Slicers of the Comstockery Cake,

I had to make a relatively long road journey today for the first time in a while. I'm not a fan of driving generally, I detest really short car journeys. I have to make daily 15 minute car journeys to Kirkcaldy, the linoleum capital of the world, to travel by train to the city - this duration of journey is about manageable. Longer car journeys everyday would be an ordeal, I used to make 45 minute journeys to work in Grangemouth, this was tolerable only because I was travelling at quieter times but occasionally, this could be hideous. In summary, driving is not a great deal of fun in these situations however, making the occasional long journey can be enjoyable. I always grab a few CDs that I have bought but never got round to lishening to or older ones I might have forgotten about and I can review them inflight. Long journey's are often a chance to have some thinking time and also to drive fast and not waddle around town under 30mph.

I don't have what the kids on the street call a "vehicle of enhanced specification" or really like driving but I love my car. I worry about its health although I do very little in the way of caring for it other than maintain water, oil and air levels.

I chose to take Delays' new album with me and "Making Dens" by Mystery Jets. I get irked by CDs that, when I can play them in the car, have sound effects that resemble the car breaking down, which was the case for "Making Dens". I don't drive a banger, it's not an old car and so far it hasn't failed but such noises make me panic, the only disturbing noises my car usually makes are the groans from the engine when I drive in too high a gear - a habit I have from my last car where I could drive in 5th gear from as low a speed as 25mph, and as I try to be an economical driver, that's what I did . These scary sounds are in loads of tracks, there's one effect in "Virginia Plain" by Roxy Music that always starts me worrying, even though I know it's due. I'm not a Roxy Music fan but that song made it onto one of my mix CDs, which are all lovingly named "Classic Cuts" - Volume 4 is the only one not to receive critical acclaim. The Mystery Jets album is fantastic, it's quite a quandary, the singles don't really represent the rest of the album. Their singles are quirky but the album is what some would pigeon-hole as "prog rock", I don't know what that really means but I think I might just be a big "prog rock" fan. To appease the pigeon-holers, I will declare Delays' record an excellent "pop" album and the bushes in the picture, "gorse".

How many road accidents each year are caused by sneezing? Apart from the harm that every other road user can inflict upon me, causing an accident by sneezing is my biggest road fear. The sensation of a forthcoming sneeze makes me desperately hope that I will sneeze before I have to do something important. A sneeze could temporarily blind or incapacitate me as I am braking at a junction, I might run out into the main road or into another car, or the sneeze could occur on a tight bend and I might fly off the road. I believe the Alternative Land Use Party are pledging to reduce the percentage of sneezing occurring while motoring to under 5% by 2020 should they sweep to power. The leader, in a David Cameron-stylee, gave no indication how this would be achieved when questioned.