Much ado about nothing

I woke up at stupid o’clock totally freaking out, not just because it’s Christmas eve and it’s still raining but because there are less than 3 weeks to go! A total pre-trip panic, I’m talking full on blood pumping, heart wrenching, terrifying panic.

When I first considered doing the trip alone, the thing that most freaked me out was the thought of arriving in big, badass Bangkok all alone. I managed to solve this one by roping an old mate from uni into doing Thailand with me. Panic over? No.

What’s freaking me out now is all the rest! My total inability to concentrate on reading my guide books other than the food pages, which I must say I have been memorsing verbatim, you should hear my Thai pronunciation...”Kŏr Ƅlah jĕe.an nòy?” Plus the fact that I’ll be in Bali alone at the height of rainy season; it’s been raining in land locked Madrid for a week and I already feel like I’m drowning!

Concentration seems to be a huge problem for me at the moment, the only thing I can successfully say I managed to keep my eye on, was an outfit for my flight to Bangkok. This was another reason to freak out as I had a whole purchasing, drama, Ebay, fail. So instead of just going to the American Apparel website and buying the item full price like a normal person, I thought “no, that’ll bruise my budget too much!” Thus I went on a fanatical Google trawl to find a bargain, which I did.....in a size small. Now, those readers who know me, are well aware I’m no heifer but Madrid has caused me to gain a few pounds which I’m hoping I can shed between now and my departure, next month. Otherwise, just lash a belt round it, that’s my motto!

Then there was the hair growing thing. This trip was conceived as a 12 month jaunt, literally, around the world. However, we then discovered we were too old and decrepit for working holiday visas for Australia and New Zealand so it was condensed to three months. The logical thing for me to do with my hair over a 12 month period was to grow a big funky afro, n’est-ce pas? The last stop on the original trip was to have been Jamaica and I would have hot foot it to the hairdresser to have it converted into a Rhianna-esque mohawk type thing.Despite the now abbreviated trip, I continued with the hair growth, that was until last week when I admitted defeat after nearly breaking my arm trying to get a comb through it.

There seem to be so many variables to consider right now and I’m not concentrating on any of them, instead I’m just here attempting to do my own Christmas single and hoping for the best.

I took this photo surreptitiously when I had to take him to A&E in the summer, I guess that's what panic looks like!