Ooop Norff

Busy week. In the last 4 days I have had customer meetings in (in this order) Shrewsbury, London, Wakefield, Newcastle and Manchester. This required me driving about 1200 miles. In Australia they drive 1200 miles to get a pint of milk, but in the UK that is quite a lot., The last leg of the trip, driving from Manchester back to London, involved travelling on the M42 motorway (freeway). This was the first time that I had been on the M42 since they allowed motorists to drive on the hard shoulder when the road is congested. What a brilliant idea! The electronic signs make it very clear when you are allowed to use the shoulder and the addition of a fourth lane really mades a big difference. At 5pm the M42 is often a car park, but with the addition of the extra lane it was flowing smoothly. As I understand it, this is just an experiment to see if using the hard shoulder as an extra lane when the roads are congested is practical but based on my experience today it is a winner. I will be very interested to hear the results when the trial finishes. More detail here.

So what do I do to relax after this behemoth driving experience? Well this weekend I am driving Ali and my sister Pink back up to Leeds for our nephew Jonny's 14th Birthday. Maybe I should buy a cab ;-)