Scared…
T-25 hours or so and I am scared…well perhaps apprehensive would be a better word but it takes longer to type, so scared it is.
So I am scared whether I got enough sleep last night. I don’t think I did as I found it really hard to settle with my mind going over things again and again and again. At times, my mind is like “Dave”. No, not the big bloke down the pub whose look can curdle mineral water but unknown to anyone, works and funds the local cat rescue centre, but the TV channel…so many repeats. Not being able to sleep also increases the need for trips to the loo. I think my record is eight such trips during one night. Last night I came close to matching that!
Not sleeping tends to make me irritable (when am I not asks CBH) and leads me to make mistakes, where scared number two comes in: Driving to and in that London.
Now many years ago; well 15th Sept 1985 to be accurate, I successfully passed my driving test first time at the East Ham driving centre. As you don’t really need a car in London, for the next few years until I moved to the far north, I didn’t do much driving, so what driving I have done, has been around the lower trafficked Midlands. Okay, I know the M6 just south of here is the most used road in the UK but I tend to use the A5 when heading south. It might take longer but it’s a much more civilised road than the “Johnny comes lately” road which is the M6.
Thus, heading into that London scares me a little. Indeed, when I last drove there, the North Circular was a series of single carriageway roads with the odd bit of duel carriageway (yes, I know but it made me smile) linking them together, while the South Circular was little more than a goat track. Now we have a “new” link road through Leyton and Leytonstone (they pulled my brother’s house down to build it!) and the North Circular is a motorway in all but name down from Charlie Browns (If you are interested in that type of thing, this is an excellent website regarding motorways.
http://pathetic.org.uk/ I especially like the plans for the M13 to go south of Southend….yes, south.
http://pathetic.org.uk/unbuilt/m13/ )
Also, I always find it a little scary the few times I have been down south when you get to the bit of the M11 from where you can see all the towers of Canary Wharf. I suppose it must be the way my brain works but for some reason I always think that that would just be the time when Skynet decides enough is enough and starts Judgement Day. Okay, it’s not downtown LA but…. Also scary is the price to park at the Excel centre. As far as I can tell from its not so useful website, its £20 per day…. Nothing about part of the day. So, I have found a place about 10 minutes walk away which looks safe enough to leave the car with my bike in it, but until I get back from after collecting my ride bundle: (why they couldn’t post it out is beyond me…well I guess its just so they can put get a few dealers together who will try to flog their goods to a captive audience. I am going to be straight in and straight out so it’s a waste of time) I am going to be a bit worried.
The fact that I have to get to the Excel by 5pm also scares me, so I have given myself six hours to drive the 170 miles….. yes, I should be able to do it in 3 ½ to 4 according to the fiends at Google, but I am not going to trust them! Then, after this I still have to get to Romford to my hotel.
Being the planner I am, I am going to head back along the “new” North Circular to Redbridge Roundabout…. That takes me back: we had a school disco at the Red House pub there back in 1980. I do wonder if we are still banned and then take the A12 to Gants Hill where my brother wrote off my car once, before turning off along North Street to Romford. It’s only 13 miles…what could go wrong? I am going this way as I don’t know the “new” A13 so am going to go the way I know,
Back as a boy, Romford always seemed so exciting! They had a swimming pool with a wave machine and it was miles out in the countryside. Indeed, we went on a Scout camp there once. When I last went there about 7 years ago, it was built up, noisy and not my type of place, although there was a take away in North Street which was rather nice. I am scared that it has changed hands and is no longer nice which will ruin my plans for tea.
Nothing much to be scared about the hotel: it’s just a boring chain hotel like the ones I have stayed in many times while on business. Working for a charity means that if we spend more than the bare minimum on a room, we have to explain why. Indeed, not sleeping under the arches leads to questions about our dedication to the cause. However, let’s hope it’s not too noisy or busy as I need a good night’s sleep and as has been said before, I am running out of space to store the bodies.
Finally, I am also scared about the weather. Okay, it’s not going to as bad as it was a few years back when the arse end of a hurricane hit the ride, but it does seem that there will be winds of over 30mph at times. I am the type of person who always has a headwind both out and back, so it might be a struggle at times to keep to my schedule.
Anyway, best go and have some breakfast and double check my list to see if I have been naughty or nice: sorry if I have packed something I will need. I know I will forget something but it won’t be my bike as that’s already in the car!