It took far longer than usual to get in on the bus this morning. For no apparent reason the lower half of the M32 was stationary; no accident, no lanes closed, no policemen with speedguns. The bus took a rather circuitous route to avoid the latter stages of the blockage - so circuitous that it's wasn't clear that we actually saved any time at all. We did, however, get to survey roadworks on several other roads not directy fed, or fed by, the motorway. I'm sure half of them are new today.

Later, walking from the from bus station to the office I saw that some of the most central roads are being resurfaced. This seems to be being done without closing them off. The top layer has been scraped off one lane while the other is nearly finished. The tarmaccing lorry was driving along in the normal traffic flow. There were workmen scurrying between moving cars marking up the new tarmac for lines and studs.

On the pavements there seemed to be twice as many people as normal. (Due to the weather the total number of clothes was the same as normal, of course.) There were a flood of students near the office; probably I caught the end of a popular lecture or perhaps one of the theaters is air-conditioned.

The overall impression is of enthusiastic industry, as if the whole city sat up in bed and throught "Right! It's Summer, time to get on with things!". It's a shame so many of them ended up parked in little tin boxes on the M32.