While I was not watching, my watch hid.

It must be in the house somewhere. I love that watch, bought it secondhand in 1979. It's a vintage Heuer Autavia chronograph. Where are you hiding?

Perhaps not

Roads have never been so good, cars have never been so good, driving has never been so awful. Last Sunday morning I decided to drive the five miles or so from where I was staying into the centre of Bristol. At the first roundabout the traffic started, and didn't stop until we got into the city centre. This was Sunday morning, remember, but the traffic level was about equivalent to a rush hour of a few years ago. By the time we got back from this little jaunt I had about decided to give up my car altogether, and rely on foot, bike, bus, train, or whatever.

Is it over for driving? Are cars now next to unusable? All you can do is glance over and admire the polished titanium brake calipers of the BMW stuck in the queue next to you. The only part of modern motorised man that is not obese is the left leg, with muscles built to a pitch of perfection by operating the clutch pedal in traffic jams. Those with automatic gearboxes have no weapon against complete obesity, of course.

On Sunday evening it was time to leave the West Country and drive back to leafy Surrey. I dislike motorways so always try to take the old road. The old road in question turned out to be blissfully free of other cars. On one long straight stretch I could see no other car behind or in front. On top of this the evening sun shone brightly. This was not driving, this was motoring: in a lovely responsive car (an Alfa Romeo), on a lovely clear road. No wonder the motor car caught on.

By the time we reached home I had decided that perhaps it's not quite time yet to give up on motoring.

A lovely wedding weekend

On Saturday the Beautiful Redhead and I went to a wedding. Being somebody who owns a camera I am sometimes asked to do wedding photographs. I use to say yes and that is why I now always say no.

Of course I took my (vintage Leicaflex) camera to the wedding and shot four rolls of black and white film.

The sun shone, the venue was pleasant, the bride was radiant, every guest was one or more of gorgeous/chic/stylish/dapper, the champagne was delicious, the conversation sparkled (yes, really), there was no embarrassing dancing. What more could one ask?

On Sunday morning I developed the films and the negatives look not bad.

Just a lovely weekend.

Today I created a blog

Well, I need the writing practice, and I have half an hour to spare before a friend arrives for lunch.

This morning my son and I went to take a look at the Alfa Romeo Mito. The wild idea is to change our two cars (Punto and Alfa 145) for one, maybe a Mito or maybe a Fiat 500. What's behind it is that my 21- and 23-year old "children" cannot be insured on the fire-breathing monster that is the Alfa 145. It must be a fire breather because the insurance company wants over £1000 a year to include the 23-year old and won't even consider anyone aged 21. Of course the insurer could be profiteering; surely not though?

Of course this is all a false premise because the extra dosh that would be needed to fund the Mito/500 would pay the insurance premiums on the 145 until well past the point where the insurance company would think that both "children" are a good risk.

But the Mito and the Fiat 500 are both so cool.