How long does it take...

...to travel 3.3 miles when there's a hole in the road? If you will, take a look at the following map:

I travel this route every day. It's part of the 15 mile journey into Plymouth, where I work. According to the computer, at legal limits, this should take me six minutes. No big deal, the main source of traffic is coming into Plymouth itself. That or farm vehicles, old people...tourists...stray killer sheep...

Well this morning I was only a mile from home when I came to a grinding halt; and then waited. After ten minutes I turned on the cars traffic news receiver - which grabs traffic news broadcasts and cuts into the radio/cassette/CD in order that you hear them. I only turn it on during long trips, or when unusual events occur. It wasn't until half an hour and another mile later that a second traffic news bulletin kicked in ((the first, five minutes earlier having reported nothing)) and I learnt that a manhole had caved in on the road. Temporary traffic controls had been installed to control the traffic, which was now queued up all the way back into Tavistock. A simple set of lights, no more than twenty yards apart. Took me seconds to pass...yet almost an hour to get there. Madness...