After precisely 36 years on the road, Chris Rea has finally made it home for Christmas. The 67-year-old singer set off in 1988 but found himself lost on the M25, searching for the exit for Middlesbrough.
Finally, after three decades of circling what he called the “Road to Hell”, Rea took on a punt on the exit for the A1 and headed north. He was looking forward to seeing old friends, saying he “couldn’t wait to see those faces”.
Rea suffered the torture of being “top to toe in tailbacks”, but said he had “a thousand memories”, mostly of filling up with unleaded at South Mimms, consuming countless coffees at the Wild Bean Café and putting up with Steve Wright in the afternoon and Michael Ball on Sunday.
In a song released on 10 December 1988, Rea predicted that his journey would “take some time”, but having got his “feet on holy ground” he admitted to being astonished it had “been so long”.
Chris Rea must now come to terms with life away from this car, although that’s nothing compared to the horror of discovering the Stacey Solomon cover version of his famous hit single.
Upon hearing it on Heart Teesside Radio, Rea climbed back into his Ford Granada and went off in search of the summer, before hitting traffic on the A66 near the Hillstreet Shopping Centre.
Merry Christmas, Chris Rea. Petrolblog wishes you good health and happiness. Image © Wikimedia/Chepry
