11:00 am Wednesday morning. The cars are packed. We are ready to go. We wait in stalled silence for mother to arrive home at 12:45 so that we can leave for grandmother's house.

11:30 am Wednesday morning. Mike (my bro) and I decide that this isn't worth sitting around and waiting all day for. We find errands we can run.

12:00 pm Wednesday afternoon. Mike and I realise his car oil is dangerously low. He adds more and finds that "something" is dripping and making a puddle under his car. We ignore it and head off down the road.

12:50 pm Wednesday afternoon. We make our way on the freeway only to find traffic moving at 5 Kilometers an hour. Car accident. We drive this way for the better part of an hour. By this time, my mother and father have gotten on the freeway and are somewhere *way* behind us.

2:00 pm Wednesday afternoon. mike and I detour off the freeway to a deserted highway (at the parent's bidding) to "take a short cut".

[please raise your hands if you've seen horror films that start out this way]

4:30 pm Wednesday afternoon. My parents call to inform us that their car is making strange "musical" sound. They stop at a mechanic. We also stop just as we realise that Mike's car is overheating. After 5 minutes with the mechanic for parent's car, family decides NOT to go visit grandmother.

5:30 pm you-know-which-bloody-day. New plans are made to visit the friends who are quite conveniently close for the holidays. Parent's car is found to need new brake pads. Mike's car cools and we begin our trip to the Jackson house.

So much for a fun filled holiday full of family bitchiness. I feel quite disappointed.