I stopped on the M6, with a clear road in front of me and a queue of traffic behind.

Totally deliberately, as in order to retrieve a cone orphaned on the central reservation a Highways Agency Patrol (high-vis jackets and Subarus rather than tight trousers and Kawasakis) with a blinking "DON'T PASS" sign stopped the entire northbound carriageway. It slowed us down, then stopped. A young man got out, picked up the cone, threw it onto the (coned off) hard shoulder then got back in and drove off at speed with the sign now saying "THANK YOU".

It was faintly surreal.

In other news, I probably have a job and am now unlikely to be made redundant. This is slightly annoying.

Tags: birmingham, car, work