Three Hours Late...

First days back from holiday should be banned!

To be fair, the day itself was ok. A little under 2000 emails to go through. Not so bad as it sounded as I was able to delete around 1500 without looking at them and ultimately there were only a few that needed an action taken on. Couple of meetings and a couple of support issues meant the day whizzed by.

It should be noted that the reason for the ban has nothing to do with what you go back to, it's just a general concept I like the idea of!

The hellish part came at going home time. We had been warned that there was congestion on the bypass but it still seemed a better bet than the tram work infested "through town" route. What a mistake! It took me two, yes TWO hours to drive 800 yards along the start of the road. TWO BLOODY HOURS!!! That's not congestion, that's a waking nightmare. Fortunately the car has one of those nifty engine cut outs. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said of the car in front. After about an hour and a half, smoke started flowing from under the bonnet. Ooops! It died away but after one too many stop starts, the car in front stopped moving for good. Ooops! Eventually the hazards went on and since we were in a jam with nowhere to manoeuvre, I got out to see if I could offer assistance. When I reached the driver's window the young girl behind the wheel was almost in tears. The smell of burning rubber coming from the front of the car didn't bode well and when she told me she couldn't get the car into gear so I'm assuming there is a problem with the clutch. Ooops! Well beyond my ability to resolve I offered to push the car into the side of the road and asked if there was someone she could call. She said she'd already tried her dad but he was also stuck in traffic but I suspect that a tow truck would be needed. Someone else had arrived by this time and suggested if she let the engine cool she might be able to get it in gear again. Heh, our sympathy was tempered a little when she said the car had been doing this for ages but hadn't ever not eventually recovered. Ahhhhh!!!

I do feel sorry for her though. Goodness knows when she'll get home tonight because it took me three and a bit hours to do a journey that normally takes 30 minutes. She wasn't alone however. The road home was littered with cars that had given up the ghost in the jam (which allegedly was due to flooding but I never saw any). I suspect the real problem was all the breakdowns.

Anyhoo, all that means is my back is soooooooore and I've just not long finished my tea. All this and I never got a shot, so what you have tonight is a bus passing the front of my flat! Sorry 'bout that!

I'll try to get back on later to catch up with you, but if not I hope you all have a great Thursday. Tomorrow is tentatively the first post-holiday ramble, weather permitting!