Traffic Jam

Hello, boys and girls. This is the long weekend coming up and just like every long weekend, I will probably get stuck in a traffic jam because, just like everyone else, I am going away to the cottage.

Everyone knows that there will be a traffic jam on the major highways throughout the long weekend. There are a few people that know what to do to avoid being in a traffic jam. For instance, my friend, Fred, avoided being in a traffic jam last long weekend by leaving work early and getting a head start. My other friend, Henry, avoided a traffic jam on the last long weekend by simply not going anywhere until the following weekend. He said that it was much less stressful for him to do this.

Of course, I, like almost everyone else, waits to the very last minute to leave. There was just so much for me to do. I had to pack my suitcase, pack some food, get a blanket and pillow and fill the car up with gas. I suppose I could have gotten things ready last night, but I was tired when I got home from work last night.

Once the car was filled with gas, I was on my way. I immediately got onto the highway. There aren’t really any back roads that I could have taken to my cottage anyway.

For the first ten minutes the traffic was moving along fairly well. I sat back in my seat a bit and started to relax. I turned on the radio.

“Traffic seems to be moving along just fine this holiday weekend,” the traffic reporter stated.

I thought how wonderful that was, especially on a holiday weekend.

“Except on the 401 eastbound,” the traffic reporter continued.

Great! I was heading east on the 401. I didn’t see any problems though. Traffic was still moving along quite well.

However, not even five feet ahead of me, I saw brake lights flashing on and off. Here it comes. I put my brakes on, too.

Soon traffic slowed right down to a crawl. It stayed that way for several minutes and then all traffic came to a dead stop.

“Looks like a regular holiday weekend traffic nightmare,” said the reporter on the radio. “We have a multi-vehicle car accident near the exit to the 115 Highway.”

Great, I was almost at the exit to the 115 Highway. This was going to be a long drive.

I sat in the car for a good fifteen minutes. I was starting to go stir crazy. My legs were getting sore and so was my back.

I got out of the car and stretched my legs. Several others were doing this also. I also noticed several people had shut their engines off. This was probably a good thing to do to save fuel and wear and tear on the car. I got in my car and shut it off too. It was kind of a relief to not hear the voice of the traffic reporter.

I heard sirens up ahead. It shouldn’t be too much longer now before traffic would start moving.

Boy was I wrong. An hour later, nothing was moving yet. I was starting to become very irritable. I was hot, hungry and thirsty. Then I remembered that I has some food packed in the trunk of the car..
I grabbed a bottle of cold water and a bag of chips. I noticed a little girl sitting in the back seat of the car beside me. She looked hot. I asked her parents if it would be alright if I save their little girl a bottle of my water.

“Normally I would say no but under these circumstances l would
be very grateful,” said the girls father.

Soon, much to my relief and everyone else’s, traffic started to move again.

I was a few hours late .getting to my cottage that evening. I did manage to have a great weekend.

Monday morning I decided that I would go home early instead of waiting for the last minute. By the looks of the highway, I wasn’t the only one with this idea. However, thankfully, traffic ran smoothly all the way home.