(no subject)

There are long-term roadworks on the M25, starting just south of the M4 junction. This means that if you're driving to Reading from Cambridge, as I was this morning, you get stuck in the tailbacks from those roadworks just as you thought you'd survived the worst the M25 had to offer.

After crawling along in this jam for a little way, I saw a sign warning me about it (gee thanks). The sign said ‘Delays possible until Dec 2005’. Whoever chose that wording, I thought, was having far too much fun; meanwhile, better phone my destination and let them know I might be a few months late.

On the way back there was a jam on the M4, in which I crawled along for three miles or so at an average speed of perhaps 15-20mph, and eventually discovered that the entire cause of the congestion was an accident on the other carriageway, at which everybody on my side was slowing down to rubberneck. I imagine this will be old news to many readers, but I found it utterly gobsmacking that a slight glance to one side and perhaps a slacking-off on the accelerator, on the part of the drivers at the front of the queue, can slow down traffic by a factor of three two miles further back. Unless the drivers at the front really are slowing right down to 20mph to get a good look, which I'd find even harder to believe. I want to see a detailed replay of the incident (or one like it) as seen from a passing helicopter. Anybody got one?