If I had driven to Somerset last night this view would never have happened to me. This is the vista I had for 3 hours or so on the M4 between Swindon and Chippenham this morning. An accident between a lorry and a van at 5am had closed the M4 until 11am. Unlike when I became trapped on the M5 at the beginning of October, when we didn't move an inch for hours and could leave our vehicles, today the motorway was closed but a diversion had been put in place on the slip road of Junction 17. This meant that we did keep moving a few metres at a time, which is worse as there was no real respite from the hopeless feeling of being trapped and unable to do anything about it. I joined the motorway at Junction 16 at 8.05am and finally passed Junction 17, 10 miles later at 11.10am. Behind me today was Julie and a 'Man with a Van', Nick. In a way it was lucky I became entrapped as I texted Julie and she headed over to Somerset via the A4 and made it in an hour and a half. I arrived home later in the evening to find a garden now full of fragrant plants in pots. The move is beginning at last and I like it.
As a postscript to this I learnt on Wednesday that 2 people had died in the crash and another driver has been charged with manslaughter. My stuck in the queue pales into insignificance with this news as two families are now facing a much rougher time ahead than I experienced on the day.
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