September 28, 2004
Rush Hour
That period between 8am & 9am and the corresponding period between 5pm & 6pm.
Why DO we call it the rush hour?
It's not an hour any more anyway, that's for sure. The daily "Rush Hours" now extend easily between 7am - 9:30am and 4:30pm - 6:30pm around here.
The place I'm working right now is in Chester which is around 30 miles away from where I live. When I started working there I'd set off at around 8:20am and get there for 9:00am. Perfect. Unfortunately I didn't figure in the fact that the school holidays were still on and there would, therefore, be less cars on the road as that is when everyone who has sprogs takes their holidays... Pretty soon after the holiday period was over it started to take significantly longer to get to work - it didn't take very long at all before I was arriving at 9:15 or so.
So I think, "I'll set off to get there for 8:30 instead. Means I can leave at 4:30."
This meant setting off at around 7:50. Worked perfectly the first morning, got in at 8:25. Again though, pretty soon the journey got longer and longer and I started to arrive at 8:45 or so. Sigh
Strangely, coming home takes less time than coming to work. Get onto the M53, then the M56, then the M6 just by the Thelwall Viaduct which is essentially the reverse of the journey to work.
Of course, both journeys can be a complete disaster if there are any accidents or just particularly heavy traffic for some reason. Given the massive programme of roadworks on the Viaduct which have been ongoing for over 2 years now and aren't slated to finish until Spring '05 if there is a breakdown or accident there then it brings roads around there to a grinding halt. As the Thelwall is near the M62/M6 interchange then the effects can be felt all the way into Manchester and beyond sometimes.
So, given that traffic on the roads is so heavy and so slow why DO we call it the rush hour, anyone know? How long is the Rush Hour where you live and work?
It is certainly more than an hour around here. I officially start work at 8:30am, and the commute is 44 miles across country, 66 miles on the motorway. On a clear run it takes almost exactly an hour, however in the morning it is usually closer to an hour and twenty minutes. It is always quicker during school holidays, although at any time of the year you can get a bad day (like this morning) when there are queues everywhere. This morning we also had a policeman playing the 'lets see how slow we can go before they overtake' game - 55mph incidentally! Other times you can get stuck behind a tractor and it can take ages. There is one particular tractor that regularly travels from somewhere up near Reading, down to near Petersfield, all at a steady 25mph, he varies the time, but as he's doing the same route as me I often get stuck behind him. Having said that at the point I took the job down here I'd been out of work for six months, and they were actually doing stuff similar to what I had been doing. They also take account of the distance and traffic and as long as I make the time up don't hassle if I'm not in by 8:30am.
Posted by: Richard at September 28, 2004 11:21 AM