Travelling

I'm travelling a lot at the moment. Tomorrow for instance, I am off to Portsmouth for the day for work, and at the weekend I went to visit family. I've got lots more UK trips planned for work in the next few weeks. Not to forget my daily travel to work. I'm feeling quite exhausted, so my blogging isn't very frequent at the moment.

Here is a cute little kitten that sneaked (snuck?) into my brother's house. Unfortunately, his cat, whilst happy to play with the kitten outside, is too territorial and chased this poor kitten under the car. Talking about animals under cars, I nearly killed a squirrel whilst driving along a country road this evening, it is the third kamikaze squirrel in as many months, they just come out of no-where. Luckily it managed to run across the road in time.

The weather here is really too hot, and we haven't put on the heating for months. Our flat is on the top floor, and the heat rises from the floors below, making it like an oven. We can't open the window much as VH and I both have hay-fever. This is a small downside of the summer. Anyway, I'm going to not write much now as I have to be up at 6am tomorrow :-(

Cars are evil!!

Driving has been on my mind recently ... it stresses me out so much sometimes. I wish there was better public transport around here, so I wouldn't have to drive at all. Cars are so convenient, I couldn't live without mine now. However, they are evil in so many ways, and two of the worst possible ways as they are: a) bad for the planet, and b) bad for the people who live on this planet (e.g. road traffic accidents).

Another reason that cars are evil is that they bring out the worst in people. I see so much abuse on the roads. For instance, a couple of days ago when it was very hot and car windows were down, I saw a man yell something as he passed a woman on a roundabout who wasn't positioned correctly. Yesterday morning, I was driving in obeying the speed limit exactly and saw a guy behind me pulling rude hand gestures at me because I was going too slowly for his taste. I have to hope these people may not be so bad if you met them, and somehow being in a car makes them psychologically act in a different way, as I don't think so much rudeness is encountered as on the roads. I always try to let people out and obey speed limits but feel like I'm a minority sometimes, and some drivers should improve their road manners.

Also... Big Brother 2008 has started. I have to stop myself from watching this rubbish, I haven't watched it yet (one day in!) and am going to try to not get sucked into it this year. VH doesn't like it, and it is probably a waste of time, even if it is something relaxing to do after work.

Finally, what is up with the weather these days? One day it is hot, the next day there are torrential downpours. Today was quite nice at times. It's nearly the longest day of the year, I love it! This is the reason why I love summer so much, the sun and long days. It makes everyone happier, even if my hayfever did start yesterday, my eyes are all red and I keep sneezing....

Passing time whilst commuting

When I commuted into work in London, I travelled in by train. This was a 1.5 hour journey each way. I initially just sat doing nothing, but before long I started reading to pass the time. I really enjoyed reading all of the free London papers. I think newspapers are often the best to read on a train journey as you can dip in and out of them, and it doesn't matter too much if someone is distracting. It was also useful that there was a library right next to my work place, and despite being small it was the best library I have ever used, as it stocked such a range of new books. I suppose I could have bought an iPod or MP3 player, but I preferred to read. Being silent seemed to fit in with the mentality of people commuting into London; I have never been on such quiet trains.

Now I am driving to and from work everyday on a 45 minute commute either way, and this will get longer next week when the schools re-open after the holidays. At first I was driving doing nothing else, and concentrating on the driving as it was a new route, but before long I felt confident enough to start listening to music. When driving, in general I prefer listening to easy to listen to music, nothing too upbeat but rather music that relaxes me, that isn't too distracting. At the moment, I enjoy listening to albums by James Blunt, and Duffy which I bought last week. Today I bought Take That's album so I will be listening to that this week. If I am not careful I will end up buying an album every week! I don't feel too guilty, but see buying albums for my commute a bit like buying lunch, an essential part of working life.

Why are some drivers totally clueless?

Yesterday, I was driving with my husband along a narrow, hilly, bendy country road at the national speed limit, when I noticed a car driving towards me on my side of the road. The car kept coming closer and closer to me with no sign of returning to the right side of the road (which is actually the left). I slowed right down and felt my heart in my throat if that makes sense! I could hardly breathe and don't think I have ever felt so scared driving. The idiot had decided to over-take the cars on his side of the road, but probably didn't realise that to over-take he would have to over-take four cars, not just one! He wouldn't have seen me at first, as I was on the other side of the hill when he started. He managed to over-take the cars just in time but only because I had practically stopped.