Porsche Centre East London

Coming soon… my Porsche buying experience from Official Porsche Centre East London. Is it a tale of good customer service and a wonderful car or an entirely darker story of deception, lies and shockingly poor customer care? You’ll have to wait and see, as will I, until they choose how they are going to resolve my situation.

More Power for Morgan Aero 8 4.8 V8

I am a huge fan of the Morgan Aero 8 - especially since the company fixed the early cars squint in 2006! The new model is just awesome: powerful, beautiful and sounds like thunder when being driven. I haven’t been lucky enough to drive the latest Aero but have had a spin behind the wheel of a 2006 and let me assure you, while these may look like classic cars the technology means it handles, performs and goes like any modern supercar.

I found a great site for Morgan car fans and if you want to read more about the new Morgan Aero 8 4.8 V8, which has 367bhp! and does 0-62mph in 4.2 seconds!) I would recommend you taking the time to look at it; it is an excellent resource and is filled with pictures and information on the Aero 8 and other Morgan cars.

Porsche 997 GT3 RS Mark 2 Video

A video of the facelifted 2009 / 2010 Porsche 997 GT3 RS mark 2 testing at the Nurburgring in Germany has become available (see link below).

The 2010 Porsche 911 GT3RS will get the same LED daytime running lights and revised taillights seen on previous test-mules. The car will also sport a cleaner front end with larger intakes in the lower skirt and a new lip spoiler.

The GT3 RS will once again based on the Carrera 4 body and should feature the same widened track, carbon-fiber interior and plastic rear window as the current model. Power levels should receive a slight boost over the current 415hp (302kW) output courtesy of a new direct-injection system. Acceleration times may also be improved if Porsche adds its new Doppelkupplung dual-clutch system, although a conventional six-speed manual is likely to remain the only option.

You can view the video of the new 997 GT3RS version 2 by clicking here

Free iPhone Theme for Blackberry

I stumbled across this excellent iPhone theme for Blackberry and, best of all it isfree! Therefore, I thought I’d share it with others who like the look of the iPhone but need the business practicality of the RIM devices. Being the happy little guinea pig that I am, have loaded it onto my Blackberry Curve 8310 and also tried and tested it on the Blackberry Pearl 8100 - it works perfectly on both.  No drama, not issues just a new theme that looks like the Apple iPhone desktop.

To get the free iPhone, or should that be bPhone, theme for Blackberry devices you can follow this link.

Chateau d’Adomenil in Luneville, near Nancy, in the Lorraine region of France

As I stated in my other writing, when driving from Calais to Southern Austria or Germany, Metz and Nancy in the Lorraine region of France are a good halfway place to stop and find a hotel. Having suffered at the hands of many a Basil Fawlty-esque hoteliers in my time, I decided to enlist the help of Relais & Chateaux to find a place to stay in the Lorraine area.

Based on my geographical requirements - I wanted a hotel not too far from a motorway (10-15 minute drive from the E23 or E25 motorways was ideal) - the site recommended Chateau d’Adomenil in Luneville France. Based on the photos shown on the web site and a brief read through the text, this hotel - deemed by Relais & Chateaux to be a luxury hotel - seemed ideal.

The Weepies ‘Hideaway’, New Album

The Weepies have followed up their album, ‘Say I Am You’, with ‘Hideaway’. Their 3rd studio effort doesn’t stray from their indie folk-pop roots on any of the 12 song offering.  Nevertheless, I should state immediately that this desire to remain true to this genre isn’t a bad choice; however, it could lead to their music sounding rather samey. Thankfully, this isn’t the case as The Weepies seem to have added multiple layers of sound on most of the tracks on Hideaway. This decision separates the new CD from their previous work by giving the sound scape a more varied texture and a richness previously missing on their more stripped down work of ‘Say I Am You’ and ‘Happiness’.

Driving to Austria or Germany from England?

Have you ever driven from England to Austria or Southern Germany? I have and as a result have learned a few valuable lessons. So, before I continue on to the point, let me start by imparting them to you (rest assured they are not only simple but obvious!): -

Driving from London to Munich is approximately 679 miles and takes approximately 10 hours and 56 minutes according to ViaMichelin. Trust me when I say it always takes longer - traffic (read caravans, accidents, jams, etc) and double lane motorways which are reduced to no-lane when one slow lorry (truck, rig, juggernaut, artic or whatever you want to call it) decides to pass another and they proceed to ‘race’ each other at 60kph for what seems like 5-10 minutes while the traffic piles up behind them, ensure that 11-hours can become 13-14 hours. Six hundred and seventy nine miles has never seemed so long!

When Hell Freezes Over…

What is with that title? Hell Freezes?!?

Quite simply, I liked it! It is taken from the idiom: when hell freezes over which means something is impossible or unlikely and while this has no direct meaning, it seems to fit.

What is the purpose of this blog? To vent, pure and simple; to unleash my inner creative (or not so creative instincts) and when and where possible discuss experiences in life. I’m not going to limit the content or the topics therefore it will take on the verbal character of a walk with no map and without destination. Perhaps this is a nice way of saying it will be interesting at times - filled with beauty, wonder and insightful events - and at others dull and uneventful!

I do hope you enjoy it; however, at least you have the benefit of being able to stop reading if you decide you don’t!