Pottering About at High Speed

Saw this story today and thought to myself, "What an excellent opportunity to put a picture of Emma Watson on my Blog."

Basically, she's "Done a Wilman"

She's got a 6 month driving ban by speeding while having 9 Points on her licence.

I don't understand how you can get caught speeding FOUR TIMES.

Surely after the first couple of offences you'd be on your best behaviour.

And yet she wasn't the only Harry Potter star who was banned in the same Court on the same day for the same thing - Zoe Wanamaker was done too.

The BBC used the story to talk about the forthcoming HBO TV version of Harry Potter.  Despite it having John Lithgow and Nick Frost in it, I won't be watching.

It doesn't state what vehicle Wanamaker was driving but Watson was in a blue Audi.

No mention of a blue Anglia.

Underwhelming

What we have here is a van hogging the middle lane being overtaken by another van going about 2mph faster.

I'd have been going at about the speed limit.

The Golf driver was in a hurry.

So who's fault is this dodgy manoeuvre?

Excuse the cheesy music - that's Simon Mayo's fault.

Sizing it up

Remember when Ford Sierra estates were big cars?

They aren't any more...

It looks positively tiny next to that Mazda 6.

And next to my car.

Here's some dimensions for you according to Google's AI thingy:

The 1988 Ford Sierra Estate (station wagon) had a length of 4,531 mm (178.4 in), a width of 1,727 mm (68.0 in), and a height of 1,367 mm (53.8 in). 

The Mazda 6 saloon has a length of 4,870 mm, a width of 1,840 mm, and a height of 1,450 mm. The wheelbase is 2.83 meters.

Meanwhile my car...

The 2020 Volvo S60 has a length of 4761 mm, a width of 1850 mm (excluding mirrors), and a height of 1437 mm.

Perhaps the more relevant ones though are the supposedly smaller Fords of today...

The Ford Focus Estate has a length of approximately 4,668mm (183.8 inches) and a width of 1,979mm with mirrors, or 1,844mm without mirrors. The wheelbase is 2,700mm. In terms of boot space, it offers 575 litres with the rear seats up and 1,650 litres with the rear seats folded down.

You get a lot more info on the Focus and it's bigger than the Sierra - while the Fiesta...

The 2025 Ford Fiesta is approximately 4040mm long, 1735mm wide, and 1476mm high.

Wider - and not a lot shorter.

And Google AI uses American spellings so obviously isn't intelligent enough to realise I'm sat in England.

But a 2025 Fiesta definitely wouldn't stand out on the M53 in 2025 - here's a closer look.

And the driver looked a bit like Dom Chinea.