Is Google becoming a bit too close to the knuckle?

A post that I posted a few days ago was branding Google as the start of the internet for many people. Google has thousands of searches on thousands of things. There's gotta be some filth somewhere in all that, surely? So when I visit my dear friend Rowan's Blog, I found this post stating that he searched the word 'special' on Google and I thought I'd give it a go, to see if there was anything else worth a comment on. And lo and behold, I found this:

Ironically, it had nothing to do with the pictures, but the related searches. 'Special offer' clearly acceptable but then we're struck with the almighty bombshell with the word 'retard.' How blunt does it have to be? It doesn't even let you assume. They could have simply put 'special needs' but no. We're give retards on a plate. It's even clickable and you can then see what what special could also mean. Also, even more ironically, Special K doesn't even get a related search. Which goes to show that on Google's 1,010,000,000 (I don't know how to pronounce it. One hundred and million million million and something) pages of the word special, the healthy Kelloggs cereal is not as popular retards.

(Many thanks to Rowan for giving me inspiration for this post. Go check his website out at http://www.blaktornado.com/)

Advert Watching: Cillit Bang

Ahh, a good advert to rip to shreds. It's one that's come under quite a lot of scrutiny before so this is my chance to shine. Like an old penny?

So here we are. Barry Scott and his lady friend Jill, a stereotypical housewife who has a task on her hands (ironically, it's not getting rid of Barry; he's actually been invited and not broken in). Although if I was directing this advert, I'd have called her Penny, just to be ironic. So I will refer to her as Penny even though in the actual commercial, she's called Jill. You'll just have to pretend. Anyway, we see the pair with bottles of Cillit Bang; the clean-everything detergent. It's the pink bottle we're focusing on today, the others, we have to assume are totally different products for different jobs. Although for all we could know, they could do exactly as the one we're looking at: Cillit Bang Power Grime and Lime. It cleans (or so it claims) limescale, rust, ground in dirt and oh my god what is that bath covered in?


According to Penny (Jill), this bath was the wrong doing of her kids. Yeah, and I'm George Clooney. If social services saw this, I'm pretty sure they'll take them away from her. I mean, whoever lets their bath get to a state like this really should be using Cillit Bang on themselves rather than limescale encrusted taps. Either that or this bath isn't being used as a bath. I don't know about you but whatever it is that surrounds that bath, it must have been really thick to leave that sort of ring around the edge. Like custard or something.


Roundabouts now, Penny looks like she's going to be asking quite a few questions about Barry Scott and his incredible grime busting abilities. Questions like:
-What is a Cillit?
-What makes it go bang?
-Is it full of Nitroglycerin?
-What are the other products you placed on my work surface?
-Are they just the same just with different coloured labels?
-Is Barry Scott your real name?
-Why do you do tests on Pennies? (See, it makes the joke easier)
-Do you have some strange obsession with really clean coinage?

But obviously, before Penny gets to ask any of these, he pulls out - yep, you guessed it - A dirty penny (coin).

And now they've got rid of the Cillit Bang bottles and replaced with another fish tank. What is it with cleaning products and fish tanks? We've already seen that the product works on what it's supposed to clean so why does Barry Scott, if that is his real name, have to better himself. We know. It works! Wrap up the advert and go home! Stop cleaning coins*. But we have to let him do this. He claims it's his old favourite. Like a magician, he then places the coin in the cherryade, I mean, Cillit Bang Power Lime and Grime, and hey presto: a bad magic trick. Penny (lady) then says that he loves that one in a so not wooden or sarcastic tone at all. The screen even wipes across so we don't know if the experiment actually worked. It's not reliable enough. I think he's having us on, personally. Have a look at him and ask yourself if he's a trusted man.

Don't let the mug shot fool you. A quick internet search tells us Barry Scott is a fraud. He's not called Barry Scott at all. He's called Neil Burgess. You can tell. Both his names in his name are first names. Barry and Scott. That no where near an intelligent name for a character. You can't take them two names seriously. Barry was one of the Chuckle Brothers. And as for Scott...well I've looked through Wikipedia's comprehensive list of people with Scott in their names (and there is a lot) and I only know a couple. Not many though. Even bizarrely, Barry doesn't even get a mention. But since he's not giving us his real name, how can we trust him that Cillit Bang works too. Or even if them other bottles were as important as the Power Grime and Lime and Grime.

*Actually, after doing a bit of research on the internet (after looking at people with the name Scott in their name), the Cillit Bang website says this...

Quite clearly in that list of various materials, it says copper. Pennies (coins again) are made with copper. It's why they're called "coppers." It looks like Barry/Neil/Whoever he say he is, hasn't been in doubt about this and read the label on the bottle. They do however suggest you use Brasso on brass!



Bang! And...oh...it's exploded

Driving - Google Advance Search

I've said it before and I'll say it again; over the coming weeks, I'm going to feel like I'm repeating myself with these posts. So I'll say it again. I've got nothing else to learn now...I've just got to wait until the 20 hour mark has passed until I can legally take the test. Not long at all. All 4 manoeuvres are were completed in this lesson. Although I did hit the curb whilst parallel parking. And I did stall. In the worst place in the world. On a busy Monday evening. On a roundabout. I've conquered roundabouts but this took the biscuit! I know how to takle the roundabout itself. But it turns out I lifted off the clutch a bit too early and then ker-plunk. The car gave way and I was left stranded with people behind me. So I managed to get the car started again and was off on our merry way to our next hazardous thing. A hill. I did have a little trouble with a hill a few weeks ago but I know how to take them on now. This one was totally different though. It was uber-steep so I had to keep my wits about me with it by using a lot of the clutch and revving the engine. So much so, I thought it was going to bounce out of the bonnet. But the Silver Lining managed to pull itself up the steep gradient. Alan said that I managed to do pretty well by myself. I had to really otherwise I would have rolled down the hill and ended up in some poor saps farm. That's it really. It's not a lot compared to my earlier posts but that's because I don't need to learn a lot more now. So, we carried on through showers and shining sun to complete the lesson...

Advert Watching: Vanish

This is the first post of a series of observations from the Televisual box. A bunch of observations that I will call Advert Watching. It's going to be a comic look at adverts from around the Tv world. We'll that's what I want it to be. It's going to be a tough act to follow but here we go. This maybe a few years old but even up to the current advert, it's elements remain the same so, we start with the Vanish commercial.


It starts off with a woman doing some ironing. Nothing too odd about that. But then...disaster. Mr Advertman is horrified at what this silly woman hasn't noticed! She has ironed the stain deeper into his badly needed shirt. The guy looks mortified; he's clearly in a rush and needs to go out on a business meeting or something highly important that needs this specific shirt. The look on his face says a thousand words. He is literally ripping the hair out of his skull...

What are we going to do about this? It's a stubborn stain that needs a hard hitting substance that takes no prisoners. Cue this woman in pink.

Mr Advertman and his mother are in so much panic to get this stain out, that they fail to notice this woman has clearly broken into their own home to force them to use Vanish. Not one of them asks "where the bloody hell did you come from?" or "What are you doing in my house?." And them eyes. I've seen better eyes on gargoyles compared to that lurid stare. This element is in all these Vanish adverts. The woman breaking and entering. It's not acceptable. Hide everything that's stained otherwise she'll kick your down and you'll have to watch her put dirty washing into your fish tank.

The man who needs his shirt now somehow disappears, probably to get an identical shirt because he's not waiting around for his other shirt to be washed and spin-dried again. If this is the case, then why did he not do this the first time around? Why not wear a different shirt? Is he going to a fancy dress party as an upper class Smurf and absolutely requires to wear blue? Whatever his reason for needing that shirt, he seems to be happy with the results.

Judging from the picture above, I'm guessing, he got an identical shirt. Because, if you look closely at the pile of washing, you can see blue fabric, above the towels. And still they don't seem to notice that the woman is still in their household. She's not going without a fight or something. Maybe dinner. Ironic really. The only thing that really shouldn't be there is still there. Her. The stain went ages ago when she dipped it in the aquarium.

Trust Pink. Forget Stains. And always lock your back door. Especially if you have dirty washing.

Best Websites Ever!

I thought, this blog could do with a list of all the websites that I think are genius. We all know that the internet is a big place. There is litterally anything to do with anything on the internet. It's one of them inventions that changed the face of modern technology. It just keeps getting more massive as the days go on. So, I've gone through a selection of some of the best websites I've come across on my adventures. Some of them maybe obvious but obviously, I'll give you a reason why they appear here on this list.



http://www.google.co.uk/ - A nice easy one here. Google is the internet to a lot of people. In a basic summary, if anyone is unsure of anything, then Google it! They 99% of the time will have the answer. It may not be the right answer but an answer none-the-less! In fact, Pac-Man made a guest appearence on the main page. As with Google's tradition, they like to put up Google Doodles to show an anniversay of something that means something to the people. In my case tonight, it was the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man.



http://www.cracked.com/ - I discovered Cracked around about Summer last year after I was searching for a list of "Silly band names." One of the links I found was to Cracked.com (an American magazine and main rivals to Mad Magazine) and so I naturally followed the link and ended up on the site. And oh my god! I was hooked. I didn't know someone could laugh so much at written work. I just didn't see it possible! Cracked mainly focus on list based humour - where I get the inspiration from for this blog actually - and a different angle on society and life. And it's not all. They have regular videos, pictures and photoshop competitions too, that are presented in a similar way. It's just unbelievably hilarious although it is an equired taste, but still...the majority of the people who I've showed it to are now also fans. Oh and please note, I'm not knicking Cracked's format, I'm just presenting it in a style that'll be more relatable to a British audience.

http://www.uncyclopedia.wikia.com/ - Everybody knows Wikipedia. Whether it's to find out the information from a Tv show, information on a person (dead or alive) or just to copy and paste something into your essay, wikipedia has it all. All very good (we'll think about the latter). The Uncyclopedia is owned by the same company but is totally a whole different barrel of salmon! Uncyclopedia is exactly the opposite of Wiki.' It rips everything to shreds with its satirical look on everything. And the best thing is, you can edit it. Like Wiki, it is monitered and they do issue you with advice to be funny and not just stupid, which just goes to show, something as funny as this can be quite professional.

http://www.netdisaster.com/ - I really would have liked to put it on this list because NetDisaster is the business! But since they got cautioned for looking like a phishing site, they were ordered to shut up shot. Back in the days, NetDisaster gave you the control to destroy any website of your choice. Just type in the web address, pick the torture (Spray can, chainsaw, vomit, etc) and watch as it get's trashed. I actually miss it, but they do give you the chance to do it to your own desktop now. All is not lost in the world of NetDisaster!

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/ - IWOOT made an appearence in my gadget blog last year and even though its an online shop, it's a brilliant online shop. IWOOT specialises in awesome (and they say this themselves) stuff that you really want, but don't necessarily need. The staff on there know how to write about the stuff they test. It's full of humour no matter which gadget it is. They give it a sparkle, even if you think it's not very good, they seem to. The thing is, everything is good on that site. So good, that almost everything needs to be bought. And it's probably this reason why I Want One of Those is on here and Amazon isn't.

http://www.snopes.com/ - Snopes is a website that specialises in Urban legends and folklore from around the planet. If there's a rumour that seems too unrealistic to be true, Snope go and find out if it's true or not. And to be honest, it's all actually very surprising how much of it turns out to be true. And it's got all the classics like lore relating to Coca-cola, Elvis and James Dean's Porsche Spyder that went on a murderous rampage, long after Dean's tragic death. Some of the things that appear on there really do make you think twice before venturing out your own door but the majority of times what you think may be real, is actually a load of nonesense. A bit like QI. But if it's true, then it's true, but that can be a good thing.


http://www.uk.askmen.com/ - Online magazines are the best. Ask Men is full of some very useful information. Info from how to excersise efficiently to cars to celebrities, all with the blokey attitude. There's is actually quite a lot packed onto this website but it looks smart and it is smart. Not all of the information is reliable but as something to read and to expand 0n, this does the job very well. And then you've got the little bit's like viewers surveys, jokes, pictures and all stuff like that. It makes it very compulsive.

http://www.moviemistakes.com/ - You get some nerds who purposely watch a film and look for mistakes. So rather than having one as a friend, have this handy site to find the bits you missed that you weren't supposed to see. It's amazing what some films get away with. It's probably a matter of "oh, we'll leave it in anyway" in the editing room. They don't just do the mistakes either. There's lists of trivia, quotes and corrections that the nerds get wrong. A little like IMDB but more in touch with the people.

http://www.imcdb.org/ and http://www.igcd.net/ - are very similar websites. Following from the Internet Movie Database way of things, the Internet Movie Car Database and the Internet Game Car Database are for car fans respectively. I know not everyone is a fan of cars but these are actually very good, especially to see what's what in films or games. The IMCDB shows any car that has appeared in any film or TV show. The same with the IGCD but with video games (it's very good for looking at what cars the fictional vehicles in Grand Theft Auto should look like). They both show you what your not looking for, probably, when comes to either of them but they're still good to look over.

Driving - Advance to Mayfair. If you pass GO, collect £200

No less than 4 days after last Friday's lesson, I was thrown into the driving seat once again after a short break. Monday afternoon in Lincoln is a weird mix of no traffic and traffic. Again, since I've learned all my manoeuvres, I just have to perfect them before the big TEST, which is approaching but not very fast. Kinda like, you're at the bus stop, you see the bus coming, and then the driver waits because he's running early. More of the same as last week (but in Morrison's car park) with the reversing stuff. Only touched the pavement once whilst parallel parking but everything else is all dandy. Er...maybe had to correct myself whilst bay parking but it's allowed. Roundabouts however...bring them on! I know what to do now. Smoother shifts around and no stopping. More being positive with the accelerator (foot down!). 3 to 4 and 4 to 5 feels brilliant, accelerating up to 70mph too on the dual carriageways. Hard to believe I've only been doing this since March. It's feeling a whole lot more composed and relaxed with reactions and awareness on a high. It's going good. Bad grammar but...hey, ne'mind. The car - The Silver Lining - is starting to feel more comfortable. It feels a lot more mechanical. As in, the gears feel like they are going where they should. That's a bonus I suppose. Although, I don't like it when the engine over revs during shifts...It's rather cringeworthy. However, all in all, it was a good clean drive.

Driving - (Game Boy) Advance

With a new batch underway, It was time to get back behind the wheel for yet...erm...you guessed it, another lesson (surprise, surprise). However with a new day, and since last week, I hadn't learned anything new, it was time to learn something new. And something I've covered, but going into it in more detail, which can only be a good thing. Of course, there's still the same; roundabouts, traffic lights, stalling but the least said about that, the better!

New thing during this lesson was to be able to bay park. I thought this would be rather difficult, but I did think that parallel parking would be difficult and I managed to pull that off rather seamlessly. We went to an empty hotel car park - probably empty because it was a bad hotel? Who knows. But what I did know is that it's a good job it was empty because it would give me enough room if I were to suddenly make a mistake. And, to my shock, I didn't make any. I really do believe I'm better going backwards in a car. As useful as that sounds, it's not very practical. Both to the left and to the right, it was all rather simple. Probably too simple. I was using the concave mini-mirrors though but for first attempts, they would have resulted in a pass in the test. Maybe a bit of correcting, but that's allowed!
If you may remember (if not, then shame on you), I didn't have a good experience with a hill. I almost rolled down into the car behind me. So, after going down a very steep one, only using my foot brake, it was time to relearn hill starts. I'm actually good at this too. I don't know where my knowledge went from last week. I can balance power and clutch until I release the handbrake and I'm away. I did this again. And again. And again. And then carried on.
Not much more to say really. Just some more ego boosting with another overtake which saw me press on over 70mph, to get past a vehicle safely (it's allowed apparently) and all that. And, finally, that's all my manoeuvres learned. Just need to perfect them and I'll be sorted.

Awesome Things with Wheels

This post is all about things with wheels. Now, I'm all for anything with wheels, but the word before the word 'Thing' is Awesome! Which means the things that will feature on this list will be better than normal things are. I'm a bit of a transport fan. Anything that moves people and items, I'm all for. Cars, Trains, Planes, Boats, etc. This starting post focus' on them related to land going vehicles. Let's get started.

The Bucket Wheel Excavator
What a great way to start a list! Bam! Straight into the deep end with this one. Surprisingly it doesn't have wheels...ah. Oh well, we'll still carry on because this is awesome. Bucket Wheel Excavators are used in mining. That's probably thier only practical use. But what makes it a contender for this list? Well, have you seen it? This sort of thing makes even Optimus Prime shake with fear!. It looks like something hell-bent on destroying the Earth. Actually, that is kinda what it does, except it more or less just digs it up. JCB's are known for thier digging ability but this just takes the biscuit! Vatican City is smaller than this. Bagger 293 (pictured above) is so big, it's scored the Guinness World Record the biggest land vehicle ever at over 738 feet long, 319 feet tall and weighs over 14,000 tons. Funnily enough, it only requires 5 people to operate it making it very simple for it's size.



Challenger 2 Trojan
Again with the tracks...To be honest, I really wouldn't want to come face to face with a tank. The Challenger 2's are scarily awesome as they are. They shoot missiles out of that long tube on the front, travel over rough terrain at 40mph and blow up whatever may be in the way. Buildings. Planes. Bridges. Other tanks. Now, I know tracks aren't really wheels but it should still be here. The picture above is only the front of one of it's variants - the Trojan - and it isn't made any less scary with Uncle Albert in his day glow jacket pictured slightly to the left of this menacing machine. Yes, they have removed the cannon, which is relief. Whoa, hold ye of little faith as this bit of war kit has been decked out with all manor of lovely looking things (and by lovely, I actually mean dangerous). The Trojan is fitted with an excavator bucket so it can pick things up and move them. Things like buildings, planes, bridges and other tanks. The plough has got them evil teeth to help clear mines and push things out of the way. This has been used in Afghanistan (and on Top Gear, where I first saw it) to go on ahead to create a clear path for other vehicles. Well, that's what they say. I think it's used to scare the living daylights out of whoever may be around...

Roller Coasters
Can we say that roller coasters are a form of land transport? For the ease of my selfish self, I'm going to say yes. Mainly because, roller coasters are a form of such feats that they sort of have to be. For example, the worlds fastest roller coaster is Kingda Ka. Kingda Ka resides in one of America's world famous Six Flags parks. It is made even more special by what it is designed to do: go from 0-128 mph in 2.8 seconds. Put this into consideration. It is a safe way of going above the US speed limit without a car. 128mph is fast on anyone's account. But getting there in less time than thinking about getting off, you're hurtled along the track and up the worlds tallest drop. And the thing is with roller coasters is that they're incredibly initiative. Air at Alton Towers is the worlds first flying roller coaster and although it doesn't go very fast, it gives a whole new roller coaster experience. Alton Towers has a thing with worlds firsts. Oblivion (above), Air an Th13teen are the worlds first "Dive Machines," Flying Roller coaster and aptly named "Psychoaster" respectively which isn't bad for the fact they're all British. Speaking of world firsts, Universal Studios in Florida has the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit which add a soundtrack to your ride. It's the little things you know. So, are they a contender for the list? Letting you travel faster than the speed limit, safely throw you into loops and barrel rolls in a little train...yes, they do! Hmmm, train...

London Northern Eastern Railway Pacific Class A4 4468
Also known as Mallard, for those of you who don't want to say London Northern Eastern Railway Pacific Class A4 4468 in your head every time you read it, is, well, quite simply a steam train. But not just any old steam train. Mallard is the worlds fastest steam train. Now, 126mph doesn't sound very fast (I mean, Kingda Ka goes 2mph faster) but it powered it's way to it's record breaking journey in 1938. That's a record that's been held for 74 years! The only way you could have gone faster in 1938, would have been by plane (very expensive) or to throw yourself off a very tall building and wait until you reach your terminal velocity, which may or may not be 125mph - depends on how streamlined you are. America tried to have a go with the PRR S1 Prototype but it was unofficially recorded, so Mallard keeps the title to this day. That's true, British engineering for you. New-fangled trains now do that speed legally on the line, showing that you can only just as fast then as what you can now (I say that, today's trains can go faster but tend not to).

ThrustSCC
ThrustSCC is a car. But not any ordinary car. There's no boot. There's no place for your passenger to go. There's not even a spare wheel in case one gets flat. What Thrust is, is berserk. With Thrust, instead of an internal combustion engine, there are two Rolls-Royce jet engines either side of the cockpit. SCC stands for Super Sonic Car. It was designed for one reason in particular. To break the land speed record for and the sound barrier. It went so fast, that the team behind the car had to give the controls to RAF pilot, Andy Green, to cope with the forces this 763mph car could create. And to put it into perspective. A Boeing 777 cruises at just over 500mph. 763mph is just over Mach 1 (very fast). It really is an upside down airplane with no wings. The car broke the speed limit set by it's predecessor Thrust2 in 1997 and now the British/American creators aim to go 1,000mph with their new vehicle Bloodhound, but that's not til next year so ThrustSCC is staying firmly here.

The Segway
Now, hear me out. There is meaning behind the madness. How can a device used to usher fat Americans around be here on the same list as the stupidly fast ThrustSCC or the almighty Trojan? Well, the answer is simple. In fact it's too simple. In actual fact I've given the simple of answer of simple a few times in them few sentences. It's because it's so simple! I have been on a Segway and how they work is just nothing short of remarkable. The laws of physics state that it should not work; it should just fall over, only having two wheels on the side n'all. But the technology in there makes it stand upright. So upright that it can take the strain of a person. Just lean forwards to go forwards and lean backwards to stop or go backwards. And to turn, simply turn the handlebars like you would with a bike. In that small casing under your feet, there's a gyroscope that senses movement and make it act accordingly. It's very easy to operate but unfortunately, it doesn't like to fit in with society in the UK like what it does with America and that's why it hasn't caught on over here. Which is a shame really. Just goes to show: we're a lot different to the Americans really.

The Batmobile

I wanted to be ironic with the last vehicle and wanted to pick a car that was made famous from a movie. I only chose the Batmobile (Tumbler from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) because it looks pretty menacing, with it's stealth armour and massive rear wheels to name a few of it's features. But I could have also chosen the DeLorean DMC-12 from the Back to the Future trilogy; that could travel through time itself. I could also have chosen Ecto-1; The converted hearse from Ghostbusters. Or I could have chosen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. There's so much choice! Bond's Aston Martin DB5; Herby the VW Beetle Love Bug; Lightning McQueen; The murderous Christine from the film Christine all deserve a mention. All because they're all awesome in their own unique way. Usually the wheels end up becoming more famous than the films they appear in or the films become more iconic, thanks to the car!

Driving - Anticipo (It's Italian)

It's starting to seem that every other lesson is an easy one. I'm learning new skill in rows of two weeks, so by assumption, it mean my next lesson should be bay parking. As with last week, I was going over what I've already learnt. We tried some more real life driving. On this lesson, I took the Silver Lining down the other part of the A46, to Newark way (which I actually prefer). On this, I went over the overpass, came down the other side and attempted to rejoin traffic. I did something I've never done before and I'm not talking about the rejoining traffic part. I missed 3rd again for the first time in weeks! But not from 2nd. Oh no, I've stopped doing that. But from 5th. I've never done it before...so, really, I'm excused from it. Yes, that's my excuse. Rejoining traffic for the first time wasn't nervy either. I thought it would be but I was far too busy waiting for a gap to come up. I also get to be a bit happier with the accelerator. I like this! It's good. And again, with the overtaking. I like this too.

That's what this lesson was all about. Real life driving. I even managed to parallel park between two cars. Not one, two. All whilst staying parallel to the kerb. I felt on top of the world. We did encounter some idiot trying to get somewhere really quickly, but then getting stopped at the lights. Idiot! Then there was travelling down hill at such a rate, I didn't need the accelerator. Just the break. In fact quite a lot of break. And all the glorious drivers who appreciate you letting them in. Letting them into busy traffic mind, but still. I like the courtious drivers who treat you well. I'm also learning when to break when approaching a roundabout at speed. Drop to the 30-or-so and then shift. Not the other way around, which I had been doing. And finally, another bay park, staight in, in between the lines just in one attempt. And since this is the start of the second block of lessons, Alan says I could be ready for my test in about 10 weeks or so. Which is stupidly close. I've gotta take my theory first...

Driving - GNICNAVDA

New lesson, new things to learn. Today I was learning how to parallel park. I felt somewhat nervous about this one because I thought I had to get inbetween two cars. Luckily, I was told that this is only in a 'real life' situation and chances are it probably won't come up on the test. All I had to was keep an eye on the back of the car I was trying to reverse around. Once the rear of our car was past the rear of the other car, it would then be safe to reverse around and line up with the pavement. One turn of the wheel to the left, two to the right, and another turn to the left before moving forward should get me parallel to the pavement. And success! The first time that is. The second time I did have to straighten up a little but this was no big deal and we were soon on our way. Again, like previous weeks, we went over the previous manouvres with no real problems. Maybe just swinging out too far in the reverse around the corner but this was easily resolved.

But I tell what got on my nerves this lesson. Someone behind me who can't be patient enough to wait for me to move off at a roundabout. Well, they must be blind, because I couldn't have gone anyway. I can only move off when there's a sufficient enough gap to get the car. If I had gone, someone would have been...erm...what's the word...killed to death! I felt tempted to stall but that would have been childish and I quickly put the silly man and his silly attitude to the back of my head. He's gonna have to wait...

Can I stress how easy this is becoming now? Nah, I'll save myself the hassle because I'm getting bored of writing what I've already done. I did however go entirely blank when trying to set off from a hill. I unreleased the handbreak before setting the clutch and accelerator and the car rolled back. A four letter expletive went through my mind before hurrying to but the handbreak back on. I tell you what, it's a good way of learning things. I don't think I'll be wanting to do something like that EVER again! No stalls, no danger, no deaths and no worries! Rock'n'roll! I also parked quite successfully too! Bonus!

Driving - I'm running out of advancing things to put into the title...

To be brutally honest, the next lesson was very simple. Since I'm going on at reasonable pace, everything is starting to level out but I still make the occasional mistakes. One of which was stalling at a traffic light, but thank heavens, whilst it was still red. And again at a stop sign. This weren't very dangerous stalls and so we carry on as we do. Again, more of the manoeuvres but merging them both together. 2 reverse around the corners and 2 turns in the road. And that's really it. I don't want to bore you by repeating myself which is why this is a very short post.