When you’re young you take it all in your stride. The freedom of the road. The adventure. The independence, every day somewhere new (good or bad). The job is good, the wages are good, . . . dammit life is good. You’re more or less on holiday all week, seeing the country, and getting paid for it. And then little things start to bother you. And then a little thing becomes a big thing. And then that big thing becomes stressful.
With me it’s parking. Overnight parking. Come 5 or 6pm I’m thinking ‘I’m going to have trouble finding somewhere to park’. The truckstops will be filling up, the good (relatively safe and quiet) lay-bys will be taken, the industrial estates in unfamiliar areas are, well, unfamiliar and unknown.
If I know I’ve got a space waiting for me, it’s just another day. If I’m heading for somewhere I haven’t been, or haven’t been to for a few years, it’s stressful. Where do I park? Will there be a space?
Why is that? It never used to bother me. I used to happily head for somewhere and take my chances, knowing I’d find somewhere. Now I find it very, very stressful.
Anyway, have any of you jaded drivers out there got something that over the years has tipped the balance between concern and stress?*
*only old and jaded drivers need reply