Video - Pilot's Game

I'm grateful to my friend Stan in England for this addictive little bit of fun.  It's a pilot's game to check your geography knowledge.  You have to locate the city where the plane is due to land.  I hate those E- European places; they get me every time.

http://www.lufthansa-vp.com/vp1/play.html

Sunday's Column - Paradise

This is the first of five articles that will appear over the next couple of months resulting from the trip down to the San Diego area last June.  We were invited courtesy of Ms. Hilary Townsend who runs the PR for a number of businesses there.  We stayed at two different hotels and visited five sites to get all the information.

This piece is about the Paradise Point Resort in Mission Bay, San Diego.  It is a first class place and we regretted leaving there.  Our first vacation in California 30 years ago was just across the bay and we often looked over here.  I even came close on the windboard a few times, but never landed.  You can read the entire article at www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels

Goin' for a Ride!

One of the obligations of owning a Harley is to go for a ride every so often.  Now this is not popping down to the shops but meeting up with ones fellow riders and hitting the trail for a day or at least, a good part of it.  Now normally this entails large amounts of inappropriate food and from time to time a very cold brew.
The other day six of us met to go off on a ride and the first stop was at a burrito place that provides a ton of seriously inappropriate foodstuffs.  After we had consumed this, one of our members said he had to do a little shopping.  Now I have on occasions had a few of the fellows accompany me on an assignment, and they wander around while I do the interview. And then just the other day we had to call into a parts store and pick up very big pieces of metal - cogs and spindles and things for a transmission.  But this one was unique.  The fellow actually wanted to go to a jewelers and buy a wedding ring for his wife of 16 years; she didn't like the one she had.  So we all had to traipse around in flatland heat to do this.  We hit one shop and that was no good, then we went here.

Yes, a damned shopping mall!









I'm afraid after rather a long time we broke and decided to head on up the road leaving the shopper inside.

Now that's what I'm talking about - The Screaming Chicken.  A fine establishment serving ice-cold adult beverages to the discerning rider. 

And inside to serve us, who better!

I did find myself wondering if they were real.  The rings of course!  As for our errant friend, maybe he's still at the mall.  We had a couple and then rode home away from the heat.

Music Track - Gloria

Last Friday we had some quite somber music on the Music Track, so this one  is about 180 degrees different.  See what you think.
This is rather fun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmuFYBnG-4A  Sorry about the Ad at the start!

Cars

Having posted my favorite three cars, I thought I would post a few of some of my other cars.  Having been in sales for 40 years, I have driven quite a few that have often been provided for me.  At the last count some 31, I believe.  Also I've found that you can get pictures of virtually anything on the Web, which has given me a little fun and brought back some happy memories.

This is a DAF.  It was the last car in the family before we set sail (airborne!) for the United States in 1982.  Before wheels up, we gave the car to Michael, who drove it for about a year, before it met with an accident!  It was made by the Dutch Daffodil Motor Company and had a strange automatic transmisson that I never figured out.  It was known in the family as "Flymo!"

Twitter

I didn't think I was going to bend to this fashion, but I've weakened.  I've joined Twitter.  I'm not too sure quite how useful it's going to be in my life.  To begin with you are limited to 140 characters per tweet.  It's extremely good discipline, of course.  I can't put an image on this post as it doesn't exist, which is a shame as their logo is quite fun.  If you've really little else to do you can follow me at @trevorstracks

Bucket List - To Florida

I have not spent a lot of time in the Deep South of the country.  One way or another I have managed to go to all of the states there, but I've not spend real quality time south of the Mason-Dixon.

So on my bucket list is to ride the Harley across the bottom states all the way to Florida.  It's a bit boring for the first part as you have to cross the deserts of California and Arizona, then New Mexico isn't much better or for that matter western Texas, but I think after that it gets interesting.

Perhaps I should have the bike shipped to Shreveport, LA and start from there!

Thumb Card

I was given this business card the other day.  Nothing special about it, but it's made of plastic and it is rather thick too.  However, if you bend it there is a small surprise - it's a thumb drive with all the information about the business inside the drive - pretty neat eh?  It also had a short video on the hotel it represented.

Video - Ants

This summer we've had a bit of an ant problem.  We tried all the usual traps and sprays but they kept invading us.  Eventually we put quite a few traps outside the house and sprayed all around the foundations, and that seems to have done it.  I only hope the origins of our problems are not like the subject of this video.  http://www.dump.com/biggestant/  I'm grateful to my friend Kevin for this piece.  It takes about 3 mins.

Sunday's Column - Big Bear Museum

As the column starts, there is a crop of Teepees in Big Bear these days, but they're not a real historical part of California.  Teepees were the temporary housing of the Plains Indians, and they are very efficient.
However the local Serrano Indians did use a temporary shelter when they came up here, and it's called a Kiiche - pronounced as the savory tart, quiche.

This is one at the Big Bear Museum.  It was built last summer by the San Manuel Indians who came up for the day.  You can read the entire column at www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels

Loyalties

I was on an errand the other day and  I was asked who I cheered for at the Olympics.  I had to admit that I hadn't thought about it much, and also rarely if ever do the USA and Great Britain come in direct competition.  I always cheered for Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France, but then Bradley Wiggins the Brit is now the champion and it's a wonderful achievement.

I have lived very happily in the US now for 30 years and I don't think about loyalties too much.  I love to see the Queen and hear about the Royal Family, but apart from the top politicians - maybe about four - I don't know any of them over there.  On the other hand I can probably give the names of all the serious politicos in the US.

When I returned home I went to the computer to see how the Olympics were doing.  I looked up the medal table and then the individual medalists.  After that I went on to other things and suddenly realized I hadn't looked up the UK results at all, only the USA.  So I guess that says a lot.

Having said that, I don't suppose my Britishness will ever leave me, although it is from a different time.  For instance I found the entire opening ceremony - a celebration of collectivism - very bizarre.

Music Track - Mahler

Now for this week you're going to need a little time to listen to the music track, as it's Mahler.  Here I know that She Who Must Be Obeyed will be turning off as she doesn't like Mahler.  I've tried sneaking him in from time to time, but S.W.M.B.O. always seems to spot it and asks in that special way wives have: "What's that you've put on?"  This is Urlicht (Primal Light) and it's from the Resurrection Symphony (No.2).
It is also sung in a song cycle called Das Knaben Wunderhorn, but it doesn't have the same oomph.  Here Mahler throws everything at it and one comment on the site says 11:15 gives them goosebumps.  I quite agree.  What do you think? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIkCcJIqUeI&feature=related

Cars - Jag

This was probably my most favorite car.  A 1973 Jaguar XJ6,  God it was beautiful, in primrose with air conditioning and tinted windows.  It had been scheduled for delivery to a diplomat in Washington and he, stupid fellow, decided he didn't want it.  So I became the owner for about three years.  I last saw it in poor condition on Brighton's sea front and the new owner had cut a sun roof into it - badly!

Bucket List - Raiders

Of all the sports in America that I took to, the last one has been football.  I hated soccer in England and didn't take a lot of notice of the US  game when I first came out here.  As such I have never been to a professional match and I would like to do so.

I used to like the Dallas Cowboys as I used to travel to Dallas quite a lot.  I still like the team, but our favorites are the Oakland Raiders, who used to play in Los Angeles.

There are some very interesting fans and I think of all the teams I would like to see in real life it is the Raiders.