My SatNav story goes back a couple of years now. I was on my way back to London from the Delphi plant in Suffolk, it was winter and was getting dark fairly early. While trying to leave the town of Sudbury and go onto the A130, the main road was jammed and it was difficult to get on to it. Just when I thought I spotted a gap in front of very slow moving huge lorry carrying a long container, I was nearly ran-over by it as the driver went around me with a loud honk rather than let me cut into the main road – very rude I thought. Then I saw the lorry had a Polish registration plate, and I mumbled to myself some greetings (..not!) aimed at the entire Polish people wherever they are.
I then realised why the hold-up – a police car was blocking the A130 and the traffic was being diverted into a side road, probably due to an accident further down the road.
This was bad news, it was dark, I did not know the area well, had no local map (the Road Atlas does not cover these tiny B roads that go between farms and barns), and the potential was there to be driving in circles all night long. What made things worst was the fact that these roads don’t go in a straight line – you think you are heading in the direction of Halsted, but then the road bends between the vales and the hales and goes off in a completely different direction. And to top it all I was driving behind this huge beast of a lorry, which is something I don’t like doing, and with no hope for an overtake.
What did puzzle me was the Polish guy’s driving style – the lorry practically flew over the narrow road, I had difficulties keeping up! At one point I had to manoeuvre in order to avoid a falling branch that was clipped from a tree, evidence of the fact that this road hasn’t been frequented by lorries for some time…
The mystery grew, because mad driving apart, I could not figure out how does a Polish driver drive so confidentially? He did not even hesitate in junctions, just went through the turns as if he did this route hundreds of times before.
It then struck me – he had SatNav! I hung to his tail for dear life (not an easy task it was, even with the Omega!), and after around 30 minutes of rally driving we joined the A130 further down.
If it wasn’t for the Polish lorry, I would probably be circling the area until dawn…