Time tunnel...

On my way to and from work my journey takes me through a tunnel. According to Wikipedia this tunnel is exactly 1150m long or in old money 0.72 miles. If the traffic is travelling normally at an average speed of 60mph this takes approximately 45 seconds to travel through.

One of the things I like to do is to hold my breath as I go through the tunnel. If travelling at speed this is no problem, but I have been known to be gasping for breath when the traffic is slow.

A few years ago I was stuck in the tunnel for over an hour. A freak snowstorm occurred and I had been in the car for 4 hours before I had even entered the tunnel. Normally my journey to the tunnel would have taken about 15 minutes. The snow had come from nowhere and the roads had not been gritted.

I had a problem, as I entered the tunnel I became acutely aware that I needed to empty my bladder. It was 8.30 at night and I wanted to go when I left work at 4.30. It was at the stage when it gets painful and I was acutely aware of my legs jiggling up and down as I tried to ignore the mounting pressure. I looked around the car and noticed an empty water bottle poking out from under the passenger seat.

http://www.fallingpixel.com/products/222/mains/tunnel1.jpg


I now had to make the decision, but I was desperate so despite the bright lights, the nearby cars and the awkwardness of the position I made a decision to use the bottle. But when I came to it I couldn't. I think I got stage fright, suddenly aware of the other drivers, or worried that I might miss. Thankfully the attempt seemed to calm the need and the desperate feeling was averted.

The tunnel and I became closer on that night.

The greatest gift that the tunnel can give is a strange phenomena. The tunnel is only just over 1km long but that is enough for the weather on the entrance of the tunnel to differ from the exit. Occasionally it is raining as I enter the tunnel and not as I exit or vice versa. Last week the effect was total. As I entered the tunnel it was grey and drizzling. As I exited, only three quarters of a minute later the sun was shining in a blue sky.

Magic? Time travel? Or a portal to a parallel universe? You choose. I think the parallel universe seems the most plausible.

 

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