It was madness on the roads today.
To start with, it was the day of the local marathon and they had rolling roadblocks in place. A ‘rolling roadblock’ in this context is a euphemism for ‘complete inability to travel from one side of the city to the other without taking a 30 mile detour due to closed roads and bridges, and if you try it’s a lottery as to which road you’ll find blocked’.
Even well away from the main marathon route there were problems, with people in silver foil capes wandering all over the place as if to say ‘look at me everybody – I’ve run in the marathon, I have’. Annoying little things like stopping and turning round to talk loudly to friends whilst crossing at traffic lights, thus preventing as many of the queueing (and detoured) cars getting through as would have done if they hadn’t been there. And crossing where there’s no actual crossing. And crossing when cars have just started to move away from traffic lights. And not making any attempt to cross quickly.
Then there was the cricket. One of the last matches of the season and the half-decent weather brought a large crowd out. Made more of a problem since the cricket ground is just about in the middle of the marathon route, and most cricket-goers are usually already as addled as someone who’s just run a marathon and have real problems with pedestrian crossing systems. A bit like students, really. Good (i.e. non-existent) planning there, then.
Incidentally, I’ve noticed a huge increase of people out running or riding bikes since the Olympics. I just wish they’d run and ride off the roads instead of on them.
Since the football season started again it hasn’t been uncommon for one of the local teams to have a home match at the same time as a big cricket match, resulting in closed roads (for parking) and congestion (as a result of those with no road sense). Add some other event at the arena, pulling in gaggles of screaming girls and their parents, and you have Hell On Earth if you’re a motorist.
But back to my original point: the leaves are starting to turn, the nights are cooler and longer, and the marathon is just about the last disruptive event of the summer. Just the football to contend with.