Long queues at the Bogorodica border crossing. Drivers are waiting to leave Macedonia, and on the other side, at Evzoni, things went a step further yesterday - from waiting into irritation, from irritation into an argument that came close to a fight.

The video circulating in the Facebook group "Road to Greece" shows drivers getting out of their cars and arguing sharply. The trigger: some had tried to jump the queue. People who had been standing there for hours did not take it quietly. Serbian and Macedonian citizens were among those involved.

The context matters: over 40 degrees, kilometres of cars and buses, children sitting in vehicles with no air conditioning that are not moving. That is not a traffic situation. That is endurance.

A long weekend, an old problem

The surge in traffic at Bogorodica was entirely predictable - a long holiday weekend, the peak of the tourist season, some coming back from holiday, others heading for the Greek beaches. It is expected, and it repeats every single year. And yet, every year the same crossing jams in exactly the same way.

The official advice to drivers is to check conditions at the border before setting off and to prepare for a longer wait, especially in the evening hours. Advice that shifts the entire weight onto the traveller - let him inform himself, let him bring his own water, let him wait.

And how many booths are actually staffed in those evening hours, when everyone knows the pressure peaks? That is the number nobody publishes - and it is precisely the number that determines how long the queue gets.