Travelling home the other day, I was annoyed by the slow moving traffic – a mere 40 miles an hour on the motorway was enough to set my teeth on edge and turn my knuckles white on the steering wheel. Two miles on and the traffic was crawling along at 20mph and the radio was drowned out by a string of curse words virile enough to make a sailor blush. A further mile and I slowed to a complete stop, banging my head against the steering wheel and cursing everything in sight. That traffic jam lasted just over an hour and the experience left me seething and ready to kill.

Then I got home and read a news story and thanked god that I don’t live in China, which is now suffering from a 100km long traffic jam that is entering its ninth day. That’s right, its ninth day. The traffic jam is on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway and is caused by road works in the capital plus a myriad of small collisions and breakdowns – the usual.

Drivers have been playing cards and chess with one another and residents nearby have set up stands to sell food and drink to the beleaguered drivers – all at extortianate prices of course, the benfits of living by a huge road no doubt. 400 police officers are kept at the scene to keep the peace in case it all gets out of hand. Luckily, most of the business people have smartphones so it’s not too much of a disaster – family can still be reached and social media sites can still be updated – phew! Still, next time I’m stuck in traffic, I’ll probably shout and swear like I always do – I’ll just be especially grateful that I don ‘t work in China!