It was murder coming home from the museum today. I usually travel one junction on the M180 rather than go through Brigg and Wrawby, and that is what I did today. What I didn't know was that a lorry had shed its load on the A180 towards Grimsby and that everybody was being filtered off the M180 at the Elsham junction (where I would normally leave) creating long tail backs.

Apparently the accident happened at 12.50. I joined the motorway around 3.15. Wouldn't you think that in that time the police could have had signs up directing people away from joining the motorway at Scunthorpe to reduce congestion one junction on and keep the traffic moving?

I don't respond well to traffic jams: I'm not used to them.

I remember one outside Frankfurt in 1964, one on the M6 in 1978, one outside Conwy in the 1980s, and one near Chesterfield last year. That isn't a selection; it's a total, and I was asleep in the back seat for most of the first two. But the fact that they have been so few doesn't make me react any better when I encounter them.