Usually when I’m on the road, It’s for a reason. Whether it’s going to one of my many hospital appointments, taking my son to nursery, going shopping, heading to work or going on a family day out. I usually have a destination and plan my route based on what roads they’ve decided to close today. I’m convinced at this point that whoever chooses which roads to close does so using a dart and a road map. I know sometimes they have to close roads for works and repairs and I’m fine with that, but today I was in a queue for half an hour because of some temporary lights, which were there for the hell of it as far as I could work out. It’s not even like they were there the day before and were just finishing up. It was a clear road, with some cones and traffic lights about one hundred yards apart. And before you argue that maybe they hadn’t started the works yet, when I came back down the same road later in the day, they were gone! What's more, the reason that the queue for those lights was so unbelievably long is because all the other smaller alternative routes were also closed without any warning. Why do they feel the need to close one road and then, for good measure, put massive roadworks on the alternative routes?
Anyway, I’ll stop ranting about roadworks because, in reality, I don’t know nearly enough about infrastructure to have any real opinion. I’m just tired of the sight of temporary lights. No What I really want to talk about is the drive itself. You see millions of people commute every day and I can imagine many of them don't think all that much about the actual journey itself, other than making sure they know where they’re going. After all, the commute is just the mundane bit between where you were and where you’re going. No one wants to actually be commuting. it's just the bit between your plans for the day. But sometimes a simple journey can be something more.
Sometimes, the simple act of driving a car can be one of the most entertaining parts of your day and can even help with sorting through things on your mind. I know this because today I decided to just take a drive. It has been a gorgeous day. The sun has shone and the sky has been a deep blue, scattered with white fluffy clouds, and there's a gentle breeze providing some relief from what has been the first properly hot day of the year. Mind you, I say it was a hot day; it's coming up to midnight as I write this and it's still far warmer than what would be comfortable. With it being such a nice day and having had a lot of stress, I decided to just have a drive. Whilst technically I was heading home, rather than looking at the route and working out the fastest way home, I just set off in the opposite direction, down into the depths of the Somerset countryside.
As I ventured into the countryside and onto the single-track windy roads that twist their way around the depths of the Mendips, with the verdant green bushes lining the sides of the roads, cows and sheep in the fields and Won’t get fooled again” by The Who blasting from the radio and all four windows wound down, enjoying the late afternoon breeze, I was actually able to clear my head. It was like the cool air rushing in through the windows was not only cooling me down as I drove along but also blowing away all the fog that was clouding my brain, meaning I was finally able to think straight. I was glad I was in the little red Suzuki as well, because of its tiny size I was able to squeeze into corners and tuck it into breaks in the hedges when someone came the other way. The little red square suddenly became something more than just a city commuter. Thanks to its lack of any sort of driver aids other than ABS, I felt like I was in control and not just along for the ride like some other cars. The whiffs of rally car turned into a full-on stink as that little nugget thundered around the twisting corners, leaving me hanging onto the steering wheel as it rolled around the bends whilst sticking to the road, trying to buck me from the driver's seat. It was so much fun and had me beaming, smiling from ear to ear.
I felt connected to the car, wrestling the steering wheel to stay on the road, and whilst the car occasionally suffered from body roll if I really pinned it in the corners, I was impressed by how much grip it seemed to find before opening the throttle on the straights, making the Gutless little 1.5VVT rasp and rattle its way up the revs without ever going faster than 30 MPH. Partly this is thanks to the engine not being able to get any of its power to the wheels, but also because if I did the speed limit in that thing (which on most of the back roads was 60 MPH and I’d never do), they’d be removing me from a ditch. That little Suzuki doesn’t flow through the corners but rather hops from one to another. As the roads opened back out into the wider main roads, the mood changed again, from exciting country back road driving to smooth, relaxed, open A-road driving. And with Radio two coming from the speakers, the car settled down, engine humming along, whisking me back across Somerset towards home. This gave me more time to think, mulling things over and going through plans in my head as I trundled my way along the smooth tarmac with the evening sunshine setting behind me, right up until I came across more temporary lights.