[AlanHo]

I had to clean the car for the second time in a week yesterday.  The car was brown but was supposed to be white.

It is the result of living in an area beset by work on HS2 requiring significant re-routing of numerous side roads and some of the main roads. Bridges are being build over the M42 and the adjacent main roads. Traffic gridlock is a daily hazard. An automated overhead people mover is being built connecting the new station to the airport and National Exhibition Centre  which goes over a number of local roads.

Birmingham airport is just 1.5 miles away from our home and the huge new HS2 Birmingham railway station is being built 2 miles away. Road diversions, re-routing and closures are rife and the heavy construction traffic is dragging a sea of mud onto the roads.  Trere is an army of road cleaning machines doing battle with the mud problem - but it is a mixed blessing - by being slow moving and making traffic flow worse.

According to the artists conception pictures It is all going to be mighty impressive when completed - but the work involved is unavoidably seriously inconveniencing local residents. We have about 4 to 5 years of it.

They should have given the contract to the Chinese - they would have built the whole railway in a couple of years max.

[Shambles]

I read about some of that - it's a bit of a mess from what I saw.

...the Chinese - they would have built the whole railway in a couple of years max.

From my experience with Chinese goods, it wouldn't last more than a month.

[Lorian]

Something from China will quieten it all down soon enough.

I used to fly from BHX most weeks for work. I swapped to Bristol for the last couple of years because of the unpredictability of the M42 on my return trips. I'd hate it now I'm sure. But C-19 means my flying days are over, one small bit of good for me.

[AlanHo]

I used to fly from BHX most weeks for work. I swapped to Bristol for the last couple of years because of the unpredictability of the M42 on my return trips. I'd hate it now I'm sure. But C-19 means my flying days are over, one small bit of good for me.

@Lorian : your prediction is correct, the M42 is a nightmare with peak times now being 0700 to 10:00  and 15:00 to 19:00 but all day if there is a big event like Crufts Dog Show at the NEC.  Being retired and driving just for pleasure (but is shopping really pleasure?) - I plan to miss the busy periods or use only the main roads and rat runs in our locality.