Leave the car at home today....

Not so good this morning coming into work. Now bear in mind here that I can walk to Mr. Books in around 23 minutes or cycle it in around 8 minutes. This morning I had to drop some boxes off, as I often do, on the way in to Lok n Store on Canon Lane so had no choice but to drive. Anyone who's been down there over the last week or so will know that there is a little set of road works narrowing the busy road into one lane controlled by a couple of blokes let loose on a set of traffic lights. They look harmless enough. The result though? Chaos! I then had to post several large parcels containing mostly the Maggie Thatcher biographies which had been signed at Mr. Books on Saturday by Charles Moore himself (scroll down for more on that story) and, let me tell you, it is one hefty tome. So, on leaving the storage depot, I had a simple choice: did I turn left and go through the lights of the road works to go to Higham Lane Post Office or do I turn right and go to the busy central PO and pay the 50p fee in the Sainsbury's car park for 10 minutes of parking? I made the classic wrong choice. Went to Higham Lane and, on the way, noticed a queue of traffic stretching nearly back to Hadlow. On the way back to the centre of Tonbridge I played smart and cut through Romney Way and the grandly named Royal West Kent Avenue to eventually reach Shipbourne Road. The traffic jam, presumably because of the knock on effect from Hadlow Road was almost as bad as if I'd just come back that way. In fact it took me over half an hour to get back to the High Street from Martin Hardy Way which would normally take less than five. All for a piddling little set of roadworks on Canon Lane. Good advert for leaving the car at home if you can....