How do you prepare for hell?

Tomorrow is Friday! The last working day before Christmas!!!

Normally, this would be a day of great celebration, but for me, it also holds a certain dread for a couple of reasons:

The fog. Not sure how far the news of this has spread, but across the UK, and very much around London, we're having the heaviest and most persistent fog we've had in ages, which has caused huge delays at Heathrow and caused the cancellation of many flights, and has also been causing chaos on the roads. Since I work just a stones throw from Heathrow, I get to experience not only the drive through thick fog, but also the congestion surrounding Heathrow as the delays pile up. This evening, visibility on the back roads was down to 10ft! It might look nice, but doesn't make for fun driving.

The kids. Because it's the last Friday before Christmas, all the parents in the office are allowed to bring in their kids, and since I've used up all my holiday for this year, I can't even book the day off. I'm sure there's some parents out there that think this is a lovely idea, but personally, this is my vision of hell. I'll be constructing a barricade around my desk and putting the iPod on full blast for the day.

But come 4.30 tomorrow, I'll be out of the door, battling my way home through the holiday traffic, and then I'm free until 2nd January!

Also tomorrow night, Boris the cat is coming back. Only for two weeks while the wife is on holiday and I'm given cat sitting duties, and to be honest, two weeks is probably just enough before me and the cat drive each other crazy. If he can just manage two weeks without throwing up everywhere, clawing the sofa, waking me at 5am for breakfast, and leaving pieces of mice that he's caught under the bed, he might just survive.