Strikes disrupted daily life again this week but in Woodbridge there was an additional issue in the closure of the A12 for maintenance work. With traffic redirected through the town, there were times when the roads were gridlocked.
Although most vehicles were following a diversion, some tried to take different routes to avoid the closure and resulting congestion. Unfortunately the driver of one huge lorry came unstuck when he approached the one way system and realised he couldn't get through. His subsequent attempt at turning back resulted in him blocking the whole of the historic Market Hill.
While many of these lorries seem far too big for our roads, we can't fail to sympathise with delivery drivers who are often under huge time pressure. If their routes are compromised, they have to make difficult decisions on how best to reach their destination. But we all know the dangers of blindly following the instructions of sat nav systems.
Indeed, I had a bit of a surprise earlier this year when I thought I was being taken on a short cut to north Norfolk. Congratulating myself on how I was avoiding hurtling along A roads and was instead enjoying big skies, sunshine and windmills, I turned a corner to hear my sat nav suddenly pronounce 'take the ferry'. Fortunately, despite being in the middle of nowhere (on the edge of the Norfolk Broads), the chain ferry was operating, and my journey continued, but if I'd studied a map beforehand I might not have had such a shock.
Of course it was lack of planning on my part that, on this occasion, I hadn't looked at all my options on a road atlas before starting my journey.
But how many of us are losing the skill of reading a map? On a recent episode of 'The Apprentice' on BBC One, the candidates revealed that they didn't know how to use a paper map. And this wasn't a case of not being able to read contour lines or decipher the symbols in the legend, they didn't know how to use a street atlas!
Wouldn't it be sad to lose the skill to read maps and appreciate our immediate environment? And how important it is to understand where we are in life, where we've come from and where we're going! Let's keep using road atlases, street guides, nautical charts and OS maps. Besides, you don't always have the power or signal for an electronic device, particularly in Suffolk!
Thank you for reading.