Monday in Dorking (Let it Rain!)

It was cold, dark, wet and windy when my alarm went off this morning at 5.30 a.m. Such a horrible thought of having to drive in these conditions to Surrey to be there well in time for another telephone court hearing at 9.45 a.m. I made tea and ate cornflakes before setting off on the journey. The M3 was dreadful again with massive jams between junctions 4a and 3 - the journey taking me over 2 hours 15 minutes (I got to Walsall in that time on Saturday - a journey of nearly twice the distance). Not many people were in when I arrived, including my secretary, and I was in some difficulties at first because only she knew where the key was to the cupboard containing the papers for my telephone hearing. Fortunately I was able to speak to her on her mobile whilst she was also in a traffic jam. The court hearing resulted in a settlement being achieved and following that, I went straight into another meeting - our monthly Senior Managers' Meeting. Lunch consisted of leek and potato soup and a roll. This afternoon I dealt with a fresh problem from our international division in the Isle of Man and once again I drove home in the dark although the rain had, at least stopped. Tonight I wrote out some more Christmas cards for posting tomorrow and finalised the quiz for Wednesday night's church social at the Lord Nelson pub.