Oops

I've just realised I was going to blog about flip flops tonight - ah well, the accident post distracted me somewhat.

It's getting late now, but I promise I'll do it before I go work tomorrow.

night night

There but for the grace...

One of the things I see a lot of on the A12 is bumps and shunts. Normally they aren't anything too major - just someone not looking where they are going and running into the back end of the car in front.

So tonight when I hit the road after work and promptly joined a crawling queue of traffic, I just assumed it was another one of these that had maybe closed a lane.

Boy oh boy, was I wrong.

Up in the distance at the next junction I could see some blue flashies on the other side of the carriageway. This usually provokes some kind of Pavlovian response in me where I am immediately thankful that it's on the other side of the road, swear at the obvious rubberneckers who are slowing down my side, and I open a window.

Perhaps I should digress for a moment to explain why I open a window... It's quite simple really, when there's any kind of major incident on the road, there is normally some kind of emergency vehicle needed. In this example I could see the blue flashies to tell me that something was on site already, however one of the mantras that I've learned to live with is that where there is one blue light special, another could quite possibly follow. Now on a normal road, this isn't a problem - the Ambulance (for example) will just batter down the road to wherever they need to be, then stop. On a dual carriageway however, this can be a bit different, sometimes they will come onto the road on the opposite side and cross over at the next junction to approach an accident. Opening the window (and for that matter turning down the stereo) means I can hear such a vehicle approaching a bit quicker and try and get out of the way.

Anyhow, I spotted the flashies, and we crawled on regardless. As I approached however, I could see this was more than just a little shunt. There were what looked like 3 fire engines in attendance, as well as a fast response paramedic and a lot of police. Ensconced in the middle of this was a Luton type van. As I approached, I couldn't really see what all the fuss was about - that was until I noticed the large pile of crumpled silver metal wedged behind the van. I'm still not sure whether it was a car or a van, it was completely indistinguishable - all I can tell you is there were a lot of active firemen and a big set of Jaws of life.

I always find it sobering to drive past accidents like these. In another time or place, it could have been me who was involved - so I say thanks to whoever's listening and drive on for the time being.

I like to hope that maybe, just maybe, it makes the others on the road stop and think about their driving just a bit more, then people like the afore mentioned Tom Reynolds can have an easier life of it.

Grrrrr

We've had a bit of a spate of car "injurys" of late round here - nothing major - a scraped bumper here, a ding there - but no-one ever seems to own up to them.

Now they've gone and scratched my wing mirror.

I am not a happy bunny

Driving in Heels

I've been reading a lot about driving in heels lately - I'm going to have a proper think about it today and maybe blog about it tonight.

Bank Holiday Boogeymen

Just back from a soggy (ish) weekend in a tent, hence the reason there's been no blogs for a day or two.

Bank Holiday drivers always amaze me - how can people drive around, completely oblivious to the fact that they are doing 25 in a 60 and there's a 3 mile queue of traffic behind them!

I saw a reall stroke of genious this weekend. We were staying at the rather nice Waterside holiday park in Essex. I should have had an alarm bell ringing when I booked the weekend. The girl on the other end of the phone did say that she should really warn me that the tent pitches were a bit away from the toliets and showers. "No problem" says me, thinking they were probably over the other side of a field - but alas, no - they were on the other side of the site - a good 10 minutes walk away! Anyhow, most of the carvans in this place were statics (not the one's that Top Gear blow up with an increasing frequency) - and one chap in a static near us had obviously decided he'd had enough of the walking back and forth to the facilities (the pool, shop and bar were also beside the toilets), and had invested in a little Suzuki Jeep - painted like a Zebra, which he ran around the site with no tax or number plates (and alas, probably no insurance) just to get from A-B!

I also saw a lovely ding while I was away - Jag XKS and a Range Rover, on a roundabout, both with a smashed light cluster - that's going to be a lovely repair bill!

Inspiration

I should probably thank Tom Reynolds - he was the inspiration behind me finally getting my finger out and starting up this blog.

Tom writes the absolutely amazing blog Random Acts of Reality where he talks about his life as an EMT with the London Ambulance Service.

I'm always in awe at what he does - even the stuff he thinks is pretty mundane is really impressive and I'm trully an addict.

So thanks Tom, and should I ever get pregnant, I promise never to ring a Maternataxi!!

Lorries, Lorries everywhere!

I had a bit of a treat today. Him indoors has driven me to work instead of me running the gauntlet that is the A12. It let me see things from the passengers perspective for a change, and probably notice even more than I would usually.

It was actually a fairly quiet day on the road today, there wasn't a lot about and we did the 50 mile trip in a much shorter time than I usually manage it. One thing kind of stuck out for me though...

As we were pootling (well, pootling probably isn't exactly the word for it, but you get my drift) past Kelvedon we came alongside a flatbed truck - you know the kind of thing, usually has "John Smith, builder" daubed along the side of it. What had caught my attention was the lovely streamer effect he was generating behind him! The truck had one of those big old rolls of clear cellophane on the bed - the type of stuff you use to wrap up palates with - and somehow or other the end had come loose, gradually unraveling the whole shebang on his trip down the road. I had visions of him getting to his final destination to find no roll of cellophane, and him looking at the truck, scratching his head and muttering something about "it was definitely there when I left!"

I see a lot of detritus on the road and often find myself musing about where it comes from and why - I guess if I'd seen that somewhere else then I'd be wondering how 40ft of cellophane came to be wrapped round a crash barrier - now I know!

Like I said in a previous post, I'm an advanced motorist, and sometimes some people's behavior on the road really makes me cringe. I met one of them last night on the way home.

To give you a bit of background on this, I'm the proud owner of a dinky little Suzuki Swift - and I'm sure that sometimes it deceives people with its speed. Anyhow, last night there was some of the usual hold ups that I see on the way home. You get used to them after a while and know roughly where you're going to meet them on the road. At one point I noticed in my rear view mirror that I was being followed by a Volvo C70 with German plates. I really probably only noticed him because he was weaving about over the road, and racing up behind me then pulling back by about 200yds.

At some point the guy following him obviously got fed up of this (I think I would have too) and undertook him - provoking the ire of the Volvo driver. As this happened, we came up to one of those areas of congestion I mentioned before, so I got ready, slowing myself down (I'm getting pretty sharp at doing that without the brakes now) and waiting for the queue. I slowed down to about maybe 10 or 15 mph, and had a quick look in my RVM to check the guy behind me was noticing I was slowing down, and having a look for donors on wheels motorcyclists. Imagine my surprise then, when all I could see was an enormous C70 squeezing into the 2 second gap behind me - so close that I couldn't even see his grill, let alone his number plate or wheels!

Unfortunately, it's the people like this who cause a great deal of the accidents on our roads. Just not thinking about what you're doing, or why the person in front has a nice big space between them and the next car, is a recipe for disaster. I see more and more crashes on the road each day, and can't help wondering how long it will be before I'm stuck in the middle of one.

Well, here goes!

I've been toying with the idea of a driving blog for a while now.

I should probably explain... Driving is a lot of what I do. I travel the A12 every day to work, and at the weekend I'm the chairman of my local group of Advanced motorists (http://www.ipswichiam.org.uk)

Sometimes I see some stuff on the road which is absolutely bonkers, other times, I'm just struck with a bit of inspiration while stuck in the inevitable car park traffic jam that is my journey to or from work.

I hope you like it - please let me know if you do - or don't - it's always nice to know!