I've lost all motivation to work this week for some reason, probably down to the unbelievably cold weather we're getting up here. It should not be possible to leave the house wearing a top, a fleece *and* a coat and still be shivering! Down south, of course, it's always tropical. Even in January....

I am also in not inconsiderable pain after playing my first game of football since February on Tuesday night (and it's always the second day you feel the pain isn't it?). Luckily my knackered knee held up ok with all the strapping but man, I hope this passes soon! Looks like a regular game and it's an hour of 7-a-side a week so I should start losing a few pounds rather than piling them on (as I have ever since I took this contract - just sitting in the car eating McDonalds on the way down on friday night (no time to eat beforehand and get back too late to cook there) has made me put on over a stone and a half in 3 months! :-/

My car is now being fixed! The downside is that until it's finished I've got a one litre Corsa to chug around in, though I was lucky to get that! I dropped the car off at the Ford garage making the repairs just before 9, thinking it was the same process as every other time I've dropped a car off for repairs (i.e. "Hi, I'm xxxxx, here's my keys. Bye!"). Unfortunately it required forms being filled in and by the time it was done my lift provided by the hire car company had buggered off. I order a taxi to Enterprise car rental in Stockton (not my choice - it's being provided by the insurance company) and we duly roll up outside Avis car rental in Stockton ten minutes later. It appears my taxi driver doesn't know where he's going. Hmmmm. He gets some instructions from Avis and then we set off on a 35-minute tour of the Stockton one-way system, with the driver occasionally nipping into shops or flagging down pedestrians for directions. I wouldn't have minded but he was born in bred in the town and it's not very big!

It reminded me of when I was in Peru last year. I was stopping over in Lima on the way to La Paz and had an afternoon to kill. I couldn't be bothered to lug my backpack around a museum and I spoke no spanish at all, so after looking in the guide book I decided to visit the world's highest cricket ground (apparently) in the district of Miraflores. I flagged a taxi (one of the many tiny Fiat's that buzz around the city) off the street and after pointing out where I wanted to go in the guide book we set off. Obviously he got lost and after getting close to Miraflores he took to asking the locals where it was (and it's not exactly the number one tourist destination in Lima). He did most of this by stopping in the middle of a three land street to shout at a random pedestrian, and once cutting up a bus and asking the driver. The sound of his plaintive cries of "Lima Creeeket!?!" out of the window stick with me still....

We did get there in the end and I managed to get entry to the ground only to find it was now winter and the cricket ground doubled as a football pitch! Got some nice photos of the sight screens though.... :)

Anyway, I digress. I finally reach Enterprise rental at 10:30 and the car they'd set aside for me (some sort of automatic Kia apparently) had gone to someone else so I had to kick my heels for another half an hour until the next car was available - which turned out to be this Corsa upgrade. Still, didn't get to work until 11:30 so am having to do early starts to make the hours up this week. Grrrrr. And the police have only just sent me a witness statement to fill in despite them taking a statement from me at the time that said that I WASN'T WITNESS TO THE ACCIDENT. Honestly, is it any wonder I have no faith in the useless shower of shits????

Plus, yet another phone call to the Inland Revenue this morning has revealed that the main reason I'm making no progress with the investigation into my tax return is that the person I'm dealing with is, well, a bit thick. I've got to write a third letter stating eveything *again* and I may be in the clear. Not holding my breath though....

I am so looking forward to this weekend!