waffles

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 04 November 2005 10:26:10

oh dear, i seem to be away again, and just when i was trying to get back into a fairly casual training regime. well there's always next week.

i thought having a smart as a hire car last time i was away was a bit of bad luck although actually it was quite fun, coming higher in my rankings than the kangoo (ugg) and probably even the comedy star trek shuttle craft called the mercedes vaneo (the clue's in the first three letters).

so what is it this time, well the word focus is good, pretty much the best car all round in its class, decent handlng and excellent steering. unfortunately the word focus is followed by the letters c-max. given how much it wallows round the corners i was expecting it to be a fairly plushy ride on the motorway. granted the concrete road surface here is pretty harsh but i spent most of my journey from brussels wanting to get out, which is impractical when you're driving for a number of reasons i won't go into.

2 days later and i'm still looking for something nice to say.. oh its got alot of room, but then again only seats 5 which for something so offensively large is dissappointing. the cd player is quite nice.... hmmmm what else.. oh electric park brake which is noisy and has minimal useful functionality above and beyond the usual stick at bit of wire handbrake. in fact the only extra functionality left me unable to pull away from a queue of traffic as i jabbed madly at the button, silly me you have to have your foot on the brake to take it off, which was a bit of a problem as i was on a hill as it was leaving me with some deft footwork to get off the brake and onto the throttle to avoid rolling back and crushing the cars behind with my immense rear end.

i would go out and have a look at it to tell you some more inanity but its not that interesting.
how they can go from best in class to wallowy and uninspiring in one step i'm not sure, but then maybe i'm not the target market, but if thats the case maybe they shouldnt try and inherit kudos from the focus badge... anyway i was stopping so i will.

it has served to get me from brussels to spa, and to/from the spa-francorchamps circuit tho which is where i am. its quite english over here, rolling hilly countryside, rain, drizzle, its quite nice the way the mist hangs in the trees round the valley actually. some of the buildings i spied from the motorway looked quite british too, almost victorian. for some reason i was surprised to find that spa is in fact a spa town, hadn't really given it any consideration. as usual it looks quite nice but since i'm working during the day/evening i havent seen that much of it. i can however tell you about the circuit, the gradients & elevation change really dont come out on the tele, the bus stop & la source hairpin really is very tight, and the sweeping eau rouge looks vertical from here in the pits. i'm not inclined to pay obscene amounts to go to the flat windswept silverstone for a grand prix, but here i might be tempted, in fact i might pay extra to get a decent seat, still alot of money tho.

i fly back today so get the pleasure of the c-max again, and trying to find the airport (returning from france last time i didnt actually know what the airport was called which caused some navigational challenges). and then the long walk to where the UK flights down what is possibly the longest corridor i've ever seen, on the way in i kept having to look back and check it really was that long having stood on one of those travelator things for a good 5minutes, could have done with a seat really. (perhaps it was circular and i just forgot to get off, that'd be a good wheeze for the designers, but no.... it was definitely straight.. i think)

off to check on the weather.