traffic

I've changed my plans which were originally to go to the town of Reading later today, because I've spotted that there could be some above average traffic disruptions.

Reading has a mysterious and overloaded traffic system at the best of times and now its augmented with the side effects of the end of Ramadan (رمضان).

The Eid celebration(عيد الفطر) is this weekend and apparently 80% of the taxis in Reading are Muslim operated and will be out of action. I can't work out whether that means there will be more or less traffic, but I suspect the answer is more.

For Muslims, Ramadan is the month of fasting and Eid-ul-Fitr is the celebration to mark its end, at the showing of the new moon marking the start of the next lunar month of Shawwal.

I can remember from my time in the middle east, that after the celebrations, a lot of folk take an extra six days in fasting because one day of being good by fasting is repaid ten times over. So 36 days of fasting pretty much covers the full upcoming year.

So I expect Reading will be pretty lively tonight, with the combination of late revellers waiting in lines or simply staying on because they can't get easily home. I'll be on a Plan B.