On my way back from grocery shopping, I encountered a traffic jam -- something that is almost unheard of in a town this size. One lane over one block where power pole work was being done at the east end of Main Street stopped the town in its tracks. From mall down to Main and then the full length of Main were bumper to bumper in full stop mode. Once we moved over the railway tracks at the east end and up the hill by the hospital, the oncoming lane was backed up way down the tertiary highway that goes by the area where I live. Crazy. In all 26 years I've lived here, I have not experienced anything quite like this. We have had a few shorter backups along Main, but nothing of this magnitude; we were at a full stop for 20-30 minutes. Along the way, several people took a side street or made a U-turn. I had no real options to get home by an alternate route. If I had turned around, the drive would be 40 minutes to get out of town and around to get to the highway where my subdivision lies. That road, however, was also backed up, so I wouldn't have been any better off. I expect some folks tried to go back uphill to the mall and take the old trans Canada road to the east of town and rejoin Main Street at the east end. This wouldn't have helped much since that road intersects Main right where the work crews were situated. So, there was no way around this mess today. In all, it took over 40 minutes to get home -- a drive that would usually take 15-20 minutes at the most.
While waiting in the long line of vehicles, I took time to examine the various trees along the route. The early phase of leafing is underway with the paler bright green colours are just beginning to appear. The hills will soon have a faint green hue. With more days like today -- sunny and quite warm -- many plants may be encouraged to leaf. Most of the shrubs in front of my home have begun to show signs of leaves. One is slower than the rest -- the hydrangea -- but it has buds ready to open soon.
The title lyric of a song ran through my mind while I sat on Main Street not moving at all. I would have loved to blast that out my windows while we all waited. It might have helped others smile, too. Keep safe. Enjoy!
Don't Stop Me Now -- Queen
No comments:
Post a Comment