Driving home for Christmas

Well OK, it's not Christmas yet, but every year on the last working day before Christmas I just have to listen to Chris Rea's "Driving home for Christmas". This dates back to quite some years ago, when I had to do some work at a client location, on the day before Christmas, together with my colleagues Wim and Rene. We went together in Rene's car.

The client location was more than 230 km (142 mi) away and our goal was to leave early so we would all be home early too. We left before six 'o clock in the morning... and ended up in a traffic jam about half way: a car caught fire causing the road to be closed for quite some time. This meant we ended up in the rush hour and we didn't manage to arrive at the client premises before ten in the morning. By the time we had finished our work the evening rush hour had already started. After we cleared that we ended up in another traffic jam...

By the time "Driving home for Christmas" was on the radio for the fourth time or so, our manager who had sent us out to the client location called to ask how things went. The three of us sang "Driving home for Christmas" for him and then explained what had happened. Even though we all would rather have been home at that time, it was a fun moment and it did change the not-so-good mood we had been in until then. And it's a story we are still telling other colleagues around Christmas time.

Anyway... this was my last working day for this year. I listened to Chris Rea on my iPhone on the way home. The Christmas atmosphere was enhanced even further by heavy snowfall and the slippery roads. Glad I made it home safely...