The A14 and the Sabbath

We've just returned from a very enjoyable weekend in Cambridgeshire; staying with family and going to Cambourne for a baptism on Sunday. The baptism was held in the new Cambourne Church building as part of the regular morning service. The sermon was one in a series on the subject of 'Sabbath', and focussed particularly on liberation as an aspect of sabbath.

I found myself musing on other aspects of sabbath observance as we sat in traffic for 2 hours following a diversion around a closed portion of the A14. It reminded me of something I had previously observed on a meandering train home from London; a lot of people travel on a Sunday. So why is it that Network Rail and the Highways Agency seem to assume that the Sabbath is a day of rest across the land?

I'm sure that the cost to the nation's economy is less if closures happen on a weekend, but for those of us who only do long journeys on a weekend it feels a bit like victimisation! Is there not some other type of value attached to an efficient leisure journey on a Sunday afternoon? There is in my book, though I'm not sure that will persuade anyone to think about a change of policy.

I suppose we're going to have to get used to the eccentricities of the A14 at some point soon. It will be a road we use frequently once we move to Cambridge, and its reputation precedes it.