So. This is also Christmas

0730

Looks like it's still dark outside and Radio York is coming up through the floor.

We're all different, I suppose. Some people need that noise all day long. For me, it kills me. Drives me nuts. Someone told me once about Hans Eysenck - his Personality Inventory - how some people need fireworks going off to stimulate them while others have them in their head all the time. Lock the two in a cell for long enough and they'll kill one another. That's my mother and me.

The kids nextdoor woke me at 0630 with their shrieking. I needed to crap anyway, but it would have been nice to go back to sleep. Don't they realise the job's killing me? I need to rest.

I'm still tired from the drive up. The traffic wasn’t too heavy, but the drive was crazy. Fast and close most of the way. Hard work in the dark. I had the Stone Roses on most of the way which was ok but made things more frantic. It also meant I didn't hear the noise until I stopped for fuel in York.

It was a pretty bad noise. After thinking I'd blown the engine for a while I worked out it was resonance. Something else falling off. The car's nearly fourteen years old.

I dropped off a few cards and gifts locally, then made it to my mam's. She needed cough medicine so I drove over to a garage that was still open and looked under the car.

I found the problem. A big sheet of heat-shield was hanging off and resting on the exhaust. Almost the whole length of the car. I guess I'll have to buy some glue tomorrow when the shops are open. No More Nails is pretty good, or Evo-Stick.

Christmases are all different, I suppose, but another death in the family makes this an odd one. Just have to see how it goes. They say Christmas is about family, but throw families together for too long and the fireworks will come - inside and out.

Once today's over I can be a bit more mobile. Stay sober and keep driving around. Short visits. In a few days it'll be time to drive back down.

Hopefully, my mam will come and stay for a while. See if she wants to travel. Depends how her cough is. One way or other I'll be heading back. Got work to do before New Year. Another year. More work. But hopefully this is the year of escape. Of moving on. If only life was so simple.

I suppose I should get out of bed and show my face. Face the music, as it were.