I should have turned left at Alberqueque

I've spent tonight at a trivia night run by one of my girlfriends as a fundraiser for her son's school. I went solo as the boy was having a geeky boy bonding night. He isn't a big trivia night fan either, and I'm not a massive fan of watching him sitting around bored getting cranky. The school is about a 20 minute drive from my house, but it was a little like going to another country. Set way back in a green pocket of suburbia, the roads go up and down like petrol prices, and everything is quite bucolic.

When the night was finally over, we all headed back to our cars to head home. I cleared the frost off my windows, and waited for the heat to kick in before I drove off. I decided that rather than leave the way I came, I would take the shortcut back to the main road. Some shortcut. It took me 2o minutes to get back to where I came from.

I found myself driving up hill and down dale, on roads without streetlights, with soft edges and speedhumps. The roads were dark and overhung with trees, and I had no idea what was around each corner. At the same time, the mist was getting heavier, and there were places I couldn't see more than 10 metres in front of me. Pretty scary.

I drove down a hill, with yellow signs all the way along the edges telling me that the road was narrowing. At the bottom of the hill was a give way sign, but no driveways or intersecting roads. I couldn't work out what was going on, so I turned on my high beams. It was the skinniest bridge I've ever seen. I told the car to breathe in (don't laugh - it was dark, and 12.15 and I'm a bit tired) and started driving across it. About halfway across I had the most overwhelming sensation of déja vu. I know I've crossed that bridge sometime in my life, but I've got no idea when or why. It is going to bug me for days.

I wonder what I will dream about tonight....

Oh, and in case you were wondering - our table came second, and I won a bottle of red wine in the lucky envelope and a dvd player in the raffle. Goodness knows what I'll do with it.

Morning drive

A foggy morning. I can't see the end of my driveway. I only know when I'm near the end of the street because of the blue markers on the road.

Driving down the winding road next to the river. No street lights. The gum trees loom through the mist. It is eerie with the fingers of the fog touching the road in patches.

Little metal capsules

I'm spending a lot of time in my car at the moment, the product of multiple train cancellations. Unfortunately, lots of other people are spending the same amount of time in their cars, so I'm spending a lot of time people watching.

Our cars seem to be a very big part of our lives. When you spend a lot of time in it, you start to view it as an extension of your home. I've developed this theory after watching the odd things people do in their cars.

This morning I saw a man driving towards me with his toothbrush sticking out of his mouth, and a bottle of water in his hand. I really hoped that he wouldn't be spitting out the window. One day last week, the woman in the car next to me was plucking her eyebrows. I'm a big sook and would prefer to pay someone else to remove the excess hair from my eyebrows, and I cannot imagine being able to sit in the car with a pair of tweezers, using the rear vision mirror to yank the miscreants out, one hair at a time. I'm not so sure that I would want to arrive at work with red dots above my eyes either, unless the concealer was lined up ready for another set of traffic lights or a traffic jam. I had a house mate once who would use his electric shaver in the car on the way to work - that way he could get up at 8.40 and be at work by 9. No thanks.

I've started wondering what people think of me when they look into my car. Depending on what time I leave in the morning, I am either listening to the local ABC radio station, and probably arguing with the news or a politician, or I decide I need to play nicely and put my ipod on shuffle. Anyone who looks into my car will either see me yelling at the radio (note for future reference - do not do this with the window open, people look at me strangely!!), laughing at the radio or singing along at the top of my lungs. Again, probably not something the world needs to hear, but I'm happy. This morning my trip to work involved No limit by 2 Unlimited, Happiness by Regurgitator, I want to be loved by Bon Jovi, The Fool on the Hill by The Beatles, I wanna dance with somebody by Whitney Houston (I think I scared someone with this), Common People by Pulp, 7 Seconds by Youssou D'Nour and Neneh Cherry (in my head all day - the bit about when a child is born), Everloving by Moby, Body and Soul by Jenny Morris, Buy Now Pay Later by the Whitlams and Love Song by AC/DC. I love the shuffle function. Oh, and Hungry Eyes from Dirty Dancing.

The most disturbing thing I've seen while driving - the public display of affection between a man and his hand. Mate, tint your windows - please!