Anyway, here's a nice picture of The Boy and The Cat's Mother
He's sorted his Uni accomodation. Tick. He's applied for his loan. Tick. I've sent the supporting information. Tick. He's all ready for freshers week at the beginning of September. Tick. All we will have to do is work out how to get him and all his stuff up there. It's a long drive, and love the Jeep as I do, I don't really fancy several hundred miles on motorway in it. He is back for another week, which will be precious moments, before returning to Kitzbuhel, where I think he's lined up work in a hotel, in a bar, in a shop and in a cinema. That strikes me as very resourceful...but then I guess he's needed to be over the winter season, so why should it stop now? I'm glad he loves it and am happy he's enjoying himself.
I read that Google is developing driverless cars. From a safety perspective, I can see that these make perfect sense. I like that idea. But driving is not now, and nor has it ever been just about getting from point A to point B safely and securely. Driving is an experience, and in the right circumstances exciting. I like to drive, because even in the cosseted environment of a modern car (actually mine's a Jeep so it's hardly modern) it's quite fun. Even when you're stuck in traffic on the M25, there's something about sitting in the driving seat that's rewarding. It's an experience, and generally an enjoyable one. If it wasn't we'd all be on buses and trains...an extended version of the driverless car, just without the privacy and door-to-doorness that we like. What I would hate to see is the roads taken over by driverless vehicles, and anyone who wants a thrill from motoring to be forced to go on track weekends...somehow I feel our lives will be less rewarding if that joy is taken out of our day to day journeys. I was pondering the other day about how humankind has a remarkable ability to force itself to do things in a 'specilaised' way...take exercise for example...once we used to walk everywhere, giving us a bit of exercise and improving our health at the same time. Now though we are driving to the local corner shop, and then in order to keep fit we pay £50/month to go down the gym. Madness. Utter madness.
Yep, those were my parting words to The Cat's Mother this morning. Not quite the usual "Have a nice day dear". It's not so much that I want to go cruising you understand...I'm quite happy with my home comforts. But last week we were told where we are meeting on the morning of The Tour de France. It gave an address and a location. If you just put the postcode into Google, it came up with somewhere that was about 5 miles away from the route....it seemed wrong. So I put in the address - yes it is a car park - but when you Google it, the first web site that comes up is one that helps people find erm, er a bit if short-term romance and somewhere you can practice dogging (I think this has nothing to do with canines). A friend mentioned she knew where it was...we haven't yet questioned her why...so The Cat's Mother is going to double check. On the day, I shall try to arrive not too early....
I read that Google is developing driverless cars. From a safety perspective, I can see that these make perfect sense. I like that idea. But driving is not now, and nor has it ever been just about getting from point A to point B safely and securely. Driving is an experience, and in the right circumstances exciting. I like to drive, because even in the cosseted environment of a modern car (actually mine's a Jeep so it's hardly modern) it's quite fun. Even when you're stuck in traffic on the M25, there's something about sitting in the driving seat that's rewarding. It's an experience, and generally an enjoyable one. If it wasn't we'd all be on buses and trains...an extended version of the driverless car, just without the privacy and door-to-doorness that we like. What I would hate to see is the roads taken over by driverless vehicles, and anyone who wants a thrill from motoring to be forced to go on track weekends...somehow I feel our lives will be less rewarding if that joy is taken out of our day to day journeys. I was pondering the other day about how humankind has a remarkable ability to force itself to do things in a 'specilaised' way...take exercise for example...once we used to walk everywhere, giving us a bit of exercise and improving our health at the same time. Now though we are driving to the local corner shop, and then in order to keep fit we pay £50/month to go down the gym. Madness. Utter madness.
Yep, those were my parting words to The Cat's Mother this morning. Not quite the usual "Have a nice day dear". It's not so much that I want to go cruising you understand...I'm quite happy with my home comforts. But last week we were told where we are meeting on the morning of The Tour de France. It gave an address and a location. If you just put the postcode into Google, it came up with somewhere that was about 5 miles away from the route....it seemed wrong. So I put in the address - yes it is a car park - but when you Google it, the first web site that comes up is one that helps people find erm, er a bit if short-term romance and somewhere you can practice dogging (I think this has nothing to do with canines). A friend mentioned she knew where it was...we haven't yet questioned her why...so The Cat's Mother is going to double check. On the day, I shall try to arrive not too early....
