Bits & Pieces

Hmmn, well I'm still having no luck with passing my driving test. I had what could charitably be described as a shocker in the latest attempt, my worst test yet. I am most annoyed; I can drive fine, but as soon as I sit in my instructor's car alongside a middle aged man in a fluorescent bib and hear the words "drive on when you're ready", I rather go to pieces. Maybe some Mogadon is in order before the next test, whenever that is.

No further adventures in the "plastic dart" to report; I simply haven't had time, as I've been tidying things up at my work before my jaunt abroad over Easter. Happily, however, the sound file from my recent Radio Belgrade interview has arrived, I just have to work out how to put up a sound file on this blog, and you can hear me underneath a Serb translation in all my brief glory. It should be something to look forward to; it's always rather alarming to hear one's own disembodied voice, and I sound like the twisted lovechild of Loyd Grossman and Malcolm Rifkind MP.

Those of you who mine the comments left under successive dissolute ramblings on this organ will already have seen these, but my friend Grant has located two priceless gems on Youtube. They are both clips of film from the Trabant factory at Zwickau in the mid-late 1980s. Some truly appalling crimes against hair can be witnessed, with most Zwickau workers favouring a Terry Mac -style mullet & muzzie tonsoral intervention. As Grant points out, the "quality control" clip is absolutely hilarious; grumpy bootings of trucculent doors and "radiator" panels; random, pointless batterings of nothing in particular with rubber hammers. Here's the links- enjoy!

Assembly Line Blues
Grumpy Buggers at Zwickau "Quality Control"

Traffic on this site has also been pretty good recently, with a little bit of exposure as a result of the Trabi's "50th birthday" a few weeks ago. The site now gets between 30-50 visitors a day, from all across Europe and the US, with one or two regulars from Australia and NZ. Good to see you all!

Back sometime next week with an update from the Czech Republic.