Today I had the job of driving to an airport to collect my daughter, and my mother, from their holiday. They were due to land at 3.10. I knew how long it takes to get to the airport and so I left with plenty of time. What I forgot to take into account were two things;
(1) The local council have decided to close THE major road into the city from the north, and create a diversion that skirts around the other side of the city. The only problem is that no one is following the diversion they are all taking a shortcut into my neighbourhood and causing a queue. Causing such a queue that it took me 30 minutes to travel 1/2 mile down the high street.
(2) Not only is there this problem, but the high street has been redesigned. The main bus stop has been pushed out with the kerb into the road, and on the other side the kerb has been pushed out too. What does this do? It stops anything from overtaking a stopped bus, and causes tailbacks. Wonderful design. I really do wonder how many A levels the designer had to get before he could be let loose with his wax crayons on the planning board.
I finally got to the airport, and found the flight delayed, firstly taking off was held up. They had a queue of planes on the runway it would seem, and then when they landed they had to wait on the plane before being allowed to leave.
So, what should have been a two hour round trip took 3 1/2 hours and left me wanting to meet and smack the local traffic flow designer.
