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"2, 4, 8..."
Dec. 24th, 2014 06:57 pmMy drive to my brother's house, which normally takes six or seven hours, took eleven hours on Monday, thanks to a closure of the M6 for several hours.
For an hour before hitting the traffic, there were warning signs overhead telling me that there was an accident and the motorway was closed at junction 17. Unfortunately, the signs didn't say anything useful like "get off at J21 and take the A57..." The idea of traveling south on A roads, through towns and villages and roundabout after roundabout seemed pointless, adding as much time (and much more stress) than waiting for the traffic to clear. I did think about leaving the M6 and getting onto the A54, but so many cars were trying that that the hard shoulder was completely blocked for a mile or so, and the A54 would have been hell, too.
In three hours I moved perhaps two miles; passing Sandbach services at a crawl, I went in: I was bursting for the loo. (I had seriously contemplated jumping out of my stationary car and watering the hard shoulder; only the certainty that this would lead to an immediate freeing of the traffic and my car blocking the road, with me unable to reach it, stopped me. And I covered using an empty water bottle, too. But then I came across the services, which seemed preferable.) Whilst in many ways a relief, I was then stuck in the services for an hour. The traffic trying to leave the services, into a lane of near-stationary cars, was itself stationary. Slower than a crawl, I left the service area.
It was fine, really. I wasn't going anywhere else, so I sat in my car listening to the radio. Thank God for Radio 4.
It was only later that I thought of other things I could have done, but hadn't. I didn't read the newspaper I had bought (the first for months). I didn't listen to anything on my iPod. (The idea of sitting in the car with headphones on seems bizarre. It is important to hear the subtle times of the engine and the gears. Though less important when the car is static.) I didn't read my book. I didn't play on the internet on my phone (though I did send a text to explain my delay, and felt guilty doing so, despite the completely stationary traffic and the hand brake being well and truly on).
I listened to the radio. I listened to CDs. I sat and thought. It was almost meditative.
For an hour before hitting the traffic, there were warning signs overhead telling me that there was an accident and the motorway was closed at junction 17. Unfortunately, the signs didn't say anything useful like "get off at J21 and take the A57..." The idea of traveling south on A roads, through towns and villages and roundabout after roundabout seemed pointless, adding as much time (and much more stress) than waiting for the traffic to clear. I did think about leaving the M6 and getting onto the A54, but so many cars were trying that that the hard shoulder was completely blocked for a mile or so, and the A54 would have been hell, too.
In three hours I moved perhaps two miles; passing Sandbach services at a crawl, I went in: I was bursting for the loo. (I had seriously contemplated jumping out of my stationary car and watering the hard shoulder; only the certainty that this would lead to an immediate freeing of the traffic and my car blocking the road, with me unable to reach it, stopped me. And I covered using an empty water bottle, too. But then I came across the services, which seemed preferable.) Whilst in many ways a relief, I was then stuck in the services for an hour. The traffic trying to leave the services, into a lane of near-stationary cars, was itself stationary. Slower than a crawl, I left the service area.
It was fine, really. I wasn't going anywhere else, so I sat in my car listening to the radio. Thank God for Radio 4.
It was only later that I thought of other things I could have done, but hadn't. I didn't read the newspaper I had bought (the first for months). I didn't listen to anything on my iPod. (The idea of sitting in the car with headphones on seems bizarre. It is important to hear the subtle times of the engine and the gears. Though less important when the car is static.) I didn't read my book. I didn't play on the internet on my phone (though I did send a text to explain my delay, and felt guilty doing so, despite the completely stationary traffic and the hand brake being well and truly on).
I listened to the radio. I listened to CDs. I sat and thought. It was almost meditative.