That is not a common occurrence. Last weekend, I was in Canada. I think I was born with Canadian blood as I have more in common with Canadians than with many of the British people I have come into contact with today. For a start off, I understand when drivers should use the outside lane of the motorway – did you know, it’s for OVERTAKING!!? Contrary to the belief of the stupid person who, after we had cleared the ‘incident’ which had brought the M4 to a complete standstill on my way to Reading, decided to do 50mph in the third lane. I like to think that I am generally a considerate member of the driving population and so, I did not put my front bumper as close to his rear one as some people might have done. However, it would seem that said stupid person was not able to understand the use of flashing lights or my car horn or indeed my vociferous gesticulations recommending that he extricate himself from the lane.
Continuing cheerily on my way (sadly having to undertake the stupid person, along with about a dozen other drivers), I braved the centre of Reading only to find a driver at one set of traffic lights talking on his mobile. The lights changed to green and we proceeded, but ‘driver with phone’ failed to realise that the next set of lights (about 75 yards ahead) were not green, and he drove straight through them on red. How no-one crashed into him, heaven alone knows….
Having given up a large amount of my Sunday to (a) driving and (b) teaching young people the last few nuggets of mathematical genius I have to offer in preparation for their GCSE Maths exam tomorrow, I wended my merry way home. Unfortunately, not so merry. I am inquisitive as to how much notice you are given in other countries regarding road closures and diversions as in England, it’s about half a mile. The A34/M4 junction was completely closed requiring me to circumnavigate the north-west face of Newbury and travel down the A4 behind a pile of other drivers who could not cope with driving on a road unknown to them at night. Ugh….
Home now – finally – and time to begin clearing the workload pile. Did you know that there was a girl born in June quarter 1840 in Lambeth RD called Tragic Adeline Boddy? Well, it was a pretty awful day of travelling, but I would not go so far as to say Tragic…. thankfully.
[What happened to Tragic after her birth? No record found to date….]
