A bit of drama out on the F6 (Highway 1) this morning. A car smacked a cyclist near Kembla Grange. The authorities closed the freeway just about 1km north of me. This turned out to be a rather unfortunate place to be. In order to get off the freeway, the entire freeway behind me had to be emptied out, so that myself and the cars ahead could turn around and get back to the nearest off ramp. This took about an hour.

Once turned around, everything was diverted to surface streets to go around the accident. This of course choked them up as well.

But the real drama was just beginning to unfold. I was moving in a corridor of traffic along the Princes at 2km/hour (it certainly beats 0km), when it became apparent that my bladder couldn't hold out much longer. But there were no turnoffs, no place to go, because doing so would involve getting back into the slowly moving chain. The only option was to hold and grit teeth.

Finally was able to pull off in Figtree (another hour later) and found a Wooly's. I stepped up to the customer service desk shifting quickly from one leg to the other and clenching my teeth. The girl was busy finding a discount coupon for the older fellow ahead of me. After several minutes of this I finally went over to the nearest checkstand, interrupting the transaction in progress and proclaimed that there was going to be a rather embarrassing moment ahead if I didn't find a toilet very quickly.

Luckily she was sympathetic and fumbled around for a key and pointed me towards the toilets.

Just barely made it.

Finally arrived at work almost 2.5 hours late, to confront a panic in the server room. What a day!

I felt a bit nostalgic about Bayshore freeway traffic; though this same situation probably wouldn't have unfolded there. In the states, it is common practice in situations of death on the road to take a few pictures and roll the body off to the side. It is much more important to keep the freeway open than it is to investigate the accident. Sure, one or two people's lives have been severely disrupted, but contrast that with shutting down an entire regional economy for a few hours. Yes, I'm being a bit overly dramatic now... but it's not too far from the truth.