Claude Monet, the French impressionist, painted a number of famous landscapes featuring poppies. On my estate the other day (that sounds a bit grand, I obviously mean housing estate), I had a bit of a Monet moment and, Canon in hand, got a bit creative.

There are poppies at the end of my street, they look lovely and, given that they have such a short burn, I wanted to record the bloom and enable others to enjoy it too. Some of the output is shared below.  

For once, the subject matter isn’t cars or motorbikes.

However, mentioning cars whilst seeing red, brings me on to Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel. The red mist descended for him at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku and he made a complete fool of himself. For those of you that missed the coverage, Vettel drove into the back of Lewis Hamilton and then, stupidly believing that the shunt was Hamilton’s fault, pulled alongside him and sideswiped his car too. Vettel’s true colours shown…and not pretty at all.

​He got penalised with a ten-second stop/go penalty and three points on his super licence but that didn’t feel like enough of a punishment to me. Still, behaving like a petulant child will haunt him for the rest of the season I am sure – hopefully less Ferrari red and more embarrassment red for Vettel. 

​Coming back to the poppies, they are bright red too but not aggressive; instead they are calming and joyous. Maybe Ferrari should change the nose cone on Vettel’s car from solid red to a poppy pattern, maybe it would calm him down.

Seeding the poppies at the entrance to the estate was an inspired move by the builders because the first thing anyone sees as they drive in is this beautiful scene (and red is the builder’s colour too - beauty by association). I am sure it makes the estate feel welcoming and helps the sales people flog the plots.

Poppies inspired Monet to paint (my drive was to photograph, reflect and then write) and I think that I’ll look at his poppy landscapes with greater appreciation and understanding now.

Click on any image to enlarge. Higher resolution images available, just get in touch if you'd like one.

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The closest I got to Glastonbury this year was driving to and from Exeter on the M5 last Friday and watching the Foo Fighters set on the tele on Saturday. Though I own all the band’s albums, I have never been to a Foo Fighters concert. I will have to make more effort in future because the band was excellent and well worthy of the headline slot on the pyramid stage. From 9:45 until midnight, Dave Grohl and his merry men rocked the place and I loved it. 

But this post isn’t going to be about the Foos because something much weirder and more worthy of writing about took place in Somerset. And I don’t mean the constant sunshine either (though some rays do appear to shine out of a certain politician’s butt).

Jeremy Corbyn took to the stage with Michael Eavis and delivered a keynote type speech. A politician preaching at Glastonbury…

...but even more odd was the audience’s warm reception, he got serenaded by the crowd, chants of “oh Jeremy Corbyn” rippling across the field. I would have expected any politician from any party to get jeers and boos but somehow Corbyn pulled it off. Fascinating.

Since the election, Corbyn’s stock has been on the up and May has faced a barrage of criticism. Even the Queen taught her a thing or two about public engagement and compassion at Grenfell Tower.

And that reminded me that during the election process, I saw a Facebook post that included the picture shared in this piece. It cracked me up at the time but its humour is just as relevant now.

At last, two party politics is back and whilst the Star Wars themed good versus evil, weak versus strong thing is overcooked in the image, I wonder what would happen if there was another election now? 

I used to think that Corbyn was divisive and a liability to his party but he has confounded me by gaining in popularity through leadership contests and by doing things his own way regardless of the media interpretation. I find myself thinking that he probably is more “a man of the people” than May. And he may yet lead our nation. The prospect of another election in the not too distant has to be real.

As for Teresa “May the force be with you” because you are going to need something “more” in the weeks and months ahead. The Brexit challenges are every bit as daunting as those the fictitious Rebel Alliance faced when taking on the Empire.

If she fails in Europe, and for all our sakes, I hope she doesn’t, the Star Wars expression will end up be re-written by the Labour Party “Corbyn the force be with you”. 

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On Sunday 18th June, I went to my first car show of the year. Billing Aquadrome often used to be the place of pilgrimage for these things but, since the holiday park turned its back on car events, new venues have had to be found by the event organisers and travelled to by fans like me.

The American Automobile Club International (AACI) chose Kelmarsh Hall for this event and, as far as I am concerned that was great. Less distance for me to travel and, by way of a double-whammy, it was cheaper than Billing to get into the show fields.

I wrote about both the AACI Open National events last year and the previous reviews are available below. Though the venue was different, the format was much the same. A show field packed full of Americana and encircled by traders selling their wares. There were hundreds of cars but also a significant number of HGVs too. The imposing Peterbilt trucks were impressive and drew loads of attention from kids and their parents alike.

When I arrived at about 10:30am, the weather was already scorching hot. I parked up and walked into the show ground. At that point there were three full rows of vehicles stretching the length of the designated field, the fourth was rapidly building and by the time I left, there were five full rows and then some offshoot displays too.

I wandered around taking photos (more than 250 in the end), admiring the vehicles and chatting to the owners. One of the cars on display was a 1973 Dodge Charger SE Richard Petty (AKA “The King”) signature car in its full original livery. The owner was very proud of it and justifiably so if you ask me. Though wheel chair bound, he wheeled along the car to show me the actual Richard Petty signature on the driver’s side rear panel.

The green Mustang I wrote about the other day wasn’t on display but there were plenty of vehicles that were as nice, and some that were a lot nicer too. The gallery below shared for your enjoyment.

Given that I have been to a handful of US Auto events now, a number of the vehicles were already familiar to me. I thought it was a bit like the automobile equivalent of meeting up with old friends.

Some of the vehicles on display were works of art and the love, attention and money spent on them was clear to see. I don’t get to spend much of my time in art galleries but this field in Northamptonshire was as good a display as you’d see in any of London’s finest artistic establishments…at least in my opinion anyway.

As an aside, of late, I have been getting into “Sin City Motors” (known in the US as “Vegas Rat Rods”), it’s a reality TV show on Dave that follows the trials and tribulations of Steve Darnell and his crew of welders, fabricators, mechanics and paint shop experts. The crew builds rat rods and creates all sorts of properly out-there vehicles. The programme is rather formulaic (just like Counting Cars, The Car Chasers, Pawn Stars and River Monsters) but I love it.

Darnell’s team finishes a lot of its projects by retaining the patina of the vehicle when it arrives. Surface rust is okay, evidence of various paint layers is acceptable; the ratty appearance is then protected by varnishes and wax. 

Getting to the point of the digression, at Kelmarsh Hall there were a number of vehicles that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Welderup (that by the way is the name of Darnell’s business). Before SCM, I didn’t appreciate that the amount of work that goes into a rat rod is often just as much as a more traditional hot rod.

For 2.5-3 hours I was in heaven but by then the sun was starting to burn me to a more hellish shade of red and so I, sensibly, headed for home. Blimey the air conditioning was my friend for my journey.

There is another AACI event taking place at Kelmarsh Hall on the 6th August 2017, I am going to go, maybe I’ll see you there.

Click on any image to enlarge. Higher resolution images available, just get in touch if you'd like one.

Previous Related Posts
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/24424-the-aaci-summer-nationals-and-fathers-day
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/aaci-late-summer-open-nationals
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/car-sunday-2-nsra-fun-run-top-gear
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/billing-aquadrome-disappointment
 
AACI - https://www.aac-int.com/
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Saturday 17th June saw my local community come together for a street party of sorts.

Our “Great Get Together Event”, in recognition of Jo Cox MP, was largely organised by Mrs Baldwin and our next door neighbour Michelle.

The community that I live in is hardly polarised (no gangland turf wars, neo Nazi or Muslim extremist agitation for example), but then again it isn’t properly functional yet either.  The reason for this is simple, it’s a new build estate (still being built for that matter) and a whole load of new people have come together for the first time and nobody knows each other. A collective lack of awareness means we couldn’t claim to have a community spirit at all. 

The murder of Jo Cox was shocking; hearing about the remembrance events being promoted in her name was the catalyst that got Mrs B. and I thinking we should do something. We registered on the website, downloaded the events pack, wrote the invitations and Mrs B. subsequently went around the estate delivering them.

What better way to start building our own community than having a party and inviting everyone? 

Even Davidson Homes, the building firm responsible for my estate, agreed and it stumped up the funding for an ice cream man. The firm was under no pressure to get involved or support us, but it did and that was great from a corporate behaviour perspective.  And the ice cream went down very well too!

Our Great Get Together saw my drive transformed into a seating area with BBQ, drinks and music. All the neighbours were invited (just about everyone came too) and in glorious sunshine, the event got into its stride at about 3pm.

• Everyone had a name badge made up for them (that was my idea, because I am rubbish with names). Mrs B. took the piss initially, but the badges helped everyone.
• The conversation flowed from the get-go to the end, though perhaps a bit more slurred later
• The age range of the attendees varied from toddlers to retirees but there were no points where anyone ran out of things to talk about. Our get together turned out to be that good that…

…it finished at approximately 1:30am.

​I can't have been the only one feeling a tad jaded this morning.

As you can see from the photos, the turnout was good and we are now a much more united bunch of postcode sharers than we were before.  

A community spirit...

...we've got one now.

RIP Jo Cox MP.

​https://www.greatgettogether.org
http://davidsonsgroup.co.uk/
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​Something funny happened at lunchtime today and I thought I’d share it with you. I was taking my constitutional walk into Newport Pagnell and back when I stopped dead in my tracks, hands on hips, to watch this beautiful car drive past me in the direction of the town centre.

Now bearing in mind that Tickford Street (B526) is home to the Aston Martin works and there is a new and vintage car showroom on site, you might guess that it was an Aston that caught my attention…

…but it wasn’t, it was a modified sixties, 67 I think (single rectangular rear lights), Mustang GT Fastback in a shade of dark green (not unlike the Hornsea Heirloom mug on my desk in the office) with a thick black coach line down its flanks.

I saw it coming, stopped at the Ivy Close junction and watched it drive slowly by. Then I turned so my gaze could follow it into the distance. It was spotless and magnificent, at least to my eyes anyway.

Now regular readers will know that vintage cars are one of my “things”. If you are a regular, or even if you are not, you might be wondering what is amusing about me looking at a smart motor? And that would be a fair question.

Well, I was stood at the roadside with this big smile on my face watching a car when only a few yards ahead of me (and walking towards me) was this young (at least compared to me – late twenties I would guess), attractive, slim woman with blond hair wearing a fitted bright blue dress and black Rayban Wayfarers. The car and the woman together would have had serious calendar potential. 

What was funny was that I hadn’t even noticed her. What was even funnier was that she had noticed that instead of ogling at her (which I am sure she would expect from more fellas than not) I was gazing longingly at a car. When the Mustang had gone by and I was facing the right direction again, she caught my eye and gave me an amused but friendly smile. We said “hello” and carried on our ways, me already thinking “I must be getting old” and her thinking, well God only knows what – “sad old duffer” probably.

I carried on walking and got to thinking that perhaps we could meet up again in the future. Maybe there is even potential for this coming weekend.

Because I am going to the American Automobile Club International (AACI) Summer Open Nationals at Kelmarsh Hall on Sunday. I’ll be taking my camera, if I see the Mustang there, I’ll take a photo of it and will share it with you next week.

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On Saturday 10th June, I went to the Daventry Motorcycle Festival - regular readers will feel a sense of déjà vu because it’s not the first time I have attended (or written up a blog post afterwards – previous articles available, see below).

The weather was lovely; I got into town at around 9:30, which gave me time to determine the scale of this year’s event and do a little bit of shopping before the riders arrived en masse at around 10:00.

The town centre was packed full of stalls, club stands and entertainments and, by the time the event was in full swing, people and motorbikes too. In fact I haven’t seen Daventry so busy since last year’s festival. It was great to see the town so alive and vibrant. The atmosphere was one of excitement, energy, interest and fun.

I spent a couple of hours wandering around and taking photos, some shared below for your enjoyment. I got to catch up with some friends that I haven’t seen for ages including one father and son that used to live on my Close in Daventry. The son, I have known him since he was a toddler, rode in on his own motorbike for the first time instead of on the back of his dad’s. I thought that was just as cool as they did.

The event was still in full swing when it was time for me to go but I can’t complain, this year I was lucky to be able to go at all. It was the day of my daughter’s tenth birthday party and Mrs Baldwin was working very hard whilst I was swanning around looking at the motorbikes. I brought the party lunch back for all the invitees, which was a good thing, but I’ll admit I cashed in some brownie points. I could have been subjected to making slime and stress balls filled with orbeez.   

As in previous years, I have to congratulate the organisers, clubs and volunteers for bringing the festival to life. A cracking job done in creating an event that is a credit to Daventry. Thank you.

If you’ve never been to the town and fancy a trip visit, get next year’s date in your diary, there will be precious few other occasions that will see the town centre more buoyant.

Click on any image to enlarge. Higher resolution images available, just get in touch if you'd like one.

Previous reviews
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012​

http://www.daventrybikefest.co.uk/
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​Well what a fascinating election outcome, well worthy of a blog post.

What initially seemed to me to be a dead–cert-increased-majority-win for May has ended up in an embarrassing loss of status and the surrendering of the majority she already had.

I wrote a piece at the end of May (not about the end of May, though you never know now) where I suggested that a surprise might be in store; the election result certainly met, even exceeded, that expectation.

So having never been elected to the role of PM by the public, May hasn’t exactly been endorsed by it now. Her gamble hasn’t paid off and she now looks as arrogant in her snap election decision making as Cameron was in holding the Brexit referendum. They both thought they were secure when they weren’t. And what a mess they have caused.

The result, whilst not exactly great for the country (the Brexit negotiations, the value of the pound, the stock markets, the cost of my summer holiday etc.), is arguably brilliant in terms of irony and political comeuppance.

Aside from May learning a bitter lesson, I am pleased to see that Clegg and Salmond were disenfranchised by the vote. Bearing in mind that the SNP lost its old leader and its deputy leader on the same night, hopefully the Scottish independence debate can be parked once and for all.

Meanwhile Diane Abbott won 75% of the vote in Hackney North & Stoke Newington…

​May is already the subject of derision in Europe and the calls from various quarters for her resignation were inevitable. The prospect of another election in the not too distant future has to be high.

The Europeans will be laughing at our expense and Brexit negotiations, which are supposed to start in ten days, will be all the more challenging. In hindsight, May either shouldn’t have pulled the Brexit trigger or shouldn’t have called the election. I am not sure that either can be undone. Can you imagine 27 EU countries now unanimously voting to let us stay?

We’re making being in the EU look like the right place to be for our soon to be ex EU colleagues.

It could be worse though, May could step down to make way for Boris. At least in staying at the helm she takes responsibility for the chaos she has caused.

http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/election-reflection-defecation ​
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Well the end of my drive to be more accurate. The Women's Tour kicked off in Daventry and wound a route around Northamptonshire and through the village I now live in.

By coincidence, I happened to be working from home today and so was able to nip out of my front door around 11:30am and show my support. I could hear the sirens from my front room so popped out just before it got interesting.

And for a few minutes it was all rather exciting. First a squadron of police motorcycle outriders came through; their roles were to block the roads on the cycle route from other traffic – with blue lights flashing, sirens whooping, engines roaring, it was a cool show of force, efficiency and planning.

The peloton raced through a few minutes later and I sat on the ground taking the photos shared with you below.

The cyclists were in tight formation, going fast, looking professional and very focused indeed - no waving, no smiling, no silly outfits and no stopping for selfies.

At the back of the group was a motorcycle film crew – two chaps on the same bike. The cameraman was standing up on the back of the moving BMW. I thought blimey, you have to be brave to do that. Clearly a lot trust between passenger and driver.

In no time at all (just seconds in fact) the ladies had crossed the A428 and were on their way to Guilsborough.  When they were gone, the team support vehicles thundered through along with more of Northamptonshire Constabulary’s finest.

And then it was done. I was back to work in little more than five minutes, less time than a typical coffee/fag break.
But much better!

Click on any image to enlarge. If you want a photo in a higher resolution, just let me know.

​Sometimes, in fact perhaps more than sometimes of late, I find myself wondering what the hell is going on with the world. 
​
On Saturday, I published an indulgent little post about a lamp I had just bought. In a moment of pleasure about a “win”, I took to my keyboard, not to moan and groan (which I’ll admit is not altogether uncommon for me) but instead to celebrate in a small, harmless and slightly silly way.

I didn’t get around to promoting my post until the Sunday morning.  And then I caught up with the news!
​
Much to my distress, another UK terror event was reported. London again, and so soon after Manchester. 

Then to compound things further, I opened an email from a friend of mine to find out the dreadful news that he and his wife had lost their first baby. 

Needless to say, but I will anyway, the world suddenly felt a bit shit. 

Feeling despondent, I wondered if I should go back on to Facebook/Twitter and apologise for my earlier “happy” post or just take it down from my site. Friends of mine were already preaching “war” and a piece about a lamp felt a bit crass in comparison.

But then I reflected for a while. I wondered whether I should write about my feelings on this latest terrorist atrocity, or comment on the direction of travel for our national security. In the end I just didn’t know what value I could add, or difference I could make. That unfortunately was rather like my email response to my friend – no words would help him and his wife with their grief.  But I wanted them to know that I was thinking of them and so wrote the best thing that I could in the circumstances (whilst desperately hoping that wouldn’t be perceived as crass).

I carried on ruminating - my earlier post about a lamp was perhaps a metaphorical light in all the doom and gloom. Shouldn’t we all celebrate the things we can instead of worrying about all the things we can’t affect?  Shouldn’t we all make the most of what we have while we have it? 

Or should I feel repentant?

​So to be on the safe side, if I inadvertently upset any of my regular visitors by posting something light hearted when, given everything else going on, it was inappropriate, then I apologise. 

But I can’t help that feel that if these terrorist-scumbag-nutter-bastards did get me changing my posting behaviour, or worse, dedicating my website real estate to them, in some way they’d have achieved a bit more coverage and destruction and that could be taken as a win.

I am not having that! 

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I have been on the lookout for an Ikea Visjo lamp for more than a decade now. I meant to buy one in the noughties when they were in stock, never got around to spending the money and then wished I had. On one trip to an Ikea in Leicestershire somewhere, I even tried to buy the “display” lamp because it was the only one left in the store…only to be told “no”. I should have fought harder at the time to get my own way. I would have done if I knew I’d have a teenage son (that is taller than me) by the time I acquired one.

Since the turn of the millennium, finding a lamp to purchase second hand has proved difficult; type “Ikea Visjo” into Google and see what you get…not much eh…

…though this post will now fix that. 

Of course anyone with a Visjo wouldn’t know the lamp was called that unless the sticker on the base was intact and the owner realised that Visjo was the product name.

Over the years, I would periodically Google the name and then descriptions like “Ikea lamp, red, black, white, polo pattern, circles pattern” etc. Nothing relevant ever seemed to come back in the search returns...though headlamps for small Volkswagens were easy to find. 

Once a lamp appeared on Gumtree but I couldn’t justify a trip to the big smoke in a timescale that suited the owner’s need to move house.  

Nothing showed up in any of the charity shops I have wandered into over the years and that’s quite something bearing in mind that I have been into thousands.  

Sometimes though the internet is marvellous for finding stuff.

Whilst at a loose end on Wednesday evening this week, I typed a descriptive search term into Google and up popped a match on Ebay (though Visjo was not mentioned in the advert description at all). What’s more, the lamp was located just a handful of miles away from me and there was a “make an offer” option on the listing. I duly made an offer (saving myself a tenner in the process) and minutes later it was accepted. A trip to Rugby, via a cash point, resulted in the lamp being in my home within an hour of the point of offer acceptance. After all the waiting, it could hardly have been more straightforward. Awesome.

I finally had a lamp I really didn’t need, that the Mrs really didn’t want and that I wasn’t even sure where to put…but I felt “epic”. The quest for a Visjo has ended and I’ll die happier for owning one.

With certain purchases, especially the more status symbol orientated type things, I have found that the desire for them is much more stimulating than the actual ownership experience - if you like, the chase is better than the catch.​ But with this innocuous, unnecessary, inexpensive, non-vintage, non-complementary (unless I ever find another one and they can complement each other), mass produced, furniture store lamp, the novelty will take ages to wear off. In the meantime, I am going to smile every time I switch it on. 

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