The things you see when you're driving

I was driving in traffic last night, waiting to turn right at the lights. Every time we stopped and waited some more, a mandarin flew out the window of the car in front of me, to land in the gutter. I looked back and the entire turn right lane had mandarins in the gutter, at regular intervals.

It was the first time I noticed just how long it was taking to get through the lights (I was listening to an audiobook so wasn't noticing the passage of time). The mandarins were proof that we were moving, about two metres with every change of lights, but they were also proof that we weren't moving much. Usually, four or five cars can go through on those lights but, with the mandarins so close, that obviously wasn't happening last night. It was an amazing illustration of movement and stasis.

They're doing road works there so the area is full of different textures and all shades of grey. The bright mandarins looked fantastic against those colours in the dusk. It made me smile - the bright globes of orange shining in the damp light (we've had a lot of rain), surrounded by ashphalt, charcoal-coloured gravel and pale grey canvas-looking stuff put down to help water flow away. The contrasts and textures kept me interested the whole time I waited to reach the lights and go around the corner. No boredom there.

I wish I'd got a photo, but I'd have had to leave the car to get the right angle. Flying mandarins was enough distraction to have on a main road, without some crazy motorist abandoning their car to squat in the gutter with a camera.

Another part of my brain followed a more practical track. I worried about the birds and animals that would come overnight to test the mandarins, to see if they were food to eat. The mandarins were right at the edge of a busy road, and the risk of injury to animals is high. I'm driving through there again this morning. I hope there are no little carcasses. There's no way for me to clear the area safely either. It's right in the middle of a very busy intersection and I'd end up darting between moving cars. Not a clever idea.

And, finally, my brain ticks over into writer mode, and I begin to think of where I can use the image or the action in a story. I'll think about that.