5 minutes = half an hour

Heading into town along the highway the other afternoon with a friend ...

Thankfully our side of the road was clear.

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Yesterday morning I left home at 10:00 a.m. to get to Movie Towne to see one of the European Films which was starting at 11:00. I thought I would get there with time to spare. Normally I don't go on the highway due to traffic or the likelihood of them paving the highway without warning, but there was so much traffic by the Food Giant roundabout that I decided to take the highway. Who told me to do that? It all flowed nicely until I got to a little way before Bhagwansingh's Hardware. From there it took me a frustrating half an hour or more to get to the point where you get the boat to Tobago (which is less than 5 minutes away when the road is clear).

With traffic everywhere we turn, the distance between point A and point B has been lengthened, at least timewise. What used to be half an hour into town can now take over an hour (and that's outside of traditional peak traffic times). It used to take me 5 minutes to get from my house in St. Augustine to my friend Glen's house in Curepe. The other day it took me half an hour!

Anyway, instead of grumping about something we can't fix on our own, we might as well find ways of making 'waiting in traffic' more pleasurable or productive. If driving alone, have a good book on hand, catch up on letterwriting, write poetry or sketch the hours away. If travelling with a companion, a small travel Scrabble board can sit between the two of you on top of the handbrake.

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Elspeth