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.

English Winter

For yet another week, England is living up to it's stereotype of miserable weather, with yet more persistent rain lashing down on us.

After last nights downpour, the normal route from my village has now been cut off through flooding, and the back route is now more of a shallow stream than a road to drive down. In fact this morning, it seemed like I was more being washed down the hill than driving down it.

But is this going to get me down? Not a chance! Despite the cold and wet, this is still my favourite time of the year for sitting back in a warm house, while the rain pounds down outside, and at least with the cold weather you can keep putting on more layers until you're cosy, whereas in the summer, there's only so much you can take off before you're arrested. Damn neighbourhood watch.

The other reason I'm loving this time of year, is that the Christmas spirit is finally kicking in. I know it's commercialised, I know it's over-indulgence, and I know I'll be paying for it for months to come, but when the decorations are up and the same old Christmas songs start playing on the radio, it's impossible not to be taken in by it all.

All this, just to build up to another excuse for a list.

Top 10 Christmas Tunes on my iPod

1. Stop The Cavalry - Jona Lewie
2. Troika - Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
3. Fairytale Of New York - The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl
4. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan
6. Let It Snow - Dean Martin
7. Winter Wonderland - Bing Crosby
8. White Christmas - Diana Krall
9. All I Want for Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey*
10. Jingle Bells - Diana Krall

So, now that I'm in the swing of Christmas, it's time to battle my way into London on Saturday in a desperate attempt to do all the Christmas shopping in one go, instead of leaving it to the last minute as I have every other year. That said, I can almost guarantee a last minute rush for some forgotten gift, which is after all, part of the holiday tradition!


*Ok, I'm a little ashamed of this one