First off, we know we’ve been a bit slack this last week or so with the posting. Both of us have been pretty busy with our lives outside the realm of P4 (hard to believe).
Anyway, this past Sunday we rolled into the Noosa Classic Car Show and were thoroughly impressed. Somebody proclaimed it to be “Australia’s answer to Pebble Beach”. Whilst this is an unfair comparison for both parties involved, there were some great automotive masterpieces on display (and some not-so-great). Unfortunately the dust whipped up by strong winds meant that most of these classics were covered in a thin film of dust.
We realise that simple shots of cars can be pretty damn boring so we tried to give you a taste of the event from a more interesting perspective. Hit the jump to see what we came up with.
- P4
After traipsing around on what looked like green carpet for hours in the midday sun, we were in desperate need of refreshment. Massimo’s sorbet and a mango ice tea were just what the doctor ordered.
I used to love finding videos that compared F1 cars to touring cars, to rally cars, to road cars, to motorcycles… actually, any comparison video would do. Could have been a kid on a bicycle for all I cared! Luckily, I have saved these videos over time in my Youtube list and would like to share them with you all… here today… yes, another act of Brake Banzeen generosity!
PS: the videos are quite old so don’t hate!
First up, a McLaren F1 car vs Mercedes CLK DTM car vs Merc AMG SL 55 vs Merc C200 Coupe
Next, one of my favorites, a Williams BMW F1 car vs a BMW M5; (yes, I am biased cause I love Bimmers)
Honda F1 vs Honda Racing Fireblade vs Honda Powerboat
Ferrari F1 car vs Ferrari 550 Maranello vs Fiat road car
Pforzheim University graduate Anne Forschner had a good time coming up with her BMW Lovos concept, which can alternatively look either like a frightened porcupine or svelte salmon, depending on its needs at the time.
The exterior of the Lovos – which somewhat ironically stands for Lifestyle of Voluntary Simplicity – is theoretically constructed from just one fully exchangeable part that recurs 260 times. Each exterior piece is covered in solar photovoltaic cells and can hinge on a substructure underneath to follow the sun or act as individual airbrakes. We can only assume the concept would be powered by electricity, as it makes our hairs stand up on end.
En skön lördagförmiddag. En kopp nymalet colombianskt kaffe, cykel på tv och dessutom, med lite god vilja, sol på himlen. Veckan har varit lugn sedan jag kom åter till Sundsvall. Det första som slog mig när jag kom hem var att det har blivit kallt i Sundsvallsregionen. När jag cyklade hem från en föreläsning vid halv tio-tiden i tidigare i veckan plockade jag fram vantarna. Ute hos mina föräldrar på landet ryktades det om frost och det dröjer nog inte länge innan jag får skrapa bilen.
Apropå bil var jag upp till min bilsponsor Molin Bil igår och snackade lite med dem och tittade på bilar. BMW X6 är en av de mest brutala bilar jag sett. Nu finns den dessutom som hybridfordon. Intresserade kan läsa mer här.
På måndag är det slut på sötebrödsdagarna. Då börjar träningen igen, något som faktiskt är ganska efterlängtat. Vila i all ära men nu börjar det krypa i kroppen efter att lyfta tungt och springa fort. Nu den första träningsperioden är det dock allt annat än glamouröst. Min lätt sadistiske coach Håkan Andersson har ett roligt pass vi brukar köra som heter Aerobic-123. I all enkelhet går det ut på att man springer 800 m på tre minuter, vilar två minuter, 600 m på två minuter, vila en minut och sist en 300-ing på en minut, för att sedan vila fem minuter och göra om allting igen. Låter kanske inte särskilt svårt men jag kan lova att det framkallar trötthetskänsla. Andra 600-loppet brukar alltid vara värst. Vid ett tillfälle förra året hade jag hunnit dryga 400 m på den 600-ingen när illamåendet började infinna sig. Att då se att det är 200 m kvar när benen är stumma och lunchen sakta börjar krypa uppåt från magen är både fantastiskt och fruktansvärt. Dock hann jag inte mer än 100 m till innan lunchen hamnade på Baldershovs gräsmatta. Man måste älska utmaningen!
Om någon timme sticker jag och träningskamrat Erik Karlsson ut till coach Anderssons stuga för att rita upp höstens och vinterns träning. Det blir spännande att se vad som skall hända. EM i Barcelona är naturligtvis nästa års stora begivenhet och det motiverar att köra extra hårt nu i vinter!
I går var jag för övrigt på basket och såg när regerande svenska mästarna Sundsvall Dragons drar ut på en ny säsong. Jag fick äran att överlämna matchbollen till dem så här i säsongspremiären. “Från en mästare till en annan” som Dragons klubbdirektör sade. Det blir spännande att se vad Dragons kan hitta på i vinter. Gårdagens match började dåligt då gästande Gothia ledde med nästan tio poäng i början. Dock redde Dragons upp det och kunde till slut vinna tämligen komfortabelt. Många spelare från förra årets guldlag har försvunnit och de nya är rätt unga. Ett lag för framtiden, månne!
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BMW, not one to give into competition, is going after Audi and thier R8 with thier own supercar – with a hybrid twist. Powering this german version of KITT will be a pair of electric motors coupled with a 3-cylinder turbocharged 1.5L engine that will allow the driver to reach 60mph in less than 5 seconds.
The engine isn’t the only part of this car that makes it green. The advanced design also produces a drag coefficient of .22 which means that this Bimmer slices through the air like Chuck Norris. The bad news? This concept will make it to production with a very non-texas ranger price tag of $100,000.
Il mercato piloti di Formula 1 è in subbuglio; ogni schema predefinito pare saltare in continuazione, non permettendo così una visione limpida di ciò che potremmo vedere nel campionato 2010.
Il punto fermo, anche se non ancora ufficiale, pare essere l’ingaggio di Fernando Alonso da parte della Ferrari, mentre tutto il resto ruoterebbe intorno alle condizioni di recupero di Felipe Massa e all’eventuale terza monoposto in pista nel prossimo campionato.
Ma andiamo per gradi descrivendo scuderia per scuderia i possibili scenari.
Ferrari - E’ la Scuderia per eccellenza, la monoposto più blasonata, che anche dopo un anno in chiaro/scuro come il 2009 non ha di certo perso il suo appeal.
Fernando Alonso è dato per certo a Maranello dal 2010 (contratto di 3-4 anni), mentre Felipe Massa gode di un contratto in essere fino alla fine della prossima stagione.
Anche Kimi Raikkonen ha un contratto con Ferrari per il 2010, ma il Brasiliano a differenza di Iceman gode di molta più fiducia a Maranello.
Gli ultimi grandi risultati di Kimi stanno però imbarazzando la dirigenza, in quanto, per la sua sostituzione, la scusa dello scarso rendimento ora non regge più; se Iceman continuerà su questi livelli (i suoi livelli) non sarà da escludere nemmeno uno slittamento al 2011 dell’arrivo di Alonso.
Se la terza monoposto potrà essere schierata (forse senza prendere punti mondiali) allora il tridente sarà Alonso-Massa-Raikkonen, a meno che Montezemolo e Domenicali non vogliano mettere in macchina un certo Michael Schumacher, legato ancora a doppio filo con la rossa oppure il neo-acquisto Giancarlo Fisichella.
Comunque sia se Kimi verrà licenziato, Maranello dovrà pagare al Finlandese una sostanziosa penale visto l’ingaggio principesco (circa 26-28 milioni di dollari l’anno), soldi che potranno arrivare dal nuovo sponsor Banco Santander (sponsor di Alonso, il che fa presumere molte cose) il quale ha firmato con la Ferrari durante il GP di Monza.
Tutto verrà rimesso in discussione solo se Felipe Massa, durante il periodo di riabilitazione, riscontrerà grossi problemi mettendo così in dubbio il suo effettivo rientro in Formula 1 come pilota (ipotesi remota questa). In questo caso la coppia titolare sarà Alonso-Raikkonen o Alonso-Fisichella.
Percentuali:
- Alonso-Massa – 80%
- Alonso-Raikkonen – 1%
- Alonso-Fisichella – 2%
- Raikkonen-Massa – 8%
- Alonso-Massa-Raikkonen – 3%
- Alonso-Massa-Schumacher – 3%
- Alonso-Massa-Fisichella – 3%
McLaren - Lewis Hamilton è un punto fermo; la monoposto pare abbia ritrovato competitività e questo la sta portando ad essere appetibile anche a piloti di prima fascia. Kovalainen, attuale secondo pilota, ha deluso abbastanza; tutti se lo aspettavano più costante nelle prestazioni e capace di sottrarre punti alla concorrenza, sia quest’anno ma soprattutto l’anno scorso.
Le ultime sue prestazioni stanno facendo salire le sue quotazioni ma forse non sarà sufficiente.
Nico Rosberg è il candidato principale a sostituirlo; non teme la concorrenza interna di Hamilton ed ha un voglia matta di dimostrare il suo valore con un top team. In Williams bastona regolarmente il compagno Nakajima e la classifica dice Rosberg 30,5 punti Nakajima Zero.
Infine possibile un ritorno di fiamma con Kimi Raikkonen; Iceman, candidato a lasciare Maranello, è sempre molto stimato a Woking e una coppia con Hamilton sarebbe sicuramente qualcosa di strepitoso.
Percentuali:
- Hamilton-Rosberg – 50%
- Hamilton-Raikkonen – 30%
- Hamilton-Kovalainen – 20%
Renault - La scuderia di Enstone non naviga in buonissime acque; dopo la multa commiata dalla FIA per comportamento irregolare a Budapest, ora deve far fronte al “RenaultGate” per il presunto incidente pilotato di Piquet a Singapore lo scorso anno che fece conquistare la vittoria a Fernando Alonso e la conseguente radiazione di Briatore.
La monoposto inoltre non sembra all’altezza di quelle che fecero vincere per due volte il mondiale allo spagnolo e quindi sarà molto difficile ingaggiare dei top driver.
Romain Grosjean debuttante quest’anno sarà confermato, se non altro per verificare il suo valore, ma come primo pilota urge un nome; l’addio della Bmw fa salire le quotazioni di Robert Kubica, poco pretenzioso nell’ingaggio, mentre Kimi Raikkonen rientra si nella schiera dei papabili, ma il suo ingaggio stratosferico è un bel problema da risolvere.
Infine se non andassero in porto queste due trattative, potrebbe rientrare in squadra Heikki Kovalainen, pilota Renault già nel 2007.
Percentuali:
- Kubica-Grosjean – 80%
- Raikkonen-Grosjean – 15%
- Kovalainen-Grosjean – 5%
Brawn GP – Il team leader del mondiale sta raccogliendo i frutti delle sue prestazioni; la Mercedes ha fatto capire di essere interessata a diventare partner ufficiale della Brawn GP, relegando così la McLaren a team clienti.
Ross Brawn gongola, potendo giocare questa carta con sponsor e piloti.
Jenson Button (ingaggio superiore ai 10 milioni di dollari) sarà riconfermato vista l’ottima stagione (a parte le ultime gare, tolta Monza), mentre per il secondo pilota l’ex DT Ferrari sta confondendo le acque. Barrichello potrebbe essere appiedato (a meno che non vinca il mondiale) per favorire l’ingresso di Kimi Raikkonen, ma voci ben informate parlano di problemi di natura economica tra le parti; la trattativa pare quindi essersi arenata.
In alternativa Brawn potrebbe tenersi Barrichello (che sta trattando con Williams), ma l’inconsistenza mostrata da Button negli ultimi GP potrebbe far scattare l’allarme e spingerlo ad ingaggiare un pilota capace di vincere i mondiali. Altri nomi? Rosberg Trulli o Kubica, con Nico in pole position visto il passaporto tedesco, cosa che in Mercedes apprezzano molto.
Percentuali:
- Button-Barrichello – 40%
- Button-Rosberg – 40%
- Button-Raikkonen – 10%
- Button-Trulli – 5%
- Button-Kubica – 5%
Williams - Scuderia in ripresa (grazie soprattutto a Rosberg) e quindi buon lido per l’approdo di piloti competitivi; Rosberg probabilmente andrà in McLaren mentre Nakajima verrà licenziato per carenza di risultati; Sir Frank farà annullare il contratto di fornitura motori con Toyota (si parla di un accordo con Renault) e il conseguente vincolo di “allevare” Nakajima, pilota cresciuto nel programma-Toyota.
Come secondo pilota verrà ingaggiato Nico Hulkenberg, fenomeno e neo-campione della GP2, mentre come pilota d’esperienza sono in trattativa Rubens Barrichello e Giancarlo Fisichella (che ha firmato come pilota di riserva Ferrari per il 2010).
Robert Kubica, sballottato un pò dappertutto, sta vagliando pure questa ipotesi in attesa di accasarsi in Ferrari nel 2011 come compagno di Alonso. Non dimenticherei infine Jarno Trulli, alle prese con una Toyota in smantellamento; il problema rimane però il suo ingaggio che si aggira intorno ai 14 milioni di dollari; forse troppo per Williams.
Percentuali:
- Barrichello-Hulkenberg – 30%
- Fisichella-Hulkenberg – 30%
- Heidfield-Hulkenberg – 25%
- Trulli-Hulkenberg – 15%
Toyota - In Giappone hanno appena comunicato che la scuderia continuerà in Formula 1 anche nel 2010 ma con un budget ridotto del 40%; questo significherà sicuramente che Toyota dovrà dare un taglio netto alle sue ambizioni.
A dire il vero sono anni che dispone di un budget tra i più alti dell’intero circus ma i risultati non sono mai arrivati; per questo si è deciso di dare ancora una chance, ma ridotta.
Jarno Trulli percepisce uno stipendio molto alto e la questione è centrale; o ridimensiona le sue richieste o può cercarsi un’altra monoposto.
Il talento di Jarno non si discute, ma il nodo è la mancanza di una monoposto competitiva che può garantirgli anche un ingaggio pari a quello odierno.
Timo Glock non ha di questi problemi e verrà riconfermato; nel caso Trulli lasciasse libero il suo posto potrebbe arrivare Kubica, oppure Barrichello o un giovane dalla GP2, ad un costo quindi nettamente inferiore.
Percentuali:
- Trulli-Glock – 60%
- Barrichello-Glock – 20%
- Glock-Rookie – 20%
Rimane in dubbio se presentarsi al via del campionato 2010 la Force India, ma le ottime prestazioni degli ultimi GP potranno far cambiare idea al patron VJ Mallija; in questo caso i piloti saranno Sutil e Liuzzi (fenomeno a Monza), anche se Bernie Ecclestone, per motivi politico-pubblicitari, spinge per far debuttare l’Indiano Chandlock, proveniente dalla GP2.
Ha già annunciato il suo ritiro invece la Bmw. che sarà rimpiazzata dalla Lotus; Peter Sauber, ex patron della BMW Sauber, sta cercando finanziatori per tenere in vita il team bavarese, mentre altri nuovi team (Manor, Campos, USF1) stanno iniziando a sondare il terreno per presentarsi al via del prossimo campionato in piena attività.
In caso contrario saranno costretti a rinunciare dando così il là alla realizzazione della terza monoposto da parte dei top team; ipotesi che considero abbastanza remota, almeno per il 2010.
Red Bull con Vettel e Webber e Toro Rosso con Buemi e Alguersuari sono invece le uniche con la lineup confermata per il mondiale 2010.
Die Immobilienabteilung der RWE-Zentrale Essen beauftragte die Rhein-Sieg-Grund GmbH mit der Vermarktung Ihrer 16.000 m² großen Liegenschaft in Bad Neuenahr. Das ehemalige Werksgelände mit großem Bürokomplex, Hallen, Garagen und einem Wohnhaus liegt direkt an der zentralen Ortseinfahrt (Kreisel) von Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. Nach nur 6 Monaten vermittelte die RSG GmbH die Liegenschaft an einen ortsansässigen BMW Händler der dort seinen neue Niederlassung plant.
Em 2001, a BMW inovou no mode de fazer propaganda de seus carros. Chamou os diretores de cinema da época e fez uma série de filmes. A campanha foi, talvez, a primeira feita inteiramente para a internet. Os vídeos estavm disponíveis somente em um site da marca.
O sucesso foi tanto que correu o mundo e ganhou diversos prêmios. O filme de hoje foi feito por Guy Ritchie (Snatch – Porcos e Diamantes) que na ocasião era casado com a pop star Madonna. E é justamente ela a personagem principal do filme. O modelo usado foi o esportivo BMW M5 .
A história é a seguinte. A catora faz papel dela mesma. No filme ela é estouranda e arrogante. Vive xingando os seus empregados e os tratando mal. É esnobe e para não ter contato com os fãns dispensa seus guarda- costas e sai para um evento com a mídia em um BMW M5 com motorista (interpretado por Clive Owen).
Durante o trajeto ela começa a reclamar da lentidão do motorista, que resolve tomar uma atitude. O resultado é simplesmente fantástico. Não faltaram cavalos de pau e manobras ousadas para mostrar as qualidades do M5
Seriously? That just looks stupid. I’ve seen lambo doors put on a lot of cars, but I do not approve of this. Don’t you think if the car designers of BMWs thought their car s would look good with vertical doors, that they would add them? This makes me a mad, I personally am a fan of BMWs. I think this ruins the integrity of the car. I should send Big Rhonda after you, BMW Lamborghini door owner.
Big Rhonda
She (at least I think, who knows?) will rip your doors right off. If you’re going to get aftermarket vertical door kits, than make sure you have a car that they will not look terrible on.
By Republika Newsroom
Selasa, 15 September 2009 pukul 20:39:00
BERLIN–Tim Formula Satu, BMW Sauber, telah diambil alih oleh perusahaan Swiss, Qadback Investment Ltd. dengan harga sekitar 80 juta euro (116,8 juta dolar AS). Persetujuan tersebut ditandatangani hari Selasa (15/9) dan markas tim pun akan diboyong di Hiwil, Swiss, dengan mesin-mesin disediakan oleh Ferrari.
Tidak ada berita apakah para pembalap BMW Sauder sekarang ini, yakni Nick Heidfeld dari Jerman atau Robert Kubica dari Polandia akan terus menjadi pembalap tim baru tersebut. Perusahaan Jerman tersebut mengungkapkan awal tahun ini bahwa pihaknya akan mundur dari Formula Satu pada akhir musim ini dan telah berunding dengan pihak-pihak yang berkepentingan.
Berita hari Selasa itu bertepatan dengan pengumuman tim saingan di Formula Satu, bahwa Lotus telah mengalahkan BMW Sauber dalam upaya untuk dinyatakan sebagai tim ke-13 yang akan berkompetisi di Kejuaraan Dunia tahun depan.
FIA mengatakan pihaknya telah menerima permohonan yang mengesankan dari Tim BMW Sauber, tetapi karena masa depan kepemilikan mendatang yang tidak menentu sehingga BMW mengumumkan akan menarik dukungannya di tahun 2010, maka Lotus diberi tempat ke-13. Tetapi, BMW Sauber akan diberi posisi ke-14 bila ada kekosongan tempat di musim mendatang.
Berita tentang ditemukannya sponsor baru akan memperkokoh posisi tim baru, semenara FIA menambahkan bahwa “suatu kasus yang baik dapat menjadikan penambahan tim menjadi 14 tim”.
Bmw’ nin gelişmiş yol bilgisayarı ve destek sistemi iDrive‘ ı biliyoruz. Navigasyon becerilerinin yanında, kullanıcıya tek tuşla bir çok özelliğe erişme ve bilgi edinme gibi kolaylıklar sağlıyor. BMW ve Nuance Communications işbirliği ile 2010 model BMWler biraz daha fazla özellikle kullanıcıyla buluşacak.
Nuance’ in geliştirdiği yeni ses kontrol sistemi, kullanıcıyla araç arasında normal konuşmaya daha yakın kontrol sağlamayı hedefliyor. Bu sistem BMW’ nin iDrive sistemi ile entegre olarak gelecek ve tek tuşla istikamet girişi gibi özellikleri basit ses komutları haline getirecek. Müzik kontrolü ve navigasyon gibi özelliklerin yanında sistemi asıl güzel kılan özelliği, farklı dilleri algılayabilme gücü. Bu özellik hem İngilizceyi hem Fransızcayı algılayabilmesi değil. Sistem, Fransız bir sürücünün aradığı Almanca bir şarkının adını ya da İngilizce albüm başlığını bile tanıyabiliyor.
Exciting news has broken this morning as it seems Lotus are set to return to Formula One after a 15 year absence.
The FIA confirmed this morning that the team (which now has Malaysian backing) will take up the 13th slot on the grid in the 2010 season. Mike Gascoyne (remember him) will also be joining the team as their technical chief.
It will be the first time the British team have competed since the 1994 season.
But what does all this mean for BMW Sauber, the previous owners of this grid slot. In a statement, the FIA also mentioned that they had received ‘an impressive application from the BMW Sauber Team. However, given that BMW has announced it will withdraw its support in 2010, there are still uncertainties regarding the future ownership of the team.
“Nevertheless, the FIA considers that BMW Sauber’s application is of high quality and would constitute a competitive participant in the Championship. As such, it has awarded BMW Sauber the ‘14th place’ in the Championship meaning that it will be entitled to fill any vacancy that arises on the 2010 grid.”
So could we be seeing one of the biggest grids ever next year with a full 28 cars starting in Melbourne next year. Or of course, there could be a possible space coming up if Renault are chucked out…..
It looks like another quite different year for F1.
Transmission Originally received by Blogger on the 26/08/09′
Transmission Starts…
True, the last few days had been a blur. I couldn’t work out what was real. I’d definitely been on the drink, I definitely had to make a quick exit from a pub when I’d been critical of the BNP, I’d definitely missed a meeting at work.
“Crap” I’d muttered on the phone.
“I guess I’ll see you soon” I stammered to the Wolf. Crap.
Crap, crap, crap, crap.
On the plus side I’d found the missing radio code for the WolfSled.
On the plus side I’d managed to meet my bills this month.
Silly fantasising had led me to Autotrader.co.uk.
How about an E36 320i for £500?
How about a Ford Puma for £1500?
How about a Saab 9-5 3-litre V6 for £2000?
Further dreaming found a 1973 Alfa-Romeo GTV Voloce coupe in barn condition for £500. Imagine what a car looks like after it’s been torched. Imagine that being done to the above.
Still, a minter can be worth 20,000 Sterling’s or more. Shame I don’t have a chassis jig spare,
or a garage going.
No matter,
oil checked in the Panzer Wagon and a distant sense that I really should spend some money on her had led me back to reality.
Money, it’s all about the money…
Mary & Kyle @ Summit Point AutoCross with National Capital Chapter BMW
Our first event was going to be an AutoCross, of course neither of us really knew that autocross is NOTHING compared to a road course at speed, so we were very excited about getting the chance to try out this new beast in an environment off the street.
I was nervous about tech inspection since I didn’t know how close the techs would be looking at the car, turns out they just verified that the wheels didn’t feel like they were going to fall off, that the car was empty (so “things” wouldn’t fly around and hit you while you were tossing the car around on the autocross track), and verified that the throttle cable was unobstructed so it didn’t get stuck at WOT! that would be a bit scary (have had it happen on the street before in my RX7).
I drove the first sessions, Mary drove the second sessions.
My sessions were uneventful, I tried to drive smooth but quick, think I ended up 7th for the day in our class.
When it was time for Mary to drive, we asked if I could ride along and instructor her since she had never done anything like this before and she was nervous about finding her way through the cones. Nervous for a good reason! We line up at the start and I tell her I’m going to let her drive through the course herself the first time and that I would stay quiet. That lasted about 3 seconds when I realized that she completely drove OFF THE COURSE! hahah, oops! Here I am shouting and pointing, “The course is over there, go right through those cones over there and get back on the course!” she was a bit embarrassed and I think we scared a few corner workers but no harm was done. Her next 3 runs she got quicker and quicker and ended the day placing 8th in her class, just 1 second behind me.
after a fun and wet day at summit point auto-x we drove home a bit tired from the adrenaline and excitement.
Kyle @ the AutoCross
Mary @ the AutoCross
Jet peribadi aku, Citation X selamat mendarat menjelang waktu malam di Jonkoping Airport; di Sweden. Selesai aje encik pilot parking Citation X aku di private hangar, aku pun turun di bantu oleh pramugari, Tak berapa jauh dari private hangar, sebijik BMW silver bercermin gelap yang dipandu encik Greger sedia menanti aku.
“You wanna drive ,sir?” tanya Greger kepada aku sambil mencampakkan backpack aku ke dalam bonet BMW silver
Aku tak bawak banyak pakaian untuk trip ke sweden kali ini, sebuah backpack serta pakaian musim luruh, serta spender untuk 4 hari punya trip.
“Nevermind greger, you drive. I’m tired.” aku kata kepada greger; lagi pun aku tak familiar dengan jalan-jalan di bandar selatan sweden ni.
Selesai urusan di airport, aku dan greger menaiki BMW silver untuk menuju ke tempat penginapan aku di Hotel Savoy yang terletak berhampiran tasik Vättern. Di lobi hotel savoy makcik Marna dan pakcik pakcik Yrjan serta anak dara mereka Nia dan Alva sedia menanti. Terus aku bersalaman dengan pakcik Yrjan, makcik marna terus mendakap aku begitu juga Nia dan Alva.
“How long will you be here?” tanya pakcik Yrjan. Orang tua yang mencecah umur hampir 60-an in masih sihat, walaupun pernah menjalaini pembedahan bypass jantung 2 tahun lepas.
“4 days. I’m here to close a deal on behalf of my dad” jawap aku ringkas
“Here’s grilled salmon steak. Your favorite.” Makcik Marna terus menghulurkan tupperware berisi steak ikan salman yang di grill, kegemaran aku.
“Thanks. you’re so kind” aku terus sambar tupperware tu sambil tersenyum puas; memang ikan salmon steak itulah yang aku nanti setiap kali ke Jonkoping.
“It’s good to see you again.” Kata Alva sambil menghulur sekuntum Vitsippa.
“Tack” Aku mengambil bunga putih yang lembut itu sambil mengucapkan terima kasih dalam bahasa swedish
Aku berbual hampir sejam di ruang lobi bersama keluarga Pakcik Yrjan. Macam-macam yang di borakkan. Sambil berbual aku makan grilled salmon steak yang di masak makcik Marna, mereka sekeluarga hanya memerhatikan aku makan.
“You want to go for sightseeing tomorow?” tanya Nia, anak sulung pakcik Yrjan dan makcik Marna, akak kepada Alva dan berusia lewat 20-an makala Alva berusia 23 tahun dan menuntut di jurusan undang-undang di sebuah Unversiti di Berlin, German.
“Maybe a day after tomorrow. I’m a bit busy tomorrow. What about you’ll be my tourist guide around sunlit square?” Jawap aku sambil menguap.. kurang sopan betul perangai aku ketika itu, menguap depan orang.
“alright then, It’s a deal. Just give me a call and we’ll pick you up and we go for sight seeing around Jonkoping” Kata Nia dengan girangnya.
Menjelang pukul 10 malam, aku meminta diri untuk berehat, setelah kekenyangan melantak grilled salmon steak Makcik Marna. Sekali lagi aku bersalaman dengan pakcik Yrjan; Makcik Marna mendakap aku kemas sambil memberikan aku kucupan di pipi kanan. Nia juga begitu.
Sepertimana makcik Marna dan Nia, Alva juga mendakap aku serta memberikan kucupan di pipi kanan. Mungkin sudah budaya pompuan omputih untuk mendakap dan memberi kucupan di pipi kanan pada orang yang rapat dengan mereka. Aku mengikuti mereka sekeluarga berjalan ke luar Hotel menuju ke SUV merah buatan german mereka. Nia yang memandu. Aku melambai mereka tatkala SUV merah itu meluncur meninggalkan aku dan Gerger.
Gerger membantu aku mengangkat backpack aku ke bilik hotel. Setelah memberitahu tahu jadual kerja aku untuk esok, aku izinkan Gerger pulang berehat. Setelah Gerger melangkah pergi, aku campak kan backpack aku ke sofa, dan terus aku tuju ke bilik air untuk memerut dan mandi. Setelah mandi, aku terus ke katil untuk membuta.
Tak beberapa lama kemudian, Henpon aku bergegar dan berbunyi nyaring, aku capai dan rupanya alarm menandakan sudah pukul 12 tengah hari, masa untuk aku bersiap untuk sembahyang jumaat. Aku kesat-kesat mata… aku masih di malaysia… di depan monitor LCD.. ish ish.. rupanya aku bermimpi saje daaa..
Sunlit Square
An afternoon in Linkoping
Aku mau bagitau 1 : Cerita di atas cuma sekadar fiksyen aje. Baca boleh jangan percaya
Aku mau bagitau 2 : Gambar aku rembat guna teknoloji google sekadar penyeri entri fiksyen ini
Well, I’ve been away for a while and it feels like ages since I’ve posted anything here. What have I been up to? Well, The Boy and I spent a weekend in his House on the West Coast where we relaxed with my sister and her boyfriend, and a friend of mine. They all came over for dinner and stayed the night. My sister and her boyf rode up, from their rather distant home town, on their hefty BMW motorbike. It’s a really nice bike actually - chunky, powerful, capable, and not silly. Sports bikes are great-looking things but, in all honest, they’re not particularly practical if you want to actually ride anywhere beyond the corner shop. I went out on the bike with my sister’s boyf and it was a brilliant ride, if a bit rainy towards the end. We went into town to get petrol, then rode until we found the end of the speed restrictions….then hit the accelerator. I love biking, even though I’ve barely done any. I’ve always loved bikes, always wanted one, and very nearly bought one a few years ago when I was living and working in Aberdeen. I still have ambitions to get a bike and get my licence but that’s all a long way in the distance, and down the list of priorities, well after things like a house, a job, a kitten etc.!
After this, the Boy and I went to Dunblane Hydro for a chill-out break. It was his birthday and so we booked a really nice room, with a particularly vast bed, and thoroughly relaxed. The Balmoral Restaurant is really, really nice. The first night I had a pinenut, sunblush tomato & rocket salad, followed by a beautiful piece of beef with onions, mushrooms and mash. The second night I had the potted salmon which was gorgeous, followed by a generously sized supreme of chicken with asparagus and a little dauphinoise potato. All very very nice and, for the night of the Boy’s birthday, I sneakily arranged for a cake, complete with candles, to be brought to the table as a surprise. T’was good! The staff were lovely and the birthday massage we both had was fantastically relaxing too.
A couple of days later, we set off on another trip. This time we went to Largs to go sailing with Scotsail on their ’start sailing’ course. The Boy has always been disparaging about sailing, always maintaining that the only kind of sailing he’d want to do would be on a luxury yacht. Personally, that type of sailing is not sport and I find the idea abhorrent. Sailing is about getting out there in the elements, surviving without all the poncy, pointless crap we rely on in everyday life, and just focusing on where we’re going, how we’ll get there, and what we’ll eat. The yacht we were going on, a 37ft Fantasi, was moored at Ardrossan, so we were taken over there to meet our skipper – we were the first to arrive as the rest of the team were coming down from Aberdeen and were stuck in traffic. The yacht was quite different in set-up to the one I’ve sailed on before but it was very nice, spacious and comfortable. And our skipper was excellent – a very relaxed and patient man.
The weather was fairly poor – actually, in sailing terms, rough. We were regularly sailing in winds of over 20 knots which is pretty stiff. At times, we were sailing in winds of 35 knots which is officially a gale. Coming out of Ardrossan harbour is pretty unpleasant. If you’ve taken the ferry to Arran, you’ll have come out of this harbour but, on a large ferry, you’d never notice the waves. But there were pretty big standing waves and almost instantly everyone started to look a bit pasty and concerned! Fortunately no-one was seasick because it wasn’t long before we hit calmer waters and everyone’s stomachs resumed their normal positions. Once we were headed for the water between Largs and Millport, the skipper handed over the helm to me. The layout of the yacht made this a bit more challenging since it was different to the yacht I’d previously sailed. The last yacht, a Moody 31ft, had a tiller – when you use a tiller, if you want to go right, you push the tiller left, and vice versa. However, this yacht had a wheel and, with a wheel, if you want to go right, you turn it right. I really had to fight to get myself out of the habits I’d learned with the tiller and it was funny how ingrained those habits had become even though I ‘d only been out a couple of times on the other yacht! However, I got used to it and steered the yacht round past Millport and then into choppier waters where the yacht was heeling well. I love it when the yacht heels – that is, tips or leans over – because for me it’s very exhiliarating. However, our ‘crew’ from Aberdeen were not so keen – in fact, they were scared!
Speaking of which, a little about our fellow crew from the North East. There were two boys and a girl. The girl and one of the boys were a couple. The boys were English and the girl Irish and all of them worked in the oil industry. On the first night, the single guy marked himself as a bit of a twat at the restaurant. He ordered white wine for the table without consulting any of us as to what kind of wine we liked. He ordered the house white and then ‘tasted’ it before he allowed the waiter to pour (!) and he summoned and dismissed the waiting staff in such an offhand manner. Finally, when a couple of us went to the toilet, he paid the entire bill on his credit card. This put me off him right away – I did not want him paying for my food and I certainly didn’t want to be paying for the bottles of wine he ordered and we did not drink. Not cool. This could have been forgiven but he then went on to make an even bigger fool of himself. When standing in the cockpit of the yacht, the skipper commented about the direction of the wind. Smartypants fat-wallet disagreed and said that the wind was behind us – while looking at the weather vane on the top of the mast which told him that in fact the wind was not behind us at all! It struck me as odd to 1) contradict the skipper 2) contradict the weather vane and 3) not pay attention to the fact that you could actually feel the wind on your face, not on your back! Again, you could have forgiven him for his mistake, since he simply didn’t understand it and this was a beginners course. However, he kept spouting things as if they were fact when often they were completely wrong. His biggest offence though, came when we were actually out sailing. He did nothing. Sailing is very much a team sport – when you tack, i.e. use the wind to change course etc., you need the helmsman/woman to organise the team and steer the yacht, and then you need two people on the winches, one to let the sail go, the other to pull it in. As you can imagine, you will tack a fair bit when sailing. This guy tacked perhaps once throughout the entire trip. To give you an idea – I lost count of the number of times I was one of the people on the winches and as helmswoman, I tacked the boat at least 4 times in a matter of an hour or so as I sailed her round the tip of Arran. This guy literally sat and watched. Now and again he would lean over to pass someone the winch handle. Apart from that – nothing. There is a lot of physical work to be done and, in that wind, it’s quite challenging – it’s your body against the elements. The things I did included hauling in the mainsail, pulling up the mainsail, folding away the mainsail, pulling in the foresail, tacking, helming, bringing up the anchor, putting out and bringing in the fenders, and so on and so on. All of this is fairly physical and occasionally dangerous work – trying taking down a main sail when you have to balance yourself in 25 knots of wind. The rest of the team participated in these jobs – we worked together to achieve them. All but this one guy, who sat in a corner pretending to be asleep – all of the time. I honestly can’t think of a contribution that he made. It really pissed me off – and the Boy too. Everyone else was mucking in and learning and this idiot just sat there – a flaccid, useless lump who seemed to feel he was smarter than everyone else. When it came to learning how to tie knots (very important in sailing!) this guy thought he was the shit. He was – at two knots – the rest he couldn’t work out and, given that he’d been such a smartypants with the first two, his inability to do the rest drew hearty laughter from the rest of us!
I had a really enjoyable trip and learned an awful lot – I now better understand the process of tacking, from all perspectives. I feel much better at the helm and I’m pleased to have learned both tiller and wheel now. I think I’ve got my head round a few of the ropes (they all have weird names), the sails and the knots, and I’m beginning to understand the uses of the various instruments and how to plot a position on a chart. All of this only goes to drive my passion for learning further. I love the freedom of sailing. I love the very idea that if you organise your sails properly, you get some wind, and then a 37ft vessel weighing tonnes, is propelled forward. That, to me, is still amazing each time it happens. It’s exciting, it’s peaceful, it’s challenging, it’s draining and tiring and very physical – all of that makes it very appealing to me. I will learn more.
However, all of this aside, I’m now back in the land of the very real. My thesis still sits here waiting to be done and my deadlines creep forward with ever increasing speed. I’m struggling to get things done right now – there is just so much to do and not enough time to get it done. I simply can’t manage to do what my supervisor wants me to achieve. Having said that, I have recently had my book review of an anthology accepted to appear in print in a journal a year from now, and I also got to sit in as part of an interview panel/audience for an academic post. The department here is looking for a temporary lecturer and we were invited along to see the presentation part of the interview process. It was very interesting to see the different approaches and styles and I have lots of useful notes to go on for when I’m applying for jobs. However, having seen the CVs of those candidates being interviewed I’m now terrified. Each of them, even the reasonably recently graduated ones, had around six publications. So far I have one forthcoming article in a book, and six reviews. The reviews, unfortunately, don’t count for an awful lot. However, I simply don’t have time to write and find pubishers for another 5 articles – I have a thesis to finish!! But I think I have a strategy – I am already in the process of drafting an abstract for a conference next summer. I think the key thing to do, once I’ve finished my thesis, is to get at least two things published within 6 months of achieving my doctorate. In order to do this, I’m going to have to attend conferences which will help me meet people and network as well as force me to create and shape work into new and coherent papers that could, potentially, be made into articles. Publishing is the key to getting into the shortlist for any academic job but, sadly, it’s also extremely difficult to get work published.
We’ll see what the future holds. Stress, stress and a bit more stress is most likely. In the meantime, I’m off to stress some more.
The battery in my 1987 325is has been losing its charge recently. It left me stranded at work a few weeks ago. It problem was diagnosed as a bad alternator. with the car on the battery was not being charged. This meant the car was basically running off the battery. Eventually the battery gets so low that the car cannot run properly . Dim lights, rough running, and no accerosires are common symptoms, The alternator had been replaced once before several years ago by my brother, luckily the alternator had a lifetime warranty through AutoZone so it cost me nothing.
First gather your tools:
then raise and properly support your car:
Remove the air box so that you can access the alternator:
Remove the rubber covers that protect the two terminals on the back of the alternator:
loosen the two bolts that hold the alternator on. One is at the top, the other on the bottom, take off the belt and remove the alternator:
Here the alternator has been taken out of the car and all the components on the back can be seen:
Remove the clip and radio noise suppressor(black square with wire coming out of it):
And transfer them to your new alternator, along with the pulley and fan (done for me at AutoZone):
Place your new alternator in the bracket, install the bolts and slip on the belt:
Reattach wires and slip on covers. Place wires in the wire clip:
Install airbox:
Check voltage with car running. A voltage around 14 is good:
