HERE is an everyday tale of the recent floods and the effect they had on Worcester.

Dateline: 3.15pm Henwick Road, Friday, November 10. The floods have now receded enough for the Worcester City bridge to re-open. Traffic is flowing reasonably through the town centre. In fact, there are not many people around in the city.

Those who are travelling in and out seem to be on necessary business. Henwick Road has its fair share of traffic, but the level crossing barrier is down so the wait will not be too long.

Wait a minute, the train has been and gone and the barrier is raised. . . but the traffic is not moving. Strange. No, the barrier is coming down again. Another train? In fact, another two. Up goes the barrier again. The traffic is still not moving.

Drivers are turning around in the road and trying to find another route. Just what is causing the hold-up? We are now talking a delay of in excess of 15 minutes. In that time the excess traffic must be tailing back to St John's. In the distance, just a little way from St Clement's school I can see a bus trying to get through a very small gap. But what is making that gap so small?

As I get nearer, I realise that as well as the cars parked on the one side of the road, there are vehicles parked on the opposite side. What's more, these cars have people in them.

And even more surprising is that they are not attempting to move the cars to ease the jam.

Could it be that they have they broken down? Or are they there so that the children one might assume they are collecting, will not have to walk too far? Poor little darlings.

They might grow up with very short legs if they are made to march too far.

JOHN HELLINGS,

Worcester.