Well, quite a day driving down to London. First came the unwelcome news there was a large fire next to the M40 near Oxford, with thick, black smoke impeding drivers on the motorway. In fact, only the first bit of this was true and we were slowed to 50mph for no perceptible reason as we passed the conflagration in the roadside services. Then came the bizarre news that all flights in and out of all UK airports were cancelled, thanks to volcanic ash drifting across from an eruption in Iceland. Finally, there came signs on the M40 that Heathrow airport was closed. Which was a worry, as I was planning to park my car there for three days and then head into London on the tube. In the end, all worked out better than usual, as I was Purple Parking’s only customer of the afternoon, entitling me to a coach all of my own to the tube station at Terminal 3. In fact, I think the bored drivers had a fight over which of them would have the privilege of taking me.

The (lucky) coach driver’s radio was airing an interview with the BA pilot forced to make an emergency landing at Jakarta in 1982, when I was living there. In brief, the plane lost all four engines and the pilot – in preference to gliding down to land on the Indian Ocean – decided to put the craft into a steep dive from 37,000 to 12,000 feet, to clean out the engines before re-starting them. This was successful and the happy passengers and crew, being largely Brits, later formed an association of some sort. But, when they tried to get off at Jakarta airport, they were prevented from doing so because – having been Australia bound – they lacked visas for Indonesia. Which must have been a bit of an anti-climax. And very, very annoying.

I’ve been driving in the UK for three weeks now and what a strange experience it’s been. Despite my short fuse, no one has annoyed me; I’ve seen no one driving while using a mobile phone; and everyone who enters a roundabout either doesn’t signal at all, if going straight on, or signals right or left, if they’re turning off. And then heads in the direction they’ve signalled! As I say, all very surreal and unsettling, as I’ve been pointlessly looking out for drivers cutting across me in all directions in the sort of melée I’m used to.

Finally – and reverting to the Jakarta incident – I recall a dinner party at the time at which a Dutch guest who worked for the Fokker company insisted it would have been perfectly safe for the pilot to land the stricken jumbo jet on the water. I formed the view at the time that Dutchmen were all quite mad. An opinion which I’ve not yet had cause to revise.