MY BEST SUNRISE

It's not often I have to take an early morning winter drive in the country.

It's either wet, windy, very cold, icy, snowing or a combination of all four. And of course, without any street lamps, it's dark and miserable. All I want to do is turn over and stay in my warm bed. And when there is no other option, I moan like hell and delay my departure as long as possible.

Bring me sunshine every day is my motto.

Knowing the night before about my next safari into the gloom of misery, I had no chance of a restful sleep and lost count of the number of times I awoke in my cold bedroom. And when the alarm threatened to destroy my hearing, I felt as limp and disconsolate as a man walking towards the gallows. At least a hot shower sent waves of new energy through my body. Nevertheless, I thought hard. What excuse could I make not to travel?

I'm sure by now you've guessed the answer but read on to see how hard I tried not to venture into the dark.

I tried delaying tactics. Several runs to the toilet, unable to find my winter underwear and outer clothes; they all failed. My better half had seen and heard all of my antics over the years. She simply smiled, pointed to the door and opened it for me. How sweet she is, as once again, resistance turned out to be useless.

Wrapped up like mountaineer, I ventured outside. The difference in temperature was considerable and within seconds I was making more vapour trails than the aircraft way above. I shook my fists at the sky gods looking down on my misfortune as I knew they'd be smiling.

I gave them a mock salute of two digits rampant and started the de-icing process. Start the engine, turn the heater on, press the button for heating the rear screen, remove the cosy cover from the windscreen, scrape away ice from the side windows and wait in the cold for salvation.

Away to the west, the sky looked as appealing as a bowl of soggy porridge. With no breaks in the cloud, I thought my day couldn't get any worse. And for once, it didn't. I turned my eyes eastward. The clouds were breaking up and a few rays of light were streaking through. Being down in a valley didn't help in seeing the rise of the morning sun but it would soon show its face over the hills. In the meantime, I waited for my car to change from an ice-box to a sauna. But wait a minute, did I see a gleam of red and yellow?