Traffic jams, road works, holdups seem to be the norm. Trying to get across the road on foot early morning to get to the gym at Park Farm was almost like dicing with death. I had to run for it. Now I know we are told from an early age not to run across the road, but that was in the days when traffic was relatively light.
Now every time I want to drive somewhere I try to plot a route that will avoid major traffic areas and it's becoming harder and harder as more heavy vehicles take to narrow roads as cut throughs.
My sat nav insists on taking me down single track roads where you are fine until something comes the other way and then you can end in a field.
Mind you a slow journey does give time to marvel at the wonders of modern technology. I remember when I had my first car - a blue mini with few refinements. I'm not sure whether it even had a radio. I was delighted when I made what today would be known as mix tapes. These were cassettes of songs recorded by my favourite artists. I seem to remember mix tapes of David Bowie and The Strawbs.
I placed my cassette player on the floor of the passenger seat and turned it on. There was a lot of snap, crackle and not a lot of pop/rock and it only lasted as long as the batteries held out, which often wasn't very long. Then it was silent travel.
I remember that mini. I didn't take naturally to driving but passed my test at the second attempt. My driving instructor was a jolly guy called Mr Bond who used to use the phrase "ye Gods and Little Fishes" (never did understand why). He did teach me one good message about driving though "always treat every other road user as an idiot." This may have sounded harsh but what he was trying to teach me is you always have to look out for other drivers doing dangerous or stupid things and sometimes you have to think for them and anticipate what they are going to do. I learnt more about this many years later when I enjoyed a day out with police driving instructors who dissected my driving skills.
My grandfather told me that as soon as I passed my test he would buy me my first car. And so there it was - a bright blue mini - standing resplendent in the sunlight outside our bungalow in Middleton's Lane, Hellesdon. And there it stood. I told my parents I had nowhere to go whereas in reality I was ---- scared about going out on my own. With the driving instructor I knew he had dual control. So if I got into problems he could take over, although he never did.
It was days before I plucked up courage to take it out and then I went down the main road to Horsford and back, probably shaking all the way. The fact I don't remember my second journey must have meant that my nerves were assuaged by the initial trip of about four miles.
I know people who love cars will laugh at this fear of driving but that's how it was for me. I suspect some other people of a certain age will agree. I still dislike driving and see it as a necessity rather than an enjoyment despite driving all over the world in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and many many more. I would love to try and work out how far I have driven in the last 50 years.
I hope that when I'm too old to drive safely that I will accept the fact and give up gracefully. Even now we take public transport a lot more than we once did and the thought of driving round the M25 or up the A1 is very stressful without actually getting in a car and doing it.
But back to car technology. I have recently found a really good radio station - WKKL West Barnstable, Cape Cod. I started listening to it after staying in the area a couple of years ago and it plays indie rock music from the past 40 years. So I had the station playing on my mobile phone from the internet and being bluetoothed through to what is now called my "in car entertainment system." I find it all mind boggling and I haven't even thought about listening to audiobooks yet.