Yes, that’s right. I’m not sending this from a sub-zero Stateside motor show, but somewhere slightly closer to home; Droitwich.
American motor shows must be amongst the most irrelevant gatherings of their kind on the planet, even if they have wised up a bit this year and everything’s gone hybrid, bio-ethanol, and a bit mental really. Not that Droitwitch is any less bonkers at the moment, but you can’t help thinking that motor shows ought to be in places where there’s actually oil, and lots of it.
Tehran Auto Expo, anyone? Or maybe the Baghdad Motor Congress.
The real news is of course being made in places like Droitwich. As we all struggle to get on with the business of trying to earn a living, despite the best efforts of Government and related pressure groups, that dread phrase ‘not fit for purpose’ is being applied to our road system. Of course, we’ve known that since the Romans left.
But suggesting that we pay yet again is par for the politically correct course. I’m just glad that I got a stuffed giant panda for Christmas, which now goes everywhere with me. That means when I get on the Birmingham section of the A47, we can travel together in the car share lane. It helps apparently that I’m travelling with an endangered species.
Also, as I'm in the area, I drop in at Coventry and ask for a steer of that nice new XF before it all gets carted off to Calcutta. I am informed that I need to go Detroit to do that.