Radio silence

-

Well... it’s been a while.

Apologies for the off-air time there. I lost my evening access to the internet for a month, then moved into the new house. That was over a month ago and, thanks to working into the evening pretty much every night, I’ve still not got round to ordering broadband yet. Or rather, I’ve tried, but my attempts online at work always fail and BT closes their phoneline before I get home from work. (No, I can’t be arsed to hang on the line forever while at work.) Upshot: I’m still offline.

Tonight, however, I’m yours.

So, what have I been up to? I could try to write everything up in its own post, but sod that. Here’s a quick list instead:

  • Took part in another karting event and successfully threw this one. Seriously, it was a beautiful deceit. I was so chuffed. I managed to get fastest lap by over a second and still finish in third place due to an opportunistic ‘off’.
  • Paid my 4th visit to Croft on another open pit-lane trackday. Totally wasted my brakes (including discs), but rediscovered a love of trackdays in the process. In fact, when comparing with Snetterton, I finally realised how good a track Croft is. Despite its lack of gradients, it’s got a great combination of challenges. Love it.
  • Got depressed about the Mini again. Various reasons: the race pads have ruined my front alloys; something corrosive appears to have rained on the car at some point, tarnishing the paint; and pollen that stuck to said corrosive substance was so hard to remove that I’ve scratched my bonnet. All of this reduces its resale value massively. I feel yet another trip to the bodyshop coming on. :(

Actually, that’s about it. I thought I had more to tell you about, but maybe not. Of course, I’ve moved into my house, but even that’s been a bit depressing. Turns out the previous owner had a cat and I’ve got a mental cat allergy. Couldn’t move in for weeks and even then I had to throw out all the carpets. To this day, I’m still walking carefully around the gripperrods. :(

I’m sure things’ll pick up soon, mind. Just got to get a software release out at work and then it’ll be back to sensible working hours. Can’t come too soon.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Driving the Tank

-
I don’t normally give cars nicknames. With the Zed, however, I’m tempted to call it The Tank. Not because of its size or muscularity, but as an abbreviation of sensory deprivation tank. Yep, that’s right — and it’s not a good thing. The test-drive concerns I had about the 350Z being too comfortable a car are still with me. Except now, I’ve translated that nebulous feeling of unease into a sense that it simply doesn’t provide enough feedback. Journeys at night and in wet weather can be absolutely exhausting. I find myself trying to heighten my senses to the tiniest cues coming through the steering wheel, chassis and pedals. Often I’ll end up leaning forward in my seat, as if listening to a quiet friend in a noisy pub. Thankfully, however, it’s not like that all the time. When you put your foot down and hustle it a bit, the car starts talking again. You begin to feel you’re dictating things rather than reacting to them. Sadly, I’ve had very little opportunity to grab the bull by the
Read more

Windfall

-
You get a £500 bonus at work — how do you spend it? The big decision for half of my colleagues appears to have been XBox 360 or Playstation 3? Myself, I’ve opted for a front bumper respray. Of course, as soon as I said as much, I was told, quite earnestly, that I really need to stop thinking about cars so much. Hehe. Well, it made me laugh anyway. :) Yes, I might well be chucking money away — I doubt the work will add the equivalent value to the car come the day I sell it — but it won’t half improve my enjoyment of the car. As it stands, the polka-dot affair I’ve got at the moment (courtesy of Bill Heaney’s crap finishing) makes my heart sink every time I approach the thing. In just a week’s time, I’m going to be smiling again instead. It’s been at least 6 months since that last happened (the lack of blogging here in that time is no coincidence) and maybe it’ll reinvigorate me full-stop. Dammit, I love driving too much to feel depressed about my car. Roll on the good times. Oh, a
Read more