Traffic frustrations
This morning Q-music announced on the radio that "traffic was slowed down in Lokeren" due to an accident that blocked the right lane. Hmm ok, I have to drive by there, but slowed down traffic isn't to bad right, so no need to take an alternative road....that's what I thought!
12 kms before Lokeren I see all of a sudden the cars in front of me turning their orange signal lights on on both sides to alert the cars behind them for an upcoming traffic jam. ...noooo this could not be that slowed down traffic, was it? While coming to a standstill I soon realised that it was. And so I crawled over the highway during 35 minutes to finally get to Lokeren, where in the mean time Q-music persisted in its message. Grrrrrrrr
Tonight I fortunately checked a traffic website before leaving the office and guess what....there was an accident in Lokeren, this time in the direction of Ghent, with about 12 kms of traffic jam as well. Noooooooo.
So I looked up an alternative road, which should be an almost straight line to Ghent from Waarloos (where the office is) and I'd arrive on the highway after a long "scenic" road in Lokeren, just behind the accident. And so I went.
In the city that would lead me back to the highway I followed some signs to the highway. I knew there were 2 roads there to choose from as in a V , one leading me before the accident, one leading me to Lokeren behind the accident. (For the Belgians: being in Dendermonde, I can either drive to the Zele/Temse/Sint-Niklaas exit or to the Lokeren exit on the E17). That was something I had thought about in the office....that I had to take the correct road. But apparently my 45 minutes memory is very bad and when arriving in Dendermonde, I just kept following the signs there to the highway without any suspicion.
When I drove by a kitchen store that I had visited with Jan which was supposed on the road I did not have to take, I simply thought...."Hmm that store is on this road after all, I thought it was on the other one. Strange, I would have bet that it was on the other road". Only when I saw the city sign of Temse, it finally hit me, that the store wasn't on the different road....I was on the wrong road! And whereas I had lost 20 minutes by taking the local roads, I ended up at the spot where the announced traffic jam was. That was just fantastic...I was already late, I had already taken a detour, only to go and sit in the traffic jam.
My despair was big, very big and I still considered turning around back to Dendermonde, when I saw on the bridge across the highway that at that spot, there was no more traffic jam. So I took the risk, went on the highway to discover that in the mean time of my detour, the big traffic jam had dissolved itself. yeaaaah, so after all it did not take me that much longer to get home with my distracted mind.
Note to myself : There are 2 possibilities to drive to the E17 in Dendermonde! Ellen, TAKE THE CORRECT ONE NEXT TIME ;-)
Anyway, I was supposed to go downtown Ghent tonight, but when coming home I was so happy to be home and so hungry that I decided to stay home. Grreeeat!
12 kms before Lokeren I see all of a sudden the cars in front of me turning their orange signal lights on on both sides to alert the cars behind them for an upcoming traffic jam. ...noooo this could not be that slowed down traffic, was it? While coming to a standstill I soon realised that it was. And so I crawled over the highway during 35 minutes to finally get to Lokeren, where in the mean time Q-music persisted in its message. Grrrrrrrr
Tonight I fortunately checked a traffic website before leaving the office and guess what....there was an accident in Lokeren, this time in the direction of Ghent, with about 12 kms of traffic jam as well. Noooooooo.
So I looked up an alternative road, which should be an almost straight line to Ghent from Waarloos (where the office is) and I'd arrive on the highway after a long "scenic" road in Lokeren, just behind the accident. And so I went.
In the city that would lead me back to the highway I followed some signs to the highway. I knew there were 2 roads there to choose from as in a V , one leading me before the accident, one leading me to Lokeren behind the accident. (For the Belgians: being in Dendermonde, I can either drive to the Zele/Temse/Sint-Niklaas exit or to the Lokeren exit on the E17). That was something I had thought about in the office....that I had to take the correct road. But apparently my 45 minutes memory is very bad and when arriving in Dendermonde, I just kept following the signs there to the highway without any suspicion.
When I drove by a kitchen store that I had visited with Jan which was supposed on the road I did not have to take, I simply thought...."Hmm that store is on this road after all, I thought it was on the other one. Strange, I would have bet that it was on the other road". Only when I saw the city sign of Temse, it finally hit me, that the store wasn't on the different road....I was on the wrong road! And whereas I had lost 20 minutes by taking the local roads, I ended up at the spot where the announced traffic jam was. That was just fantastic...I was already late, I had already taken a detour, only to go and sit in the traffic jam.
My despair was big, very big and I still considered turning around back to Dendermonde, when I saw on the bridge across the highway that at that spot, there was no more traffic jam. So I took the risk, went on the highway to discover that in the mean time of my detour, the big traffic jam had dissolved itself. yeaaaah, so after all it did not take me that much longer to get home with my distracted mind.
Note to myself : There are 2 possibilities to drive to the E17 in Dendermonde! Ellen, TAKE THE CORRECT ONE NEXT TIME ;-)
Anyway, I was supposed to go downtown Ghent tonight, but when coming home I was so happy to be home and so hungry that I decided to stay home. Grreeeat!
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