Sometimes the journey isn’t as important as the destination

Trudy Tyler went away for the Bank Holiday weekend. But stuck in traffic on her way back she wondered if three days in the countryside were really worth it. By Christine Manby

(Tom Ford)

I got back to London after spending the Bank Holiday in the country feeling less than rested. Whoever said that “the journey is more important than the destination” never tried to drive anywhere in the United Kingdom on a long weekend when everyone who would normally have taken a bucket flight to an all-inclusive hotel on the continent is having to make do with a static van next to a British pig farm. The horrendous traffic I met on the way back to the capital quickly undid the benefits of three nights in the fresh air.

As we sat in a tailback that the local radio traffic news suggested was five miles long, Minky the hamster, who had accompanied me to Herefordshire in her cage, squeaked in indignation.

“Yes,” I agreed with her. “Some of the things human beings do for fun really are almost as ridiculous as endlessly jogging round a wheel.”