|
I'M LEAVING, ON A JET PLANE...
Travel is rarely a chore, especially at this time of year when the first chill of Autumn has begun to set in and the sun goes to bed ever earlier and rises later. Even as recently as a couple of weeks ago, summer might have been packing its things away and living out of boxes, but it wasn't prepared to vacate the premises just yet. Now though, there's a definite chill in the air come sundown, and I sense a deep well of ennui ready to consume me as the nights draw in, but that's just over the horizon; it ain't here and now. I need a break - sunnier climes and a break from the routine are always something to savour, few feelings equalling the knowledge that there's a flight out to somewhere nice on the horizon of your life. Sometimes, though, the feeling is even nicer when it comes out of the blue, an unexpected turn of good fortune brighening an otherwise monotonous routine. Which is exactly what's happened for me this week with a resultant change in plan for next. S is a mate, and he and his wife E bought a fabulous villa in southern Spain earlier this year in which they spent a fair bit of the summer. He has to make various trips out over the months to ensure various works which they've commissioned have been undertaken correctly and this weekend means another such trip -basically a thinly-veiled excuse for a late holiday, a week away from the British autumn. He rang me earlier this week: "Doing anything next week?" "Er...actually mate, no. Finished up on all my outstanding writing, no photoshoots...Nah, I'm clear." "Good. Fancy coming to Spain for the week?" Hmm, let me think about that! A quick call to a contact at my favourite airline saw flights arranged, car's booked and I'm off this weekend.
Two mates, a big house, a pool. An ambient temperature in the high 20sC, sea, balmy cooling breeze. Ice cold beer, paella. Some books. My MD player and a stack of discs. Stress left behind? Check. Holiday attitude ready? And how. And it comes at the end of an interesting, relaxed week. A few tweaks to current submissions, working up some images from a recent phptohoot, breakfast with a mate on one morning and lunch with a girlfriend on another. Today I'm off to a meeting in London with another editor to discuss future plans, drop off a couple on invoices and then home. Tomorrow is A's 14th birthday and come Sunday morning, I'm off. Oh, and the Green Wing is on tonight - can it get any better?! I shall miss you all as always, but I'll be back to blogland a week hence, with photos, a bit of colour to my little pink body and a generally more relaxed and chilled attitiude to life. Enjoy your weekend peeps - and would the last person to leave my blog please turn off the lights? Eyethangewe. |
|
|
1.10.04 11:08 |
|
|
SAND IN MY SHOES
No queue at check-in; twenty minutes in the departure lounge and two hours and twenty minutes by air. That's how long it takes to leave this life and enter the tranquility, balmy climes and relaxed lifestyle of southern Spain. S and I left Luton last Sunday at 09:00 and by lunchtime, were driving west from Malaga to his three bedroom luxury villa in Calahonda. An hour later, we were unpacked, jeans swapped for swim shorts, and sat on the roof terrace enjoying ice-cold San Miguel under a cloudless blue sky. The sun beat down, 90degrees of heat turning our skin brown and our attitudes positive. Can there be a better time to visit Spain? The insufferable heat, the crowds and high prices of summer swapped for a manageable day time high which shifts to a balmy 70 degrees at night, spartan beaches and realistic costs. Flights are cheaper and less crowded, the beaches devoid of people and the air still and silent. Bliss. I could wax lyrical about the day to day minutiae of a week-long holiday, two fellas drinking, eating, kicking back and enjoying the peace and quiet by day, drinking to excess of an evening and nursing hangovers each morning, but what would be the point? You've been there, done that. Suffice it to say I spent days lounging by the pool, a book, bottle of Vittel and my MD player my only companions. At night, we cooked a barbecue, ate out and gave our kidneys a work out they didn't deserve - S is a copper and so is his brother-in-law P who turned up on our second day there. Nights out with career police officers, seasoned by years of after-work drinks are hard work for a jobbing hack!
So instead I'll let the pictures I took whilst I was away do the talking. As I look out at the steely grey skies spead low over the horizon, it's hard to believe that barely three hours away, another world, another way of life bathed in 300 days of sun each year runs seamlessly intertwined with this one. At this moment in time, I'd willingly swap.
Here, it's back to work with a vengeance for me, the next two weeks a whirlwind of acrivity encompassing meetings in Whitehall, a celeb interview, a car road test and photoshoot, travel the length and breadth of the coutnry and some flying of a less than conventional nature. Oh, and some writing in there, too. That's all tailed with a week long trip to the Lakes in half term week, with my wife and daughter, friends Nick and Eva and their daughter. A holiday of a different hue, with long, lazy nights by the fire and days spent exploring some of the best vistas in Britain. I can't wait.
Just one sad note to mar an otherwise happy time and that was the news that my friend and work associate Alan Crompton-Batt has died, aged just 50. I'll miss his direct manner, endless anecdotes and the countless long, lazy lunches we spent together over the past two years. I only met him two years ago, when I interviewed Marco Pierre-White who he represented, but we established a quick and easy rapport and greatly enjoyed one another's company. I can't do him justice with anything I write so I shall simply wish him well and raise a glass to his memory - he'd have liked that. Rest in peace, Alan. Thank you all for the comments, best wishes, and emails that sent me on my way with a smile on my face last week; they were all gladly received and much appreciated. Today, normal service chez Black Rat is resumed with blogging punctuating my various assignments and tonight, Spooks returns to our screens - long overdue! Don't miss it. I'd like to say it's good to be back, but I'd be lying if I did, so I won't. However, real life is what makes the highs all the more savourable, so I can't complain - I'll quit whilst I'm still ahead. À toute à l’heure. |
|
|
11.10.04 11:05 |
|
|
NORMAL SERVICE WILL BE RESUMED SOON
Just picked this up: 3.5l cc, V8, 300Bhp. Arguably, one of the best looking Ferraris ever made.
The sun's shining, the tarmac is dry. Sometimes...just sometimes... I love my job. I'm off to play. (Full report and video HERE) |
|
|
13.10.04 13:17 |
|
|
Ride In the Prancing Pony
I'm smiling because I'm at the wheel of a Ferrari 348 ts. Beautiful peice of Pininfarina design, rosso red paint, 300bhp from a 3.5l V8. Whoever you are, your fanciability seems to go up by a factor of ten when you get out of a Ferrari. Didn't work for me, but I enjoyed the week I had the vehicle for, anyway. |
|
|
13.10.04 17:36 |
|
|
LIVING WITH AN ICON
How does something ordinary assume the status of an icon? Look back along the road to your life and look at the things and people which have defied convention to rise head and shoulders above their peers; at a base level they may be no different from any others in their class, but something in their spirit marks them out, elevates them. They define the maxim that the sum of their parts is greater than the whole. Most boys who grew up in England in the late seventies/early eighties are almost guaranteed to have had two posters on their bedroom walls as they passed into adolescence. One would have featured Debbie Harry at the stage in her career when she defined sex and wore no knickers on stage. The other was of something almost as sexy: a car from the stable of Enzo Ferrari. For anyone that doesn't objectify a car as simply "something to get me from A to B", Ferraris occupy a special place in their automotive frame of reference. From the age of six, when I first began to develop the ability to identify every car in existence simply by its rear light cluster (I know, I know, it's a guy thing), I wanted a Ferrari. That desire has followed me into adulthood and every Ferrari I've been privileged to drive since has surpassed my expectations. The 348ts which I collected earlier this week has been no exception.
The 348 was launched to the world in 1989, the long awaited successor to the ageing 328 GTB. It represented a radical departure for Ferrari, a completely new car and engine as opposed to a reworking of an existing design. The 328 which it replaced was itself little more than a tweaked version of the venerable 308 GTS which debuted in 1980 and was made famous by Tom Selleck as Magnum PI in the TV show of the same name. With just 2,895 produced for the global market in the six years that the 348 in production, it's not a car you're likely to see too often. The styling, penned by Italian design house Pininfarina became an instant classic. Drawing inspiration from its older and larger brother, the Testarossa, the 348 was fresher, more contemporary. Looking back, it's easy to see how the design cues lent themselves to the 348's eventual replacement, the F355 which was introduced in 1995. The rear mounted 3,405cc V8 engine is one of Ferrari's best. Producing 300bhp at 7,200rpm, it delivers an astonishing 237 lb ft of torque at just 4,200rpm - more than enough to pull the car's 3,250lb weight on tickover over the speed humps that litter London's roads. In fact, in heavy London traffic, you can brake almost to a stop without needing to engage the predictably heavy clutch.
Sitting in the car, the offset pedals aren't a problem, although the close proximity of brake and accelerator will catch out the unwary, as well as those with oversized feet! Heel and toe starts are a breeze given their closeness, but for those unfamiliar with the marque's idiosynchracies, a dab of the brake pedal could herald an embarassing encounter with the car in front. As with most Ferarris, letting the car idle on tickover for ten minutes or so from cold will pay dividends in the long term - by allowing the engine oil to warm to operating temperature, the highly tuned components will perform better and the stiff gears will mesh together easier. The engine settles to an encouraging burble just behind you on tickover. The gears are laid out in typical Ferrari style with a dog leg first. Slot the aluminium-capped gear stick hard left and down in the metal gate and it makes a satisfying metal against metal 'thunk' as it slides home. Blip the throttle, ease the stiff clutch out and first is good for almost 60 mph if you're heavy with the right foot. On the open road, floor it and the horizon is reeled in to you with predictable rapidity, 60mph passing in a shade over 5 seconds if you can get the power down through the 255 section rubber without spinning, and carry you on to 175mph. Try it on barely wet tarmac as I did, and you'll find the back stepping out to meet the front effortlessly - 300bhp is an awful lot of power for those driven rear wheel to translate into forward motion and it's not for those of a nervous disposition on anything but ideal conditions. The gears are stiff and the selector needs a firm grasp to drive home through the gate. At speed through twisting country back roads, the extraordinarily low-slung profile of the car pays dividends, gluing the car to the tarmac. The Momo three spoke wheel provides outstanding feedback to your hands, the tyres transmitting information on every bump, glitch and cut in the road surface. Run over any errant wildlife and it's sensitive enough for you to be able to identify the recently deceased animals sex! Flighty at high speed in a straight line over anything but the most perfect tarmac, the car's light weight and readily available power really come into their own through the twists and turns which Ferraris are most at home in. With all the weight balanced perfectly over the driven wheels behind you, the steering needs no power to effect change of direction.
The brakes are sublime with no fade under heavy use and are fearsomely powerful, hauling the car to a stop from 60 mph in just 128ft. Predictably, driving this car, like any but the most recent of Ferraris is something of a chore on British roads. Ignroing the obvious stares of other motorists that accompany a drive in any car bearing the marque of the prancing pony, the 348 requires immense concentration - speed humps, width restrictions and narrow streets all conspiring to take their toll on a car designed for the track and make progress frustratingly slow and difficult. You can forgive it its idiosynchracies though, such is the promise of reward it harbours within its strange alchemy. You can feel touches of the brilliance that demarcates every great car Ferrari has produced though, even whilst the engineering compromises that make the ride so stiff and unyeilding on the road frustrate your progress. It's all worth it just for that moment when the road ahead clears and you can snick down through the metallic gate to third, floor the loud pedal and just enjoy the howl as the engine sucks in air through intakes and reels in the horizon, leaving everything in your rear view mirror. Call on it in its proper environment and it performs with alacrity - this is car that is made to be at its best when being driven at a constant 9/10ths.
If you've got the £35,000 or so a decent low mileage 348 will relieve you of, you can expect to fork out another £4,000 a year in servicing and running costs if you use it the way its makers intended. At this level, there's no such thing as 'economic' sense. After all, Ferraris are cars you buy with your heart, not your head. For all its impracticality, I'm loathe to hand this one back - there's something of the Ferrari spirit with every car to emerge from the factory gates in Modena and you're always aware that you're driving something that little bit special. Besides, it's Italian - you wouldn't expect it to be perfect, would you? I've uploaded a short video of the car (just 2.08mb) in .wmv format to my server which was shot with my XDA. If you've got decent speakers on your PC, crank them up for an aural symphony of Ferrari's prancing ponies conducted by my right foot. The film is Here (Right Click, Save Target As). |
|
|
15.10.04 14:36 |
|
|
POLL REVEALS WORLD ANGER AT GEORGE BUSH
Just winding down as I head into a relaxed weekend, the precursor to a rather busy week in which I'm destined for a rather inspiring assignment with the Royal Air Force. More about that when I return a week today. It's been a surprisingly quite week for me, highlighted perhaps unsurprisingly by my taking delivery of a Ferrari 348ts on Wednesday. Okay, so the weather hasn't wanted to play ball by giving me ideal conditions with which to play in, but even that's not enough to spoil my fun. And the drive into a deserted central London for the photoshoot on Wednesday evening saw a window of dry weather that at least allowed me to indulge some of the car's deep well of performance. Not a great deal else to report other than three surprise commissions on tuesday which in a pleasant change from routine, all fell in my lap courtesy of editors or clients calling me. Makes a refreshing break from having to market myself for once. I'm not generally given to blogging heavyweight stuff on Fridays - it's wind-down day so joined-up thinking should be a task too far - but today's front page report from The Guardian on how Bush's administration has seen public opinion outside the U.S growing hostile towards America since he took office warrants an entry.
According to the piece by the paper's home affairs editor Alan Travis, Eight out of 10 countries favour Kerry for president with George Bush having "squandered a wealth of sympathy around the world towards America since September 11 with public opinion in 10 leading countries - including some of its closest allies - growing more hostile to the United States while he has been in office". "According to a survey, voters in eight of the 10 countries, including Britain, want to see John Kerry defeat President Bush in next month's US presidential election. The poll, conducted by 10 of the world's leading newspapers, including France's Le Monde, Japan's Asahi Shimbun, Canada's La Presse, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Guardian, also shows that on balance world opinion does not believe that the war in Iraq has made a positive contribution to the fight against terror. The results show that in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Japan, Spain and South Korea a majority of voters share a rejection of the Iraq invasion, contempt for the Bush administration, a growing hostility to the US and a not-too-strong endorsement of Mr Kerry. But they all make a clear distinction between this kind of anti-Americanism and expressing a dislike of American people. On average 68% of those polled say they have a favourable opinion of Americans. The 10-country poll suggests that rarely has an American administration faced such isolation and lack of public support amongst its closest allies. The UK results of the poll conducted by ICM research for the Guardian reveal a growing disillusionment with the US amongst the British public, fuelled by a strong personal antipathy towards Mr Bush. The ICM survey shows that if the British had a vote in the US presidential elections on November 2 they would vote 50% for Kerry and only 22% for Bush. Sixty per cent of British voters say they don't like Bush, rising to a startling 77% among those under 25. But a sizeable and emerging minority - 45% - of British voters say their image of the US has got worse in the past three years and only 15% say it has improved. There is a widespread agreement that America will remain the world's largest economic power. This is underlined by the 73% of British voters who say that the US now wields an excessive influence on international affairs, a situation that 67% see as continuing for the foreseeable future. A majority in Britain also believe that US democracy is no longer a model for others. But perhaps a more startling finding from the Guardian/ICM poll is that a majority of British voters - 51% - say that they believe that American culture is threatening our own culture. This is a fear shared by the Canadians, Mexicans and South Koreans, but it is more usually associated with the French than the British". It echoes my own thoughts where America, a country I've long held in affection is concerned. Several people have entered into arguments in my blog, mistaking some of my anti-Bush sentiment on here as being indicative of a deeper resentment for Americans and America itself. There is a clear dichotomy between the two as whilst I find myself with a seething dislike of all that the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld tirumvirate represents, my own numerous visits to the U.S have left me with an enduring love of the people I've met and an appreciation of the diversity of the landscape. It gets frustrating trying to point out the difference sometimes but going by The Guardian's survey, that feeling of hostility is pretty widespread. |
|
|
15.10.04 15:28 |
|
powered by
20six.co.uk
