So the weather wasn’t really ideal for Geek In The Park, but that didn’t stop the forty or so alcoholic web-types descending on Leamington for a bit of a social and some icon-making, microformat-implementing fun.

Big thanks must go to Trev for organising the whole things, and of course a tip of the hat to One Black Bear for sponsoring it all. Jon and Drew’s talks we’re really informative and great chance to quiz them about their methods.

Of note, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many iPhones in one place in all my life.

The week since has been pretty intense work-wise for various reasons, and I’m looking forward to some respite - on Wednesday I jet to Spain with Sean to go and upset Devito for a week. Looking forward to it a lot.

Raj interviewed me for a radio production not too long ago and I’m interested to hear the final results sometime soon. I think I was just overwhelmed at how simple it is to get high quality audio using the very expensive stick mic he has. Nice toy.

I went and splashed out on a DualHead2Go last week, and for those not in the know (probably most people), it allows you to add another screen to your iMac or Macbook, that is, when you already have two. The result, three screens. It’s all powered by USB which is useful, but has the unfortunate downside that the two additional screens it allows must sit side by side, turning my dream setup of central iMac with two satellite screens into a total rearrangement of my office. Also, it’s best to attempt it with two monitors of the same shape and size, as my current setup is a little mind bending when it comes to following the cursor. I maybe in the business of buying a new monitor soon. It looks like I’m running the Matrix. Badly.

Today is a beer festival in Worcester, so it looks like I’ll be smashed enjoying it all afternoon.

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Adam was racing again last weekend, and so in the blazing sunshine Will, Henry, Alan and myself sat and watched a good full day of motorsport at Oulton Park (photos here). It couldn’t have been any better, with Adam clinching two further victories, and the excitement generated by eating two Magnums in one day. Yes, two.

After all of that, George, Tom and myself took ourselves out to a pub on a hill in the middle of nowhere (on the way out to Leominster) and discussed music until the sun was well and truly set. It was a good weekend.

And so far this weekend has followed suit. Mike and I took trains down for a night out for Swan’s birthday in London last night - quite a few familiar faces, including some I’d not seen for a while. Duff, Jono, Richie and the rest. I think I went to some effort to convince quite a lot of girls I was a helicopter pilot, but it all got a bit hazy later on, so I’ve no idea if anyone believed me.

This morning after a well-deserved fry up I got back on that train and now find myself back in the ‘Bridge and hoping for some sunshine tomorrow.

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The past couple of weeks have been pretty intense - with a number of larger projects on the boil its been a case of buckling in and getting into some serious coding - something I don’t spend a lot of my time doing, but generally ends up being more enjoyable than I would imagine.

Because of this, I unintentionally and yet completely skipped any mention of the last Multipack meet. I also haven’t mentioned any of the social activity that’s been going on, or reviewed any of the new music I’ve been listening too (however I now have a last.fm account after a bit of pressure). Nor have I mentioned that I spent all of yesterday in meetings in London, and that my phone broke and I spent half a day doing the maths on how to best break out of my contract early (unfortunately my optimism has been dashed. I haven’t even had the opportunity to mention that another friend of mine is to become a Dad (congratulations Dan!).

Things don’t look like they are going to be quietening down either. The next few weeks are likely to be busy too, although I’m hoping I’ve found a solution (at least in part) and ultimately I’ve got a week away in Spain to be looking forward too. That said, I’m still pining for something slightly more exotic, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t make some rash travel arrangements before the year is out.

I’m really looking forward to seeing The Dark Knight.

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Being Duff’s birthday last weekend, and that everyone had been complaining they’d not seen me down there in a while, I took myself down to Tooting for the weekend.

Duffy has moved since my last visit to his, yet the place still seemed very Duff like, just with a less impressive view (last time I was down there I watched sunrise over the city from inside my sleeping bag from the balcony).

We met for a few beers and then wandered out into Putney - a German bar where they served really quite ridiculous slabs of beer in huge chunky mugs. Swanny, Day, Ambrose, Jess, James and a few of Duff’s London mates came out, but it wasn’t long before we were all introduced to some new (drinking) games that Day had dreamt up. I won’t go into any of them here, needless to say they are hilarious, but only after a few drinks and in a ‘you had to be there’ kind of way.

We ended up in a place called Fez (anywhere called Fez that Duffy recommends has to be taken with a pinch of salt - I remember the last time he made a similar suggestion) and it was a good night. Jojo and Emma made a sneaky appearance later on, as did one of Jess’ mates and a Bolivian.

All good clean fun, yet once again not quite so cheap as just going to the pub methinks.

Aside from this, Will met Lewis Hamilton this week. I’m really looking forward to the F1 now.

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It occurred to me at some point today that I have never shared the following life-critical information.

1. The Bourbon
2. McVities Mint Chocolate Digestive (special occasions only)
3. McVities Dark Chocolate Digestive
4. The Foxes Cream (too sweet for everyday use)
5. The Gingernut
6. The Malted Milk (chew around the cows for most enjoyment)
7. Jammy Dodger
8. The (Controversial) Jaffa Cake
9. Squashed Fly Biscuits
10. Rich Tea (to be eaten with plenty of liquids)

The Hobnob is like eating sandpaper, and creates an uncontrollable mess. It is most certainly not in the top ten biscuits.

These are cold, hard facts and I realise maybe hard for some people to swallow, but you can’t argue with the truth.

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The first thing I ever typed into a search engine (as far as I can remember) was Bligh, the name of one half of my family, and an action that had lasting consequences on the following few years when it provided the starting point for some investigative family history.

My mother (who put the real research in) found that a large portion of my ancestors were creative and practical people (printers, jewellers, stone masons, seafarers and coach builders) - and we always knew there was a point in the first quarter of the last century when horse drawn vehicles saw their first real competition, and motor-powered vehicles started to come in.

My family in Ramsgate had been coach builders for a few generations, and with the technological advances, had turned their skills to the new technology of cars. At this stage there still weren’t too many differences between the building techniques used for the two forms of transport.

We discovered in the ensuing research that for a period whilst they we’re still living in Ramsgate, the family had themselves taken to constructing cars under the name of Bligh Brothers. We’d never seen or heard of this minor manufacturer until then, but have since been aware (and optimistic) that potentially one of these rare machines might still be locked away in someone’s collection, or at least their might be some photographic record.

A few months ago a battered and dismembered lantern from a Bligh Brothers car turned up in an eBay auction, but like all these things, was lost to a higher bidder. It was therefore a bit of a surprise to find that American comedian and talk show host Jay Leno was to supply us with an unexpected twist to the Bligh Brothers story.

As a keen collector of vintage cars, Leno recently launched a website where he catalogues his extensive collection of vehicles. During a routine Google for Bligh Brothers related images, this photographic gem surfaced, an image on Leno’s car site with the accompanying note,

So, it’s only by coincidence that Jay Leno happens to be in this photograph standing behind the car. This picture was taken this August at Pebble Beach and the car is a modified 1921 Mercedes Bligh Brothers Tourer. As I learned from Jay at the event, the car was created by England-dwelling, Polish nobleman Count Louis Zborowski who created four high-performance large-engined vehicles all dubbed by him to be “Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang” (words derived from Cockney rhyming slang). This car, number 2 in the series, was built on a Mercedes chassis around an enormous 18.8-liter Benz BZ IV series aircraft engine. Back in the day, this 230 horsepower engine was able to carry the car to speeds reaching 113 mph. Zborowski raced the car only once at Brooklands and later took the car to tour the Sahara Desert.

Author Ian Fleming was inspired by the Count and his cars and adopted the cars’ name for his novel “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” - which in 1968 was made into the successful movie.

 

It seems so strange to find this. It’s one of those nuggets of interest that lost in the transition from one generation to the next. To rediscover that the car was both a desert tourer and also the inspiration for Fleming’s immensely famous children’s book is really quite special - in fact it was one of four, and now the only surviving one. An 18.8 litre aeroplane engine - that’s insane even by modern standards. Not content to leave it there, another one in the ‘Chitty’ range was fitted with an incredible 450bhp aeroplane engine. Even more extraordinarily, a modified Chitty 4 went on to claim the World Land Speed Record (171.02mph) before killing it’s driver and owner, JG Parry-Thomas on the third attempt when the neck-height drive chain snapped with pretty gruesome consequences.

As it happens quite a few people took photos at the event and there is now a pretty good public record of images, plus one or two other pieces of Bligh Brothers information have come to light in recent days. Hopefully one day I’ll actually get to see that one; the now-reconstructed Chitty IV, or perhaps even the original Chitty II Tourer.

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The first thing I would like to do is thank Red Bull and Double Decker for their continued support this weekend. Had it not been for these two items, this post would most certainly not have been written tonight.

On Friday lunchtime I drove down to Banbury (my first ‘real’ outing in the new car - it’s like driving a eiderdown when compared to the old beast) and met Dan and Dave at Wembley in mid-afternoon. Rumour had it there would be some ‘special guests’ (I thought the support act, Supergrass, would be good enough) but most people were thinking Paul McCartney. Dave suggested he’d heard Led Zeppelin might appear, but it was hard to believe, although I did mention as we passed through Gate M that the Foos do specify on their rider that there are only three bands they would ever be prepared to share a dressing room with, one of those bands is the aforementioned Supergrass, secondly Oasis and finally Led Zep. I didn’t really expect it to happen.

Anyway, the gig was superb. Currin had never been to a proper rock gig before, and neither me or Dave had ever been to one in Wembley Stadium, so there was something new for all of us. It was insanely packed in front of the stage and as the two and a half hour set drew on, we all ended up closer and closer to the front. Eventually we all got separated. Dave told me after he got right on the barrier, whereas I was four rows back where the only way to keep upright was to jump as high as everyone else and the sweat was so thick it was like glue. Yes a lovely image, but it’s hard to express how god damn brilliant it was. And then they announced Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were coming on and the crowd went even more wild. Of course, the presence of Robert Plant might have been nice too, but I’m not complaining; that’s two for the price of one as far as I’m concerned.

I caught a train back to Banbury, then drove the remainder of the way, arriving in Lower Brailes at about half one. A long day. I stayed with relatives, then woke at seven to get back on the road and over to Silverstone for the Renault World Series.

It took me a little while to figure out that the Renault World Series is not just one super race, it’s the name of the event, and all the various classes of Renault motorsport compete on the same day. Will managed to acquire the team buggy for long parts of the day and we spent a lot of time dishing out promotional material (well, our ‘pitbabes’ did, but it’s hard work watching, taking photos for the website and then restocking the girls with more flyers).

Being as Adam’s Formula Renault races were at opposite ends of the day, there was a lot of time to kill between 9am and 5pm, but after qualifying third in both rounds, he snatched second place in both the morning and afternoon session keeping him firmly at the top of the championship.

I managed to acquire my first sunburn of the year, and was quite relieved to make it home at 8pm - a long, long day. Not much relaxing at all this weekend, but really extra special for all of the above. All I need now is roughly 16 hours of sleep.

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