Monday, September 29, 2008

Error of judgement

After God on Mondays this afternoon, I decided to pop up to the Heath Hospital before attending the school governors meeting to visit Hilda, who was admitted to hospital with a broken femur in the small hours of Sunday. It seemed a good use of the hour in between.

I didn't expect to take half an hour to make the two and a half mile journey to the Heath. I didn't anticipate finding no place to park within a mile of the place, and by the time I turned around and returned without making the visit, the traffic congestion was still so bad that missing the meeting altogether was inevitable. Even if I'd gone by 'bus to the hospital door, there wouldn't have been enought time for a brief visit and the round trip. Although the timing would make it feasible, that presumes buses aren't thrown off schedule by other traffic.

I don't use the car much in town, and generally if I do it's at off peak times. Going around by bike and taking short cuts, you don't always notice the traffic which everyone around you is patiently coping with. The University term has just begun and the influx of students and their cars makes something of an impact on peak period traffic, especially through Cathays. As the year goes on, I suspect many use a car around town less and less, because of fuel and parking costs. At the start of the autumn term, when 25-30,000 birds of passage land in town, as many of 10,000 of them new to the situation, there's a period of adjustment to endure. Queues in the supermarkets and banks, as well as on the road.

I'm just annoyed with myself that this didn't even cross my mind. I could have dozen in the staffroom for an hour, rather than fume behind the steering wheel.

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