What's the hurry?

I've been reflecting on driving in the slow lane

First a confession. I’ve now been driving for 53 years and have fond memories of driving a Bedford van similar to the one in this picture (which is why I chose it). The Bedford CA had a column gear change, you could drive with the door open on a hot day, and best of all, your passenger could adjust the engine from their seat while you were driving, although this only happened once to me.

This dates me I know, but it also explains why when I read somewhere on Substack about living life more slowly and enjoying stillness as well as activity, I thought about how my driving style had changed. Once it was all about getting to my destination as quickly was I could safely do so. Other motorists were just people who got in the way, particularly those older drivers who frustratingly seemed to be in no real hurry to get anywhere.

When I turned 40, I learned to drive a bus, and so learned the importance of running to a timetable. It’s fine to arrive a little early, but not to leave early, so you drive to be a couple of minutes behind the timetable, so that you don’t block traffic waiting at a stop for the clock to tick round to you departure time. Driving a bus was fun, but I did not like the early starts and late finishes, so the novelty quickly wore off.

I havn’t driven a bus in years, but do take some pleasure in punctuality. The difference now, is that I make sure I have time to speare in each day, so I no longer have to rush from place to place. I can afford the time now to linger, and let the people I am meeting talk on, often revealing useful titbits that I would never hear if in a rush to get back on the road to drive somewhere else.

So today, driving along the Wickham Market by-pass, I did not bother to overtake the car in front, even though it was travelling at a sedate 60 mph on a dual carriageway. I was not in a hurry, so why bother I thought. Instead I noticed what was around me, the sun shining through the trees, and realised that now, I was one of those slow drivers I used to think got in the way!