This Morning I Overtook two Ferraris and a Lambo...

 

...and a Porsche and a Nissan GTR....

...and a couple more Ferraris and Lambos.

Some of them were travelling backwards!  Here's the proof:

Leaning on a Lampost

They've started to swap over the street-lamps in my street:

The old sodium lamp on the left is being replaced by the more efficient LED one on the right.

 

I was wondering which one would come on last night - it was the new one.

 

I totally get why they are being replaced and I agree with the thinking behind it.  But the change also makes me a little sad.  No more coming in to land on a plane and seeing the towns and roads lit up below in orange light.

 

No more playing out with your friends and knowing it was getting late because the lamps came on one by one firstly red, then changing to orange once warmed up - admittedly we are talking 40 years ago for me but it must be true for todays youngsters.  But not tomorrows. 

 

It's a bit like when France did away with the yellow headlamps - another bit of history gone forever.

 

Is it really though?  I'm sure I have memories of one or two old incandescent street lamps from my early childhood - they were few and far between then but white light must have been prevalent for many years before sodium lamps came on the scene.

 

Go back a further still and you find that people were employed to wander around lighting gas lamps:

There are still some in use in Europe today - but I think that's more to keep nostalgic people like me happy - maybe somewhere will do the same with sodium.

 

Meanwhile British Gas are buying electric vans - now that can't be right, can it?

Quietly Taycan

There is an interesting opinion piece in Autocar today by their contributor Lawrence Allan.

Although I mused on the same subject back in 2011.

Seen any football lately?

You can choose whether or not to have artificial crowd noise or listen to the eerie sounds of professional football happening in empty stadia.

I prefer the real sounds.

The fake crowd noise is provided with a little help from EA Games - specifically the FIFA franchise.

Well, what Lawrence today and me nine years ago have been talking about is artificial sounds for electric cars.  Lawrence recently (pre-lockdown actually) got to drive the Porsche Taycan:

He would like artificial V8 sounds added and suggests Gran Turismo to provide it.

Before I got to that bit of the article, I'd already in my mind settled on Grand Theft Auto for the job - accelerate - screech to a halt - murder a prostitute.

I think it may just catch on.

Fob Off or Jack Off

Here's a fob with a Union Jack on it.

Yes, I know that is technically a Union Flag but that doesn't work with the Post title.

Actually, we are talking Car Key-fobs and axle-jacks.

Two consecutive Car+Driver stories caught my eye today.

A railway worker has been stealing the second keys from brand new cars being transported through the rail yard where he worked.  He took about 2000 and sold them on e-Bay for over $60,000.

The story is here.  The investigation started when Ford, FCA, and GM began to make claims to a rail vehicle transporter that vehicles were missing key fobs when they arrived at dealers.  This was back in Feb 2018 - they had noticed them going missing since the end of the previous year.  He was traced through his friend's e-Bay account after his own was suspended for selling fake headphones.

Meanwhile, the jack story has the potential to be serious.

Basically, a US company  is  recalling the three-ton jack stands that were replacements for their three-ton jack stands recalled in May.

They are offering replacements, refunds or a credit note.

If you don't trust the replacement make sure you aren't fobbed off with a credit note.

Constable Gummidge

See if you can spot this:

I didn't.

 

Until I came back the other way shortly after:

It's not a sneaky Policeman, it's a scarecrow.  They probably need to move him out a bit.

 

This is a sneaky Policeman:

I caught him back in February.

 

Note the jaunty way he's parked his unmarked car:

Obviously got his conniving head on.