever looking back, unapologetic. Lenny White used to say everybody wanted to live and be like Miles, all the musicians. You have Miles, and then you have everyone else.

Santana: Miles is what I call a sacred rascal, a divine rascal, a genius. When I’ve been in the room with Herbie [Hancock], Wayne [Shorter] and Tony [Williams], and the name Miles comes up, they all stop. It has such an impact on all of them to this day it shows that Miles is Da Vinci, Stravinsky, Picasso. Collect all the geniuses of this planet, and that’s what Miles is in one note. In one note, he reveals more because in one note, he teaches an individual how to hug infinity with emotions.

Kaye: I think of him as a lodestar for someone who wants to continually move music forward into the future because that’s what music is about. When you play music, you’re moving from one note to the next and creating the future of that piece. I just find Miles a fascinating creature of transformation. Miles, for all his artistic innovation, was a pop star.

Maalouf: Miles Davis’ legacy is not only a sound, it’s a mindset. He gave all of us the permission to be many people in one lifetime. It feels to me it’s the secret and he was generous enough to do it himself and show the world and especially the jazz world that is not always easy to please that someone can be many people in one lifetime. It’s not only true for music. It’s true for everything in life.

Cohen: He’s always on the cutting edge of the next thing and the next group of musicians that he finds. The story in that is that there’s constant change, constant evolution, and to find the thread throughout is kind of the meaning of life. And to play his music is the same thing. He created a language. So, when we play his music, we’re playing within the language that he created.

Was: “That’s why he’s that cat. He’s the most rebellious musician of all time, I think. He was the complete package man, no one more innovative or influential.

The idea grew as organically as the purple cauliflower at Erewhon. One day, I walked from my place in Los Feliz to the beach. I stopped at two Erewhon locations on the way to refuel. I made a reel about my journey and posted it to Instagram. My friend Fish saw it and said, “You should walk to all the Erewhons.”

I thought: I don’t have time to do that. I’m a very serious person who needs to write her novel.

But later I found myself mapping out an 89-mile hike in my Notes App, starting in Pasadena and ending in Calabasas, stopping at all 10 Erewhon locations on the way. (My route did not include the Palisades, which is closed because of the fires; nor did it include LACMA or the new Glendale locale.)

“I need to write my novel” is a thought I have a lot. I usually heed this thought and sit at the desk like a soldier, imagining the wonderful day when I’ll sell said novel — for an amount that would probably be comparable to a fraction of an Erewhon employee’s yearly salary.

Erewhon Trail map illustration by Swan Huntley.

(Erewhon Trail map illustration by Swan Huntley. )

I really wasn’t in the mood to write the novel, though. When I imagined myself pecking away at the keyboard, I felt bad. When I imagined myself walking around L.A. in my Home Depot gardening hat, I felt good. So, I put on my hat, got into an Uber headed for Pasadena, and texted my sister, “Carpe diem, bitch.” Or at least that was my intention. What I actually sent was, “Carpet diem hitch.”

Over the summer, I hiked a little bit of the Pacific Crest Trail. A few years ago, I biked the Camino in Spain. I’ve walked from Los Feliz to the beach a handful of times. I’ve traversed the length of Manhattan thrice. Before that, when I was a teenager, I used to trek from La Jolla to Del Mar while drinking beer (I carried a cooler; yes, I’m sober now) and listening to Sarah McLachlan on my Discman. I’ve always been drawn to activities that many people find tedious. Like walking forever. Or writing a novel.

Starting in the fourth century, pilgrimages were served up by the church as a way for Christians to pay penance for their sins. They were hard and dangerous and a lot of people died. Fast-forward to now: Such treks have taken on an “Eat, Pray, Love” aura. Or a “Wild “ aura. They live in the realm of self-help and of sport. They’re a way to create friction in an increasingly frictionless world. By walking from Mexico to Canada, or from Erewhon to Erewhon, I wonder whether we’re trying to get back to the part of ourselves that wants to try harder.

Or we just want to become more valuable dinner party guests.

What do you do?

I do really long walks.

I ordered a Goddess Smoothie in Pasadena, and then I repeated this tradition at every store thereafter. The smoothie costs $19, tastes like heaven, and it’s green, which my brain reads as “good for me.”

It took me a little over three hours to walk 11 miles to Silver Lake. I got a Vegan Avocado Sandwich for lunch, took an Uber home and posted a reel on Instagram about my first day on the trail. A lot of people liked it. Some of them called me a genius.

In the last 10 years, I’ve published four novels and two illustrated books for adults. I was naïve and just totally blindly happy about the publishing process in the beginning. People wanted to buy my work? Other people wanted to read it? Cool.

The first book, “We Could Be Beautiful,” did well because the publisher put real money into the marketing of it. Then that stopped happening. At a certain point, I realized that expecting too much was unwise. It was up to me to market my books myself. Which meant: social media.

They say you have to see a book cover six times before you buy the book — or consider buying it. There are a lot of book covers on Instagram. Actually, there’s a lot of everything on Instagram, and out of all the everything, is a book cover that exciting?

No.

My second reel, which depicted my journey from Silver Lake to Studio City, went a little bit viral. To date, almost 10,000 people have shared it with their friends. Why? I think the answer has something to do with a desire for levity.

If the atmosphere of the world could be depicted by an Erewhon beverage, it wouldn’t be a vibrant, cheerful one, like the bright magenta Pitaya Smoothie. It would be the dark and brooding Germ Warfare Shot. I find it perplexing that people talk about the apocalypse as if it’s happening later. It’s happening now. If we were really thinking about how climate change is affecting us, we’d be out in the streets screaming. All the time. But we’re not doing that. We’re carrying on with our usual lives. Apparently, for me, that includes walking to Erewhons.

Any long-distance trek is as much an internal journey as it is external. As I continued the trail, I started to think that maybe my endeavor was a reaction to my feeling of total powerlessness. I can’t save the polar bears. I can’t force the president to go to therapy. But I can add some levity to the brooding atmosphere.

Recently, someone commented on one of the reels, “Transplants make LA locals look bad.” This person, and many others, hear the name Erewhon and assume I’m poking fun at it. Erewhon has become a joke about L.A. — a joke that was amplified after Hailey Bieber invented her smoothie in 2022 that Erewhon dubs the “Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie.” I’ve never had it, but I can tell you that it looks like a sky full of strawberry clouds. According to an Erewhon employee I spoke to, this smoothie was a turning point. It aligned the brand with wealth and power. Now, Erewhon evokes the image of smooth-skinned, health-conscious Angelenos with money to burn.

The Erewhon Trail, then, inevitably becomes a conversation about privilege, my own included. Instagram hid my two favorite comments, because it was worried they’d be too rude to show, but I think they’re the funniest ones.

This is what white people do on Prozac.

This is what happens when a liberal arts teacher gets fired.

To both of these comments, I say: Yes.

I’m not on Prozac yet, but maybe after I get fired, I will be.

In order to get fired, though, I’d have to get an actual job, which might never happen.

The most intense leg of the trail was from Santa Monica to Calabasas. My friend Fish joined me. Google said it would take 27 miles. After marching through the mountains, I decided to use my own intelligence to make the route shorter. This cut out four miles, bringing the total to 23. For long stretches, Fish and I walked in the bike lane, or in the bramble by the side of the road. That’s the penalty for straying from Google. Your sidewalks disappear and your chances of getting hit by a car go way up.

My legs were noodles by the time we got to Calabasas. I crawled across the parking lot to show my viewers how weak they’d become. The employee at the door smiled at me and handed me a basket, and I thought about the pain of my legs, which no one could see, and about all the secret battles people are fighting all the time, and I wished that we cared about each other as much as Erewhon cares about us. Multiple employees were perfecting the already-perfect plateaus of bell peppers and apples in the produce section. Their thoughtfulness was the opposite of the vibe I encounter in most public restrooms, which is that the strangers who were there before me didn’t have many thoughts about my experience. As lame as the fact that an Erewhon smoothie costs $19 is that so many of us need to be paid to be nice to each other.

When I tell people about my love for Erewhon, they either say, “Duh, I know,” or something along the lines of, “That place is ridiculous, right?” This is almost always followed by the mention of a food item and some amount of money. Like, “Doesn’t a carrot cost $12,000?”

Actually, I tell them, no. Although sometimes, yes. There is a Japanese strawberry that’s famously expensive ($20), but that’s avoidable. I then explain that contrary to popular thought, there is a way to shop at Erewhon on a budget. A jar of soup, for example, costs $15.50. If you return the bottle, you get $3 back. In my opinion, the soup can be two meals, so that’s $6.25 per meal. A lot of the produce is either the same price or only a little bit more expensive than at other health food stores, and it’s in consistently better shape. The most important piece of making Erewhon more affordable, though, is becoming a member. You get 10% off, a free drink of the month and discounts on a bunch of items.

You might be wondering: How many Erewhon memberships has she personally sold?

She’s lost count.

The other reason to go to Erewhon is the environment. It’s visually appealing and the employee-to-customer ratio is notable, and the result is that you feel like you’re at a resort. And frankly, these simple things — a nice environment, high quality food — should be available to everyone.

Back to the question of whether or not Erewhon is ridiculous — yes, of course it is. If you sit at any of the locations and listen to the conversations around you, you’ll probably feel like you’re an extra in a satirical movie. At Studio City, I overheard two moms in white pants and cashmere sweaters talking about how, based on their Instagram recon, they figured out that so-and-so was sitting next to so-and-so at a benefit dinner. Another snippet I overheard in Studio City: “You gotta make music from the heart, man, and the label will feel it.”

It didn’t occur to me to ask for free merch until after I’d finished the trail. Armando at the Santa Monica location was the lucky recipient of my request. I explained my uniquely heroic feat to him, and then wondered aloud if perhaps I could get a sweatshirt, or at least a hat.

Sadly, Armando was unauthorized to give me merch, but he did offer me a gift card in a tiny envelope. I was very grateful. I assumed the card was worth $50 at least.

After we parted ways, I opened the envelope.

Ten dollars.

Enough to put a down payment on a smoothie.

My dreams now are so different from when I was younger. Back in grad school, I imagined that maybe I’d write a bestselling novel, and maybe it would be adapted for the screen, and maybe my tombstone would read: She contributed very serious literature to civilization.

What I never accounted for was, of course, the unknown. Maybe one day, over a decade after school ended, I’d get a lot of attention for making performance art about walking to grocery stores.

Huntley’s novels include “I Want You More,” “Getting Clean With Stevie Green,” “The Goddesses” and “We Could Be Beautiful.” She’s also the writer/illustrator of the darkly humorous “The Bad Mood Book” and “You’re Grounded: An Anti-Self-Help Book to Calm You the F— Down.” She lives in Los Angeles.

Ben Miles has landed a part in ITV’s upcoming six-part space thriller First Woman

The Crown’s Ben Miles is set to appear in ITV‘s “suspenseful” new space thriller centred on a woman who goes missing during a lunar mission.

The actor, known for portraying British Royal Air Force officer Peter Townsend in the royal drama, joins Adolescence star Ashley Walters in six-part series First Woman, reports Wales Online.

Ashley takes on the role of Ben Reith, who awakens one morning to find his wife Claire (Andrea Riseborough) has vanished. This sparks a global media sensation “because Claire is an astronaut crewing the UK’s first moonbase and she’s disappeared into the long lunar night”, the broadcaster’s synopsis reveals.

It continues: “Claire is the first woman to set foot on the moon.

“A biologist taking part in a groundbreaking research project, her disappearance throws suspicion on her fellow astronauts and China’s rival base.

“With hundreds of thousands of miles between them, can Ben uncover the truth behind his wife’s disappearance?”

The ensemble also features Pride and Prejudice star Jennifer Ehle and Alex Hassell, who will shortly return as Rupert Campbell-Black in the second series of racy Disney+ sensation Rivals.

Ben, who also starred in conspiracy thriller The Capture, joins First Woman’s cast alongside The Tower’s Jimmy Akingbola, Fra Fee from Unchosen, You’s Kathryn Gallagher, Nautilus’ Shazad Latif and Neuromancer’s Christian Ochoa Lavernia.

Teasing the casting news on Instagram, ITV revealed: “A groundbreaking project. A missing biologist. A mystery that reaches across the stars.”

Polly Hill, ITV’s director of drama, promised the series would transport audiences on “an incredible journey”, saying: “I wanted ITV to make this the moment I read it.

“The team that has come on board on and off screen is incredible, and a testament to the wonderful and original scripts.”

When the project was first unveiled, creator Lydia Yeoman explained: “Set in the exciting (and as-yet-unexplored) world of private space travel, First Woman is a thriller unlike anything else we’ve seen.

“This is the story of a marriage put through the ultimate test. It’s rare that you get given the opportunity to tell a story with such ambition and scope, and we’re eternally grateful to Polly at ITV and Alcon for allowing us to do that.”

A HISTORIC railway station is set to open soon after being reconstructed brick by brick – nine miles from its original location.

The Victorian station was originally built in 1867, but fell into disuse over the last century.

Wansford Road station, near Peterborough, had been facing demolition to make room for the proposed A47 dual carriageway.

However, in 2022 an agreement was reached between Nene Valley Railway (NVR) and National Highways for the building to be dismantled and re-built.

National Highways also granted nearly £200,000 in funding towards the project.

Having been dismantled in April 2024, the limestone station has almost completed its re-location to Peterborough, now under the new name of ‘Woodstone Wharf Station’.

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The historic building will serve as a gateway to both Railworld Wildlife Haven and the NVR, and features a booking office, waiting room and administration office.

Stan Bell, who led the project at The Wansford Road CIO, said: “It’s clear that the building will have a huge rejuvenating impact on this often-forgotten part of Peterborough.

“We’ve been incredibly lucky to have the support of National Highways.”

The original railway served passengers from Stamford to Wansford, although it closed by 1929.

The building was then converted into a private residence, before falling into disrepair.

The £100 million proposal to create a dual carriageway for the A47 was also scrapped in July last year, due to planning complications and rising costs.

The high-speed rail tunnel extends as far down the mountains as some of the deepest mines on the planet

Nothing stands in the way quite like Europe’s highest and most extensive mountain range. With France on one end and Austria the other, the Alps sprawl 1,200km across eight countries in a massive crescent shape.

Historically, Alpine crossings were perilous journeys taken on foot or mule. For as long as people have been in Europe, they have sought to cross this mountain range so vital for travel, trade and war.

The Romans fought battles to control routes through the Alps. Historic figures, including Hannibal — with elephants in tow — then later Napoleon, led armies over the mountains to gain a strategic wartime advantage.

They’d have wished for something like the Gotthard Base Tunnel, a corridor between northern and southern Europe that opened in 2016. At the cost of about £11.5bn, it is the longest and deepest tunnel ever built.

It’s a crucial link for travel as well as the transport of goods across Europe. Used by freight and passenger trains, it cuts travel time from Basel to Zurich and Milan to Lugano by up to an hour.

The Gotthard tunnel extends 57km — a 20 minute journey underneath the majestic Alps that loom above. Remarkably, its depth of 2.3km is comparable to some of the deepest mines in the planet.

Trains are able to zip through at a maximum speed of 155mph due to their clever design.

Where older tunnels spiral their way up the mountains, the Gotthard is completely flat. It’s the first flat route through the Alps or any other mountain range.

As the world’s longest tunnel, it bypasses the Channel Tunnel running between England and France by 7km.

It beat out the previous world record holder, Japan’s Seikan rail tunnel, by 3km. The Seikan tunnel connects the country’s two largest islands, Honshu and Hokkaido.

The tunnel was created to replace the first Gotthardbahn rail tunnel, an engineering marvel of its time that was completed in 1882.

Plans for its replacement began a century later in the 1980s. It was an ambitious and arduous project that took 17 years to build.

With 35 miles of mountain pressing down on the route, one of the critical challenges was how to prevent the tunnel from collapsing in on itself. Fortunately, reinforced steel rings spanning the tunnel support the weight of the mountain above.

The project required the use of a massive drill the length of four football fields. At 410m long and 10m wide, it carved through 40m of mountain a day.

A 26-year-old Nottingham woman said she was burnt out and cried every single day in work before she started a new life on the other side of the world — and she has no regrets about leaving

A burnt-out Brit who was so stressed she cried every day at work quit the UK for Australia — and claims she now makes double her salary.

Wynter Yeomans moved to Sydney, Australia, with her partner, Luke Richards, in February 2025 seeking a better work-life balance.

The 26-year-old, who worked in pharmaceutical marketing, landed a marketing job within three months of the move, claiming her pay packet and quality of life skyrocketed.

Wynter, who earned £25,000 in her previous job, said she now earns £48,000 ($90,500 AUD) and no longer ‘lives for the weekend’ — enjoying all free time outside of work.

While Wynter spends $1,500 (£795) on rent, she said other expenses like food and coffee are lower than in the UK.

Wynter, whose hometown Nottingham is 10,000 miles from where she now lives, said: “We loved the idea of living abroad so we decided instead of moving into a place in the UK to move to a place in Australia.

“I finish work and I’ve got the whole evening — people go to the beach and have BBQs with friends. There’s a lot less focus on the weekend, people are out most of the weekdays. I feel like in the UK you live for the weekends.

“I went travelling, I did Southeast Asia around 2022 for about five months and I loved it. Coming home after travelling really made me realise how much bigger the world is than your home town — meeting people and seeing different countries.

“As soon as I got back it was a shock to the system. When you’re travelling you are doing so much and then you come home and everyone is doing the same thing. I make so much more money, in the UK I was on £25,000 and here I’m on £48,000 for an entry position.

“I used to pay my mum £150 rent a month. Now I pay $1,500 in rent. I used to cry to my mum that I can’t afford her rent and now I don’t bat an eyelid.

“Things are so much cheaper here compared to the UK. You can get coffee for £2. You have your happy hours and people eat out all the time.”

After travelling in South East Asia in 2022, Wynter saw her mental health decline when she returned home in July 2023, describing the first six months back in the UK as “a dark place”.

Due to the stressful nature of her job, she claimed she would cry daily and break out in rashes.

In February 2025, Wynter and Luke, who now works as a tree surgeon, jetted out to Australia and say they now enjoy a better work-life balance.

But she warns of the difficulties of moving abroad that might not be visible on social media.

Wynter said: “I really struggled, I really didn’t fit it. The first six months were a dark place, I really struggled to get back to reality.

“I landed a corporate job. I would cry every day at work and I was so stressed, I was breaking out in rashes. It was cold, it would be dark when I drove to and back from work.

“We appreciate the summer in the UK and Brits love a pub garden, but the work-life balance — I found no one I worked with had that. My mental health was not great, I love the sun so we had a good reason to push to leave.

“It’s easy to see people on TikTok living amazing lives, it took me three months to get my job. I have a science background and did pharmaceutical marketing in the UK.

“It can be really scary picking up your whole life and moving, everything is so uncertain. You can try it and if it doesn’t work out you can go back home.

“I came with my partner and I’m very fortunate in that. You just have to trust the process.”