Traffic is never really much of a problem in the town that I live; We are far enough away from the main cities like Stockholm not to be bothered by it at all. The bus service around town is excellent. There are cycle paths everywhere, which while not used so much at the moment are used extensively once the ice and snow is gone. All in all traffic problems are minimal to say the least. There is a rush hour to call it such is well laughable really. This does cause problems however, from the evidence I witnessed today it seems when things do go wrong my local Swedish friends don’t know what to do.

As I was walking into town this afternoon as most people where going home I noticed the traffic was backing up all the way down the road. A little further down the road I located the cause of the problem, a bus stuck at the side of the road with its hazard lights flashing. It had clearly broken down. Not a problem surely. Swedish roads are by design wide. All that was required was a turn of the wheel and to drive around the non-moving bus. It is so obvious it feels stupid typing it.

So where people driving around the bus? Where they heck as like. They were just patiently queuing behind the bus. Is it possible for a pedestrian to get road rage? I wanted to shout at them that the bus wasn’t going to move. That it had clearly broken down. Look, see that chap over there walking around the bus. No not that one the other one. Yes that one with the bus drivers uniform on. No he doesn’t look like Geoff Capes does he, I don’t think there is much chance of the bus moving while he is standing there do you? Yes I think he may be trying to tell us something with all those flashing orange lights. No I don’t think its best just to sit there and see what happens! Drive around the bus!

To be fair to the Swedes, a few locals aren’t a fair sample to stereotype a nation. They did in the end get the idea and the problem solved itself in the end. At the end of the day I am left with a question at the back of my mind. What is more crazy, the drivers queuing behind a broken down bus, or the mad man beside the road being driven crazy by the drivers waiting patiently behind a broken down bus.