What seemed to be a pointless niche number back when it was released, the two door MPV/hatchback from Renault actually seems quite futuristic today, such is the modern enthusiasm for crossovers.

 

The Avantime was a sales flop however, making it a very rare car. They attract a loyal following from those that did buy them however, and this French fancy is one of the most left-field choices out there and one of the most unique coupes ever devised.

 

Verdict: The Renault Avantime was everything a car should be, use able, exiting, beautiful, and roomy.

 

The Avantime was launched in 2001 into a sector which hitherto hadn’t existed. Based on the mechanical and architectural package of the Renault Espace; the firm’s famous offering in the minivan/MPV market, the Avantime was basically an Espace with two doors and only five seats, so you got the practicality of a coupe mixed with the high driving position of a minivan.

 

The Avantime was the flagship of Renault. It was difficult to see who the car was aimed at, though Phillipe Guedon of Renault affiliate Matra (who, building on their Espace experience, masterminded the new car) reckoned that children who had grown up with an Espace in the family would remain loyal to that car in later life.

 

This was quite a leap of faith.

 

"Leading edge design, from front to rear, puts Avantime ahead of every other car”

 

It was certainly unique. Subjectively, if you were to look at it alongside two-door coupes of similar price-point, it was ridiculously proportioned, inelegant and ugly. Objectively, though, if you were to look at it as the unique proposition it was, it was a thing of beauty.

 

Of monospace design, the Avantime represented an entirely new way for five people to travel, particularly if you pressed the “open air” button which caused all the side glass to disappear and the panoramic roof to open. Renault proudly boasted that this was the largest sunroof ever fitted to a car.

 

Of course, making something like this practicable threw up its own host of design challenges. Not least there was the issue of actually getting in and out of something which would require absolutely massive doors.

  

“You can hardly fail to notice the other major innovation; the ingenious double hinge mechanism for opening the doors. Instead of rotating on a hinge in the conventional manner, the door moves away from the body before pivoting on its own axis and then moving smoothly and effortlessly forward.”

 

Renault called this mechanism, ambiguously, double-kinematic, and have seen no reason nor had any cause to re-employ the concept. It was certainly validated here, though, making access and egress for the occupants easy even in tight parking spaces and other places where space is at a premium. I know a good many two-door cars where such a system would be incredibly useful, and those whose cars have become the recipients of dents and dings from where a neighbouring coupe has not been so-equipped would doubtless agree.

 

Almost in focus this time, but it just looks like an Espace anyway, so was hardly worthwhile.

 

“Even a short test run will take you into a new world”

 

A world with very few other inhabitants, I’m afraid. The public weren’t exactly bowled over by the concept, even those who had grown up with the Espace seemed to prefer their coupes to be a little more slinky; and for all its surprisingly good handling it proved difficult to convince people that a car as bulky as an Avantime could translate into an entertaining drive.

 

Compared to the establishment the performance on offer was no more than adequate. The two-litre turbo four offered 165hp and there was a 210hp 3.0 V6 enabling the top-end Avantime to shift at 138mph, which must have been quite an experience. But it took 8.6 seconds to reach sixty, even with the row-your-own gearbox. Should you want all that cog swapping to be done for you, then 9.2 seconds would have to be allocated for the procedure, and you’d have to pay a bit more money, too.

 

Unfortunately for Renault, there were an awful lot of very good coupes on the market for similar cash, a lot of which came with desirable brand names and well proven handling performance. The Avantime was left to those brave souls who wanted something completely different, and sadly these folk were in short supply. On its discontinuation in 2003 after just two years, Matra pulled out of the automotive business.

 

Today, the Avantime has a very specific but vocal following among people who assume, probably rightly, that there will never be a car like this again. And if there is, it’s a relatively safe bet that Renault wouldn’t have the bravery or, indeed, the money to make the same gamble again.

Sold for £ 9.600

 

The Jaguar Land-Rover Collection

Brightwells Auctions

Bicester Heritage

Buckingham Road

Bicester

Oxfordshire

England

March 2018

 

While Triumph enjoyed considerable success with the estate version of their 2000 saloon, Rover seemed happy to leave that sector of the market entirely open to their old rival. That is until coachbuilders FLM Panelcraft in Battersea, London produced their own estate conversion of the P6 called the Estourer.

 

Having been officially approved by Rover, the conversions were completed by H.R. Owen and Crayford Engineering, with bodywork executed by FLM Panelcraft. However, in trying to maintain the car’s sleek styling, the practicality of the estate bodywork was somewhat compromised and, with the relatively high cost of the conversion, only around 150 were built.

 

This 1974 Estourer Automatic was sold new to a Mr Jackson, and delivered on 9th August to coincide with the new number plate change. It has had a further nine owners according to the accompanying V5C, passing to a Swedish Gentleman in 2004 who exported the car to the Malmo area. A file of correspondence lists a number of jobs completed during its time overseas, including work to the brakes and attention to sort out low oil pressure. The car covered some 6,300 miles during this period.

 

The Estourer subsequently returned to the UK in 2012, at which point it was given a fresh MOT which shows no advisories. The file includes a further seven old MOTs and plenty of bills and invoices, which help substantiate the total indicated mileage of 56,164 miles as correct. It does not have a current MOT and having covered just six miles over the last six years, will require some light recommissioning before use once more. Bidders are advised that we have not attempted to start the vehicle since it has arrived onsite.

 

Rare, unusual and attractive, this low-mileage P6 Estate looks very smart and has a lovely black leather interior. It should take little to turn it back into one of the nicest examples in existence.

Bonhams : The Autumn Sale 2020

Estimated : € 25.000 - 30.000

Sold for € 14.375

 

Autoworld

www.autoworld.be

Brussels - Belgium

September 2020

 

Immensely popular during the 1950s and 1960s, the diminutive 'bubble car' or 'cabin scooter' is currently enjoying a revival of interest - not surprisingly given the congested state of today's urban roads. Nowadays though, the Bubble's attraction has just as much to do with fashion as practicality. One of the more successful designs of the cabin scooter's heyday was the BMW Isetta, a design the German firm manufactured under license from its Italian originator, Iso. (The name means 'little Iso'.) Faced with competition from the FIAT 500 and 600, both of which were seen as 'proper'; motor cars, albeit small, Renzo Rivolta's Iso was not selling well in its native Italy and it would be left to BMW to fully exploit the design's potential.

 

Although at first glance a three-wheeler, the Isetta built for the German market used a pair of closely spaced wheels at the rear and was powered by a BMW single-cylinder four-stroke motorcycle engine of 247cc, replacing the original's noisy two-stroke power unit. Isettas destined for overseas markets had a single rear wheel. The coachwork of early examples featured a single side-hinged door at the front, a roll-top sunroof and fixed side windows, while the steering wheel and dashboard were attached to the door to facilitate entry. The two-seater Isetta's most popular accessory, understandably so given the limited interior space, was a small luggage rack mounted at the rear. Later (1957-onwards) models incorporated sliding side windows for better ventilation. These improved models displaced 297cc, and the 'big' Isetta 300 was reckoned capable of 65mph (105km/h) and 55mpg (5.1 litres/100km). Approximately 162,000 Isettas had been made by the time production ceased in 1962.

 

Delivered new to Belgium, this BMW Isetta 300 still carries the plaque of the supplying dealer, 'J Dumont, Poperinge'. The car is most unusual in never having been restored and remains highly original, retaining matching numbers. Reported as in very good working order and said to drive very well, this charming little microcar is offered with its original Belgian registration document.

The Dakshinkali Temple is located 22 kilometers from Kathmandu next to the village of Pharping. It's one of the main temples in Nepal. Twice every week thousands of people come here to worship the goddess Kali by sacrificing life animals, particularly cockerels and uncastrated male goats.

 

GODDESS KALI

Kālī (/ˈkɑːli/; Sanskrit: काली & Bengali: কালী; IPA: [kɑːliː]), also known as Kālikā (Sanskrit: कालिका), is the Hindu goddess associated with empowerment, or shakti. She is the fierce aspect of the goddess Durga. The name of Kali means black one and force of time; she is therefore called the Goddess of Time, Change, Power, Creation, Preservation, and Destruction. Her earliest appearance is that of a destroyer principally of evil forces. Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman; and recent devotional movements re-imagine Kāli as a benevolent mother goddess. She is often portrayed standing or dancing on her husband, the god Shiva, who lies calm and prostrate beneath her. Worshipped throughout India but particularly South India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is both geographically and culturally marginal.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Kālī is the feminine form of kālam ("black, dark coloured"). Kāla primarily means "time", but also means "black"; hence, Kālī means "the black one" or "beyond time". Kāli is strongly associated with Shiva, and Shaivas derive the masculine Kāla (an epithet of Shiva) from her feminine name. A nineteenth-century Sanskrit dictionary, the Shabdakalpadrum, states: कालः शिवः। तस्य पत्नीति - काली। kālaḥ śivaḥ। tasya patnīti kālī - "Shiva is Kāla, thus, his consort is Kāli".

 

Other names include Kālarātri ("black night"), as described above, and Kālikā ("relating to time"), and Kallie ("black alchemist"). Coburn notes that the name Kālī can be used as a proper name, or as a description of color.

 

Kāli's association with darkness stands in contrast to her consort, Shiva, whose body is covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: śmaśāna) where he meditates, and with which Kāli is also associated, as śmaśāna-kālī.

 

ORIGINS

Hugh Urban notes that although the word Kālī appears as early as the Atharva Veda, the first use of it as a proper name is in the Kathaka Grhya Sutra (19.7). Kali is the name of one of the seven tongues of Agni, the [Rigvedic] God of Fire, in the Mundaka Upanishad (2:4), but it is unlikely that this refers to the goddess. The first appearance of Kāli in her present form is in the Sauptika Parvan of the Mahabharata (10.8.64). She is called Kālarātri (literally, "black night") and appears to the Pandava soldiers in dreams, until finally she appears amidst the fighting during an attack by Drona's son Ashwatthama. She most famously appears in the sixth century Devi Mahatmyam as one of the shaktis of Mahadevi, and defeats the demon Raktabija ("Bloodseed"). The tenth-century Kalika Purana venerates Kāli as the ultimate reality.

 

According to David Kinsley, Kāli is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess around 600 CE, and these texts "usually place her on the periphery of Hindu society or on the battlefield." She is often regarded as the Shakti of Shiva, and is closely associated with him in various Puranas. The Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

 

WORSHIP AND MANTRA

Kali could be considered a general concept, like Durga, and is mostly worshiped in the Kali Kula sect of worship. The closest way of direct worship is Maha Kali or Bhadra Kali (Bhadra in Sanskrit means 'gentle'). Kali is worshiped as one of the 10 Mahavidya forms of Adi Parashakti (Goddess Durga) or Bhagavathy according to the region. The mantra for worship is

 

Sanskrit: सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके । शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

 

ॐ जयंती मंगल काली भद्रकाली कपालिनी । दुर्गा शिवा क्षमा धात्री स्वाहा स्वधा नमोऽस्तु‍ते ॥

 

(Sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalyē śivē sarvārthasādhikē . śaraṇyē tryambakē gauri nārāyaṇi namō'stu tē.

 

Oṃ jayantī mangala kālī bhadrakālī kapālinī . durgā śivā ksamā dhātrī svāhā svadhā namō'stu‍tē.)

 

YANTRA

Goddesses play an important role in the study and practice of Tantra Yoga, and are affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as are the male deities. Although Parvati is often said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the form of Tantras, it is Kali who seems to dominate much of the Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kāli is praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The Nirvana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away, leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kāli's mantras to be the greatest and the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kāli vidyas (manifestations of Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kāli is one of the epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises her:At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time]. Who will devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahākāla [an epithet of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahākāla Himself, it is Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kālika. Because Thou devourest Kāla, Thou art Kāli, the original form of all things, and because Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the Adya [the Primordial One]. Re-assuming after Dissolution Thine own form, dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that Thou art. The figure of Kāli conveys death, destruction, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a "forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual, the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise of Kāli describing the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds. (Samahana-sadhana)He, O Mahākāli who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a Lord of the earth. Oh Kāli, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to Thee of a hair of his Shakti [his energy/female companion] in the cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and ever goes mounted upon an elephant.The Karpuradi-stotra clearly indicates that Kāli is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves Durga or Shiva. Here, she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe, associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here, Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

 

BENGALI TRADITION

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengali devotional literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad Sen (1718–75). With the exception of being associated with Parvati as Shiva's consort, Kāli is rarely pictured in Hindu legends and iconography as a motherly figure until Bengali devotions beginning in the early eighteenth century. Even in Bengāli tradition her appearance and habits change little, if at all.

 

The Tantric approach to Kāli is to display courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali devotee appropriates Kāli's teachings adopting the attitude of a child, coming to love her unreservedly. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way that things are. These themes are well addressed in Rāmprasād's work. Rāmprasād comments in many of his other songs that Kāli is indifferent to his wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his pleas:

 

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you, Mother.

You have cut off the heads of the children of others, and these you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear me, but you will not listen.

 

To be a child of Kāli, Rāmprasād asserts, is to be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kāli is said to refrain from giving that which is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material world.

 

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music features Kāli as its central theme and is known as Shyama Sangeet ("Music of the Night"). Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyāma Sāngeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

 

In Bengal, Kāli is venerated in the festival Kali Puja, the new moon day of Ashwin month which coincides with Diwali festival.

 

In a unique form of Kāli worship, Shantipur worships Kāli in the form of a hand painted image of the deity known as Poteshwari (meaning the deity drawn on a piece of cloth).

 

LEGENDS

SLAYER AND RAKTABIJA

In Kāli's most famous legend, Devi Durga (Adi Parashakti) and her assistants, the Matrikas, wound the demon Raktabija, in various ways and with a variety of weapons in an attempt to destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation for with every drop of blood that is dripped from Raktabija he reproduces a clone of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly filled with his duplicates. Durga, in need of help, summons Kāli to combat the demons. It is said, in some versions, that Goddess Durga actually assumes the form of Goddess Kāli at this time. The Devi Mahatmyam describes:

 

Out of the surface of her (Durga's) forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in a tiger's skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars, falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured those hordes of the foes of the devas.

 

Kali consumes Raktabija and his duplicates, and dances on the corpses of the slain. In the Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described as a Matrika and as a Shakti or power of Devi. She is given the epithet Cāṃuṇḍā (Chamunda), i.e. the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and habit.

  

DAKSHINA KALI

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali, popular legends say that Kali, drunk on the blood of her victims, is about to destroy the whole universe when, urged by all the gods, Shiva lies in her way to stop her, and she steps upon his chest. Recognizing Shiva beneath her feet, she calms herself. Though not included in any of the puranas, popular legends state that Kali was ashamed at the prospect of keeping her husband beneath her feet and thus stuck her tongue out in shame. The Devi-Bhagavata Purana, which goes into great depths about the goddess Kali, reveals the tongue's actual symbolism.

 

The characteristic icons that depict Kali are the following; unbridled matted hair, open blood shot eyes, open mouth and a drooping tongue; in her hands, she holds a Khadga (bent sword or scimitar) and a human head; she has a girdle of human hands across her waist, and Shiva lies beneath her feet. The drooping out-stuck tongue represents her blood-thirst. Lord Shiva beneath her feet represents matter, as Kali energy. The depiction of Kali on Shiva shows that without energy, matter lies "dead". This concept has been simplified to a folk-tale depicting a wife placing her foot

 

on her husband and sticking her tongue out in shame. In tantric contexts, the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action) controlled by sattva.

 

If Kali steps on Shiva with her right foot and holds the sword in her left hand, she is considered to be Dakshina Kali. The Dakshina Kali Temple has important religious associations with the Jagannath Temple and it is believed that Daksinakali is the guardian of the kitchen of the Lord Jagannath Temple. Puranic tradition says that in Puri, Lord Jagannath is regarded as Daksinakalika. Goddess Dakshinakali plays an important role in the 'Niti' of Saptapuri Amavasya.

 

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in the forest of Thiruvalankadu or Thiruvalangadu. She terrorizes the surrounding area with her fierce, disruptive nature. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, and Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest, wherein Kali matches Shiva until Shiva takes the "Urdhvatandava" step, vertically raising his right leg. Kali refuses to perform this step, which would not befit her as a woman, and becomes pacified.

 

SMASHAN KALI

If the Kali steps out with the left foot and holds the sword in her right hand, she is the terrible form of Mother, the Smashan Kali of the cremation ground. She is worshiped by tantrics, the followers of Tantra, who believe that one's spiritual discipline practiced in a smashan (cremation ground) brings success quickly. Sarda Devi, the consort of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, worshipped Smashan Kali at Dakshineshwar.

 

MATERNAL KALI

At the time of samundra manthan when amrit came out, along with that came out poison which was going to destroy the world hence on the request of all the gods, Lord Shiva drank it to save the world but as he is beyond death he didn't die but was very much in pain due to the poison effect hence he became a child so that Kali can feed him with her milk which will sooth out the poison effect.

 

MAHAKALI

Mahakali (Sanskrit: Mahākālī, Devanagari: महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes considered as a greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate reality of Brahman. It can also be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the first episode of the Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. Here Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be restored.

 

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her grace.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are described as red with intoxication, and in absolute rage, her hair is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of her mouth, and her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads. She is also accompanied by serpents and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and transgressive Vamamarga or left-handed path.

 

In the ten-armed form of Mahakali she is depicted as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces, ten feet, and three eyes for each head. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no association with Shiva.

 

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion, four-armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

 

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali Ma is often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the whole Universe. And because of her terrible form, she is also often seen as a great protector. When the Bengali saint Ramakrishna once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over him, this devotee rhetorically replied, "Maharaj", when they are in trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run when you are in trouble?"

 

According to Ramakrishna, darkness is the Ultimate Mother, or Kali:

 

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchidananda;

indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black.

The waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always mysteriously dark.

This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali.

—Sri Ramakrishna

This is clear in the works of such contemporary artists as Charles Wish, and Tyeb Mehta, who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

 

POPULAR FORM

Classic depictions of Kali share several features, as follows:

 

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul (trident), a severed head, and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the severed head.

 

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya (fearlessness) and varada (blessing) mudras, which means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshipping her with a true heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the hereafter.

 

She has a garland consisting of human heads, variously enumerated at 108 (an auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on a Japa Mala or rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51, which represents Varnamala or the Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari. Hindus believe Sanskrit is a language of dynamism, and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of Kali. Therefore, she is generally seen as the mother of language, and all mantras.

 

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her being beyond the covering of Maya since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities - she will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply to her - she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

 

Kali as the Symbol of Creation , Freedom , Preservation and Destruction

 

The head that hangs in Kali's hand is a symbol of Ego and the scimitar which she is holding represents power and energy.It is believed that Kali is protecting the human race by that scimitar and also destroying the negativity and ego within human being. The body lying under Kali symbolizes ruination, is actually a form of Shiva. Kali steps her leg on the chest of the body and suppress ruination . Since she is standing on the pure white chest of Lord Shiva who, as pure primal awareness, lays in a passive reclining position, peacefully lies with his eyes half open in a state of bliss. Her hair is long, black and flowing freely depicting Her freedom from convention and the confines of conceptualization. The white teeth which Kali has stands for conscience and her red tongue represents greed. By pressing her white teeth on her tongue Kali refers to control greed.The goddess may appear terrible from outside but every symbol in Kali signifies truth of life. Since the earth was created out of darkness, the dark black color of Kali symbolizes the color from which everything was born. Her right hand side arms she shows the Abhaya mudra(gesture of fearlessness) and Vara mudra (gesture of welcome and charity) respectively . But on the other arm in left side she holds a bloody scimitar and a severed head depicting destruction and end of ego.

Kali as the Symbol of Mother Nature

 

The name Kali means Kala or force of time. When there were neither the creation, nor the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth, there was only darkness and everything was created from the darkness. The Dark appearance of kali represents the darkness from which everything was born. Her complexion is deep blue, like the sky and ocean water as blue. As she is also the goddess of Preservation Kali is worshiped as mother to preserve the nature.Kali is standing calm on Shiva, her appearance represents the preservation of mother nature. Her free, long and black hair represents nature's freedom from civilization. Under the third eye of kali, the signs of both sun, moon and fire are visible which represent the driving forces of nature.

 

SHIVA IN KALI ICONOGRAPHY

In both these images she is shown standing on the prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a legend for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva's corpse, which translates as follows:

 

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle, she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the worlds or lokas began to tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon Shiva, she realized she was trampling and hurting her husband and bit her tongue in shame.

 

The story described here is a popular folk tale and not described or hinted in any of the puranas. The puranic interpretation is as follows:

 

Once, Parvati asks Shiva to chose the one form among her 10 forms which he likes most. To her surprise, Shiva reveals that he is most comfortable with her Kali form, in which she is bereft of her jewellery, her human-form, her clothes, her emotions and where she is only raw, chaotic energy, where she is as terrible as time itself and even greater than time. As Parvati takes the form of Kali, Shiva lies at her feet and requests her to place her foot on his chest, upon his heart. Once in this form, Shiva requests her to have this place, below her feet in her iconic image which would be worshiped throughout.

 

This idea has been explored in the Devi-Bhagavata Purana [28] and is most popular in the Shyama Sangeet, devotional songs to Kali from the 12th to 15th centuries.

 

The Tantric interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as follows:

 

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava (Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva and Kali represent Brahman, the Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities. She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist apart from Shiva or act independently of him, just as Shiva remains a mere corpse without Kali i.e., Shakti, all the matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman. Hence, Kali is Para Brahman in the feminine and dynamic aspect while Shiva is the male aspect and static. She stands as the absolute basis for all life, energy and beneath her feet lies, Shiva, a metaphor for mass, which cannot retain its form without energy.

 

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also agrees with the Nondual Trika philosophy of Kashmir, popularly known as Kashmir Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta. There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i" represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

 

To properly understand this complex Tantric symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the Upanisads. According to both the Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda - existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane, an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya, i.e., where the illusion of space-time and the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda. It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

 

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini or yogi is interested in one and the same reality - the only difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing on the chest of Shiva.

 

Although there is often controversy surrounding the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world. Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable, like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value, just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the vitality of their union.

 

Gopi Krishna proposed that Kali standing on the dead Shiva or Shava (Sanskrit for dead body) symbolised the helplessness of a person undergoing the changing process (psychologically and physiologically) in the body conducted by the Kundalini Shakti.

 

DEVELOPMENT

In the later traditions, Kali has become inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame her just as only Kali can tame Shiva. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness.

 

The ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdva tandava, one of the Karanas, by raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

 

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure. To the Tantric worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful, nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that of a chaos - which could be confronted - to that of one who could bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is in this case seen as the combination of all devis).The final stage of development is the worshipping of Kali as the Great Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature. Ramakrishna, the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali; the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya or Durga, acting in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three gunas, takes three forms: Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Saraswati, being her tamas-ika, rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense, Kali is simply part of a larger whole.

 

Like Sir John Woodroffe and Georg Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply recognizable symbols for everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception, knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure, absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same - totality incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as complementary.

 

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own, ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric which suit one's evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this sense, the projection of some of Devi's more gentle qualities onto Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in the practitioner, not the murthi.

 

A TIME magazine article of October 27, 1947, used Kali as a symbol and metaphor for the human suffering in British India during its partition that year. In 1971, Ms. Magazine used an image of Kali, her multiple arms juggling modern tasks, as a symbol of modern womanhood on its inaugural issue.

 

Swami Vivekananda wrote his favorite poem Kali the Mother in 1898.

 

KALI IN NEOPAGAN AND NEW AGE PRACTICE

An academic study of Western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment."[60] The adoption of Kali by the West has raised accusations of cultural appropriation:

 

A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background. The most important issue arising from this discussion - even more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation - concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.

 

INCARNATIONS OF KALI

Draupadi, Wife of Pandavas, was an avatar of Kali, who born to assist Lord Krishna to destroy arrogant kings of India. There is a temple dedicated to this incarnation at Banni Mata Temple at Himachal Pradesh. The vedic deity Nirriti or the Puranic deity Alakshmi is often considered as incarnations of Kali.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Not the most practical winter ensemble, I admit, but now and then practicality must take a back seat to some sense of style.

 

Now, as to exactly what "style" I am wearing, that's open to debate

In 1995, the CN Tower was classified as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The World’s Tallest Tower shares this designation with the Itaipu Dam on the Brazil/Paraguay border, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Panama Canal, the Chunnel under the English Channel, the North Sea Protection Works off the European coast, and the Empire State Building.

 

Defining the Toronto skyline at 553.33m (1,815ft5in), the CN Tower is Canada’s most recognizable and celebrated icon. The CN Tower is an internationally renowned architectural triumph, an engineering Wonder of the Modern World, world-class entertainment and dining destination and a must see for anyone visiting Toronto. Each year, over 1.5 million people visit Canada’s National Tower to take in the breathtaking views and enjoy all the CN Tower has to offer.

 

After 40 months of construction, the CN Tower was opened to the public on June 26, 1976 and it was well on its way to becoming the country’s most celebrated landmark. It is the centre of telecommunications for Toronto serving over 16 Canadian television and FM radio stations, the workplace of over 500 people throughout the year, and an internationally renowned tourism destination.

 

Although the CN Tower inspires a sense of pride and inspiration for Canadians and a sense of awe for foreign tourists, its origins are rooted in practicality. The 1960s ushered in an unprecedented construction boom in Toronto transforming a skyline characterized by relatively low buildings into one dotted with skyscrapers. These buildings caused serious communications problems for existing transmission towers, which were simply not high enough to broadcast over the new buildings. Signals bounced off the buildings creating poor television and radio reception for residents. With its microwave receptors at 338 m (1,109 ft.) and at the 553.33m (1,815 ft., 5 inches) antenna, the CN Tower swiftly solved the communications problems with room to spare and as a result, people living in the Toronto area now enjoy some of the clearest reception in North America.

 

The CN Tower was built in 1976 by Canadian National who wanted to demonstrate the strength of Canadian industry by building a tower taller than any other in the world. Building the CN Tower was a vast and ambitious project that involved 1,537 workers who worked 24 hours a day, five days a week for 40 months to completion.

 

Tower construction crews moved in on February 6, 1973, and started to remove over 56 metric tonnes of earth and shale for the foundation. Once the foundation was ready, work began on the CN Tower’s 335 m (1,100ft.) concrete shaft, a hexagonal core with three curved support arms. This involved pouring concrete into a massive mold or “slipform”. As the concrete hardened, the slipform, supported by a ring of climbing jacks powered by hydraulic pressure, moved upwards, gradually decreasing in size to produce the CN Tower’s gracefully tapered contour.

 

Eight months later, the CN Tower’s concrete shaft was the tallest structure in Toronto and by February 1974, it was the tallest in Canada. In August 1974, work began on the seven-story tower sphere that would eventually house the observation decks and revolving restaurant. The CN Tower approached completion in March 1975, when Olga, the giant Sikorsky helicopter flew into the city to lift the 44 pieces of the antenna into place. The CN Tower was finished on April 2, 1975, and opened to the public June 26, 1976.

 

When the 44th and final piece of the CN Tower’s antenna was bolted into place April 2, 1975, the CN Tower joined the ranks of 17 other great structures that had previously held the title of World’s Tallest Free-Standing Structure, a record the Tower would hold for an incredible 34+ years. Ross McWhirter, editor of the Guinness Book of World Records, was on hand to record the milestone for history and since then, the CN Tower has received numerous mentions in the famous book including most recently the World’s Highest Wine Cellar.

 

In 1995, the CN Tower was classified as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Canada’s Wonder of the World shares this designation with the Empire State Building, the Chunnel under the English Channel, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Itaipu Dam on the Brazil/Paraguay border, the Panama Canal, and the North Sea Protection Works off the European coast.

 

E36/8

 

Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais

Bonhams

Estimated : € 35.000 - 55.000

Sold for € 32.200

 

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2018

  

- Two previous owners

- Manual transmission

- Recent servicing and detailing

- Circa 59.500 km recorded

 

A brilliant exercise in 'retro' styling that recalled its fabulous '328' sports car of pre-war days, BMW's Z3 was introduced in 1996. The original four-cylinder 1.9-litre Z3 was more of a stylish boulevard cruiser than out-and-out sports car, a successful concept perhaps best exemplified by Mercedes-Benz's old 230/250/280SL family, and would prove equally appealing to both men and women drivers. The arrival of the 2.8-litre six-cylinder engine in 1997 transformed the Z3, endowing it with a level of performance that at last matched the promise of its looks. Six-cylinder cars enjoyed a lengthier equipment list than the 'fours', which included an electric hood (roadster), leather upholstery, and 16" alloy wheels.

 

Commencing in the early 1980s with the limited edition 'homologation special' M3, BMW Motorsport GmbH went on to create its own distinctive 'M-Power' brand of performance-enhanced luxury models. The first M-Power Z3, powered by the 3,2-litre engine from the 3-Series Evolution model, appeared in January 1998. Built until February 2001 when the model was revised, the first-series Z3M Coupé and Roadster were powered by the 3.201 cc S50 engine producing 321 bhp and 258 lb/ft of torque; figures that translated into a tyre-smoking 0-60 mph (97 km/h) time of 5,2 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph (249 km/h). The fastest-accelerating BMW ever at the time of its introduction, the Z3M Coupé boasted a generous specification that included electric windows, ABS, PAS, air conditioning, heated seats, driver/passenger air bags, six-speaker stereo system, alarm/immobiliser, heated exterior mirrors, 17" alloy wheels, and a limited-slip differential as standard. Combining outrageous looks and performance with impressive practicality, the Z3M Coupé was not replaced within BMW's line-up after its deletion in 2002, and is surely destined for 'highly collectible' status in the future.

Delivered new to Japan and purchased by the vendor in January 2017, this exciting Z3M Coupé features various desirable enhancements provided by BMW's long-time competitions collaborators, Schnitzer. These additions consist of a rear spoiler, chromed exhaust pipe embellishers, front splitter, limited edition alloy wheels, and custom pedals, all of which are perfectly suited to the car and make it look slightly more aggressive. No changes were made to the engine or drive train.

Hamburgo - Alemanha

 

É disso que precisamos nos dias de hoje nas grandes cidades.

Bom se houvesse mais desses circulando nas ruas.

 

Repare com atenção nas ruas a grande quantidade desses carros enormes levando apenas uma pessoa. Cada um tem seu carro hoje, tudo mundo pra cima e pra baixo motorizado, até pra ir no mercado ou na padaria tem que ir acompanhado do grandão.

As ruas cada vez mais empesteadas deles, o trânsito cada vez mais caótico e o ar mais poluído,

 

Todo mundo reclama do alto preço do carro no Brasil, imagina então se o preço fosse como no mercado internacional, seria mais rápido sair a pé.

 

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|| Blog: Fotografando e Viajando || Skoob || YouTube ||

Sophie Malgat modelling a very early 1950's straight skirted suit.

These generously cut straight skirts were produced originally as an affordable alternative to the extravagant full skirts of Dior's "New Look" which received much criticism in the austere years after the war.

These early straight skirts evolved into the more fitted skirts of the late 1950's.

By 1957 this skirt style had reached the limit of practicality and it had acquired a reputation for being limiting and awkward to walk in.

 

2013 Vauxhall Agila B is a small, five-door city car known for its practicality and affordability. It's essentially a rebadged Suzuki Splash, sharing many mechanical components. The Agila B was available with a choice of petrol engines and is often praised for its easy driving, good visibility, and compact dimensions, making it well-suited for city driving.

 

The 2 main trim levels for the 2013 model were Expression and SE, offering a 1.0-liter ecoFLEX engine and a 1.2-liter VVT engine with automatic and manual options.

The last ever Montego to roll down the factory line at Longbridge in 1995, signed by the production team to mark the historic occasion.

 

For some reason I always had a bit of an affinity towards these cars, largely due to the fact that they seemed to be smiling with those light clusters. But much like the Maestro, it had purpose, it was innovative, and it was a car that refused to die!

 

The Austin Montego first started development life way back in 1977 under project code LC10 (Leyland Cars 10), as an intended replacement for the Morris Marina and the Princess. However, like many of the company's promising projects, such as the Maestro and the Metro, it was shelved for years on account of the fact that British Leyland ran out of money! After a corporate bailout by the British Government, the company chose instead to prolong the development of these cars and instead simply give the existing Marina and Princess a facelift, resulting in the Morris Ital and Austin Ambassador, both cars notable for being unimpressively bland masterpieces.

 

However, this delay did give British Leyland a chance to tie up with Honda, and in 1980 launched the Triumph Acclaim as both the first Japanese/British hybrid car, but also British Leyland's first consistently reliable product! The result was that both the simultaneously developed Austin Maestro and Montego could take some leaves out of Honda's book and therefore improve the reliability. Styling came from David Bache, who had previously had a hand in penning the Rover P4, the Rover SD1 and the Range Rover, and Roy Axe, who would later go on to style the Rover 800 and the Rolls Royce Silver Seraph. The lengthy development time of the car however clearly showed as the first sketches of the car were done back in 1975. Apparently when Roy Axe, who took over as Director of Design in 1982, saw the first prototype with the original design, he was so horrified that he suggested they scrap the whole thing and start over!

 

However, their combined design talent truly shows through with the Montego as in essence these are very handsome cars, with a long smooth body, a pleasing frontal alignment and design, and internally very capable and comfortable. Some novel features included were the colour coordinated bumpers that matched the rest of the car, and the wiper spindles hiding under the bonnet when parked.

 

Although many consider the Maestro just to be a hatchback version of the Montego, there were many features the Montego had that made it an all around better car. These included a new S-Series engine in place of the A-Series engine that dated back to the 1950's, and a more practical and robust dashboard. Variations of the car included the stylish and luxury Vanden Plas, which was styled internally by the world renowned coachbuilder with lavish wood veneer and seating (thankfully not given a chrome nose, that would have been insane!), the sporty MG Montego which featured a higher performance O-Series Turob Engine and a revolutionary synthesised computer voice that announced problems and warnings, and finally the Estate versions which were by far the most popular and received almost unanimous acclaim for their spacious interior.

 

The Montego was launched on April 25th 1984, being available at first as a 4-door saloon to replace the standard Morris Ital, but the Ital in estate form continued on until August, bringing an end to the 11 year old Morris Marina family. In October the Estate version was launched at the British International Motor Show. Initially things were looking up for the Montego, as mentioned the Estate version was lauded for its practicality, the MG Montego became the fastest MG ever built with 115hp to rocket it up to a top speed of 126mph at a rate of 0-60 in 7.1 seconds, and the Vanden Plas was a modest success for the business executive, as well as finding a home in the company car market.

 

Promotion for the car also helped to seal the deal with a fantastically choreographed advert where professional stunt driver Russ Swift, pretty much danced around a crowded car park in a Montego, doing reverse 180's in gaps only a few feet wide, and driving the car on two wheels through a gap only a ruler's length apart! Jeremy Clarkson would attempt to do the same thing 14 years later on one of his DVD's in another Montego, again with the help of Russ Swift, which went well the first time, but not so well the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh time. Eventually the Montego was smashed in half by a large truck in a fiery explosion.

 

Sadly though, the honeymoon like with all good British Leyland cars was short lived, and soon afterwards the various faults and build quality problems became once again apparent. Although many of the features fitted to these cars such as the synthesised voice, the computer engine management and the redesigned dashboard were endearing, the main fault that these cars had were in the electrics, which would frequently go wrong. Some examples I've heard from early Montego owners have included the car failing to start, pressing the indicator switch only to blow the horn, or the synthesised talking lady never, ever, ever shutting up! Because of these problems the cars built up a very quick and poor reputation, added to by the poor construction of the actual car, with the colour coded bumpers being particularly problematic as they'd crack in cold weather.

 

But British Leyland didn't give up on the Montego, and in the background designers continued to tinker with the idea of further additions and changes to the car. Throughout the period following its introduction, British Leyland began to be broken up by the Thatcher Government, with Jaguar being made independent, the various parts manufacturers such as UNIPART being sold off, Leyland Trucks and Buses being sold to Volvo and DAF, and eventually the whole outfit being reduced to just MG and Rover. The Montego has been credited with being the last car to carry the Austin name, the badge being dropped in 1988 with future cars simply being dubbed the Montego. This coincided with a facelift in 1989 and the re-engineering of the car to be fitted with a Perkins Diesel. In 1989 a new seven-seater estate model was created called the Montego Countryman, built to combat the rising trend of People-Carriers such as the Renault Espace, but still being able to perform as well as a regular car. This, much like the original estate, proved immensely popular, especially in France for some reason, which went on to be one of the Montego's major markets.

 

In the early 90's the Montego did start getting back some reputation, winning the CAR Magazine's 'Giant Test' (all technical names I'm sure) when competing against the likes of the Citroen BX and the Audi 80. In fact the Rover Montego Turbo became a favourite with the RAF, and was used to whisk Officers across airfields as a personal transport. The Montego may have failed to outdo the Volkswagen Passat, but as for the British mob such as the Ford Sierra and the Vauxhall Cavalier, it was able competition. In fact when I was young in the 90's a lot of kids I'd see dropped off to school would be in then new Montego's because by this point the reliability issues had been ironed out following Rover Group's return to private ownership under British Aerospace.

 

But by 1992 the car was very much looking its age and was in desperate need of a replacement. In 1993 the Rover 600 was launched which pretty much ended the Montego for mass-production then and there, but special orders for the car continued until 1995. The machines continued to be a favourite among Company Car firms, and a lot of the developments made in the Montego lived on in later Rover cars, primarily the 600 and the 75, which inherited its rear suspension which was often held in high regard. But the curtain did eventually fall for the official Montego production in 1995 as new owners BMW desired nothing more than to be out with the old and in with the new, with facelifts all around including a new Rover 25 to replace the 200, a new Rover 45 to replace the 400, and a new Rover 75 to replace the 800, and the original Range Rover was revamped into the absolutely magnificent Range Rover P38 in 1995. The Maestro too was axed and the Metro followed not long afterwards in 1999, with the classic Mini being killed off in 2000, only to be brought back to life the same year under BMW management after the breakup of Rover that year.

 

But like the Maestro, the Montego simply wouldn't die, but unlike the Maestro, attempts to revive the car under bootlegged brands weren't as prosperous. In India, the company Sipani Automobiles, notable for attempting to recreate British cars such as the Reliant Kitten but instead consistently turning out garbage, attempted to built a few, but folded soon afterwards. In Trinidad & Tobago, a small firm attempted to sell their own copycat versions of the Montego, which were notable for their exceptional poor quality. But most famously was the attempt to recreate the car in China with the Lubao CA 6410, which yoked the nose of a Montego onto the back of a Maestro using a Maestro platform. Today that car is technically still in production as the Jiefang CA 6440 UA Van, but owes more to the Maestro than the Montego.

 

Today the Montego is a very rare car to find. Of the 571,000 cars built, only 296 remain, making it Britain's 8th most scrapped car. Contributing to this, areas of the bodywork that were to be covered by plastic trim (such as the front and rear bumpers) were left unpainted and thus unprotected. In addition, pre-1989 models cannot run on unleaded petrol without the cylinder head being converted or needing fuel additives.

 

However, as mentioned, the Montego estate was a huge hit in France, and chances are you'll find a fair number ambling about the countryside there. Malta too was another popular locale for the Montego, as well as many other British Leyland cars, including Marina's, Allegros and even Princesses!

 

My opinion on the Montego? Like most British Leyland cars it had prospects and purpose, but lacked the desire to build good, honest cars. It was comfortable, it was handsome, it performed as well as a family saloon car should, it was spacious and very well equipped, and like many British Leyland cars, such as the Princess with its Hydragas suspension, it was innovative. If these cars had been built better and had some of the teething problems ironed out with the electrical systems, then British Leyland could have easily gone on to make the family car of the 1980's. But like all pathfinders in the world of technology, they will suffer the full brunt of the problems they are most likely to experience.

 

People rarely remember the originals, only the one's that perfected it...

The iconic Tsukiji Fish Market, a cultural cornerstone of Tokyo, stands as a testament to the city’s vibrant culinary heritage and dynamic urban transformation. Though the inner market operations have shifted to Toyosu, the Tsukiji Outer Market continues to thrive, drawing locals and visitors alike with its fresh seafood, street food stalls, and specialty shops. This streetscape captures the essence of the market's bustling energy, framed by its mid-century low-rise structures and contrasting modern high-rises in the background.

 

The original market, founded in 1935, was a symbol of Japan’s post-earthquake recovery and its rise as a global seafood powerhouse. The surrounding architecture reflects a utilitarian design, prioritizing function over form to accommodate the swift pace of wholesale trade. The curved parking structure on the right showcases mid-20th-century industrial aesthetics, blending practicality with a modernist touch.

 

In stark contrast, the looming skyscrapers in the background speak to Tokyo’s rapid urbanization and economic growth. This juxtaposition highlights the seamless coexistence of history and progress in the city’s landscape. The small-scale eateries and shops that line the market streets continue to offer an authentic taste of Japan, with meticulously prepared sushi, grilled seafood, and unique artisanal goods.

 

Visiting Tsukiji today provides more than just a culinary adventure—it’s an opportunity to witness Tokyo’s layered history and its enduring spirit of innovation and tradition. Strolling through its lively streets, one can feel the heartbeat of a city that never stops reinventing itself while staying rooted in its cultural legacy.

When you think of poor cars and the worst era of British Industry, most will cite the Austin Allegro, a car that truly is a staple of its time, and those times were pretty grim to say the least! It has become a symbol of failure, a monument to catastrophic engineering, a beacon of impracticality and a terrible tribute to an age we Brits would sooner forget.

 

Bit is the Austin Allegro really deserving of such maligned opinions? Should we really hate it as much as we do?

 

The story of the Allegro goes back to the previous model of its range, the Austin 1100, a car that had become symbolic of the British family motor industry, with crisp smooth lines, round peeking headlights and a good blend of space and practicality, it sold by the millions and could have almost been described as a family equivalent of the Mini, novelty that you can use everyday. Trouble was that the 1100 was starting to look very much its age in 1971, and thus British Leyland, the new owners of Austin, took it upon themselves to design a new car that would be sheek and European, something that could win both the British and the International markets.

 

For this they enlisted the help of Chief BL Designer Harris Mann, famous for many great BL products such as the Marina, the Ital, the Princess and the Triumph TR7. Today many people blame him for the poor designs that the company spewed out onto the roads of Britain, but I personally feel sorry for him, especially with cars such as the Allegro. His original design for the car was an angular and very streamlined looking piece of kit, a hatchback and with two fins on the rear to compliment the long smooth waistband, making it look almost reminiscent of an Aston Martin DB5 crossed with a 1969 DBS. However, his promising designs were sadly watered down by British Leyland, tinkered, altered, and, quite frankly, ruined his idea to become what it is, with its bathtub curves, long sloping back and piggy headlights. I will say, it's not the ugliest car in the world, far from it, I've seen much worse like the Pontiac Aztek which looks like a cross between a Bug and a mutant Rhino, but when you compare it to Harris Mann's original sketches, then, and only then, do you understand how far down the Allegro design came.

 

But styling wasn't what BL expected to win the market with, but instead with the car's practicality, starting with the new Hydragas suspension to replace the previous Hydrolastic suspension of the 1100. With this suspension, The Allegro intended to lock horns with the likes of the outgoing Citroën DS and its replacement the CX. Hydragas uses displaced spheres of Nitrogen gas to replace the conventional steel springs of a regular suspension design. The means for pressurising the gas in the displacers is done by pre-pressurising a hydraulic fluid, and then connecting the displacer to its neighbour on the other axle. This is unlike the Citroën system, which uses hydraulic fluid continuously pressurised by an engine-driven pump and regulated by a central pressure vessel. However, the attempt at being an outstanding motor ended at Hydragas because there was nothing else particularly endearing about the Allegro. The interior was cheap, nasty and very cramped, especially in the back where you couldn't even fit a bag of shopping let alone your children! Rather than taking the sensible approach of the competition by fitting the car with a hatchback for more boot space, the car was just fitted with a tiny little trunk that you couldn't fit a bag of shopping into either! The engine, the BMC A-Series, was carried over from the 1100, which was a fine little engine, perky and fairly reliable if maintained properly, as well as the heater being carried over from the Morris Marina, but I'm no judge of heaters so I won't say if that was for good or for ill. Most jarring however was when the car was fitted with a square steering wheel! Probably the most memorable part of the Allegro is the fact that it was given a quartic steering wheel, which BL claimed was for ease of access to the front seat and so that the instruments could be seen, which leaves one asking whether you couldn't see them with a round steering wheel! In the end even Harris Mann disowned the car with disappointment, claiming it was nothing like his original idea, which is pretty bad when even the Chief Designer disowns it!

 

Either way, in spite of Mr. Mann's space-age design being watered down to something unrecognisable and with only Hydragas suspension to make it any different from anything else on the market, the Allegro was launched in 1973 with a promotional trip to Marbella in the south of Spain, and early reviews, despite there being a unanimous dislike to the car's shape and styling, were quite warm, many praising the comfort of the Hydragas suspension. However, reviews of the drive quality, such as the car's heavy steering and cheap, plastic interior, were less favourable.

 

Nevertheless, initial sales of the Allegro were promising and it was in 1973 one of the best selling cars of the year, but things truly went for the plunge soon afterwards, and the car never fully recovered. The flaws of the design became prominent, followed by British Leyland's infamous low quality builds. Roofs, panels and boots leaked, rear wheels flew off, and rumour has it that these cars were banned from the Mersey Tunnel in Liverpool because they couldn't be towed after a breakdown without the chassis bending in the middle! Engines failed to start, wiring was abysmal, rear windows popped out, the paint colours were dreary and dismal, the car would rust before you got it home and many commented that the car had a better drag co-efficiency going backwards!

 

The Allegro did come in a selection of variants, including an estate, a sporty coupé known as the Equipe, and a very strange luxury variant known as the Vanden Plas 1500, a peculiar which was fitted with luxury items carried over from the Jaguar XJ range and had a big chrome nose yoked onto the front to try and make it look reminiscent of a Rolls Royce or a Bentley. Only problem is that Rolls Royce's and Bentley's have their front ends designed around the chrome nose, and thus the result was that it looked something like a pig! Also, another thing about Rollers and Bentleys is that they're much, much bigger than a tiny Allegro, which had absolutely no legroom in the back which made the concept entirely pointless! The car was also sold in Italy as the Innocenti Regent, nothing particularly different apart from different badges.

 

In 1975 the Allegro II was launched to try and redress some of the issues with the original car, including a slightly altered front-end and some minor changes internally, but overall it was very much the same. These changes however weren't enough to save the car's dwindling reputation, and even though the BL advertisers continued to lay on the imaginative promotion, the car was still losing heavily to the likes of the Ford Cortina.

 

The final variant, the Allegro III, had the most changes upon its launch in 1979, including a new version of the A-Series engine and quad round headlights to make it look a bit more modern. Apart from that the car was still very much the same as it was in 1973, and it was truly showing its age. British Leyland, recovering from the bankruptcy of 1977, attempted to rationalise the company by pulling out of the sports car range as well as some of their older products. The MG sportsters were killed off in 1980 and their factory closed whilst production of the Allegro and the Mini were slowed down as they prepared to discontinue to both of them in favour of the Austin Metro. The Morris Marina and Princess were replaced by the mostly identical Morris Ital and the Austin Ambassador, and Triumph was now being used to pioneer a tie up with Japan to create good and reliable cars in the form of the Triumph Acclaim.

 

The hammer eventually fell on the Allegro after 9 years of production in 1982 when the Austin Maestro was launched after 5 years of development. In all, 642,000 Allegros left the factory during its lifetime, but today less than 250 are known to exist, with many rusting away or being part exchanged for a plant pot by the time 1990 hit. The reputation of these cars is still very much maligned by both critics and motoring enthusiasts alike, with it topping many people's worst car in history lists, and becoming Britain's worst car of all time followed closely by the Morris Marina. Top Gear were always quick to bash the Allegro, with two of the ambiguous Vaden Plas 1500's meeting their maker, one being smashed with a suspended Morris Marina in a giant game of Bar Skittles, whilst another was driven in reverse off a ramp and smashed into a pile of scrapyard cars.

 

Me personally? I feel that the Allegro was a car with promise and premise, but the abilities of British Leyland fell far short of their ambitions, not helped by their incompetence and desire to commit corporate suicide. If the car had been built as Harris Mann had designed, been given a hatchback, and had been created with the slightest semblance of sense, then it could have truly been a winner. As it is, the car is now a sorry marker in the world of broken dreams, one that we simply choose to forget and never forgive.

For some reason I always had a bit of an affinity towards these cars, largely due to the fact that they seemed to be smiling with those light clusters. But much like the Maestro, it had purpose, it was innovative, and it was a car that refused to die!

 

The Austin Montego first started development life way back in 1977 under project code LC10 (Leyland Cars 10), as an intended replacement for the Morris Marina and the Princess. However, like many of the company's promising projects, such as the Maestro and the Metro, it was shelved for years on account of the fact that British Leyland ran out of money! After a corporate bailout by the British Government, the company chose instead to prolong the development of these cars and instead simply give the existing Marina and Princess a facelift, resulting in the Morris Ital and Austin Ambassador, both cars notable for being unimpressively bland masterpieces.

 

However, this delay did give British Leyland a chance to tie up with Honda, and in 1980 launched the Triumph Acclaim as both the first Japanese/British hybrid car, but also British Leyland's first consistently reliable product! The result was that both the simultaneously developed Austin Maestro and Montego could take some leaves out of Honda's book and therefore improve the reliability. Styling came from David Bache, who had previously had a hand in penning the Rover P4, the Rover SD1 and the Range Rover, and Roy Axe, who would later go on to style the Rover 800 and the Rolls Royce Silver Seraph. The lengthy development time of the car however clearly showed as the first sketches of the car were done back in 1975. Apparently when Roy Axe, who took over as Director of Design in 1982, saw the first prototype with the original design, he was so horrified that he suggested they scrap the whole thing and start over!

 

However, their combined design talent truly shows through with the Montego as in essence these are very handsome cars, with a long smooth body, a pleasing frontal alignment and design, and internally very capable and comfortable. Some novel features included were the colour coordinated bumpers that matched the rest of the car, and the wiper spindles hiding under the bonnet when parked.

 

Although many consider the Maestro just to be a hatchback version of the Montego, there were many features the Montego had that made it an all around better car. These included a new S-Series engine in place of the A-Series engine that dated back to the 1950's, and a more practical and robust dashboard. Variations of the car included the stylish and luxury Vanden Plas, which was styled internally by the world renowned coachbuilder with lavish wood veneer and seating (thankfully not given a chrome nose, that would have been insane!), the sporty MG Montego which featured a higher performance O-Series Turob Engine and a revolutionary synthesised computer voice that announced problems and warnings, and finally the Estate versions which were by far the most popular and received almost unanimous acclaim for their spacious interior.

 

The Montego was launched on April 25th 1984, being available at first as a 4-door saloon to replace the standard Morris Ital, but the Ital in estate form continued on until August, bringing an end to the 11 year old Morris Marina family. In October the Estate version was launched at the British International Motor Show. Initially things were looking up for the Montego, as mentioned the Estate version was lauded for its practicality, the MG Montego became the fastest MG ever built with 115hp to rocket it up to a top speed of 126mph at a rate of 0-60 in 7.1 seconds, and the Vanden Plas was a modest success for the business executive, as well as finding a home in the company car market.

 

Promotion for the car also helped to seal the deal with a fantastically choreographed advert where professional stunt driver Russ Swift, pretty much danced around a crowded car park in a Montego, doing reverse 180's in gaps only a few feet wide, and driving the car on two wheels through a gap only a ruler's length apart! Jeremy Clarkson would attempt to do the same thing 14 years later on one of his DVD's in another Montego, again with the help of Russ Swift, which went well the first time, but not so well the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh time. Eventually the Montego was smashed in half by a large truck in a fiery explosion.

 

Sadly though, the honeymoon like with all good British Leyland cars was short lived, and soon afterwards the various faults and build quality problems became once again apparent. Although many of the features fitted to these cars such as the synthesised voice, the computer engine management and the redesigned dashboard were endearing, the main fault that these cars had were in the electrics, which would frequently go wrong. Some examples I've heard from early Montego owners have included the car failing to start, pressing the indicator switch only to blow the horn, or the synthesised talking lady never, ever, ever shutting up! Because of these problems the cars built up a very quick and poor reputation, added to by the poor construction of the actual car, with the colour coded bumpers being particularly problematic as they'd crack in cold weather.

 

But British Leyland didn't give up on the Montego, and in the background designers continued to tinker with the idea of further additions and changes to the car. Throughout the period following its introduction, British Leyland began to be broken up by the Thatcher Government, with Jaguar being made independent, the various parts manufacturers such as UNIPART being sold off, Leyland Trucks and Buses being sold to Volvo and DAF, and eventually the whole outfit being reduced to just MG and Rover. The Montego has been credited with being the last car to carry the Austin name, the badge being dropped in 1988 with future cars simply being dubbed the Montego. This coincided with a facelift in 1989 and the re-engineering of the car to be fitted with a Perkins Diesel. In 1989 a new seven-seater estate model was created called the Montego Countryman, built to combat the rising trend of People-Carriers such as the Renault Espace, but still being able to perform as well as a regular car. This, much like the original estate, proved immensely popular, especially in France for some reason, which went on to be one of the Montego's major markets.

 

In the early 90's the Montego did start getting back some reputation, winning the CAR Magazine's 'Giant Test' (all technical names I'm sure) when competing against the likes of the Citroen BX and the Audi 80. In fact the Rover Montego Turbo became a favourite with the RAF, and was used to whisk Officers across airfields as a personal transport. The Montego may have failed to outdo the Volkswagen Passat, but as for the British mob such as the Ford Sierra and the Vauxhall Cavalier, it was able competition. In fact when I was young in the 90's a lot of kids I'd see dropped off to school would be in then new Montego's because by this point the reliability issues had been ironed out following Rover Group's return to private ownership under British Aerospace.

 

But by 1992 the car was very much looking its age and was in desperate need of a replacement. In 1993 the Rover 600 was launched which pretty much ended the Montego for mass-production then and there, but special orders for the car continued until 1995. The machines continued to be a favourite among Company Car firms, and a lot of the developments made in the Montego lived on in later Rover cars, primarily the 600 and the 75, which inherited its rear suspension which was often held in high regard. But the curtain did eventually fall for the official Montego production in 1995 as new owners BMW desired nothing more than to be out with the old and in with the new, with facelifts all around including a new Rover 25 to replace the 200, a new Rover 45 to replace the 400, and a new Rover 75 to replace the 800, and the original Range Rover was revamped into the absolutely magnificent Range Rover P38 in 1995. The Maestro too was axed and the Metro followed not long afterwards in 1999, with the classic Mini being killed off in 2000, only to be brought back to life the same year under BMW management after the breakup of Rover that year.

 

But like the Maestro, the Montego simply wouldn't die, but unlike the Maestro, attempts to revive the car under bootlegged brands weren't as prosperous. In India, the company Sipani Automobiles, notable for attempting to recreate British cars such as the Reliant Kitten but instead consistently turning out garbage, attempted to built a few, but folded soon afterwards. In Trinidad & Tobago, a small firm attempted to sell their own copycat versions of the Montego, which were notable for their exceptional poor quality. But most famously was the attempt to recreate the car in China with the Lubao CA 6410, which yoked the nose of a Montego onto the back of a Maestro using a Maestro platform. Today that car is technically still in production as the Jiefang CA 6440 UA Van, but owes more to the Maestro than the Montego.

 

Today the Montego is a very rare car to find. Of the 571,000 cars built, only 296 remain, making it Britain's 8th most scrapped car. Contributing to this, areas of the bodywork that were to be covered by plastic trim (such as the front and rear bumpers) were left unpainted and thus unprotected. In addition, pre-1989 models cannot run on unleaded petrol without the cylinder head being converted or needing fuel additives.

 

However, as mentioned, the Montego estate was a huge hit in France, and chances are you'll find a fair number ambling about the countryside there. Malta too was another popular locale for the Montego, as well as many other British Leyland cars, including Marina's, Allegros and even Princesses!

 

My opinion on the Montego? Like most British Leyland cars it had prospects and purpose, but lacked the desire to build good, honest cars. It was comfortable, it was handsome, it performed as well as a family saloon car should, it was spacious and very well equipped, and like many British Leyland cars, such as the Princess with its Hydragas suspension, it was innovative. If these cars had been built better and had some of the teething problems ironed out with the electrical systems, then British Leyland could have easily gone on to make the family car of the 1980's. But like all pathfinders in the world of technology, they will suffer the full brunt of the problems they are most likely to experience.

 

People rarely remember the originals, only the one's that perfected it...

•) The Inspiration Behind this French Brooch Necklace (•

 

This particular creation was inspired by a French, 13th century gold ring brooch decorated with rubies and sapphires in tall collets encircled with foliage. We have named our own piece with an inscription that was common during this era: "Ami Amet Deli Pencet", which translated from French means "think of a friend who loves you".

 

True to the period we wanted this to be a versatile adornment, so we chose to include a little inspiration from a portrait of Sir Christoper Hatton, circa 1589, in which he wore a cameo suspended from a luxurious set of gold chains around his neck. In our own creation we've substituted the thick chains with fine, gold filgree leaves and stems, cultivating a more delicate art piece to grace a woman's gentle throat, while still being substantial enough for a man.

 

We say "inspired" because we don't recreate pieces, but rather conjure up our own jewelled magic based on the spirit of authentic renaissance adornments that capture our imagination, and that allow us to both explore and share some of the rich, historical context behind them.

 

Jewelry was worn by all ages and genders in the middle ages, and often had functional purposes as well as decorative ones. Pieces were often ornate and elaborate, with courtly love appearing as a central theme in many creations. This is the "intent" that this necklace was infused with during it's creation.

 

As influence increased toward the latter half of the thirteenth century so so the demand for jewellery outside of court circles. As a result, laws were passed in an attempt to prevent the lower classes from wearing jewellery at all. Edward III introduced a law in England in 1363 forbidding the families of artisans and yeoman from wearing "belts,

collars, clasps, rings, garters, brooches, ribbons, chains, bands or seals, or any other thing whatsoever of gold or silver", though this proved a rather difficult thing to enforce. Imagine trying to make that law work in Second Life *grins*

 

Curious about the historical details behind this ring and other jewelry from it's time period? We've shared some of our favourite facts with you on this below.

 

(See the section called: •) This Collection's Historical Roots and Inspirations (• )

  

•) Collection features (•

 

Alchemy is the art of turning something base into something of value, and that's exactly what we have in mind when we dig into the earth for raw metals and stones to conjure up collections of mystical and mythical body art.

 

Our creations draw on an eclectic mix of personal cravings and a desire for authenticity and historical relevance. While many inworld jewellers feature traditional stone cuts, polish and scripted sparkle, we embrace a more natural approach to creation, adopting the beauty of unpredictable earthstone shapes, cabochon cuts and a painstaking attention to the details of natural lighting and shine. We treat our renaissance gems as beautiful pieces of personal, natural art.

 

From baroque trinkets to Byzantine, hammered metal and gusseted jewels, we craft a quixotic mix of personal treasures decadent enough to tantalize the appetites of gypsies, kings and whores.

 

Our second collection draws on the raw decadence of ancient metals and powerful stones, invested with the intent of "courtly love" through a set of real life rituals infused into a delicate sigil concealed against your skin. With a lust for the kind of lavish personal adornment that made Roman and medieval cultures so distinctive in their styles, we set out to drape you in tasteful motifs of jewelled antiquities, metals with rich patinas, delicious age, and a constellation of both powerful and healing talismans and stones.

 

Our "intentional jewelry" is much more than simple adornment. Each piece is a tool that can be used to invoke a level of magic in your own first and second life. A carefully chosen set of first life rituals were used in it's creation, including a combination of incense, oils and candle magic. We anoint our tools (including our computers) with oils blended for consecration, creativity and balance. In the creation of this piece we used both "consecration" and "attraction" oils.

  

Just add magic ...

 

Our "intentional jewelry" is much more than simple adornment. Each piece is a tool that can be used to invoke a level of magic in your own first and second life. A carefully chosen set of first life rituals were used in it's creation, including a combination of incense, oils and candle magic. We anoint our tools (including our computers) with oils blended for consecration, creativity and balance.

 

We've included a little guide to help you understand a bit more about the stones we chose, the planets that they are associated with, and some of the ways that you might use them in your own rituals through this inworld jewelry to invest your intentions.

 

For more information on how we use magic in our work and what our views are regarding magic, please see the "magic" tab on our website for more information. alchemyimmortalis.com

 

The necklace arrives tucked into a bottle of elixir that renames itself and converts to a beautiful alchemy prop when unpacked. We tend to use dual use packagers because we value practicality. Dual use means, once an item or items are unpacked, your unpacker becomes a decorative item. Nifty! It's like recycling. Don't fill up the landfill with prim packaging and risk your mother boxing your ears.

 

The potion bottle that the packaging transforms into is a special edition, containing an authentic Gypsy rose love potion and spell that you can make as part of your own kitchen witchery. We chose this particular potion and spell because of it's relevance to the intention of "courtly love" that this piece of jewelry is infused with.

 

*** Please note that we do NOT advocate using any potion or practice in a way that compromises the free will of/causes harm to another person or thing.

  

And a dash of relentless, loving care ...

 

If your belief system doesn't include magic, we wanted to appeal to your appreciation for realism, quality and thoughtful construction. This item is mostly sculptwork (sculpted prims) so care was taken in minimising LOD falloff by not overstressing the verts. We also used design elements that are more resistant to LOD falloff to camoflague any shortcomings so that enjoyment of this item could be had at reasonable distances.

 

All of the texture work is hand painted on the model directly. The textures are not simply applied but matched to the depressions and curves of every single prim within the design. Although we can easily and realistically cast light using our 3D programme, we hand paint the shadows for a more artistic appearance that better matches our overall sim design and theme. One is not better than the other, as it's like choosing between a photograph and a painting. We actually have a variable mix of both depending on the piece, but tend towards mostly hand painted as it better marries our pieces to our overall sim concept. Each piece you buy from us is crafted as part of a greater whole and lends a finished wholeness to its design.

 

The textures are hand drawn, not photo sourced. Our jewelry is completely created by us and for us, to give our users a rare uniqueness to their items because exclusivity is ultimately what gives a virtual item it's personality when many produced items tend to share particle effect base and texture sources.

 

And a healthy pinch of scripted resource stewardship ...

 

We've scripted this collection to be low lag overall, and anytime we script that is our main objective. We also want something to be extremely easy to use or we know that you simply won't use it. That's no good at all. We like items to move if they are designed to mimic RL elements. The coding behind the scenes is clean and sharp...not very exciting to anyone disinterested in geeky things like that, but believe me when we tell you we celebrate and salivate when we conquer aspects of messy code we've seen inworld in the past. Always expect our items to be cleanly coded, interactive if we can manage it, and have a usefulness beyond simply looking pretty.

  

Here's to living a more magical life!

-- Alchemy and Immortalis Cyannis.

  

•) This Collection's Historical Roots and Inspirations (•

 

Jewelry was worn by all ages and genders in the middle ages, and often had functional purposes as well as decorative ones. Pieces were often ornate and elaborate, with courtly love appearing as a central theme in many creations.

 

As influence increased toward the latter half of the thirteenth century so so the demand for jewellery outside of court circles. As a result, laws were passed in an attempt to prevent the lower classes from wearing jewellery at all. Edward III introduced a law in England in 1363 forbidding the families of artisans and yeoman from wearing "belts, collars, clasps, rings, garters, brooches, ribbons, chains, bands or seals, or any other thing whatsoever of gold or silver", though this proved a rather difficult thing to enforce. Imagine trying to make that law work in Second Life *grins*

 

•) Metals and Stones (•

 

Most medieval jewelry was crafted with gold and silver, decorated with colourful enamels, niello (a black alloy of silver, sulphur and lead) and gemstones. Rubies, sapphires and pearls were favourite choices, and markedly different from the faceted cuts set into jewelry today. Medieval gems were generally polished instead, creating pebble-like shapes with soft pools of colour. This cabochon cut is what gives jewelry from this period such a distinctively rustic look and feel.

 

While the colour of stones added to the beauty of a piece, they were often chosen for their healing or spiritual powers. This was a widely embraced part of the culture during middle ages, and something we personally embrace as we set out to craft new collections of "intentionally created" jewelled art at Alchemy Immortalis.

 

•) Magical Properties and Healing Powers (•

 

Much was written about these powers, including eleventh century references to stones such as sapphires, which were considered to possess the power to protect one against physical injury, fear, fraud and envy, and also to protect one's chastity. While sapphires were revered for their significance as a sign of peace and reconciliation, they were also thought to have the ability to promote the healing of ulcers, eye conditions and headaches. Some gemstones contained fossilized fish teeth (known as toadstones), and were also embedded into jewelry because they were thought to have similar healing powers.

 

You will sometimes find that stones have been drilled. This was done in the belief that it would increase the effectiveness of the stone's power.

 

Because of this belief in the magical and healing properties of many stones, they were often set into jewelry in a way that provided direct contact with the skin. Open-backed settings were a common feature of rings and pendants, thought to increase the effectiveness of a stone's magical or healing powers.

 

In addition to precious stones, other substances were sometimes used to infuse jewelry with special powers. For instance, the "unicorn horn" -- the name given to the horn of the dolphin-like Narwhal at the time -- was sometimes cut into semi-circular pieces and mounted on gold chains as a means of detecting poison.

 

•) Pendants (•

 

Pendants were prolific during the Renaissance, and again worn by both genders and all ages. Men and children tended to wear them hung on a chain around their neck, while women often fixed them to their girdles, bodices, sleeves or ruffles with ribbons or pins. Intended to hang freely, the backs were often as ornately decorated as the fronts.

 

Artisans of the time tended to craft pendants out of gold and enamels, generously nestled in beds of precious stones, such as diamonds or ambergris, and the naturally shaped baroque pearls which became wildly popular at the end of the 16th century.

 

•) Design as a Nod to an Expanding World (•

 

The beginning of the sixteenth century was marked by the excitement of exploration by sea, and the wild and perilous journeys embarked on to trade with distant continents. This was celebrated in the crafting of elaborately jewelled pieces that included galleons, sea monsters and mermaids at the time.

 

•) Personal Expression (•

 

People living in the renaissance often chose pieces of jewelry for the same reasons that many of us do today: as an expression of some unique aspect of their personality or the things they care most about. As we do now, people would sometimes choose jewelled pieces bearing an animal or symbol as a nod to some personal context or joke.

 

Certain animals and talismans had particular significance at the time. For instance, the "salamander" was considered to be a sign of passionate love, as it was believed to thrive in fire. Cupid was another popular symbol during this time, often found on pendants as a sign of courtly love.

 

Insignias were also a popular form of symbolic personal decoration, with the initials of a husband and wife perhaps being engraved into a ring or pendant in celebration of marriage.

 

•) All Roads Lead to Rome (•

 

A revived interest in the arts of ancient Greece and Rome had a heavy influence in the design of much renaissance jewelry. Pediments and pillars were motifs borrowed from

ancient architecture. Historical figures and characters from mythology came to life again through elaborately designed pieces of jewelry bearing their likeness carved into cameos and elements of gold. While religion had long been a major influence in personal adornment, mythical figures such as Hercules, Cupid, Apollo, Daphne, Leda and the Swan began to take their place as prominent fixtures in jeweled art.

 

Greek and Roman craftsman had created highly prized pieces engraved into carnelian and other stones. Carved Byzantine pieces were similarly valued antiquities. The Renaissance fueled a renewed dedication to this intricate art, inspiring a prolific collection of cameos, where the design is carved in relief, and intaglios where the design is a more subtle etching into the surface of a gem.

 

While a variety of gemstones and even shells were sometimes used for these pieces, multi-layered onyx and sardonyx were the preferred materials for this time period, revealing

contrasting shades of glossy brown and white.

  

•) A Guide on the Powers and Use of the Stones(•

 

Ruby

 

Rubies are associated with Mars, which rules physical strength and symbolizes predominantly male energy. Philosophically, Mars represents a need to temper primal urges while at the same to embracing the fire within. Rubies can give the wearer clairvoyance and guards against deception.

 

A ruby can can be useful at times when you want to summon up strength, energy, creativity, sexuality, confidence, courage, adventure. It can also be a helpful stone to set in order to draw success to you when engaging in sports or combat, or entering a new venture that has high risk.

 

The Ruby is a powerful heart stone, healing the heart, protecting against the loss of heart energy, and dissolving emotional congestion. Rubies heal and balance emotions, making you more emotionally aware and helping you to connect with others emotionally. Rubies have an intense and vivid energy, stimulating loving emotions, helping with the expression of love, and facilitating states of passion and bliss.

 

Rubies can also be used to shield you against psychic and emotion attacks. They're a good stone for Aries, Leo and Cancer.

 

Sapphire

 

Sapphires are associated with the planet Jupiter, whose historical alchemical value was it's optimistic characteristics. Jupiter was often called on to temper Saturn's dark moods, and tends to be recognized as a planet of the higher mind. It also represents generosity, goodness and opportunity.

 

Much was written about the powers of stones in the middle ages, including eleventh century references to sapphires, which were considered to possess the power to protect one against physical injury, fear, fraud and envy, and also to protect one's chastity. While sapphires were revered for their significance as a sign of peace and reconciliation, they were also thought to have the ability to promote the healing of ulcers, eye conditions and headaches. Some gemstones contained fossilized fish teeth (known as toadstones), and were also embedded into jewelry because they were thought to have similar healing powers.

 

You will sometimes find that stones have been drilled. This was done in the belief that it would increase the effectiveness of the stone's power.

 

Because of this belief in the magical and healing properties of many stones, they were often set into jewelry in a way that provided direct contact with the skin. Open-backed settings were a common feature of rings and pendants, thought to increase the effectiveness of a stone's magical or healing powers.

 

Jupiter is known as the 'great teacher'. It is associated with wisdom, optimism and honour. It's stones, including sapphires, are associated with higher education, religion, law, philosophy, gurus, rules, law, judges and physicians. These stones are also used in rituals focusing on humanitarian and protecting roles, your values, beliefs, friends and aspirations.

 

They are also used in business and personal rituals based on the principles of growth, expansion, prosperity and good fortune, as well as those focusing on your inner sense of justice and morality, your ideals and higher goals, and mercy.

 

In healing sapphires govern blood and have traditionally been used for rituals involving the liver, pituitary gland and the disposition of fats.

 

Jupiter stones also govern long distance and foreign travel, adventurers, languages and foreign cultures. They are associated with the urge for freedom and exploration, fun and laughter, joy, confidence, optimism, generosity and even sports.

 

You might choose to set the stones in your jewelry to sapphires when you want to focus on financial aspects in your life, or at the start of new undertakings when you are focusing on activities of expansion, philanthropy, gain and increase. They are also used when you are seeking favors from grandparents, aunts and uncles, advisers (doctors, lawyers, accountants, astrologers). You may also use them when you are seeking advice or consultation, including in settling disputes.

 

Bloodstone

 

Like a Ruby, Bloodstone (also known as Heliotrope) is associated with Mars, which rules physical strength and symbolizes predominantly male energy. Philosophically, Mars represents a need to temper primal urges while at the same to embracing the fire within. Bloodstone can give the wearer clairvoyance and guards against deception.

 

It can be useful at times when you want to summon up strength, energy, creativity, sexuality, confidence, courage, adventure. It can also be a helpful stone to set in order to draw success to you when engaging in sports or combat, or entering a new venture that has high risk.

 

Legend suggests that Bloodstone was first formed by drops of blood staining the stones at the foot of the cross at Christ's crucifixion. It is a powerful healing stone, valuable for grounding negative energy and cleansing the body. It can be used to increase enery and strength, and in helping to overcome fearfulness

and worry.

 

You can also set Bloodstone when you want to enhance intuition and creativity, or to combat fatigue, irritability and confusion.

 

Carnelian

 

Carnelian is a stone associated with both the Sun and Mercury. It provides a great stablizing energy, protecting the wearer against envy, fear and rage, and helping to banish sorrow. It can be used in rituals where courage is required to make big decisions and launch new ventures, drawing prosperity.

 

As a sun stone it can also be used for healing and health, and it's alignment with Mercury can be particularly helpful when healing nervous disorders. Sun stones can also be used to summon up the kinds of creative forces that give vitality to endeavors such as acting and the stage, hobbies and activities marking the fun side of life.

 

This stone can also be set when summoning favours from friends or those in a position of authority over you.

 

As a stone associated with Mercury it can pave the way for success in forms of communication such as writing, journalism and giving speeches, as well as fuel success in studies and education. It can be empowering when seeking a new job, and where a reflectivity and rational thinking is required.

 

Hematite

 

Hematite is associated with Saturn, and is a very protective and detoxifying stone. Lore suggests that hematite was formed from drops of dragons blood.

 

It's known as the "stone of the mind", enhancing memory, original thinking and technical knowledge. It can help focus energy and dissolve negativity, calming and grounding you during times of stress or worry.

 

Hematite can also be used to help you find your own gifts and to release any limitations that you may have imposed on yourself. Set Hematite when in need of balance and equilibrium, or when having difficulty focusing energies.

 

While Saturn at times played a role in more sinister alchemical processes, it also represents order and a gravitational pull to balance and moderation. Alchemists drew on the power of Saturn when they wanted to take matters into their own hands, so using it's associated stones can reinforce the desire to call your own energy into focus in a very powerful way.

 

As a stone of Saturn, hematite can be used in rituals where you want to summon physical or emotional endurance and patience during hardships. You can set it when you want to give up bad habits and unhealthy choices, and make repairs.

 

It can be invoked in a focus on longterm goals, gains and planning, including career longevity, rewards and investments.

 

Saturn's stones can also be used when seeking favours from elders who we are not related to, or from difficult people.

 

It can also be used to attract "kind" love.

  

At myuniqueweddings you are sure to get best flower girl clothes. As for colors, we provide a wide range. With us you get stylish, uniqueness and practicality. Visit: www.myuniqueweddings.com/best-flower-girl-dresses/

Tiffany Studios

New York, NY 1902 - 1932

Prima c. 1890

Lead glass window panel

 

The Aesthetic Movement is a late 19th century genre that focused on pure beauty over practicality, also coined "art for art's sake." The movement originated in Britain across literature and fine art including stained glass. As the movement swept through America (1860 - 1890), the belief was that a beautiful environment could enhance the quality of life and beauty should exist for the enjoyment of everyone, not only the elite.

 

This window is an example of the Aesthetic Movement. It uses light, color and nature to depict Flora, the roman goddess of flowers and the season of spring. She is exemplified by a beautiful maiden, garlanded with flowers, wearing white drapery. Tiffany exuded elements of Aestheticism in his glass designs and in his paintings. He created a large canvas between 1887-1898 called The Blossoms of Spring also known as Flora and Spring which depicts a procession of ethereal women gathering in a beautiful field of flowers. While this window is much smaller in size and scale, and is inscribed with the words "Prima," Italian for first, it's possible that it was created for a patron with less economical means.

Irreverent, extravagant, bold , Elsa Schiaparelli was born in Rome , was actually far more avant-garde designer of the 30s and 40s, she was one of the fashion icons of the 20th century , His pieces , completely inspired by surrealism, shocked the more conservative . While Coco Chanel prized for its simplicity and practicality , Elsa went beyond the surreal and exotic eccentricity, introduced the manga called pagoda, influenced by Egyptian fashion, the broad shoulders that characterize fashion until the so-called New Look , phosphorescent , like the buttons weights , padlocks in coats , fur dyeing , innovated , and much, clothing production , was a pioneer in knitting products , the vibrant colors and the introduction of music and art in parades , has partnered with Salvador Dali and many others. The artistic movements of Cubism and Surrealism had a fundamental influence on his work , was in surrealism that she has found her primary source of inspiration .

one of their best sellers prmeiros was a black sweater with a white lace detail imitating , achieving an effect known as trompel'oeil ( fools the eye ) , or a false impression .

Schiaparelli was the first designer to use plastic material , a novelty at the time, as was also the pioneer closing clothing with zippers , and leaving them apparent . Its sleek, sophisticated style clothes resulted in sometimes very eccentric , but they attracted a large clientele

A shoe which Schiaparelli hat exotic created in partnership with Dali became famous . The scholarships were no less entertaining , his use of color was unique , created a shade of pink so strong as to be dramatic, She named it the " shocking" , its pink .

Elsa Schiaparelli was among his assistants designers Pierre Cardin and Hubert de Givenchy , and was innovative

in tribute to Elsa Schiaparelli Yrwin presents the dress ................ and representing at her pink " Shocking , described by Yves Saint - Laurent as: " . A provocation " in detail handbag and headdress added for a more fun look .

 

- Style Card -

headress by Bliss Couture

shoes : *MJS*Mary Janes

jowelery: !Lyrical B!zarre Templates!

Dress: !Lyrical B!zarre Templates!

handbag by Yrwin

eyeshadow Glamorize:

lipstik: Shakeup!Cosmetics

  

on the catwalk have the bold poposta gorgeous dress by Lyrical B Zarre inspired by designer Elsa Schiaparelli brings the glamor of the contoured shoulders with black velvet crystal at the end of long lace gloves shows the extravagant detail on the back and remember the Schiaparelli style, lace bodice enhances the waistline skirt with contrasting white Shantung slipping on the hip to reach the flowing skirt of organza, which gives the device a feminine charm to complete the Shiaparelli style Yrwin wears a headdress of Bliss Couture, jewelery Lyrical B Zarre, and adds a more fun look with own handbag produced by the model in tribute to pink Elsa.

 

Here we have it, one of the most iconic little cars in the whole of history. A machine that revolutionised the concept of the city car, and what has now become a pure symbol of Englishness!

 

This little machine is simply known as the Mini! :D

 

Construction of the Mini first began in 1959, with the car designed by the British Motor Corporation's (BMC) chief designer Sir Alec Issigonis, who envisaged a car that had as much space as was humanly possible devoted to the passenger so as to combine the practicality of a big car with the nippy nature of a Dune Buggy. The result was that 80% of the car's platform was available for use by both passengers and luggage. The car was also designed to be fuel efficient, built in response to the 1956 Suez Crisis which resulted in rising fuel prices and petrol rationing. During this period it became apparent that German 'Bubble Car' equivalents such as the Heinkel Kabine and various Messerschmitt designs were starting to corner the market, and thus the Mini project was launched under project name ADO15 (Amalgamated Drawing Office project number 15). Great care was taken to make sure that as much space was saved for the passenger, including the instalment of compact rubber springs instead of conventional metal and the small but powerful BMC A-Series four-cylinder engine tucked away at the front.

 

In April 1959 the car was launched to the press under the designation of both the Austin Seven and the Morris Mini-Minor (due to the amalgamation of the Austin and Morris brands under BMC). By the time the car was let loose thousands had already been sent abroad in an audacious promotional campaign. Things however started slow for the Mini, but this rising star soon became an icon during the 1960's, selling 1,190,000 by 1967.

 

But, behind all the shining sales figures, there were some major problems for BMC and their wonderchild. Baffled by the car, Ford bought one for the base price of £497 and took it apart, desperate to know how their rivals were doing it for the money. As it turns out they weren't, and were able to determine that BMC was losing at least £30 on every single car they sold. Novelty was the only way to get the car properly moving in this competitive new world, and the Mini was all about that. By 1970 the car had appeared in a variety of movies and TV shows, the most famous of which was their charge to glory in the 1969 film 'The Italian Job', where a trio of Minis were used to plunder gold from under the noses of the Mafia and the Italian Authorities. A Leyland Mini holds a place in the heart of British TV under the ownership of Mr. Bean and his various clumsy antics, usually involving an unfortunate Reliant Regal. At the same time it was a car of choice for TV and Music Stars who wanted to show off their quirks!

 

From then on the car continued to keep up its notorious status as a British symbol of motoring, with a huge variety of cars being made including a spacious van, a country camper, a pickup truck and the Moke dune buggy! There were also two almost identical saloon versions of the car known as the Wolseley Hornet and the Riley Elf that were built between 1961 and 1969 as more luxurious alternatives to the original.

 

In 1969 the first major facelift came in the form of the Clubman, designed under British Leyland to give the car a new lease of life, but ended up being something of a mongrel. Although functionally the same, the boys at British Leyland couldn't help but get things off to a bad start by relocating construction from the Cowley Plant to the Longbridge Plant, which meant that all kits and tools had to be moved too and thus initial sales were very slow. British Leyland's reliability reputation was soon to follow, with the unfortunate Mini becoming a victim of the shoddy workmanship that had mired so many of its other products.

 

Eventually the Clubman was killed off in 1980, although the original Mini design had been built alongside and was still selling strong. British Leyland however had plans to kill off the Mini in 1980 by introducing its new small economy car, the Austin Metro. Built very much to the same principals of the Mini, the Metro was a much more angular design but still a capable little family hatchback. But the angular lines and big bulky body did nothing for the Metro, and the car failed to sell in the numbers domestically than those of the Mini internationally!

 

Towards the end of the 1980's and 1990's, the car came in a variety of different 'Special Editions' as the car became less of a mass-market machine and more a fashion item. The iconic nature of the car had sealed its fate with new owners of the Rover Group, BMW, who intended to keep the car going for as long as possible. At the same time the car was a major seller in Japan, which gave a boost of sales in the early 1990's with 40,000 new cars being exported there.

 

Eventually however, the design was starting to look very tired and with Rover Group making heavy losses, the Mini and its spiritual cousin the Metro were killed off in 2000 and 1999, respectively. Rover was granted the ability to run-out the model to the very end before Rover itself was sold off in 2000. During the breakup, BMW designed a new version of the Mini which was launched in 2000 and is still being built today as quite a sleek and popular machine, a little bit more bulky than the original but certainly keeping the novelty and charm. The originals however ended on the 4th October 2000, with a red Mini Cooper S bringing an end to 5,387,862 cars.

 

However, although the original Mini is now very much dead, the novelty that surrounds these tiny little cars is enough to keep thousands and thousands of these machines preserved or in continual everyday usage. Older Mini-Minors are a bit hard to come by and the Clubmans rusted away before you could get them home from the showroom, but the later Mini's sold in the 1980's and 1990's are still alive and kicking on the roads of Britain, and can still draw the attention of passers by even 56 years after the first ones left the production line!

When you think of poor cars and the worst era of British Industry, most will cite the Austin Allegro, a car that truly is a staple of its time, and those times were pretty grim to say the least! It has become a symbol of failure, a monument to catastrophic engineering, a beacon of impracticality and a terrible tribute to an age we Brits would sooner forget.

 

Bit is the Austin Allegro really deserving of such maligned opinions? Should we really hate it as much as we do?

 

The story of the Allegro goes back to the previous model of its range, the Austin 1100, a car that had become symbolic of the British family motor industry, with crisp smooth lines, round peeking headlights and a good blend of space and practicality, it sold by the millions and could have almost been described as a family equivalent of the Mini, novelty that you can use everyday. Trouble was that the 1100 was starting to look very much its age in 1971, and thus British Leyland, the new owners of Austin, took it upon themselves to design a new car that would be sheek and European, something that could win both the British and the International markets.

 

For this they enlisted the help of Chief BL Designer Harris Mann, famous for many great BL products such as the Marina, the Ital, the Princess and the Triumph TR7. Today many people blame him for the poor designs that the company spewed out onto the roads of Britain, but I personally feel sorry for him, especially with cars such as the Allegro. His original design for the car was an angular and very streamlined looking piece of kit, a hatchback and with two fins on the rear to compliment the long smooth waistband, making it look almost reminiscent of an Aston Martin DB5 crossed with a 1969 DBS. However, his promising designs were sadly watered down by British Leyland, tinkered, altered, and, quite frankly, ruined his idea to become what it is, with its bathtub curves, long sloping back and piggy headlights. I will say, it's not the ugliest car in the world, far from it, I've seen much worse like the Pontiac Aztek which looks like a cross between a Bug and a mutant Rhino, but when you compare it to Harris Mann's original sketches, then, and only then, do you understand how far down the Allegro design came.

 

But styling wasn't what BL expected to win the market with, but instead with the car's practicality, starting with the new Hydragas suspension to replace the previous Hydrolastic suspension of the 1100. With this suspension, The Allegro intended to lock horns with the likes of the outgoing Citroën DS and its replacement the CX. Hydragas uses displaced spheres of Nitrogen gas to replace the conventional steel springs of a regular suspension design. The means for pressurising the gas in the displacers is done by pre-pressurising a hydraulic fluid, and then connecting the displacer to its neighbour on the other axle. This is unlike the Citroën system, which uses hydraulic fluid continuously pressurised by an engine-driven pump and regulated by a central pressure vessel. However, the attempt at being an outstanding motor ended at Hydragas because there was nothing else particularly endearing about the Allegro. The interior was cheap, nasty and very cramped, especially in the back where you couldn't even fit a bag of shopping let alone your children! Rather than taking the sensible approach of the competition by fitting the car with a hatchback for more boot space, the car was just fitted with a tiny little trunk that you couldn't fit a bag of shopping into either! The engine, the BMC A-Series, was carried over from the 1100, which was a fine little engine, perky and fairly reliable if maintained properly, as well as the heater being carried over from the Morris Marina, but I'm no judge of heaters so I won't say if that was for good or for ill. Most jarring however was when the car was fitted with a square steering wheel! Probably the most memorable part of the Allegro is the fact that it was given a quartic steering wheel, which BL claimed was for ease of access to the front seat and so that the instruments could be seen, which leaves one asking whether you couldn't see them with a round steering wheel! In the end even Harris Mann disowned the car with disappointment, claiming it was nothing like his original idea, which is pretty bad when even the Chief Designer disowns it!

 

Either way, in spite of Mr. Mann's space-age design being watered down to something unrecognisable and with only Hydragas suspension to make it any different from anything else on the market, the Allegro was launched in 1973 with a promotional trip to Marbella in the south of Spain, and early reviews, despite there being a unanimous dislike to the car's shape and styling, were quite warm, many praising the comfort of the Hydragas suspension. However, reviews of the drive quality, such as the car's heavy steering and cheap, plastic interior, were less favourable.

 

Nevertheless, initial sales of the Allegro were promising and it was in 1973 one of the best selling cars of the year, but things truly went for the plunge soon afterwards, and the car never fully recovered. The flaws of the design became prominent, followed by British Leyland's infamous low quality builds. Roofs, panels and boots leaked, rear wheels flew off, and rumour has it that these cars were banned from the Mersey Tunnel in Liverpool because they couldn't be towed after a breakdown without the chassis bending in the middle! Engines failed to start, wiring was abysmal, rear windows popped out, the paint colours were dreary and dismal, the car would rust before you got it home and many commented that the car had a better drag co-efficiency going backwards!

 

The Allegro did come in a selection of variants, including an estate, a sporty coupé known as the Equipe, and a very strange luxury variant known as the Vanden Plas 1500, a peculiar which was fitted with luxury items carried over from the Jaguar XJ range and had a big chrome nose yoked onto the front to try and make it look reminiscent of a Rolls Royce or a Bentley. Only problem is that Rolls Royce's and Bentley's have their front ends designed around the chrome nose, and thus the result was that it looked something like a pig! Also, another thing about Rollers and Bentleys is that they're much, much bigger than a tiny Allegro, which had absolutely no legroom in the back which made the concept entirely pointless! The car was also sold in Italy as the Innocenti Regent, nothing particularly different apart from different badges.

 

In 1975 the Allegro II was launched to try and redress some of the issues with the original car, including a slightly altered front-end and some minor changes internally, but overall it was very much the same. These changes however weren't enough to save the car's dwindling reputation, and even though the BL advertisers continued to lay on the imaginative promotion, the car was still losing heavily to the likes of the Ford Cortina.

 

The final variant, the Allegro III, had the most changes upon its launch in 1979, including a new version of the A-Series engine and quad round headlights to make it look a bit more modern. Apart from that the car was still very much the same as it was in 1973, and it was truly showing its age. British Leyland, recovering from the bankruptcy of 1977, attempted to rationalise the company by pulling out of the sports car range as well as some of their older products. The MG sportsters were killed off in 1980 and their factory closed whilst production of the Allegro and the Mini were slowed down as they prepared to discontinue to both of them in favour of the Austin Metro. The Morris Marina and Princess were replaced by the mostly identical Morris Ital and the Austin Ambassador, and Triumph was now being used to pioneer a tie up with Japan to create good and reliable cars in the form of the Triumph Acclaim.

 

The hammer eventually fell on the Allegro after 9 years of production in 1982 when the Austin Maestro was launched after 5 years of development. In all, 642,000 Allegros left the factory during its lifetime, but today less than 250 are known to exist, with many rusting away or being part exchanged for a plant pot by the time 1990 hit. The reputation of these cars is still very much maligned by both critics and motoring enthusiasts alike, with it topping many people's worst car in history lists, and becoming Britain's worst car of all time followed closely by the Morris Marina. Top Gear were always quick to bash the Allegro, with two of the ambiguous Vaden Plas 1500's meeting their maker, one being smashed with a suspended Morris Marina in a giant game of Bar Skittles, whilst another was driven in reverse off a ramp and smashed into a pile of scrapyard cars.

 

Me personally? I feel that the Allegro was a car with promise and premise, but the abilities of British Leyland fell far short of their ambitions, not helped by their incompetence and desire to commit corporate suicide. If the car had been built as Harris Mann had designed, been given a hatchback, and had been created with the slightest semblance of sense, then it could have truly been a winner. As it is, the car is now a sorry marker in the world of broken dreams, one that we simply choose to forget and never forgive.

Yes, believe it or not, the origin of the mighty Range Rover goes back to the communistic clumsiness of British Leyland, where, in one of their rare moments of genius, they realised the dream that a contemporary 4x4 could be married with the luxuries and styling of a regular saloon car!

 

The original concept of the Range Rover can be traced back to the groundbreaking original Land Rover of the 1940's, where upon its introduction in 1948 as an extended development of the American Willy's Jeep, the Land Rover had taken the world by storm and become the most desired 4x4 in the world. Light, practical, endlessly tunable and easy to maintain, the Land Rover was a hit across the globe, primarily in the colonies of the British Empire, taking people to remote regions that had once been only within the reach of a Horse or a Camel. Initially, a plan was made to create a saloon style version of the Land Rover in 1949 with the help of coachbuilder Tickford, dubbed the 'Land Rover Station-Wagon', but this was not exactly a success and sold only 700 examples before the car was withdrawn from production in 1951. The main features of the Station-Wagon were a wooden-framed body, seven seats, floor carpets, a heater, a one-piece windscreen and other car-like features, its hand-built nature kept prices high.

In 1954 Land Rover took another stab at the Station Wagon concept, only this time it was built in-house rather than outsourced to a different company. This version's primary market was for those who required an off-road vehicle with greater capacity, such as ambulances or even small buses in remote regions such as the Scottish Highlands. But even though this second incarnation of the Station Wagon was available with features such as an interior light, heater, door and floor trims and upgraded seats, the basic Land Rover roots of this car meant it was still tough and capable, but the firm suspension made its road performance somewhat mediocre.

 

In 1958, Land Rover took yet another stab with the Road Rover, a development of combining the Land Rover chassis and running gear with the internal furnishings and body of a regular saloon car. The intended audience of the Road Rover was again in the remote British Colonies of Africa and the Australian Outback, where the firm suspension would be useful on the long, uneven roads. By the 1960's however, developments across the pond in the United States were starting to rock Rover's boat, as the newly coined Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) began to make progress. International Harvester released the Scout, and Ford the Bronco, offering a different blend of off and on-road ability from existing utility 4x4s such as the Land Rover and the Jeep, proving capable of good on-road comfort and speed while retaining more than adequate off-road ability for most private users. The Jeep Wagoneer proved the concept further, being both spacious and practical, but still with the raunchy off-road abilities to conquer the harsh American terrain.

 

Being frontline observers to this, Rover dealers in the United States looked on in horror as the American motor industry cornered the market for the SUV, and through frustration the president of Rover's USA division sent head office a Land Rover Series II 88 fitted with a Buick V8, designed for contemporary American pickup trucks, which offered far greater on-road performance and refinement than any Land Rover then in production.

 

Things came full circle though thanks to a man named Charles Spencer King, a former apprentice at Rolls Royce and one of the most prominent figures in the ownership of Rover and its transition to British Leyland. Taking over the development, he began the development program with the 100-inch Station Wagon project, taking the original concepts of the previous Road Rover and fitting it with coil springs after coming to the conclusion that only long-travel coil springs could provide the required blend of luxury car comfort and Land Rover's established off-road ability. His realisation of this apparently came when he drove a Rover P6 across rough scrubland adjacent to Land Rover's Solihull Factory, but was also helped by the fact that Land Rover purchased the coil springs from a Ford Bronco and began developing from those. Permanent 4WD was also necessary so as to provide both adequate handling and to reliably absorb the power that would be required by the vehicle if it was to be competitive, which came through in the form of a new transmission known as the Land Rover 101 Forward Control. The final piece to the puzzle though was the use of the Buick derived Rover V8, a strong, reliable, lightweight and endlessly tunable engine. In addition to the regular V8, the car was fitted with both a starting handle for emergencies, and carburettors to help continue to supply fuel at extreme angles.

 

The final design, launched in 1970 with bodywork styled largely by the engineering team rather than David Bache's styling division, was marketed as 'A Car For All Reasons'. In its original guise, the Range Rover was more capable off-road than the Land Rover but was much more comfortable, offering a top speed in excess of 100mph, a towing capacity of 3.5 tons, spacious accommodation for five people and groundbreaking features such as a four-speed, dual-range, permanent four-wheel-drive gearbox and hydraulic disc brakes on all wheels. The body was constructed, in keeping with other Rover products, of lightweight aluminium, and in its first incarnation was only available as a two-door utilitarian runabout, rather than the five-door luxury car we know today. This was rectified in 1981 when a 4-door version was made available, but this doesn't mean that the Range Rover wasn't a success before this change.

 

Upon its launch in June 1970, the Range Rover was lauded with critical acclaim, and Rover was praised for succeeding in marrying the practicalities of a modern 4x4 with the luxury capabilities of a standard road car. With a top speed of 95mph and a 0-60 acceleration of less than 15 seconds, performance was stated as being better than many family saloon cars of its era, and off-road performance was good, owing to its long suspension travel and high ground clearance. The bulky but practical design was also praised, with many considering it a piece of artwork, with one example being put on display in the Louvre in Paris! Early celebrity ownership also helped the sales quota, but not in the same way you'd expect today. Instead of Musicians and Movie Stars buying up stashes of Range Rovers like they do nowadays, people of established wealth such as Princess Diana and Government bodies became proud custodians of these mighty machines.

 

Problems however were quick to occur, as let's not forget, this was a British Leyland product. Reliability was a major issue, with strike cars being especially poor as many would leave the factory with vital components missing or not installed properly. To save costs, many pieces of the cars were carried over from other Leyland products, with switches and dials being donated from Austin Allegros, and the door handles coming direct from Morris Marinas. Name any of the faults endemic to British Leyland products of the time, and the Range Rover suffered from the same curse, be they mechanical, electric, cosmetic, or, worst of all, the demon rust!

 

But the Range Rover survived to see the 1980's despite its faults, and after the introduction of an extra set of doors it started to gain a true identity as the luxury motor of choice for the new money. With the additional 5-door layout, new variants such as the long wheelbase Vogue and the SE (Special Equipment) versions took many of the luxury items of the Jaguar XJ series such as leather seats and hazelnut wooden trim and placed them into the Range Rover. In the 1980s as well, special utility versions began to be developed, including a 6x6 Fire Tender for airfields and small airports, Ambulances for military bases and remote regions, and one special variant for his holiness the Pope, affectionately dubbed the Popemobile!

 

However, towards the late 1980's the Range Rover in its original incarnation was starting to look very much its age. The angular design was looking tired, and internally its utilitarian roots were in evidence. The dashboard was not much like that of a regular saloon car, but more a bus or a truck, with a huge steering wheel like that from a tractor, and was not particularly well equipped. Land Rover however intended to narrow the Range Rover's portfolio to the truly luxury market rather than having the low end versions which didn't sell as well due to their expense. In 1989 Land Rover launched the Discovery, which was similar in size to the Range Rover but cheaper and given a more family layout with seats and furnishings being carried over from the Austin Montego. To bring the Range Rover back into the front line of luxury motors for the 1990's, Rover Group (the descendant of British Leyland) put together a plan to design a new car under the chassis codenumber P38A (or just P38 for short). Four years of development and £300 million later, the car was launched to a whirlwind of critical acclaim. With a beautifully equipped interior, a more car-like design of dashboard and with a wider variety of luxury trim levels, including the personalised Autobiography editions, the P38 was the first of the mighty Range Rovers to appeal to the bling-bling generation.

 

This, however, left the original Range Rover out in the cold, and even though it was still a much loved part of the British motoring scene, the time had come for the original, dubbed the Range Rover Classic after launch of the P38. The last of the original Range Rovers slunk silently of the production line at Solihull in 1996, with production now fully based on the new P38, as well as to future developments such as the Freelander of 1997 and ongoing Discovery and Defender. Today original Range Rovers are somewhat easy to come by depending on where you look. In London you'll find a fair few (after all, these were the original Chelsea Tractors), but even in the country you'll bump into these things, especially around my home of Devon where the Range Rover/Land Rover products were perfect for the rugged Moorland terrain. Early British Leyland ones you'd be hard pressed to find, most rusting away in the 1980's, but the Rover Group ones of the 80's and 90's are by no means rare.

 

But even so, 45 years after the first Range Rover left the factory in Solihull, Range Rovers continue to be produced today, now in it's 4th Generation and available in more variations than ever before! Although British Leyland has long since died together with their many woeful products such as the Morris Marina and the Austin Allegro, the Range Rover is very much their legacy, the last of their original products to survive the strikes and bankruptcy, fighting off the fuel crisis and privatisation by the Thatcher Government, and then being split in 2000 by BMW and juggled between owners Ford and TATA Steel, and still being the luxury motorised toy of the modern day rich! :)

Two classics from different eras are seen side by side on the Blackpool promenade tramway. The iconic Blackpool Tower is seen in the background.

SEAT Arona is a well-rounded, practical, and stylish small SUV, known for its good value, refined driving experience, and generous standard equipment. Introduced in late 2017, it's a competitive choice in the small SUV market, offering a blend of fun-to-drive characteristics and family-friendly practicality.

 

Arona received a facelift in mid-2021, with a redesigned interior and exterior, including a new floating-screen infotainment system, a digital instrument cluster, and updated styling. The updated model also featured new driver assistance systems and wireless phone mirroring, along with SEAT CONNECT connectivity.

 

Over half a million SEAT Arona vehicles have been manufactured. In 2023 alone, 89,000 Aronas were delivered, making it the brand's best-selling model. The factory in Martorell, where the Arona is produced, is capable of producing around 500,000 vehicles annually.

 

The SEAT Arona won several awards, including What Car? Small SUV of the Year in 2018 and 2019, and the Red Dot Award for Best Product Design in 2018. It was also recognized as "Used Small SUV of the Year" by WhatCar? in 2022.

Burj Al Arab (Arabic: برج العرب‎,Tower of the Arabs) is a luxury hotel located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It has been called "The world's only 7 star Hotel" and is the third tallest hotel in the world; however, 39% of its total height is made up of non-occupiable space. Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island 280 m (920 ft) from Jumeirah beach and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. The shape of the structure is designed to mimic the sail of a ship. It has a helipad near the roof at a height of 210 m (689 ft) above ground.

 

Design and construction

Burj Al Arab was designed by architect Tom Wright of WKK Architects. The design and construction were managed by Canadian engineer Rick Gregory of WS Atkins. Construction of the Island began in 1994. It built to resemble the sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian vessel. Two "wings" spread in a V to form a vast "mast", while the space between them is enclosed in a massive atrium. The architect Tom Wright said "The client wanted a building that would become an iconic or symbolic statement for Dubai; this is very similar to Sydney with its Opera House, London with Big Ben, or Paris with the Eiffel Tower. It needed to be a building that would become synonymous with the name of the country."

 

Atkins. Fletcher Construction from New Zealand was the lead joint venture partner in the initial stages of pre-construction and construction. The hotel was built by South African construction contractor Murray & Roberts and Al Habtoor Engineering.

 

The building opened in December 1999.

 

Site

The beachfront area where Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel are located was previously called Chicago Beach. The hotel is located on an island of reclaimed land 280 meters offshore of the beach of the former Chicago Beach Hotel. The locale's name had its origins in the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company which at one time welded giant floating oil storage tanks, known locally as Kazzans on the site.

 

The old name persisted after the old Hotel was demolished in 1997. Dubai Chicago Beach Hotel remained as the Public Project Name for the construction phase of Burj Al Arab Hotel until Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the new name.

 

Features

Several features of the hotel required complex engineering feats to achieve. The hotel rests on an artificial island constructed 280 m (920 ft) offshore. To secure a foundation, the builders drove 230 forty-meter-long (130 ft) concrete piles into the sand.[16]

 

Engineers created a ground/surface layer of large rocks, which is circled with a concrete honeycomb pattern, which serves to protect the foundation from erosion. It took three years to reclaim the land from the sea, while it took fewer than three years to construct the building itself. The building contains over 70,000 m3 (92,000 cu yd) of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel.

 

Inside the building, the atrium is 180 m (590 ft) tall.

 

Burj Al Arab is the world's third tallest hotel (not including buildings with mixed use). The structure of the Rose Rayhaan, also in Dubai, is 11 m (36 ft) taller than Burj Al Arab.

 

Rooms and suites

The hotel is managed by the Jumeirah Group. Despite its size, Burj Al Arab holds only 28 double-story floors which accommodate 202 bedroom suites. The smallest suite occupies an area of 169 m2 (1,820 sq ft), the largest covers 780 m2 (8,400 sq ft).

 

Suites feature design details that juxtapose east and west. White columns show great influence.[clarification needed] Bathrooms are accented by mosaic tile patterns.[citation needed]

 

The Royal Suite, billed at US$18,716 per night, is listed at number 12 on World's 15 most expensive hotel suites compiled by CNN Go in 2012.

 

The Burj Al Arab is very popular with the Chinese market, which made up 25 percent of all bookings at the hotel in 2011 and 2012.

  

Restaurants

Al Muntaha (Arabic for "Highest" or "Ultimate"), is located 200 m (660 ft) above the Persian Gulf, offering a view of Dubai. It is supported by a full cantilever that extends 27 m (89 ft) from either side of the mast, and is accessed to a panoramic elevator.

 

Al Mahara ("Oyster"), which is accessed via a simulated submarine voyage, features a large seawater aquarium, holding roughly 990,000 L (260,000 US gal) of water. The wall of the tank, made of acrylic glass in order to withstand the water pressure, is about 18 cm (7.1 in) thick.

 

Rating

While the hotel is frequently described as "the world's only seven-Star hotel", the hotel management claims to never have done that themselves. In the words of a Jumeirah Group spokesperson: "There's not a lot we can do to stop it. We're not encouraging the use of the term. We've never used it in our advertising." According to the group, the "Seven-Star" notion was brought to being by a British journalist who visited the hotel on a pre-opening press trip. The journalist "described Burj al Arab in her article as above and beyond anything she had ever seen and called it a seven-star hotel.

  

Reception

Reviews by architecture critics

Burj Al Arab has attracted criticism as well "a contradiction of sorts, considering how well-designed and impressive the construction ultimately proves to be." The contradiction here seems to be related to the hotel’s decor. "This extraordinary investment in state-of-the-art construction technology stretches the limits of the ambitious urban imagination in an exercise that is largely due to the power of excessive wealth." Another critic includes negative critiques for the city of Dubai as well: "both the hotel and the city, after all, are monuments to the triumph of money over practicality. Both elevate style over substance." Yet another: "Emulating the quality of palatial interiors, in an expression of wealth for the mainstream, a theater of opulence is created in Burj Al Arab … The result is a baroque effect"

 

Public relations stunts

 

Several events have taken place on the helipad 210 m (689 ft) above ground to attract media attention. These include :

 

2004: Tiger Woods teeing off

2005: Andre Agassi and Roger Federer playing tennis

2011: Golfer Rory McIlroy performing a bunker shot.

2013: Heli-lift of Aston Martin Vanquish.

2013: David Coulthard performing donuts in a Formula 1 racecar

 

Poor coconut tree... Well, here are a number of poems, mostly based on the general theme of impermanence, to hopefully console you. If they end up making you feel worse, at least I tried.

 

POETRY FIRE SALE

 

PAGO RAIN

 

The letter I sent you got some

Pago rain on it on my way to the

Mailbox. I remember you used

To love the rain; even when it

Soaked you, you’d say it was

Better than too long in the sun.

You may never see Pago again,

But when you hold the envelope

You’ll briefly be close one more

Time to what used to mean so

Much to you. Funny how things

We love often find a way back

To us, even if we barely notice.

 

OLD ROSES

 

Old roses, never delivered because

Of your about-face. I’ve tried just

Cutting you out of my mind and

Heart, like I’ve tried trashing these

Old roses, but that seems like an

Act of hate that would leave me

No better than when I started

And probably worse. It isn’t the

Symbol’s fault. These roses could

Go to no one else – they were

Chosen with you in mind. I keep

Them as a reminder of how it

Felt when I still thought you

Might enjoy them. Beauty needs

Its chance to bloom, and at least

These old roses hadtheirs.

 

MADMAN RANT

 

Let the madman rant, it

Doesn’t matter. He knows

Better than to use sticks

And stones, and if words

Help him get something

Off his chest, that’s not

Against the law just yet.

In his madness, he thinks

He finds some kind of

Answer – only problem

Is, it’s just for him. May

He find the one who his

Ranting makes perfect

Sense to – then maybe

He’ll finally shut up.

 

BAGPIPES

 

Why did the Scots drag their

Bagpipes into battle with them?

To psych out the enemy with

Melody? My tastes may be

Strange in many ways, but the

Bagpipes never sounded to me

Like impending doom. They

Sound like the eternal longing

For a home far away, for people

Long gone, for a love never

Answered. Were the Scots

Appealing to their enemy’s

Sentimental side? Hey, don’t

Knock it if you haven’t tried it.

 

MOMZU (1920-1992)

 

Mom, as much as I miss you,

I’m glad you weren’t around

To watch me never grow up

In some ways and grow old

Before my time in others.

Mom, the better part of me

Comes from you. As for the

Rest, well… Kids just take it

All in before they can truly

Discern.

 

USELESS ARTIST

 

Artists sometimes appear useless,

All talk and unrealistic dreaming,

No plan of action, thought for the

Future, no security, no visible

Means of survival, never mind

Success. Everything to excess,

Poster children for laziness, deaf

To any mention of responsibility,

Just plain sloppy, and all for no

Apparent reason other than ego.

Listen, artistic fulfillment better

Pay the bills, pal, or else you’ll

Follow your inspiration all the

Way into the gutter. Thanks for

The lecture, responds the artist,

Dusting off his besmirched self-

Worth. I take this risk knowing

Any inspiration can be dangerous,

But does anything feel worse than

To turn away from your own gift?

 

GUEST

 

Feast before the food gets cold.

The guest of honor can’t make it

On time again, maybe can’t make

It at all, but he’d want us to enjoy

All that we’ve prepared. Besides,

There’s nothing like eating for the

Right reason. If you sing, dance

And celebrate each other, even

If the guest of honor isn’t present

In the flesh, he’s here in spirit.

 

DEATH BY COMPLICATION

 

There’s a misguided notion that

Death by complication is somehow

More humane than death by lethal

Injection. I beg to differ on that

Point. Death by complication is

Just like strangulation by vines,

A sign of indifference and neglect.

When complications start growing

All over your life, it’s useful to know

How to cut through the nonsense –

Complications only grow because

We feed them. We need instead

To nurture what’s simple, basic

And true, saving our sunshine for

What’s most important to us.

 

THE LOVERS

 

The lovers are discovered in my

Driveway. Oh Christ! Can’t they

Take it someplace where it’s dark,

Like a schoolhouse after hours?

The boy puts on a show of defiance,

Like I’m the trespasser on my own

Property, or a threat to his precious

Guinnevere, but no, I just need to

Remind them they’re in someone’s

Yard, not the public park. He says

They’ll move on, I leave them be.

I reflect that the psychology of

Love has to do with leaving home,

Just as I too so long ago stole my

First kiss somewhere mom and

Dad weren't watching.

 

IMMIGRATION

 

Connection getting warmer,

Components of joy making

Themselves known. Feels

Like home, all anticipation.

Why the delay, immigration?

Check me, review me, clear

Me for entry into your country

That’s part of me too. Open

My baggage, see what I carry

Around. Does my package

Contain a bomb? Are you

Joking? Care to shake it? In

A manner of speaking, yes.

Let me in, immigration, you

Won’t regret it.

 

CAGED

 

Wounded lion, caged for all our

Safety, musn’t let it escape. It’s

Shown it’s got a mind of its own,

Especially when hungry. This lion,

He’s a cunning one, charms the

Naïve with fun and laughter before

Chewing on their heads. Caged

Lion, nursing his resentment at a

Fate he feels he doesn’t deserve.

We all eat, my diet’s just different.

Why can’t we just kill it? That sad

Look he gives us, like all I ever

Wanted was to be alive and free,

A feeling even a captor must in

Some way understand full well.

Take that one last dignity away

From me and you know you’re

Really taking if from yourself.

 

INTERMISSION

 

Intermission from the sadness

So you all can go to the snack

Bar for popcorn and soda.

Nothing sad for 15 minutes.

Isn’t it a nice day? Bright but

Just enough clouds to make it

Comfortable outside. Hey, I

Got some good news and I’m

Still buzzing from it. The long

Persistence when all seemed

Hopeless wasn’t in vain – faith

Pays off given time. It’s mostly

The truth in the news lately.

People complain as usual, but

At least they’ve got a sense of

Humor too. You can get off that

Bad path anytime you like - as

Nancy Reagan said, just say no.

The car’s got problems, but at

Least it’s moving. Life isn’t all

Sadness, no way… Ok, our 15

Minutes are up, please return

To your seats and we’ll resume

Our regular program of gloom.

 

LOVE’S ARMY

 

Those of us in love’s army, we’re

Blessed with needy weaponry.

Like knights on a crusade we

Invade bringing salvation, not

Just destruction. Burning with

Holy fire, we scour sacred ground

So sacred life can rise anew. We

Give you ground zero, now build

A glorious future, the one you

Envisioned when you petitioned

The heavens for change. Having

Tried peaceful means, you know

This is really what was needed.

Best to believe it’s all for the

Good, as you put out the flames

And mop up the blood. Should

You reward our heroism with

Haughty ideals of pacifism, what

An insult to us risking our lives

Just so you can continue to live

And love at your liberty, long as

You’re on the winning side.

 

POOR DUMB BUGGER

 

Poor dumb bugger, won’t get

To act like a loser on the corner

At night for awhile. Poor dumb

Bugger, mind fully focused on a

Hollywood sex icon, dreaming

Of fingers on skin. Man, it’s sweet

In the middle of the street till he

Wakes up in an ambulance cause

He hadn’t noticed the bus he was

Walking into. Lust-blinded bugger,

Deaf too, never heard the BAM

Like the Babe hit a home run as

He spun through time and space

And landed in a ditch, all the

While immersed in his crimson

Visions of Pamela Anderson’s

Unattainable Hollywood tongue.

Poor dumb bugger, flying on pain

Killers now, mumbling in the

Ambulance, man, if this is what

It’s like just thinking of Pamela

Anderson, I’m afraid real romance

Might be too intense for me.

 

CIGARETTE BUTT

 

I was in the smokers’ corner,

Looking at all the cigarette

Butts that won’t decompose,

Thinking, whoa, too bad love

Can’t be like that, this used

Dirty thing that just won’t

Come apart, even in a crisis,

Even in a hurricane, unlike

Your expertly laid plans,

Homes and marriages. Even

In a flood, the butt just floats

Out to sea. In the belly of a

Whale, it gets barfed out in

Some far distant land. Have

Commitment, will travel.

A few moments’ enjoyment

Produces such an enduring

Symbol. I look at the butt

And wonder what we let go

Up in smoke. Hey wait, isn’t

That your shade of lipstick?

 

VULTURE

 

Vulture is untroubled by a long

Wait, follows no schedule. He

Knows there are weak as sure

As there are strong, and the

Strong always feed first while

The weak eventually fall prey

To themselves. Could be ill

Fate, maybe pride instead of

Common sense – nothing new

Under the sun - but in the end

There’s just a mess he helps

Nature clean up. Cannibals

Might take it personally, but

Not the airborne refuse truck.

It’s just community service,

A civic duty to save you paying

A mortuary. Vulture circling,

Singing aloha oe.

 

TRAVELING

 

Kona to Oakland direct, culture

Shock like changing channels.

California, home to the dream

Industry, the locals take it so

Seriously. My first meal on the

Mainland might prove my last

Supper in Mel’s. You say you

Taught school in this section

Of Oakland for twenty years,

And you’re remembered but

Not very fondly. Unbelievably

Flawed education system for

Such an affluent state, and

You’re still that system’s public

Face. Too many cops yawning,

Sipping coffee, eating burgers

In Mel’s for your old pupils to

Shoot us when we enter, but

We’ll get shot, you’re certain,

As soon as we walk out – by

The cops. Or by that waitress,

Unless our tip lives up to her

Expectations – see how she

Labors to be nice – can’t be

Easy with a customer entirely

Convinced they’re in for a

Bullet any minute. In view of

All this, I think I’ll let you pay.

Not especially classy of me,

Can’t argue, but kindly chalk

It up to culture shock.

 

TIBURON

 

Clearly, everyone loves Robin, but

It’s Tiburon they all despise. Rich

Gated community by the sea in

Marin County. Home to walking

Stereotypes of excess wealth off

Mediocrity, America’s appalling

Collective tastes – what was Robin

Doing there anyway? Surely such

A dear person full of heart, soul

And love would have been just as

Discomforted by Tiburon as the

Rest of us (who can’t get in). So

Robin’s suicide must have been

His one last comic masterstroke –

Want to be on the map, Tiburon?

Ok, I’ll put you there, pal. You’re

The poster community for deeply

Seated celebrity dysfunction –

Beware collective America, even

The seemingly most solid among

Us can carry demons that slowly

Eat away at us from inside. Honor

Robin’s memory – make someone

Smile or laugh.

 

EYE FOR AN EYE

 

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,

Heart for a heart, life for a life.

You hurt me and you’ll regret it.

Eye for an eye in the streets

Of Missouri, where the attitude

Of the cops has finally caught

Up with them. Eye for an eye

Is a taste of your own medicine,

And I’ll bet you don’t like it

At all. Eye for an eye in Israel,

Both sides feeling grievously

Offended, violated, vengeful.

Eye for an eye is the playground

Of the devil. It was designed

To end conflict to a by restoring

Balance, but these days we don’t

Just take what we need (or think

We need), we take everything.

So keep your eye, I will not be

Satisfied with less than your

Head. You hurt me and you’ll

Regret it. There is a solution,

One clearly indicated by those

Deeply held beliefs you so

Loudly trumpet, but if you still

Don’t want it, insist it doesn’t

Apply, what’s the point of even

Giving you a choice?

 

MR. MAGIC

 

Who’s the new Mr. Magic?

The one who’ll solve all your

Problems, ease all your

Worries with his warm smile,

Reassuring words, gentle

Probing touch, etc? Then

He’ll pull the magic trick

Of disappearing after he’s

Gotten what he wants. You

Must find particular delight

In magic shows. Can you still

Count how many Mr. Magics

Have made you fall for their

Illusions?

 

PLAN

 

Trying to plan my life with the

Precision of a military campaign,

Like the Nazis looking at weak,

Tired old Europe and thinking,

Now is the time we consolidate.

Nice try, guys, thank God the

USA came to the rescue. Trying

To dictate that my heart follow

Rules, like math and science do,

Serve more as a review board

Than a living, breathing part of

Life in all its flaws, confusions,

Contradictions, losses and gains.

Looks good on paper, but pen

And ink can’t preserve what’s

Fleeting, what’s changing even

As you read this. What remains

Constant is as much a mystery

As what won’t stay – both quite

Impossible to control. We’re

All gamblers analyzing our bets,

Surfers looking at big waves,

Nomads risking a desert crossing,

Singers trying to find someone

We have a harmony with. Never

A guarantee, but always the

Freedom to do it our way.

 

TALES

 

The only tales worth telling end

Happily, otherwise our literary

Canon would be an endless

Chronicle of life’s thousands of

Defeats. By all accounts, the tale

Between you and me concluded

In quiet disaster, consisting of

Nothing either of us would care

To repeat. Seen differently, the

Tale could simply have reached

Its crossroads and could go

Either way – nowhere at all or

Towards unexpected resolving

Of the conflicts, the return of

Something good that was there

All along but first had to go

Through the fire. Good, after all,

Has more faces than the ones

We immediately recognize, and

What is heroism if not hard

Earned self-realization? I will

Never see myself as anyone’s

Hero, but I’d still like to survive

To see however and whoever

With my tale ends happily.

 

THROW ME IN THE CARGO HOLD

 

When I die, just throw me in the

Cargo hold on the flight to Samoa.

Put me in with the mail and the

Suitcases. If I make the plane too

Overweight, leave behind some

Standbys who are too heavy. They

Can come later but for now make

Me your highest priority. Hawaiian

Air, put me on k-fare, k as in kill

You if you can't get me home. I'll

Become a ghost, living in your

Restroom mirrors, scaring small

Children looking out the window,

Who'll see the very angry face of

A Samoan you couldn't find room

For, even in the cargo hold. Just

Get me back home to my village

And faalavelave and faifeau and

Faipule, to all my aiga crying as

Much as they eat, and on every

Samoa flight my soul will be right

Beside you, flying shotgun to

Protect you from bad spirits in

The air who can't fly to Heaven

Even on standby. I'll make all

Your passengers so happy and

Loving of Hawaiian Air, even

With your small seats and tiny

Joke meals. That's an eternity

Of service in return for you

Just finding enough room for

Me to come home in your cargo

Hold with the mail and suitcases.

 

CIRCULAR

 

I wish I could say something

Positive, but the most positive

Thing I can say is I wish I could

Say something positive. I wish

I could make a difference, but

The only thing I can think of

That might make a difference

Is to say I wish I could. Other

Than that, I don’t know what

To think or what to say. One

Day, when things have come

Full circle, you’ll understand.

 

HURT

 

Kind of useless to hurt if there’s

No possibility the hurt will turn

To joy. That’s like going into

Battle indifferent about winning.

This is not to imply you pick and

Choose how and when you hurt.

Usually it’s just there, indicating

The persistence of something

That seems impossible. Who’s

Making it impossible? We are.

Our reasons take precedence.

Maybe the hurt doesn’t want

Subjugation, revenge, or even

Joy as compensation earned.

It simply insists it deserves an

Answer, all the while knowing

It may never get one.

 

ELVIS TESTAMENT

 

What would Elvis do? He advised

Us, don’t be cruel. By implication

(Even if I’m stretching it), he meant

Watch out what you identify with,

be careful who you let in your life,

Have respect for all things and all

People, even the people who’ve

Made you feel disposable. Relax,

Hang loose, rock a little. Cool is

The rule, cold gets old fast, and

When you’re hot, you’re hot. And

Above all else, remember, unless

It’s necessary beyond the shadow

Of a doubt, don’t be cruel.

 

SONGBIRD

 

Songbird, do you know that

Song about reading the signs?

I read them carefully, perhaps

Too carefully, and I wish I could

Take them only as seriously as

A songbird would. But I move

Responsibly through road, sea

And sky, or try to, and I know

That one ignores the signs

At one’s own peril. The peril

Of openness is that someone

Can make you feel like nothing,

While the peril of closedness

Is going numb and not feeling

Much of anything anymore.

Your life must have its own

Complications, songbird, but

I like how you’re singing away

Again for no better reason than

Another morning.

 

THE HEALING SEA

 

Flow with the healing sea

Where life began, where life

Sustains. Her tides carry

Life, even to the land. We

Started from the sea, it’s

Always inside us. Dive into

The healing sea, let its

Waves wash away the ages

Make you new, alive again.

Protect the healing sea as

It holds the sky at bay,

Shields us from the sun.

Help the healing sea keep

A fragile planet in balance.

 

THE NEW DINOSAURS

 

Overdrawn on credit from the

Generous bank of nature, take

More than you can pay for and

There's going to be forclosure.

Hide trash under the carpet

Of the planet’s furthest corners -

No wonder you live in a dump

Grown foul and ever warmer.

Blow smoke in the sky’s face,

Run a sewer into the sea, choke

The land on fast food bones,

And cut down all the trees. It’s

Like we’re the new dinosaurs,

Just thinking of ourselves, and

Nature needs to stop us turning

Heaven into hell. We’ll hire a

Team of scientists to save us

All some shade, but here comes

The economist saying profits

Must be made. What good’s a

Corporation when your credit’s

Turned to crud, and what good’s

A Mercedes when it has to run

On blood? Nothing in the kitchen

Now, except the kitchen sink.

It’s like we’re the new dinosaurs,

We soon will be extinct.

 

DISRUPT

 

Seriously unserious, sincerely

Insincere – oh for something

Definite like granite, dauntless,

Definition in a world of ambiguity.

I’m breathing, that’s clear enough,

And in my dreams I have wings

But when I wake I have aches,

And not just in the body. How

Many of us just sleepwalk through

Our day, the better part of us

Unformed, unfinished, unspoken?

What a shame to break off

The engagement of our senses.

Would you mind if I disrupt

Your structured existence

Without even trying?

 

TRASH

 

Trash shows where you’re at.

Among the upsides, manifest

Both here and stateside, one

Downside of this Polynesian/

Caucasian conflation is trash.

Trash signifies affluence, as in

We’ve got money to spend on

Candy, chips, soda, and saimin -

All this shit, ironically, makes

You constipated. Even if these

Indicators of our first world

Tastes make our movements

Somewhat less freer than

Previously, we’re still at liberty

Under the stars and stripes to

Sully our streets with rubbish

Like thoughtless dogs just

Pooping wherever. I ask you,

What kind of progress is this?

 

RHAPSODY IN PUPPETRY

 

I wish you knew me better as a

Person than as an idea. It’s nice

To be thought about, but I’d

Rather be talked to. As an idea,

I’m little more than a reflection

Of your own hopes and fears,

More projection than human.

Impressions are one thing, but

Is it right or fair to think you

Understand someone based

Solely on how you’ve created

Them in your head? When it

Comes to ideas, we’re puppet

Masters of our thoughts. Still,

When you think you can just

Pull the right strings to make

Something happen, and instead

The puppet rebels like a bronco

Sending a cowboy flying, your

Ideas have just hit a proverbial

Fan. So no, I can’t be anyone’s

Puppet, powerless without

Considerate direction, but if

You’d just ease your grip on

What you think are my strings,

I’d wager I could be something

You’d like even better.

 

DEPOSITION TANGO

 

Postcard from the road

Saying lawyers are a load

Unto themselves, but if it

Takes a judge's gavel to

Bring this family back

Together, that's better

Than nothing. He said,

She said, deposition

Tango, not so much

A song as an excuse

For a solo.

 

BEFORE ME, BEHIND ME

 

I remember so much of my

Past, it jus seems so long ago,

And seeing it up close again

The impression is how little

Any of it's changed. I was

Right about it the first time -

I connect with it in a different

Way now. It was my launching

Pad to somewhere very, very

Different. But I never would

Have gotten there had I not

Started from here. I am the

Continuity between the two.

Not sure how to handle that -

It'll have to just handle itself.

 

SHOOT

 

Religion, thank God, is not

Mexican politics - simply a

Matter of who's got the

Weapons. If you need to

Establish an Islamic state,

I have no objection - it's

Shooting people I object

To. If you can't convince

Me with the hope your

Religion will bring to the

World, with its solutions

For mankind, you might

As well just save your

Breath and shoot me

Before I shoot you.

 

PARTNER

 

Partner with whom compromise

Is no cause for resentment by

Either of us. Partner who’s been

Around the block, but is still well

Aware of how life is meant to be

More than just going around the

Block endlessly. Partner who

Understands why partnership

Should not be just an end unto

Itself, but also knows the value

Of getting it right. Partner who

Wants to get it right. Partner

Who wants to be my partner,

End of discussion. That’s the

Only kind of partner I’d give up

My freedom for. These may be

My famous last words, but I’ve

Learned the hard way they’re

The right ones, at least for me.

 

TWO CLOWNS

 

Looking at our story like it’s

A drama I’m not even part of,

Like something on TV or in a

Book. You can see with better

Accuracy given distance from

Personal involvement, your

Personal need to identify or

Deny. Look dispassionately,

See the two clowns bungling

It over and over, incapable of

Anything but farce. In a sense,

They’re quite a brilliant pair,

Reliable for incredible laughs

If you’re not the one it’s

Happening to. Clowning, an

Exaggeration of our human

Condition – how can you not

Sympathize when they want

So badly to get something

Right that without fail they

Always get it wrong? Isn’t

That every one of us, every

Day, only without makeup?

 

MUD

 

Not very graceful, and no matter

What I do, it’ll look dirty, down

In the mud again. Mud is a mood,

Gets you stuck regardless of how

Hard you spin your wheels – mud

Goes flying, gets anyone too close

Soiled too, while you just get mired

Ever deeper. Mud, unholy marriage

Between water and earth, natural

Fluidity and practicality fused in

Hell’s Laboratory of Unhappiness

To be neither practical nor fluid.

Actually, mud can in fact be very

Practical for impeding a pursuer,

A fluid solution to being caught

Up with. If you’d rather not be

Understood, mud’s the answer.

Roll in it enough and it’s sure to

Obscure as much about yourself

That you’d prefer not to face as

You’d care to bury. You can never

Tell another’s true colors when

They’re all covered in mud. Even

If mud hasn’t compromised your

Sight for so long that now every

Single thing you see looks in

Some way or other soiled.

 

MOTH

 

Call me moth, a foolish

Human trying time and

And time again to touch

The light with nothing to

Shield me. That’s why

Sometimes I look like

Toast and feel like crumbs,

But for some reason or

Other, I’m still here talking

To you. Maybe I’m here

Just for you to compare -

So try these comparisons…

You’re my light and I want

To become one with you,

But the sacrifice of a moth

Brings the light no honor -

What honor is destructive

Desire? A moth’s one

Chance at fulfillment is

To discover his own light.

Only with a light of his own

Is there any possibility he

And his love can shine as

One. Sadly, your average

Moth just goes for the

Most obvious, and would

Not be here talking to you.

 

TWIST

 

Endless ways to twist the tale,

For even when it seems like

They’ve come to an abrupt

Conclusion, tales continue

To evolve, often in ways

You’d never have imagined.

In its simplest beginnings,

Our tale starts with someone

Doing the reaching out and

Someone doing the shutting

Out. And that was that, or so

It seemed, but like many tales

With something more to it

Still struggling to resolve, this

One just continues to twist.

 

ARCHAEOLOGY

 

Heart pieces, broken shards,

Long buried in shifting sands.

Unmistakable, unmistakably

Incomplete, only part of the

Picture. Hinting at a grander

Construction if you’re handy

Enough with the glue. If you

Take the time to understand

What goes where, matching

The heart pieces around the

Gaps that remain, patching

The cracks. They won’t hold

Water, but at least it’s a start.

As Etta James sings “At Last,”

Little heart pieces chime in,

”Archaeology has arrived

To save us.”

 

BEATLEMANIA

 

Mark once looked in the mirror

And saw John, the guy millions

Of girls screamed for. John proved you

Don’t need muscle or movie

Star looks to conquer with talent

And wit, attitude, a vision

Of a swingin’ new world where

Even guys with hair like girls

Could rule. Now Mark looks in the

Mirror and sees Holden Cufield,

Who intuits the truth about

Everything, and has opinions

About putting phonies in their

Place – imposters who peddle

Baloney, then could care less

About ruining the illusion,

Opening the door to dreams

And then shutting it again

Playing house husband instead of

Making millions of girls want to

Twist and shout with you? Let

Me take you down before I

Go there too. What will it take

To reunite the Beatles?

Three more bullets.

 

(Note: Read about John Lennon, Mark David Chapman, and "The Catcher In The Rye" on Wikipedia.)

 

T’S MADNESS

 

It’s madness from the typical

Viewpoint, like knocking on a

Door where you’ve already

Been told go away. It meets

Einstein’s criteria of madness,

Like hoping a situation that’s

Always gone badly will

Somehow still end happily.

It’s madness to endlessly

Revisit the scene of a loss

Like a dog beside the grave

Of its master. It’s madness

A jury might not accept as

An excuse, the solution

Being so obvious. It may be

Madness, but within that

Madness a promise, kept

When together, kept when

Apart. It’s madness from

The typical viewpoint, but

From another, the only way

To preserve one’s sanity.

 

IMPRESSIONS

 

Can you see how I might

Have gotten the impression

I don’t mean anything to

You? Can you see what this

Hesitation has always been

About? Am I supposed to

Just embrace everything

You’ve done as if it’s all ok

Or it never happened? In

Truth, I would once again

Put all my misgivings aside

And try to accept you as

You are if I knew this was

What you want. But can

You see how I might have

Gotten the impression

That what you want is

Something else entirely

That has nothing to do

With me?

 

I’D TRADE

 

With a real artist you know

There’s always something

More than just entertainment

Going on. I don’t claim to be

An artist – in fact I’m lucky if

I can even entertain you for

A few minutes. It’s no longer

About trying to impress. I just

Keep howling because when

A dog doesn’t know what else

To do, that’s its message to

The moon and stars. Feeling

Every bit as foolish as I must

Look, I just keep sending out

This SOS long after the ship

Has gone down because I

Simply can’t bring myself to

Send out for pizza. Thanks

To disaster befalling my dear

Good ship, I’ve found a voice

To make it sound probably

Far grander than it ever

Really was, but in truth I’d

Still trade this new voice for

My old ship anytime.

 

CRICKET

 

Cricket, land on my page and

Make yourself at home. I don’t

Need to squash you to assert

My superiority, and as long as

You don’t bite me, we can have

A little party. I say little because

All I’ve got’s a little ink for us

To play around with. Shall we

Make tattoos? Your skin looks

Too thin for me to sketch on,

And you’re too tiny to try your

Artistry on me, but we can

Always write a poem. Great!

I can blame this one on you.

 

ENERGY

 

Energy, your waywardness

Brings me sadness. It’s not

That you can’t control

Yourself, it’s that you’re

Too easily led. You jump

At every opportunity like

A trained seal or monkey.

Energy, you’ve gone so

Wrong for so long it’s

Making me curious what

It would be like if you went

Right for once in your life.

 

SIMPLICITY

 

We are simply humans, but

We want to be glorious like

We see in magazines and

Movies. We imagine that’s

Us up there on the screen.

Deep down we know it’s

All illusion, and that glory

Won’t’ keep you warm at

Night, but in our shallow

End we’ll take the glitz

Over the shits, and our

Innate simplicity can go

Simplify itself elsewhere.

 

CRICKET 2

 

You must have odd DNA

To be crawling around my

Page, and not be home

Asleep like other crickets.

Flying into my light,

Burning your feet.

Watching me write as if

I’m the most interesting

Thing in your cricket

World tonight. Weirdo,

I’m not sure you’ll get to

Reproduce, or if you’d

Even want to. Neither

You nor I need the

Crickets of tomorrow

Crawling on my page

Like you, unless they

Intend to memorize

My verses for future

Generations of crickets.

 

LOST DAY

 

I took a day to myself, gave

Responsibility a break, and

Slept through most of it.

Tried to do some things

Outside, but it rained, so I

Ended up doing not much

Of anything except a lot of

Thinking. Now it feels like

A lost day. I could have

Done something that

Needs to be done, said

Something that needs to

Be said, clarified what’s

Still unclear, maybe

Reassured someone in

Doubt, maybe fixed

Something broken. So

Many ways to make at

Least a small difference.

But occasionally we all

Need a day when we do

Nothing except sit still

And see what the day

Does for us.

 

SHIFTING

 

Rainfall is flushing out the

Gutters, ferrying garbage

From here to the sea. Let

The dolphins deal with it.

Let turtles savor its taste.

Water doesn’t solve our

Garbage problem, only

Shifts it. Shifting is a skill,

Substituting, re-arranging

To create the appearance

Everything’s clean, it’s all

Legit. Just cause nature

Does it for us sometimes

Doesn’t make it any less

Of a deception. Shifting

Problems aside won’t

Solve them –they will

Appear again, whether

It be elsewhere, or in a

Mask, or in your children,

Or in your confession, or

Right in your face saying

Honey, I’m home to roost.

 

THE POINT

 

There must be a point to

All of this, it’s just slow in

Revealing itself, and for

Our part we have to go

Through some changes,

Perhaps many changes

Before we can even

Catch a glimpse of the

Point, like Alice saw the

Rabbit when she least

Expected it. When all

Seems pointless, I tell

Myself Heaven does

Not make cruel jokes,

Therefore there must

Be a point to all of this.

 

EXILE

 

Unwelcome, barely tolerated,

Familiar intruder, overstayer

Of the heart. The truth must

Be faced, and if eyes were

A firing squad, I’d be pushing

Up daises. How did I earn my

Exile to these cold corners?

I might have made something

Loving sound hateful, made

Something extraordinary

Sound worthless, made a

Gift from God sound like an

Albatross. I say it was pain

Speaking, but given a voice,

Pain can so easily let out

Something nasty. The world

Is nasty enough already –

Anyone who makes it more

So deserves to be exiled.

 

PHOENIX

 

Myth of the Phoenix that rises

From its own ashes. It takes

Some presumptuousness for

Me to compare myself to an

Immortal bird, I know, so

Let’s say instead I’m simply

Inspired by it. Most males

Would take a football player,

Soldier, singer or president

As a role model, I know, so

Forgive for being a freak,

But I choose the Phoenix.

Its story speaks of loss and

Rising above it. I’ve done

My share of going down in

Flames, often as a result of

Believing some myth about

Love. It’s not love’s fault

Humans create myths

About it. Humans make up

Myths about all kinds of

Things, including each other.

I don’t mind you making up

Myths about me, as long as

They’re the kind that inspire

Someone in a good way, but

If you really want to help me

Rse up, try and see the truth

And understand it. First stop,

My dear, is the mirror.

 

FAIR

 

A lot of things in life are

Not quite fair. Fairness

Can be like water - it

Finds its own depth,

Finds its own form.

We suit the character

Of fairness to the

Situation, to ourselves.

Something unfair can

Continue for a long

Time, but have you

Ever seen an

Imbalanced plane

Achieve takeoff or

Land safely?

 

SHOP

 

Shop around, there’s always

A better deal elsewhere,

And the sensible approach

Is never fix anything, just

Replace it. Purchases exist

To serve and please, not to

Feel or think on their own,

And if they don’t work,

Plenty more where they

Came from. Shop around,

Even if all that’s on sale is

Crap with no warranty.

Oh, and since you’ll be

Shopping around the rest

Of your life, better be

Careful with your credit.

 

SONG AND DANCE

 

I’m really crap at dancing but

Maybe there’s a little song I

Can do to make someone

Feel good a few moments.

My preoccupations sometime

Prove useful and other times

Prove fatal. I try to make

Everything sound like the

Truth, which is sometimes

Needed and other times

Desperately avoided. Do I

Sound like I really know the

Truth? Do I look like I have

A third eye? But as long as

It sounds right, who’s any

Wiser? I just do my usual

Song and dance because

I’m too impatient to wait

Until Christmas for gifts

To be given and received.

 

BOSS

 

Ok, you be boss since

I’m just a fuckup who

Can’t get anything right

To save his life. Wait,

I take that back, I get

Lots of things right,

Just never with you.

So you be boss, you

Be in charge. I’m liberal

And progressive to a

Sufficient extent that

My ego won’t get all

Bent out of shape.

Hey, whatever works.

Don’t tell me you can’t

Handle being boss –

Haven’t you heard of

Equal opportunity?

 

SELF-PITY

 

Oh woe is me, poor confused

Me, poor neglected me, poor

Heartbroken me, poor offended

Me, poor disgusted me, poor

Horrified me, poor naïve me,

Poor weak me, poor discarded

Me, poor unsatisfying me, poor

Unchosen me, poor substandard

Me, poor stubborn me, poor

Indulgent me, poor morally-

Suspect me, poor controversial

Me, poor conceited me, poor

Remembered-unfondly me,

Poor unfairly judged me, poor

Dishonorably treated me,

Poor lousy-poetry me, poor

Medicare-beckoning me, poor

One-big-soft-spot me, poor

Can’t-keep-the-bitch-in-line

Me, poor passive-aggressive

Me – Jeez, it just goes on

And on until you finally

Have to admit it sure takes

A lot of gas to get nowhere.

 

ISIS

 

Baw baw black sheep,

That’s me. I never felt

Denied by the world,

I felt denied by those

Who want it all for

Themselves, those

Who feel they know

This world so well

They can tell who or

What doesn’t belong.

Are they emissaries

Of the one who made

Our world, or is their

So-called holiness

Really just an excuse

To claim more than

They’ve been given?

 

CLEAN UP DAY

 

I got a degree! I got a degree!

Now I’m picking up rubbish

For ASCC. PhDs and janitors

Are equal today, thanks ASG.

PhDs get a taste of ladder-

Bottom labor, just to instill

A better appreciation of such

Vital services, although you

Know they’re quite familiar

With dirtywork of a different

Sort already. But hey, it’s a

Democracy, so let’s get all

Democratic and clean the

Campus. And since we’re all

Switching professions like

Malas switch gender, what

I’d really like to see is the

Janitors run this college and

Our admins go clean toilets.

I have faith the janitors can

Do a better job setting policy,

And if WASC is shocked by

This and shouts ‘sanction’ or

Farts out some other knee-

Jerk reaction, hey, we don’t

Dictate their janitorial flow

Chart so would they kindly

Keep their nose out of ours.

 

VALENTINES DAY

 

On Valentines Day while the

Lovers get up to whatever

They please, I propose a toast

To the unloved and alone.

The lovers have it covered,

Forget them. It’s the ones

Who’ll spend the day without

Someone special that we

Should remember. In your

Prayers, ask the one whose

Love endures for always to

Smile on those who, for

Whatever reason, live as if

Love just isn’t an option.

There’s an underside to the

Romance of Valentines Day –

Alone with no hope in sight.

Drink a toast to them, even

If they can’t see or hear it,

Ask that somehow, some

Way, their stories can still

End happily. We haven’t

Any God-given right to find

Someone we naturally want

To take care of, who’ll take

Care of us in return, but if

You’re lucky enough to be

With someone such as this

On Valentines Day, is there

Any further proof of God’s

Grace you could ask for?

 

GOOD MORNING 2015

 

So much for my best laid

Plans to put the yard in

Order before I take off

For Hawaii. Raining with

No sign of it letting up.

I can take the rain but

I doubt the lawnmower

Is in a Gene Kelley mood.

The yard may have to wait,

May look like a jungle by

The time I get to it, may

Feel neglected and I

Can’t blame it. Yard, I’m

Sorry I don’t give you the

Attention you deserve.

If I had my way, I’d take

Care of you 24/7. So

Just celebrate, get

Drunk on the rain and

Later I’ll bring you some

Asprin along with my

Machete.

 

OSTRICH

 

Look away, look down, look

Within - and look and look and

Look within. I can really be

Kind of an ostrich. That which

Isn't acknowledged doesn't

Exist, at least for the moment.

But if it matters enough in the

First place for its head to be

In the sand, the ostrich isn't

Fooling anyone - something's

Up. Something's wrong. The

Outside world remains the

Same but his inner world is

Losing its gravity - nothing

Will stay in place. Ostrich

Thinks, at least I can anchor

My head, before I too fly off

The earth into the void, or

Heaven, or other planets, or

Wherever living beings go

When severed from the ties

They hold dear. Is this really

Happening, or does thinking

It so make it so? No way to tell

When you can't risk a look.

 

SHADOWS

 

It's always cause to smile when

Shadows of the mind vanish in

The sunlight. Far preferable to

Suspicions being confirmed.

When you're not sure what to

Assume, shadows of the mind

Take many shapes, some more

Benign than others. While I'm

Not cruel, sometimes it seems

Like something very cruel has

Taken root, made possible

Partially by uncertainty and

Partially by shadows posed in

Worst case scenarios. Shadows

Have minds of their own, and

Fear they haven't got enough

Substance, enough form, to

Survive in the sunlight. So they

Take the worst of what's real

And dress it in the scandalous

Colors of what isn't. Get to

Know the shadows and the

Sunlight - you'll live with both

Till that happy day when you

Have it made in the shade.

 

CIRCUS

 

The circus is some kind of

Haven for those who prefer

The freak show to the

Corporation. Did the circus

Say it was thinking of

Staying in your town for

Another season? Year of

The Horse, it might have

Happened. Year of the

Sheep, forget it, no way.

Selfishness has its own

Shadow, self-protection

From the wolves out there,

Stampeding elephants,

Tigers who won't take no

For an answer. Stay put

Too long and they begin

To question the novelty -

Move on or lose your

Mystery. One last smile

From your own dedicated

Fool, the clown famous

For taking the ridiculous

To another level. Will the

Circus ever return? Wiser

To assume never, that way

It can forever surprise.

 

AT THE END OF THE DAY

 

I will think this, I will think

That. I will feel this, I will

Feel that. I will regret this,

I won't regret that. At the

End of the day it's about

Doing the right thing. I try

To do the right thing when

I have a clue what the right

Thing is. It's not the worst

News, it's not the best

News. It's about what's

Still there, good or bad,

Right or wrong, at the

End of the day. Trying to

Do the right thing, and

Hoping I'm not mIstaken.

 

PLAYER

 

Player, I wish you’d give me

Something I can trust, but

You give me the opposite.

Player, they’re holding you

Up as some kind of symbol

Of what’s good and right –

What an irony. Player, if

Sincerity is really spoken for

By deed, then what do your

Own deeds say about you?

Simply that you consider

Some more worthy of your

Sincerity than others.

 

CALLING SOCIAL SERVICES

 

Does expressing sadness pave

The way for happiness? If we

All sing the blues, do we feel

Better knowing none of us is

Really alone, feeling solidarity

In suffering with all the other

Badly screwed up hearts to our

Community? Social services,

You must rescue me, it’s my tax

Dollars paying your salary. A

Noted authority has diagnosed

Me with possessive rejection

Syndrome, a decreasingly rare

Condition that renders grown

Men helpless as useless infants

Desperate for an emotional tit

To satiate a deficient sense of

Legitimacy. I say there’s nothing

I can do knowing full well the

Difference between what I can

Do and what I’m willing to do.

Don’t ask me to swallow my

Pride - my digestive allergies

Would process that more as

Explosion than nutrition.

 

POTHOLES

 

Our social rules are sometimes

More felt than clearly defined.

We could be completely moral,

Like something out of the Bible,

Or island blunt, as in, whatever

Works till something that works

Better comes along. Our salad

Combines improvisation with

Age old wisdom and select

Interpretation, mixed to taste.

We are many things from one

Moment to another. This may

Be natural harmony, or pure

Self-indulgence, or scheming

Animosity, or saintly self-

Denial depending on our

Mood and the surf conditions.

I’m not unpredictable, just

Ready for anything. You can

Usually predict I like feeling

I’m on the road to something

Right, but you know how

Potholes spring up overnight.

 

WITHOUT IT SOUNDING

 

How do you express that you

Can live with the flaws in life

Without it sound like you’re

Endorsing the flaws in life?

How do you say it’s ok to

Make mistakes without it

Sounding like you’re making

A mistake by saying that?

How do you say you could

Forgive without it sounding

Like you’re the one who

Needs to be forgiven? How

Dare you usurp the work of

You-Know-Who?

 

ANCIENT ROME

 

Ancient Rome wasn’t all

Buggery, slavery, gladiators

And senseless conquest.

No, Ancient Rome was also

The fountainhead of modern

Philosophy, ideas about the

Self and society that still

Resonate today. Ancient

Rome was brutal, but

Produced beautiful art

When it wasn't feeding

Christians to its lions.

Ancient Rome was raped

By Barbarians after falling

Prey to corruption and

Decadence, its leaders

Too drunk, its heroes too

Stymied by STDs to do

Anything. Nero played

Fiddle while half his city

Burned to the ground,

Why are all our human

Pinnacles followed by

Parties where we tear

Down what we worked

So hard to build?

 

POTHOLES IN ANCIENT ROME

 

Potholes in ancient Rome when

The tax collection got lax. Fried

Rice in ancient China. Baked

Bananas in old Samoa to fuel

Our choo-hoos. Subterfuge in

Medival Europre, always that

King vs. commoner thing, the

Final flowering of which was

The Mafia. Scrawlings on

Rocks and in caves from a

Millienia ago - the beginnings

Of art and literature. Random

As things seem, seen in the

Long run there's always a

Certain consistency. If you

Feel I lack consistency, take

A historical perspective.

 

DISAGREE

 

There you are, all over my past

But still we’re no closer than we

Were seven years ago. Seven

Years is a long time to not get

Along – our disagreements

Must run deep. What was it

Again that we disagee on? Is

It an honor thing? Feel you

Weren’t treated honorably in

Accordance with your own

Spotlessly honorable way of

Treating others? It’s up to you

If you want to cast me as one

Of the villians in your tale –

By now you’ve had enough

Experience with villains to

Know one when you see one.

 

CRIPPLED

 

So easy to be crippled emotionally

And not even know it. Can’t fathom

Anymore how certain connections

Are forged. Everyone’s a potential

Threat – the potential joy a painful

Carrot dangled on a string in front

Of an ass. Youth are so full of life

They’re entitled to indiscretions,

But once you mature you have no

Excuse for not acting your age. Or

Has convention simply become a

Crutch - holding up who – holding

Up what? If you find you’re feeling

Ageless and could care less what

Society thinks, is this not so much

Degeneration as regeneration?

 

WALLS

 

Everyone needs their walls

Nowadays – too many thieves.

Everyone is a potential thief,

And just to prove you’re not

A robber can take forever.

Thieves disguise themselves

As nice people, so not even

The nicest of persons can

Pass freely through the wall.

Walls are like stopping pirates

By draining the sea. What if

Your deamboat comes in and

Just finds a wall? You can’t

Just leave yourself wide open,

True, but if you build a wall

Make sure you haven’t just

Walled yourself into a trap

Of your own design.

 

HELD TO RANSOM

 

We are held to ransom by Hawaiian

Air – highway robbery with aloha.

Is it fuel prices that force your fares

Through the roof? All those lives

Lost and ruined when we invaded

Iraq, and gas prices go up. Islam

Could easily take over the world

Now just by starting an airline and

Offering better fares. Fighting for

Freedom and democracy makes

Convenient campaign rhetoric, but

If the real battle is for the economy

You just handed a victory to our

Enemy on a silver platter. If we’re

Tired of being gouged by airlines

Like Hawaiian, and Allah Airways

Says, how undemocratic, compare

Our prices please, it doesn’t take

Rocket science to work out where

Consumer loyalty is going to go.

 

PONY EXPRESS

 

What will the ponies do now

That we don’t need them to

Send messages to each other?

Maybe they can become

Counselors for people who

Are having trouble talking.

What will the express riders

Do now that computers have

Displaced them as carriers of

News and conveyors of more

Private communication? I can

See them in Congress, symbols

Of something dear to us that

Nevertheless was never gong

To last. As the pony express

Rides off into memory, those

Close to it can treasure a

Certain reverence that only

Comes with redundancy.

 

GROUNDHOG DAY

 

On Groundhog Day I’ll pop

My head above my hole and

Let it be known I’ll address

Any question posed with

Appropriate politeness. Yes,

I do. No, I don’t. Yes, I am.

No, I’m not. Yes, I like this.

No, I don’t like that. Yes, I

Would. No, I wouldn’t. Well,

Maybe I might were you to

Convince me you’re serious.

Of course you can. Are you

Kidding? This information

Isn’t public domain, but I

Think it’s a shame I can’t be

Open with you if you want

To be open with me. Or else

We can maintain a public

Face of indifference, even

While knowing our hearts

Still care enough to hurt in

Private. If sharing this way

Isn’t appropriate even on

Groundhog Day, then I

Guess we’ll just have to

Wait until Judgment Day.

 

ALIENS

 

I think I know how aliens

Must feel – desperate not

To be noticed – knowing

That even if you’re strong

You’re still outnumbered –

Trying to appear more

Normal than normal,

Boring, harmless,

Innocuous. The nail that

Sticks up will be pounded

Back down, especially an

Unfriendly reminder like

Me that creation doesn’t

Reflect their image alone.

Negotiating with these

Aliens makes fighting off

The Tongans and Fijians

Seem like mere child’s

Play by comparison.

 

FOUNDATION

 

Foundation, below the surface,

Not out in the open. Strong

Bottom can outlast a weak top.

Shall we judge this house by its

Ugly, messy, broken, dangerous

Outer appearance or by its rock-

Solid foundation? As faded as

It looks, the house refueses

To fall, refuses to move. Mocks

Your departure by staying right

Where you left it, just how you

Left it. Fires, storms, robbers,

Lawyers, squatters – nothing

Changes at the foundation.

The house simply accepts the

Ebb and flow of life. You could

Take a bulldozer and dynamite

To prove you refuse to be

Affixed to your past, but the

Foundation has the last laugh,

For when the outside world

Batters you so badly that you

Need a foundation to return to,

Where will you go?

 

IMITATION

 

Machines make things so

Easy for us, but does easy

Really mean better or

Happy? Machines give us

An advantage over the

Few remaining cavemen

Who don’t know how to

Use them, but would we

Know how to hunt our

Own food if we had to?

We hunt for information,

For connections our

Machines enable. We

Make machines as an

Imitation of us. I hope

They’re not making us

An imitation of them.

 

IMITATION 2

 

This is not the truth, this is

A reflection of the truth,

A meditation on the truth

As it appeared to me when

I was holding the pen. This

Is my calligraphy conveyed

Through a keyboard. This

Isn’t my voice, but you can

Imagine it’s my voice or

Donald Duck’s voice or

Whoever’s voice. These

Are my instructions to

Your soul, my wisdom

In sum total, a tiny yellow

Post-it note on eternity’s

Bulletin board. Very sorry

I missed you. I wanted to

Be with you, but this is as

Close as I could get.

 

SAMOA IS THE NEW TEXAS

 

Cash machines not working,

Koko Bean lunch counter

Exploding, no imports of

Eggs, local chickens not

Cooperating, inscrutable

Chinese rationing my

Marlbro Reds. Impending

Signs of our economy

Collapsing, with social

Anarchy soon to follow

When they run out of

Beer. And it’s all the fault

Of the Samoan prates in

Their paopaos, menacing

Container ships with rocks

And pelus. Winning back

Samoa from western

Influence. You’d really

Have to love Samoa to

Stay after McDonalds has

Gone down like the Alamo.

 

SILENCE AND LANGUAGE

 

I’d trying to bend the language

To my will, but it’s resisting.

Language has gone on strike,

Seeking more equitable terms

For the work I expect it to do.

Language, I may have been

Hard, but I hope I stopped

Short of cruel. I know I ask

You to do the most unusual

Things, and you always play

Along like a good sport. But

Now I can’t get you to flow.

Have the real or imagined

Conflicts and incompatible

Beliefs I’ve been trying to

Capture made you retreat

Into a silence harder than

Stone, as if to warn me, the

Words may sound clever, but

If I use them I’ll regret it?

Silence is a killer, and power

Over death is impressive, but

Silence needs language to fill

Its emptiness. Language, let

Me leave at least a trace for

Someone who’s trying to find

The trail – flow for me again.

 

SPIRIT

 

Spirit, you can’t see it but it’s

There. Spirit distills ideals, the

Purity of intent to inform but

Never command action. Spirit

Is an angel on your shoulder,

But never a deciding factor.

Spirit, closely embraced, can

Make you wonder if you’re

Believing an illusion. Where

Wishing meets knowing, in

A twilight where something

Inside us is trying to decide

To be or not to be, spirits

Whisper to us in dreams.

Which spirit do we listen to?

You can’t see it, but it’s there.

 

ORIGINS

 

Saw a science fiction movie

Once about a planet where

It never stops raining. Made

Me wonder why most of the

Time I feel like it’s raining

Inside. That feeling of nature

Itself running interference.

Rain makes us grateful for

Shelter, reminds us we’re

Not fish even though it feels

Like we’re living in water a

Lot of the time. Water can

Cleanse, refresh, let us start

Again clean. Water falls from

The sky or flows from within

The earth like a hidden truth

That refuses to stay hidden.

Water means well but needs

To know when to stop lest

It drown us. Rain inside could

Go on until it floods our inner

World, taking us back to our

Origins as fish, each a tiny

Consciousness dreaming

The land back into being.

 

PUZZLE

 

Do you have the missing

Piece to my puzzle? Until

It’s complete, the picture

Will always have a flaw.

Beauty and completeness

Bring together separate

Qualities, each important,

Irreplaceable. The parts

Can stand alone when

Something beautiful is

Broken into pieces, but

Their true nature, true

Value and true meaning

Are only revealed in the

Joining. How curious this

One missing piece tries to

Complete every other

Puzzle besides mine.

 

UNEASY STREET

 

Brothers and sisters who never

Got over how mother apportioned

Her love. Brothers and sisters

Caused each other problems that

Still never have been resolved.

Brothers and sisters all have their

Own stories of what they made

Out of their lives. Their problems

Are now their gifts to their children

To share with their husbands and

Wives.

 

GOOD DOGGIE

 

Review, constant review. No rest

From the watchful eye guiding you

To perfection. Saying it’s for your

Protection. For you are like a child

Who’ll put their hands on the stove

Or a kitten who’ll jump over the

Rail. How will you ever get through

All the danger that awaits you

Unless you wear a leash and wag

Your tail? Good doggie, good

Doggie, here’s a biscuit, now be

Happy you don’t have to search

Through the garbage to survive.

Relax - we’ve got your back and

Everything else.

 

VOLUNTEER

 

To feed all these hungry stomachs,

To feed all these hungry hearts, to

Feed all these hungry minds, to fill

All these empty souls, to resolve

All these simmering conflicts. Help

Wanted, looking for a few good

Men and women. Ask not what

Your world can do for you, but

What you can do for your world.

Warning: the world will eat you,

But at least it’s for a good cause.

 

FILTER

 

There’s about a million filters

Any feeling of mine has to go

Through before I’d even

Dream of expressing it. I’m

Like fish, easily overcooked

But really good raw once you

Acquire my taste. Raw like

Sushi, just as nature made

Me, no fancy recipe to

Compromise my flavor.

Why won’t you let me on

Your menu? Chefs all want

To smother me in sauce

Just cause they can, filter

Out all of my salty ocean

Substance, make my bones

Soft. Wouldn’t you rather

Have my natural nutrients,

Not some diluted deal?

Honestly, all these filters

Mostly make me falter.

I live in Australia, near the beach (actually, fairly close to the famous Bell's Beach).

 

During the 1970s the growing Surfing culture flowed over into automotive design here in Australia. The result was the Panel Van - these were developed from the local large rear-drive cars built here, using the Coupe-Utility as a base, but enclosing the rear load area with a high-roof. The rear panel behind the seats was also removed, allowing access to the converted load area.

 

Great for surfing, and camping by the beach. Great for a cuddle with a pretty girl too, and hence the colloquial name 'shaggin-wagon' was coined.

 

This practicality, along with the bad-boy image made these the must-have car for the young man. Particularly if you lived near a beach.

 

The two companies Ford and Holden dominated the market, but a strong third was Chrysler Australia, Their local large car was developed from the 1960s Valiant, and the Panel Van version was known as the Sundowner.

 

I have applied the classic Sundowner graphic to what could have been a great retro product from the early 2000s Chrysler catalog, the PT Cruiser. With a longer wheelbase, 2-door-only, and panel van blanked windows, this would make the perfect low-cost surfing wagon for a new generation.

Certainly one of the less well known Ferrari's, but one that holds a mixed reception in the hearts and minds of those who grew up with them. Some hail this car as an unloved gem of the 1980's Italian car builder, being the only production mid-engined sports car to feature 4 seats, whilst others consider it the worst car ever made by Ferrari, asking why people would want 4 seats in a mid-engined sports car when space in the back couldn't fit a bag of shopping!

 

The Mondial first made its appearance in 1980, being a replacement for the 208/308 GT4's, the last of the mighty Dino range. The "Mondial" name came from Ferrari's history, the 500 Mondial race car of the early 1950's. Despite its predecessor being Bertone styled, the Mondial saw Ferrari return to Pininfarina for styling.

 

Sold as a mid-sized coupé and, eventually a cabriolet, the car was conceived as a 'usable' model, offering the practicality of four seats and the performance of a Ferrari. The car had a slightly higher roofline than its stablemates, with a single long door either side, offering easy access and good interior space, reasonable rear legroom while all-round visibility was excellent. It also holds the distinction of being the only production automobile that has four seats, is mid-engined, and be a full convertible in automotive history.

 

The Mondial, produced in fairly high numbers for a Ferrari, with more than 6,100 produced in its 13 year run, and was one of Ferrari's most commercially successful models. The car body was not built as a monocoque in the same way as a conventional car, but instead the steel outer body was produced by the famous Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Scaglietti, just down the road in nearby Modena, built over a lightweight steel box-section space frame. The engine cover and rear luggage compartment lids are in light alloy. The seats and interior were trimmed in Connolly hide, contrasting with the body colour. Most cars were painted rosso red, but some were black or silver, and a few were dark blue.

 

The car went through several generations in its 13 year life, the first being the Mondial 8, which featured a 3.0L Tipo F106B FI V8 producing 214hp. In all, 703 examples of this car were made in its 2 year production period, which cost $64,000 back then, but $183,000 now.

 

This was replaced by the Mondial QV (Quattrovalvole), which introduced a new four-valve head, the combustion chamber design was purportedly based on the early eighties Formula 1 engine. Again, the engine was shared with the contemporary 308 GTB/GTS QV, and produced a much more respectable 240hp. Appearance was largely as per the Mondial 8, although with red engine heads and prominent "quattrovalvole" script at the rear. In all, 1,145 coupés were built between 1982 and 1985.

 

The next version was the 3.2 Mondial, which increased the engine size to 3.2L Tipo F105C 4v V8, creating 266hp. Available in both Coupé and Cabriolet forms, styling was refreshed with restyled and body-coloured bumpers, similar to the 328 with more integrated indicators and driving lamps, and new alloy wheels with a more rounded face. The 3.2 also boasted a major interior update, with a more ergonomic layout and a more rounded instrument binnacle. Later cars, from 1987 onwards, also sported ABS brakes.The 1988 Mondial 3.2 would be the final model year that retained the relatively low maintenance costs of the 308/328 drivetrain, allowing major service items like timing belt and clutch replacement to be performed with the engine/transmission package still in the car. During its 1985 to 1989 production span, Ferrari produced 987 coupés and 810 cabriolets.

 

The final version introduced in 1989 was the Mondial t, being visually different from preceding Mondial models, the most recognisable being the redesign of the air intakes to a smaller, neater rectangular shape similar to that found on a 348. Additionally, the door-handles were of a visually different design, as were the front and rear bumpers which became body coloured. New front and rear wings cover wider tracks and are re-profiled to a fuller shape compared to preceding models, which feature a rolled lip. Between 1989 and 1993 Ferrari produced 858 coupés and 1,017 cabriolets.

 

The Mondial was eventually killed off completely in 1993, and, as mentioned, suffers from a mixed reception by Ferrari and motoring fans alike. While many admire its unique Pininfarina derived design and everyday versatility, the Mondial has amassed a cult following of enthusiasts, but is sometimes the target of derision due to what many consider the compromises, including its 4 seats, longer wheelbase and heavier weight. One notable complaint was made on Top Gear's 'The Worst Car in the World', where a very run down Mondial was assessed by James May, who commented on the fact that it was too small and too thirsty to be an equivalent to a regular family car.

 

Me personally, I prefer the looks of the later Mondial's, specifically the Mondial t, which does look like a fantastic open sports Ferrari with resemblances to the 348, although earlier ones do hold a place in my heart too for their looks and style.

Being friends on Facebook with Lino means that from time to time you see him 'Like' something pretty cool.

 

Actually Lino like lots of things that are cool - but they don't always coincide with a LUGNuts design challenge that makes the most of it.

 

Fortunately, the two coincided this month, so I introduce the Kustom Ford Thundertruck. Part Ford 1961 Thunderbird Hardtop - in fact, mostly a Ford 1961 Thunderbird, but the the engine in the middle where the people would normally be, and the people in the front where the engine would normally be.

 

Pretty straightforward, except that it was pretty tricky.

 

Looks cool nonetheless. Bizarrely, other that Lino's like, and a google search that only turned up a Pintrest link, that's all I've got to work with.

 

And this month's LUGNuts' Challenge - the 113th, - 'For Your Exhibition' - yields a very exhibition worthy vehicles, regardless of sensible practicality.

 

Yes, believe it or not, the origin of the mighty Range Rover goes back to the communistic clumsiness of British Leyland, where, in one of their rare moments of genius, they realised the dream that a contemporary 4x4 could be married with the luxuries and styling of a regular saloon car!

 

The original concept of the Range Rover can be traced back to the groundbreaking original Land Rover of the 1940's, where upon its introduction in 1948 as an extended development of the American Willy's Jeep, the Land Rover had taken the world by storm and become the most desired 4x4 in the world. Light, practical, endlessly tunable and easy to maintain, the Land Rover was a hit across the globe, primarily in the colonies of the British Empire, taking people to remote regions that had once been only within the reach of a Horse or a Camel. Initially, a plan was made to create a saloon style version of the Land Rover in 1949 with the help of coachbuilder Tickford, dubbed the 'Land Rover Station-Wagon', but this was not exactly a success and sold only 700 examples before the car was withdrawn from production in 1951. The main features of the Station-Wagon were a wooden-framed body, seven seats, floor carpets, a heater, a one-piece windscreen and other car-like features, its hand-built nature kept prices high.

In 1954 Land Rover took another stab at the Station Wagon concept, only this time it was built in-house rather than outsourced to a different company. This version's primary market was for those who required an off-road vehicle with greater capacity, such as ambulances or even small buses in remote regions such as the Scottish Highlands. But even though this second incarnation of the Station Wagon was available with features such as an interior light, heater, door and floor trims and upgraded seats, the basic Land Rover roots of this car meant it was still tough and capable, but the firm suspension made its road performance somewhat mediocre.

 

In 1958, Land Rover took yet another stab with the Road Rover, a development of combining the Land Rover chassis and running gear with the internal furnishings and body of a regular saloon car. The intended audience of the Road Rover was again in the remote British Colonies of Africa and the Australian Outback, where the firm suspension would be useful on the long, uneven roads. By the 1960's however, developments across the pond in the United States were starting to rock Rover's boat, as the newly coined Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) began to make progress. International Harvester released the Scout, and Ford the Bronco, offering a different blend of off and on-road ability from existing utility 4x4s such as the Land Rover and the Jeep, proving capable of good on-road comfort and speed while retaining more than adequate off-road ability for most private users. The Jeep Wagoneer proved the concept further, being both spacious and practical, but still with the raunchy off-road abilities to conquer the harsh American terrain.

 

Being frontline observers to this, Rover dealers in the United States looked on in horror as the American motor industry cornered the market for the SUV, and through frustration the president of Rover's USA division sent head office a Land Rover Series II 88 fitted with a Buick V8, designed for contemporary American pickup trucks, which offered far greater on-road performance and refinement than any Land Rover then in production.

 

Things came full circle though thanks to a man named Charles Spencer King, a former apprentice at Rolls Royce and one of the most prominent figures in the ownership of Rover and its transition to British Leyland. Taking over the development, he began the development program with the 100-inch Station Wagon project, taking the original concepts of the previous Road Rover and fitting it with coil springs after coming to the conclusion that only long-travel coil springs could provide the required blend of luxury car comfort and Land Rover's established off-road ability. His realisation of this apparently came when he drove a Rover P6 across rough scrubland adjacent to Land Rover's Solihull Factory, but was also helped by the fact that Land Rover purchased the coil springs from a Ford Bronco and began developing from those. Permanent 4WD was also necessary so as to provide both adequate handling and to reliably absorb the power that would be required by the vehicle if it was to be competitive, which came through in the form of a new transmission known as the Land Rover 101 Forward Control. The final piece to the puzzle though was the use of the Buick derived Rover V8, a strong, reliable, lightweight and endlessly tunable engine. In addition to the regular V8, the car was fitted with both a starting handle for emergencies, and carburettors to help continue to supply fuel at extreme angles.

 

The final design, launched in 1970 with bodywork styled largely by the engineering team rather than David Bache's styling division, was marketed as 'A Car For All Reasons'. In its original guise, the Range Rover was more capable off-road than the Land Rover but was much more comfortable, offering a top speed in excess of 100mph, a towing capacity of 3.5 tons, spacious accommodation for five people and groundbreaking features such as a four-speed, dual-range, permanent four-wheel-drive gearbox and hydraulic disc brakes on all wheels. The body was constructed, in keeping with other Rover products, of lightweight aluminium, and in its first incarnation was only available as a two-door utilitarian runabout, rather than the five-door luxury car we know today. This was rectified in 1981 when a 4-door version was made available, but this doesn't mean that the Range Rover wasn't a success before this change.

 

Upon its launch in June 1970, the Range Rover was lauded with critical acclaim, and Rover was praised for succeeding in marrying the practicalities of a modern 4x4 with the luxury capabilities of a standard road car. With a top speed of 95mph and a 0-60 acceleration of less than 15 seconds, performance was stated as being better than many family saloon cars of its era, and off-road performance was good, owing to its long suspension travel and high ground clearance. The bulky but practical design was also praised, with many considering it a piece of artwork, with one example being put on display in the Louvre in Paris! Early celebrity ownership also helped the sales quota, but not in the same way you'd expect today. Instead of Musicians and Movie Stars buying up stashes of Range Rovers like they do nowadays, people of established wealth such as Princess Diana and Government bodies became proud custodians of these mighty machines.

 

Problems however were quick to occur, as let's not forget, this was a British Leyland product. Reliability was a major issue, with strike cars being especially poor as many would leave the factory with vital components missing or not installed properly. To save costs, many pieces of the cars were carried over from other Leyland products, with switches and dials being donated from Austin Allegros, and the door handles coming direct from Morris Marinas. Name any of the faults endemic to British Leyland products of the time, and the Range Rover suffered from the same curse, be they mechanical, electric, cosmetic, or, worst of all, the demon rust!

 

But the Range Rover survived to see the 1980's despite its faults, and after the introduction of an extra set of doors it started to gain a true identity as the luxury motor of choice for the new money. With the additional 5-door layout, new variants such as the long wheelbase Vogue and the SE (Special Equipment) versions took many of the luxury items of the Jaguar XJ series such as leather seats and hazelnut wooden trim and placed them into the Range Rover. In the 1980s as well, special utility versions began to be developed, including a 6x6 Fire Tender for airfields and small airports, Ambulances for military bases and remote regions, and one special variant for his holiness the Pope, affectionately dubbed the Popemobile!

 

However, towards the late 1980's the Range Rover in its original incarnation was starting to look very much its age. The angular design was looking tired, and internally its utilitarian roots were in evidence. The dashboard was not much like that of a regular saloon car, but more a bus or a truck, with a huge steering wheel like that from a tractor, and was not particularly well equipped. Land Rover however intended to narrow the Range Rover's portfolio to the truly luxury market rather than having the low end versions which didn't sell as well due to their expense. In 1989 Land Rover launched the Discovery, which was similar in size to the Range Rover but cheaper and given a more family layout with seats and furnishings being carried over from the Austin Montego. To bring the Range Rover back into the front line of luxury motors for the 1990's, Rover Group (the descendant of British Leyland) put together a plan to design a new car under the chassis codenumber P38A (or just P38 for short). Four years of development and £300 million later, the car was launched to a whirlwind of critical acclaim. With a beautifully equipped interior, a more car-like design of dashboard and with a wider variety of luxury trim levels, including the personalised Autobiography editions, the P38 was the first of the mighty Range Rovers to appeal to the bling-bling generation.

 

This, however, left the original Range Rover out in the cold, and even though it was still a much loved part of the British motoring scene, the time had come for the original, dubbed the Range Rover Classic after launch of the P38. The last of the original Range Rovers slunk silently of the production line at Solihull in 1996, with production now fully based on the new P38, as well as to future developments such as the Freelander of 1997 and ongoing Discovery and Defender. Today original Range Rovers are somewhat easy to come by depending on where you look. In London you'll find a fair few (after all, these were the original Chelsea Tractors), but even in the country you'll bump into these things, especially around my home of Devon where the Range Rover/Land Rover products were perfect for the rugged Moorland terrain. Early British Leyland ones you'd be hard pressed to find, most rusting away in the 1980's, but the Rover Group ones of the 80's and 90's are by no means rare.

 

But even so, 45 years after the first Range Rover left the factory in Solihull, Range Rovers continue to be produced today, now in it's 4th Generation and available in more variations than ever before! Although British Leyland has long since died together with their many woeful products such as the Morris Marina and the Austin Allegro, the Range Rover is very much their legacy, the last of their original products to survive the strikes and bankruptcy, fighting off the fuel crisis and privatisation by the Thatcher Government, and then being split in 2000 by BMW and juggled between owners Ford and TATA Steel, and still being the luxury motorised toy of the modern day rich! :)

1993 Ford Granada GLX auto estate.

 

Last taxed in April 2015. Classics Central auction, Bedford Autodrome -

 

"Sporting the new 2.0 litre DOHC engine with all the convenience and practicality of an estate, Ford’s Granada was an established luxury line by the time the MkIII was facelifted in the early 1990s.

 

This three-owner, 1993 example is presented in an attractive blue and benefits from regular recent use, having been MoTd and on the road every year from 2006- 2015. Said to be in very good overall condition and offering the lines only a factory-built full-size estate car can offer, with a large glass area and excellent proportions, this model is now becoming rare and good examples are hard to find.

 

Expected to possess a fresh MoT at time of sale, this now-iconic Granada estate offers an ideal combination of early 1990s classic motoring with the useful capacity of an estate car, finished in the European styling reminiscent of Ford’s glory days of the 1980s."

 

No reserve. Sold for £150.

Lark: *nods fervently, falling back so Yuri and Kumi can hug Sparrow* “We didn’t know you were coming home! Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

 

Sparrow: “I wasn’t sure when I’d be flying in exactly, so I thought it best to just show up unannounced. Talk about good timing, since Yin and Yang are here this weekend, too.”

 

Yuri: “Row, your hair! You cut it!”

 

Kumi: “Yeah…*eyes Row critically* looks good. Real good.”

 

Sparrow: *runs her hand through her newly shorn locks* “Thanks. I did it out of practicality more than anything, just took the scissors and…*makes a snipping motion* It ended up suiting me, funnily enough.”

 

Kumi (aghast): “You mean you chopped off all your hair…by yourself, with absolutely no thought to how it would look on you? Seriously, the vow of poverty wasn’t enough? Now you gotta play loosey-goosey with your looks, too?”

 

Sparrow (patiently): “I didn’t take a vow of poverty, Kumi. Docs Without Borders pays me. I just don’t make supermodel money. And I didn’t cut my hair totally by myself. XL did the back for me…” *lips curve into a secretive smile*

 

Yuri: “Excel? What a peculiar name? Is it Bolivian?”

 

Sparrow: “Not Excel. ‘XL’, like the letter X and then the letter L.”

 

Lark: “Like extra-large?”

 

Sparrow: *eyes spark with mirth* “Exactly like extra-large.”

 

Kumi: *exchanges a speculative look with Yuri* “Hmm…”

 

—Loud crash interrupts the reunion, as the back of Lark’s display case falls to the floor—

 

Girls: *jump, startled*

 

Lark: “Dammit! There it goes again! *glares at the offensive piece of furniture* Wren said she’d come over and fix it for me, but she hasn’t had the chance yet. The back keeps falling off. It’s already gotten my shins twice today.”

 

Kumi (smugly): “See, this is what happens when you insist on buying used…”

 

Lark (derisively): “And that Dior you just tried on was what, Kums, brand-spankin’ new? Besides, I like using reclaimed stuff in the store. It’s green, and—” *interrupted as the bell over the door jingles again* Geez! We’re closed! I’m gonna have to lock that door. Mags can just knock when she gets here.”

 

Unidentified Man: *strolls over* “I knew there was a reason I didn’t come to Boston more often. The parking’s a bitch.”

 

All the Girls (except Sparrow): *turn to gawk at the tall, rakishly handsome stranger in their midst*

 

Fashion Credits

**Any doll enhancements (i.e. freckles, piercings, eye color changes) were done by me unless otherwise stated.**

 

Yuri

Slacks: IT – Fashion Royalty – Optic Verve Agnes

Top: Clear-lan

Sweater: Dressmaker Details – Feet First Fashion

Belt: IT – NuFace – London Mist Imogen

Shoes: IT – Monogram – Extravagance

Earrings: IT – Poppy Parker

Bracelets from ‘Gluttony’ Set: Knife’s Edge Designs (me)

 

Doll is a Nu.Fantasy Red Riding Hood Yuri transplanted to a NuFace body.

 

Kumi

Skirt: Jakks-Pacific – Hannah Montana Lilly Doll

Crochet Top: Katalina

Belt: Randall Craig RTW – The Secretary

Shoes: IT – NuFace – Morning Dew Giselle

Earrings & Ring: IT – NuFace – Miracle Child Ayumi

 

Doll is a Nu.Fantasy Wild Wolf Kumi transplanted to a NuFace body.

 

Lark

Dress: yukostevens (etsy.com)

Bodysuit: IT – NuFace – Great Pretender Lilith

Belt: Randall Craig RTW – Delightful

Shoes: IT – NuFace – Great Pretender Lilith

Cuff Bracelet: IT

Free Radical Earrings: Knife’s Edge Designs (me)

 

Doll is a Great Pretender Lilith.

 

Sparrow

Skirt: Volks – Who’s That Girl? – Natural Love

Sweater: Randal Craig RTW - Separate

Belt: Randall Craig RTW – Belt Accessory Pack

Boots: Dressmaker Details – Casual Comfort

Metallic Mesh Earrings: Knife’s Edge Designs (me)

Bracelet from ‘Greed’ Set: Knife’s Edge Designs

 

Doll is a London Mist Imogen.

 

Xavier

Jeans: IT – Homme – Style Strategy Lukas

Shirt & Jacket: BFMC – New England Escape Fashion Set

Belt: Volks – Who’s That Girl? – Selfish

Shoes: IT – Homme – Euro-Classic Fashion

Necklace: Me

 

Doll is a Leading Man Lukas.

I live in Australia, near the beach (actually, fairly close to the famous Bell's Beach).

 

During the 1970s the growing Surfing culture flowed over into automotive design here in Australia. The result was the Panel Van - these were developed from the local large rear-drive cars built here, using the Coupe-Utility as a base, but enclosing the rear load area with a high-roof. The rear panel behind the seats was also removed, allowing access to the converted load area.

 

Great for surfing, and camping by the beach. Great for a cuddle with a pretty girl too, and hence the colloquial name 'shaggin-wagon' was coined.

 

This practicality, along with the bad-boy image made these the must-have car for the young man. Particularly if you lived near a beach.

 

The two companies Ford and Holden dominated the market, but a strong third was Chrysler Australia, Their local large car was developed from the 1960s Valiant, and the Panel Van version was known as the Sundowner.

 

I have applied the classic Sundowner graphic to what could have been a great retro product from the early 2000s Chrysler catalog, the PT Cruiser. With a longer wheelbase, 2-door-only, and panel van blanked windows, this would make the perfect low-cost surfing wagon for a new generation.

The YDS3 1966,

It wasn't their first bike, but 1966's YDS-3 certainly played a major role as establishing Yamaha as one of the world's major motorcycle manufacturers.

 

The YDS series had evolved steadily from the YDS-1 introduced in 1959 through the YDS-2 of 1962, before the YDS-3 really made a breakthrough. At a time when the sportsbike roost was ruled by British 500cc four-stroke machines, the lightweight Yamaha - with its 26ps 246cc parallel-twin two-stroke motor - established itself as one of the first Japanese sportsbikes.

 

The YDS-3 was designed with the export markets in mind. While the YDS-1 and YDS-2 had been designated as sports bikes, Yamaha felt that the bikes needed improvements in certain areas to succeed worldwide.

 

High-performance had not been a major consideration for domestic market Japanese bikes, due in no small part to the lack of freeways or even paved roads. However, the focus changed for the YDS-3. Engineers took the highly-regarded YDS engine and built a more rigid frame to improve handling and straight line stability. The YDS-3 was the first twin to use an autolube system, therefore doing away with the often messy job of pre-mixing the fuel with two-stroke oil. Its blend of performance and reliability, combined with innovative new features like adjustable shock absorbers, showed riders that they could enjoy everyday practicality in a high performance motorcycle.

 

In order to make a full-fledged entry into the US motorcycle market Yamaha would have to overcome these two hurdles of building a more rigid frame and solving the problem of having to mix the gasoline and oil. The YDS-3 was much revered around the world, especially in America, making it a worthy entry into Yamaha's hall of fame.

  

The World Solar Challenge (WSC), or the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge since 2013, tied to the sponsorship of Bridgestone Corporation is the world's most well-known solar-powered car race event. A biennial road race covering 3,022 km (1,878 mi) through the Australian Outback, from Darwin, Northern Territory, to Adelaide, South Australia, created to foster the development of experimental, solar-powered vehicles.

The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations, although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 32-year history spanning fourteen races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987. Initially held once every three years, the event became biennial from the turn of the century.

Since 2001 the World Solar Challenge was won seven times out of nine efforts by the Nuna team and cars of the Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands, with only the Tokai Challenger, built by the Tokai University of Japan able to take the crown in 2009 and 2011.

Starting in 2007, the WSC has been raced in multiple classes. After the German team of Bochum University of Applied Sciences competed with a four-wheeled, multi-seat car, the BoCruiser (in 2009), in 2013 a radically new "Cruiser Class" was introduced, racing and stimulating the technological development of practically usable, and ideally road-legal, multi-seater solar vehicles. Since its inception, Solar Team Eindhoven's four- and five-seat Stella solar cars from Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) won the Cruiser Class in all three races so far.

Remarkable technological progress has been achieved since the GM led, highly experimental, single-seat Sunraycer prototype first won the WSC with an average speed of 66.9 km/h (41.6 mph). Once competing cars became steadily more capable to match or exceed legal maximum speeds on the Australian highway, the race rules were consistently made more demanding and challenging — for instance after Honda's Dream car first won the race with an average speed exceeding 55 mph (88.5 km/h) in 1996. In 2005 the Dutch Nuna team were the first to beat an average speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).

The 2017 Cruiser class winner, the five-seat Stella Vie vehicle, was able to carry an average of 3.4 occupants at an average speed of 69 km/h (43 mph). Like its two predecessors, the 2017 Stella Vie vehicle was successfully road registered by the Dutch team, further emphasizing the great progress in real world compliance and practicality that has been achieved.

The World Solar Challenge held its 30th anniversary event on October 8–15, 2017.

The 2019 World Solar Challenge will take place from 13 to 20 October. 53 teams from 24 countries have entered the competition. The same 3 classes, Challenger (30 teams), Cruiser (23 teams) and Adventure will be featured.

 

Plaça del Milcentenari - Manresa, Barcelona (Spain).

 

View Large On White

 

ENGLISH

Medieval cuisine refers to the foods, eating habits, and cooking methods of various European cultures during the Middle Ages, a period roughly dating from the 5th to the 16th century. During this period, diets and cooking changed across Europe, and these changes helped lay the foundations for modern European cuisine.

 

Bread was the staple, followed by other foods made from cereals, such as porridge and pasta. Meat was more prestigious and more expensive than grain or vegetables. Common seasonings included verjuice, wine and vinegar. These, along with the widespread use of honey or sugar (among those who could afford it), gave many dishes a sweet-sour flavor. The most popular types of meat were pork and chicken, while beef, which required greater investment in land, was less common. Cod and herring were mainstays among the northern population, but a wide variety of other saltwater and freshwater fish were also eaten. Almonds, both sweet and bitter, were eaten whole as garnish, or more commonly ground up and used as a thickener in soups, stews, and sauces. Particularly popular was almond milk, which was a common substitute for animal milk as a cooking medium during Lent and fasts.

 

Slow transportation and inefficient food preservation techniques prevented long-distance trade of many foods. For the most part, only the wealthy, especially the nobility, could afford imported ingredients such as spices. Because of this, their cuisine was more prone to foreign influence than the cuisine of poorer people. As each level of society imitated the one above it, innovations from international trade and foreign wars gradually disseminated through the upper middle class of medieval cities.

 

There were typically two meals a day: dinner at mid-day and a lighter supper in the evening. Moralists frowned on breaking the overnight fast too early, and members of the church and cultivated gentry avoided it. For practical reasons, breakfast was still eaten by most working men, and was tolerated for young children, women, the elderly and the sick. Because the church preached against gluttony and other weaknesses of the flesh, men tended to be ashamed of the weak practicality of breakfast. Lavish dinner banquets and late-night reresopers (from Occitan rèire-sopar, "late supper") with considerable amounts of alcoholic beverage were considered immoral. The latter were especially associated with the vices of gambling, crude language, drunkenness, and lewd behavior. Minor meals and snacks were common (although also disliked by the church), and working men commonly received an allowance from their employers in order to buy nuncheons, small morsels to be eaten during breaks.

 

More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_cuisine

 

------------------------------

 

CASTELLANO

La gastronomía medieval queda definida como el conjunto de las costumbres culinarias y de los alimentos relacionados con la época medieval típicos de la zona de Europa.

 

Muchos de los cambios y costumbres acaecidas durante este período pusieron lo que son hoy en día los fundamentos de las cocinas nacionales y regionales de la actual Europa, debe la exportación de muchos alimentos frescos, especialmente la fruta, el pescado y la carne, algo que sin embargo es en la actualidad muy corriente en todas las naciones industrializadas. No obstante, los alimentos altamente refinados y exclusivos elaborados para la nobleza acaudalada se consideraban como influencias extranjeras y eran más propensas a ser internacionalizadas que los comestibles de los estratos más bajos de la sociedad. Las tendencias fijadas por el consumo de los reyes y de su corte de nobles seguían siendo influyentes, desde el punto de vista culinario debido a que la población deseaba emularlas, especialmente la clase media superior de las ciudades medievales.

 

La sociedad medieval comía cerca de dos veces al día: Almuerzo (el equivalente medieval en la actualidad es la comida) cercana a la hora del mediodía y una merienda ligera. Los moralistas estaban en contra de romper la frontera entre la noche y el día con una comida tal y como el desayuno, y de esta forma los miembros de algunas comunidades religiosas lo evitaron. El desayuno era, por razones prácticas, elaborado para muchos trabajadores, niños, mujeres y enfermos, siempre a horas muy tempranas. La mayoría de las personas que sucumbían al desayuno, lo consideraban una práctica débil. Las cenas a altas horas de la noche y los banquetes en los que solía haber considerables cantidades de alcohol eran considerados inmorales. Se consideraban asociados con vicios tales como: apuesta, lenguaje soez, bebida y prostitución. Las comidas de rango menor y los aperitivos eran muy comunes (a pesar de no estar bien vistos por la Iglesia), de esta forma los trabajadores recibían el permiso de sus patronos para la compra de comida para ser ingerida durante las paradas de trabajo.

 

Más info: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocina_medieval

It's really been a good day for my Classic Range Rover hunting, 4 of these mighty machines within about 100 yards of one another!

 

Yes, believe it or not, the origin of the mighty Range Rover goes back to the communistic clumsiness of British Leyland, where, in one of their rare moments of genius, they realised the dream that a contemporary 4x4 could be married with the luxuries and styling of a regular saloon car!

 

The original concept of the Range Rover can be traced back to the groundbreaking original Land Rover of the 1940's, where upon its introduction in 1948 as an extended development of the American Willy's Jeep, the Land Rover had taken the world by storm and become the most desired 4x4 in the world. Light, practical, endlessly tunable and easy to maintain, the Land Rover was a hit across the globe, primarily in the colonies of the British Empire, taking people to remote regions that had once been only within the reach of a Horse or a Camel. Initially, a plan was made to create a saloon style version of the Land Rover in 1949 with the help of coachbuilder Tickford, dubbed the 'Land Rover Station-Wagon', but this was not exactly a success and sold only 700 examples before the car was withdrawn from production in 1951. The main features of the Station-Wagon were a wooden-framed body, seven seats, floor carpets, a heater, a one-piece windscreen and other car-like features, its hand-built nature kept prices high.

In 1954 Land Rover took another stab at the Station Wagon concept, only this time it was built in-house rather than outsourced to a different company. This version's primary market was for those who required an off-road vehicle with greater capacity, such as ambulances or even small buses in remote regions such as the Scottish Highlands. But even though this second incarnation of the Station Wagon was available with features such as an interior light, heater, door and floor trims and upgraded seats, the basic Land Rover roots of this car meant it was still tough and capable, but the firm suspension made its road performance somewhat mediocre.

 

In 1958, Land Rover took yet another stab with the Road Rover, a development of combining the Land Rover chassis and running gear with the internal furnishings and body of a regular saloon car. The intended audience of the Road Rover was again in the remote British Colonies of Africa and the Australian Outback, where the firm suspension would be useful on the long, uneven roads. By the 1960's however, developments across the pond in the United States were starting to rock Rover's boat, as the newly coined Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) began to make progress. International Harvester released the Scout, and Ford the Bronco, offering a different blend of off and on-road ability from existing utility 4x4s such as the Land Rover and the Jeep, proving capable of good on-road comfort and speed while retaining more than adequate off-road ability for most private users. The Jeep Wagoneer proved the concept further, being both spacious and practical, but still with the raunchy off-road abilities to conquer the harsh American terrain.

 

Being frontline observers to this, Rover dealers in the United States looked on in horror as the American motor industry cornered the market for the SUV, and through frustration the president of Rover's USA division sent head office a Land Rover Series II 88 fitted with a Buick V8, designed for contemporary American pickup trucks, which offered far greater on-road performance and refinement than any Land Rover then in production.

 

Things came full circle though thanks to a man named Charles Spencer King, a former apprentice at Rolls Royce and one of the most prominent figures in the ownership of Rover and its transition to British Leyland. Taking over the development, he began the development program with the 100-inch Station Wagon project, taking the original concepts of the previous Road Rover and fitting it with coil springs after coming to the conclusion that only long-travel coil springs could provide the required blend of luxury car comfort and Land Rover's established off-road ability. His realisation of this apparently came when he drove a Rover P6 across rough scrubland adjacent to Land Rover's Solihull Factory, but was also helped by the fact that Land Rover purchased the coil springs from a Ford Bronco and began developing from those. Permanent 4WD was also necessary so as to provide both adequate handling and to reliably absorb the power that would be required by the vehicle if it was to be competitive, which came through in the form of a new transmission known as the Land Rover 101 Forward Control. The final piece to the puzzle though was the use of the Buick derived Rover V8, a strong, reliable, lightweight and endlessly tunable engine. In addition to the regular V8, the car was fitted with both a starting handle for emergencies, and carburettors to help continue to supply fuel at extreme angles.

 

The final design, launched in 1970 with bodywork styled largely by the engineering team rather than David Bache's styling division, was marketed as 'A Car For All Reasons'. In its original guise, the Range Rover was more capable off-road than the Land Rover but was much more comfortable, offering a top speed in excess of 100mph, a towing capacity of 3.5 tons, spacious accommodation for five people and groundbreaking features such as a four-speed, dual-range, permanent four-wheel-drive gearbox and hydraulic disc brakes on all wheels. The body was constructed, in keeping with other Rover products, of lightweight aluminium, and in its first incarnation was only available as a two-door utilitarian runabout, rather than the five-door luxury car we know today. This was rectified in 1981 when a 4-door version was made available, but this doesn't mean that the Range Rover wasn't a success before this change.

 

Upon its launch in June 1970, the Range Rover was lauded with critical acclaim, and Rover was praised for succeeding in marrying the practicalities of a modern 4x4 with the luxury capabilities of a standard road car. With a top speed of 95mph and a 0-60 acceleration of less than 15 seconds, performance was stated as being better than many family saloon cars of its era, and off-road performance was good, owing to its long suspension travel and high ground clearance. The bulky but practical design was also praised, with many considering it a piece of artwork, with one example being put on display in the Louvre in Paris! Early celebrity ownership also helped the sales quota, but not in the same way you'd expect today. Instead of Musicians and Movie Stars buying up stashes of Range Rovers like they do nowadays, people of established wealth such as Princess Diana and Government bodies became proud custodians of these mighty machines.

 

Problems however were quick to occur, as let's not forget, this was a British Leyland product. Reliability was a major issue, with strike cars being especially poor as many would leave the factory with vital components missing or not installed properly. To save costs, many pieces of the cars were carried over from other Leyland products, with switches and dials being donated from Austin Allegros, and the door handles coming direct from Morris Marinas. Name any of the faults endemic to British Leyland products of the time, and the Range Rover suffered from the same curse, be they mechanical, electric, cosmetic, or, worst of all, the demon rust!

 

But the Range Rover survived to see the 1980's despite its faults, and after the introduction of an extra set of doors it started to gain a true identity as the luxury motor of choice for the new money. With the additional 5-door layout, new variants such as the long wheelbase Vogue and the SE (Special Equipment) versions took many of the luxury items of the Jaguar XJ series such as leather seats and hazelnut wooden trim and placed them into the Range Rover. In the 1980s as well, special utility versions began to be developed, including a 6x6 Fire Tender for airfields and small airports, Ambulances for military bases and remote regions, and one special variant for his holiness the Pope, affectionately dubbed the Popemobile!

 

However, towards the late 1980's the Range Rover in its original incarnation was starting to look very much its age. The angular design was looking tired, and internally its utilitarian roots were in evidence. The dashboard was not much like that of a regular saloon car, but more a bus or a truck, with a huge steering wheel like that from a tractor, and was not particularly well equipped. Land Rover however intended to narrow the Range Rover's portfolio to the truly luxury market rather than having the low end versions which didn't sell as well due to their expense. In 1989 Land Rover launched the Discovery, which was similar in size to the Range Rover but cheaper and given a more family layout with seats and furnishings being carried over from the Austin Montego. To bring the Range Rover back into the front line of luxury motors for the 1990's, Rover Group (the descendant of British Leyland) put together a plan to design a new car under the chassis codenumber P38A (or just P38 for short). Four years of development and £300 million later, the car was launched to a whirlwind of critical acclaim. With a beautifully equipped interior, a more car-like design of dashboard and with a wider variety of luxury trim levels, including the personalised Autobiography editions, the P38 was the first of the mighty Range Rovers to appeal to the bling-bling generation.

 

This, however, left the original Range Rover out in the cold, and even though it was still a much loved part of the British motoring scene, the time had come for the original, dubbed the Range Rover Classic after launch of the P38. The last of the original Range Rovers slunk silently of the production line at Solihull in 1996, with production now fully based on the new P38, as well as to future developments such as the Freelander of 1997 and ongoing Discovery and Defender. Today original Range Rovers are somewhat easy to come by depending on where you look. In London you'll find a fair few (after all, these were the original Chelsea Tractors), but even in the country you'll bump into these things, especially around my home of Devon where the Range Rover/Land Rover products were perfect for the rugged Moorland terrain. Early British Leyland ones you'd be hard pressed to find, most rusting away in the 1980's, but the Rover Group ones of the 80's and 90's are by no means rare.

 

But even so, 45 years after the first Range Rover left the factory in Solihull, Range Rovers continue to be produced today, now in it's 4th Generation and available in more variations than ever before! Although British Leyland has long since died together with their many woeful products such as the Morris Marina and the Austin Allegro, the Range Rover is very much their legacy, the last of their original products to survive the strikes and bankruptcy, fighting off the fuel crisis and privatisation by the Thatcher Government, and then being split in 2000 by BMW and juggled between owners Ford and TATA Steel, and still being the luxury motorised toy of the modern day rich! :)

In recent times, activewear has gained significant attention and interest from people all around the world. This emerging trend has brought about a revolution in the way people choose to dress, with an emphasis on comfort and practicality, as opposed to just aesthetics.

 

For details, www.beautifulcng.com/what-is-activewear/

Taurus - SALMIAH HASSAN

youtu.be/b6xzKeX9gTw

 

The characteristics of taurus are solidity, practicality, extreme determination and strength of will - no one will ever drive them, but they will willingly and loyally follow a leader they trust. They are stable, balanced, conservative good, law-abiding citizens and lovers of peace, possessing all the best qualities of the bourgeoisie. As they have a sense of material values and physical possessions, respect for property and a horror of falling into debt, they will do everything in their power to maintain the security of the status quo and be somewhat hostile to change.

 

Mentally, the caracteristics of taurus are keen-witted and practical more often than intellectual, but apt to become fixed in their opinions through their preference for following accepted and reliable patterns of experience. Taurus character is generally dependable, steadfast, prudent, just, firm and unshaken in the face of difficulties. Their vices arise from their virtues, going to extremes on occasion,such as sometimes being too slavish to the conventions they admire.

 

On rare occasions a Taurus may be obstinately and exasperatingly self-righteous, unoriginal, rigid, ultraconservative, argumentative, querulous bores, stuck in a self-centered rut. They may develop a brooding resentment through nursing a series of injuries received and, whether their characters are positive or negative, they need someone to stroke their egos with a frequent, "Well Done!" Most Taurus people are not this extreme though.

 

They are faithful and generous friends with a great capacity for affection, but rarely make friends with anyone outside their social rank, to which they are ordinarily excessively faithful. In the main, they are gentle, even tempered, good natured, modest and slow to anger, disliking quarreling and avoiding ill-feeling. If they are provoked, however, they can explode into violent outbursts of ferocious anger in which they seem to lose all self-control. Equally unexpected are their occasional sallies into humor and exhibitions of fun.

 

Although their physical appearance may belie it, they have a strong aesthetic taste, enjoying art, for which they may have a talent, beauty (recoiling from anything sordid or ugly) and music. They may have a strong, sometimes unconventional, religious faith. Allied to their taste for all things beautiful is a love for the good things of life pleasure, comfort, luxury and good food and wine and they may have to resist the temptation to over indulgence, leading to drunkenness, gross sensuality, and covetousness.

 

In their work, Taurus are industrious and good craftspeople, and are not afraid of getting their hands dirty. They are reliable, practical, methodical and ambitious, within a framework of obedience to superiors. They are at their best in routine positions of trust and responsibility, where there is little need of urgency and even less risk of change, and a pension at the end. Yet they are creative and good founders of enterprises where the rewards of their productiveness come from their own work and not that of others.

 

They can flourish in many different trades and professions: banking, architecture, building, almost any form of bureaucracy, auctioneering, farming, medicine, chemistry, industry Taurus make good managers and foremen surveying, insurance, education and, perhaps surprisingly, music and sculpture. They make an ideal trustee or guardian, and can attain eminence as a chef. Some Taurus are gifted enough in singing to become opera stars or to excel in more popular types of music.

They are more than averagely amorous and sensually self-conscious, but sexually straightforward and not given to experiment. They make constant, faithful, home loving spouses and thoughtful, kindly parents, demanding too much of neither their spouses nor children. They can be over possessive and may sometimes play the game of engineering family roles for the pleasure of making up the quarrel. If anyone offends their amour proper they can be a determined enemy, though magnanimous in forgiveness if their opponent makes an effort to meet them halfway.

 

No other sign in the zodiac is closer to earth then Taurus. The main objective in leading a Taurean life is primarily (though not entirely) to maintain stability and physical concerns. Your inner spiritual sense longs for earthly harmony and wholesomeness. When you fully understand this, and work toward this end, you will no longer need to blindly reassure yourself with external possessions and comforts. A realization that finding this inner peace will cause all of the above mentioned positive things will overtake you and your life will be very full.

 

Ultimately the Taurean needs to discover their truest, deepest and highest values. When they know what is truly valuable, they are no longer chained to people and to things that have to do with lesser values. The greatest indication of value to a Taurean is beauty, which cannot be owned, only appreciated.

 

Possible Health Concerns For Taurus...

Taurus governs the throat and neck and its subjects need to beware throat infections, goiter and respiratory ailments such as asthma. They are said to be at risk of diseases of the genitals, womb, liver and kidneys, and of abscesses and rheumatism. Because their body type has an inclination to physical laziness, Taureans can be overweight.

   

It seated eight passengers in comfort and came from the factory with bright windshield and rear window trim, richer interior fabric choices, Special Deluxe fender script badges, and a wood-grain finish on the interior metal panels. All three seats were upholstered in leather-like material and the rear two seats were totally removable. Offering an adequate 97 bhp from the 217.8-cu. in. six-cylinder backed by a three-speed manual transmission and a 118.5-in. wheelbase, this Plymouth wagon is a versatile and comfortable vehicle which also provides a large dose of practicality. Only 2,072 Special Deluxe wagons were produced for 1950.

 

Classic Car Auctions

Classic & Sports Cars te Druten

31/05/21 - 16/06/21

Market Value : -

Highest bid : € 17.500

 

3,6 Litre

6 Cylinder

97 bhp

 

Metropole Classic Cars

Meubellaan 1

Druten

Nederland - Netherlands

June 2021

BUYER'S GUIDE

 

REAL GRAND TOURING:

ITALY TO ENGLAND IN A MASERATI LEVANTE

 

July 11, 2017

 

As we headed deep into the Jura Mountains through Switzerland into the heart of France, I wondered what Adolfo Orsi would have made of the Maserati Levante. The Maserati brothers—Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, and Ernesto—of course founded the automaker that bears their name. But it was self-made industrialist and machine tool magnate Orsi, after buying the company from the brothers in 1937 and moving it from Bologna to Modena, who in 1957 launched its first volume-produced gran turismo, the 3500 GT. Orsi loved racing cars. He loved big, fast, elegant road cars. Could he imagine an SUV wearing the iconic trident badge?

 

Orsi would have understood the economics of the Levante. The SUV with a premium badge is a business strategy that’s proven hugely successful for Porsche, which uses profits from the Cayenne and Macan SUVs to fund ongoing development of its sports cars. Premium brands from Bentley to Jaguar to Lamborghini to Rolls-Royce are now following the Porsche model and jumping on the SUV bandwagon; there are even rumors Ferrari is working on an SUV based on next-generation GTC4Lusso hardware.

 

The 3500 GT didn’t stop Maserati from skidding into financial crisis in 1958 after a $3 million deal to supply machine tools to Argentina fell apart with the ousting of dictator Juan Perón. But almost 60 years later, in a world where demand for big GTs is finite and buyers are turning away from sedans, no matter how exotic the badge, the newly launched Levante is already doing the heavy lifting at Maserati, accounting for 38 percent of sales in the U.S. for the first six months of this year. It’s on track to become the company’s best-selling model worldwide. But is it good enough to secure Maserati’s future?

 

To find out, we start in Modena, where Maserati, operating out of a modern glass-curtained structure in front of the factory built by Orsi in the late 1930s, still calls home. This is where the GranTurismo and GranCabrio—both mildly tweaked for the 2018 model year with a new grille and front fascia, an upgraded interior that includes a new infotainment system, and the adoption of the 456-hp and 384-lb-ft version of the 4.7-liter V-8 as standard—are still assembled. After a perfunctory introduction to the Levante, we head out of the courtyard and into the Modena morning traffic. Our first stop is 180 miles to the west, at the Mirafiori factory in Turin, where Maserati’s SUV is made.

 

The E35 autostrada running past Modena is busy and littered with speed cameras, so we run at no more than 85–90 mph, slowing to 80 as we go under the camera gantries. It’s quieter with fewer cameras after we turn onto the E70 toward Turin, and we pick up the pace. The Levante cruises effortlessly at 100 mph, the 424-hp 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 under the hood of our S-spec version turning a relaxed 2,400 rpm. It’s a deceptively potent powerplant, this engine, building speed with an elastic surge rather than a sledgehammer shove. At one point the big Maserati is loafing along at an indicated 140 mph.

 

Orsi, whose best Maserati road cars effortlessly ate up highway miles at triple-digit speeds, would have approved.

 

He would have approved, too, of the fact the Levante is made in Italy. That wasn’t the original plan: The Kubang concept that previewed the Levante in 2011 (itself a rework of a 2003 Maserati SUV concept also called Kubang designed by Giugiaro) was originally intended to be based on Jeep Grand Cherokee hardware and built in the U.S. The idea made sense to FCA boss Sergio Marchionne, a razor-sharp financial engineer with little time for the sentimental side of the auto biz. But common sense—and a labor deal with workers in Turin—prevailed, and Levante production was switched to the giant Fiat Mirafiori plant. The Jeep hardware idea went away, too: The Levante rolls on a modified version of the platform that underpins the Quattroporte and Ghibli sedans.

 

Mirafiori is a steel and concrete metaphor for the decline of Fiat as a major automaker. Construction of the factory was started in 1937 to replace the quirky plant a few miles away at Lingotto, where the production line spiraled slowly upward from the ground floor, with completed cars being tested on a rooftop track. That scene in the movie The Italian Job where the three Minis are chased around what looks like a banked NASCAR oval someone built six stories up? Filmed on the roof at Lingotto.

 

In its pomp Mirafiori was the largest industrial complex in Italy and one of the largest auto factories ever built. Sprawling across almost 1,000 acres, with 25 miles of production lines, at its peak it employed 50,000 workers and could build 5,000 cars a day. This year it will build less than one-twentieth that number. Large swathes of Mirafiori are quietly rusting and crumbling, but the area of the plant that’s been refurbished to build the Levante, adjacent to the line for the slow-selling Alfa Romeo MiTo compact, is bright, airy, and gleaming—the very model of a modern auto factory.

 

With 13 available exterior colors, 28 interior color combinations, three available engines—345-hp and 424-hp versions of the gasoline V-6, plus the 271-hp VM Motori 3.0-liter turbodiesel V-6—wheels ranging from 18 inches to 21 inches, and various market-specific pieces of hardware to meet regulations and customer preferences in places as diverse as Shanghai, Seattle, and San Marino, Maserati says it is possible to build 1,583,090,535,606 different variants of the Levante. With production currently pegged at 140 a day, it’s going to take them a long, long time. …

 

The St. Bernard Pass, north of Turin, near the top end of the Aosta Valley, is sports car country. The tarmac squirms and wiggles up and over the third-highest mountain pass in Switzerland, placing a premium on grip and agility, power and torque. The Levante is no sports car, but it has 50/50 front to rear weight distribution and what Maserati claims is the lowest center of gravity in its class. As the road twists and turns, our S model, on the 20-inch wheel/tire combination, offers decent levels of front-end bite, and the mechanical rear differential, working in combination with the all-wheel-drive system that sends 100 percent of the torque to the rear axle until front wheel slip is detected, helps punch the big Maserati out of tight corners. With 428 lb-ft on tap from 1,750 rpm to 5,000 rpm, the twin-turbo V-6 makes impressively light work the Levante’s 4,650-pound heft.

 

If the Levante cost the same per pound as beluga caviar, it would be priced at almost $20 million. I only know this because our dinner in Geneva after the run down from the St. Bernard Pass, hosted by Caviar House & Prunier’s Jean-Pierre Esmilaire, featured some of the company’s finest beluga, straight from a 4-pound tin that apparently retails for about $17,000. That’s a lot of money for fish eggs, no matter how rare the fish or how tasty the eggs. A Levante S specified to a similar level as the one we’re driving would retail for about $95,000 in the U.S., or roughly five-and-a-half 4-pound tins of Caviar House & Prunier beluga. In that context, it’s a value. Back in the real world, it’s merely competitive, retailing Stateside for about the same money as a similarly configured Porsche Cayenne S.

 

Whether it’s caviar or cars, much of what makes a modern luxury brand is carefully managed scarcity combined with a compelling backstory. Maserati has the compelling backstory, starring legendary cars such as Bora, Khamsin, Kyalami and the original Ghibli, with supporting roles from Wilbur Shaw’s back-to-back wins in the 8CTF at the 1939 and 1940 Indy 500s, and a World Formula 1 Championship in 1957 with Juan-Manuel Fangio at the wheel of the glorious 250F, still one of the most beautiful front-engine racing cars ever built.

 

It should have the scarcity, too. Even with Levante in full production—right-hand-drive markets are only now just getting the gasoline engine versions, and a V-8 powered model is reportedly in the wings—company boss Reid Bigland says there is no plan to retail more than 75,000 Maseratis a year. We’ll see if that number holds. Sergio Marchionne certainly won’t back away from the opportunity to sell more high-margin Maseratis if sales of low-margin Fiats and Dodges stutter, and given the fact Porsche last year sold more than 237,000 vehicles worldwide, it would seem he has plenty of headroom to expand the Maserati brand’s footprint without compromising its exclusive image.

 

It comes as no surprise to learn Porsche’s Cayenne was the benchmark against which the Levante was developed, and as we switch back and forth between back roads and autoroutes through Switzerland and France, passing through the heart of Champagne country en route to Calais, there’s time to reflect on how close the Maserati team came to its target.

 

The Levante is an inch narrower than the Porsche, but it rolls on a 4-inch-longer wheelbase. That doesn’t quite translate into the interior room the raw numbers suggest, however, because the Maserati’s dash-to-axle is much more extravagant than the Porsche’s. The Levante doesn’t feel quite as big inside as you’d expect.

 

The Italian twin-turbo V-6 has near identical power and slightly more torque than its German counterpart, and it delivers both with a touch more brio. Both cars have eight-speed automatics with paddle shifters, and here the edge goes to the more maturely calibrated Cayenne transmission. In Sport mode the shifts in the Maserati thump home hard—simply, engineers admit, to impress customers who think that’s how a sports car should be. It’s unnecessary. So, too, is the overly melodramatic snarl from the exhaust.

 

Maserati opted to make air suspension standard across the Levante range, and it was the right call. It enables the ride height to be raised for off-road work and lowered for high-speed freeway running, with five different settings available across a 3.3-inch range. In Sport mode the primary ride is plusher than in the Cayenne, though with the 20-inch wheel/tire setup, the secondary ride can be jittery on broken surfaces. Normal mode ups the comfort level, but there’s more secondary body motion than in, say, a Range Rover Sport, and the diagonal and side-to-side pitching isn’t as well controlled. And although the steering is accurate, there’s not the feedback you want. It all adds up to a chassis that, though fundamentally precise and predictable, can leave the driver feeling oddly detached on occasion.

 

It’s best to drive the Levante like a gran turismo rather than try and hustle it like a sports car. Off the freeways I liked it with the engine and suspension in Normal mode and the transmission in manual, taking the time, as I did in the 3500 GT I once drove, to get the Levante slowed and settled and in the right gear before committing to corners, then clipping the apex and getting back on the gas nice and early. As with those big, old Maserati coupes, less haste equals more speed in the Levante.

 

En route to Calais and the train that will take us under the English Channel to Dover to begin the final leg of our journey to Goodwood and a weekend at the fabulous Festival of Speed, we make a brief stop in front of the eerily deserted pits and grandstands on either side of the busy D27 road, on what was once the start-finish straight of the old grand prix circuit just outside Reims. The first race on this fearsomely fast road course was held here in 1926, and Formula 1 cars raced here until 1966. A Maserati, driven by maestro Fangio, held the outright lap record in 1953.

 

We’ve had almost 900 miles of seat time in the Levante. That’s enough time to consider its strengths and weaknesses. There are things that can be—and need to be—fixed quickly, like the jittery secondary ride (I’d like to try a Levante on 19-inch rims and more compliant tires), the obtuse PRNDL shifter (a fundamental control interface should not be so difficult to use), and the bits and pieces in the interior that have been obviously lifted from the FCA parts bin. The infotainment system also has some strange quirks—the home screen, for example, features dozens of identically sized and colored icons that in our car seemed to change position from time to time for no apparent reason, making finding the function you wanted doubly difficult.

 

Melding the spirit of Maserati with the practicality of an SUV requires a fine balancing act, and for the most part the Levante pulls it off. It’s more than just a transfer of familiar brand iconography to an unfamiliar vehicle format; the Levante works as a Maserati because big, fast, luxurious SUVs have become the gran turismos of the 21st century, the vehicles you buy to take you and your luggage quickly and comfortably across continents, on all roads, in all weather conditions.

 

Adolfo Orsi can rest easy.

 

Article by Angus MacKenzie

 

A Unique Configuration of 1850 facades

 

A Bird-eye View of Downtown Delphi in the 1850s

 

Dan McCain, Paul Brandenburg, Charkes Gerard & Tom Castaldi, successfully campaigned for the importance & practicality of using the historic business named & facades from Delphi's Canal Era. Charles Gerard shouldered the task of providing the architects enough authentic photos & description to faithfully represent a section of an 1850s street front in Delphi.

Understanding, architectural license has been taken to accommodate the dimensions of the Canal Center & its surrounds, but this benchmark decision allows today's onlooker to step into early, virile Delphi, a hustling trade center, rather than a generic facsimile. With the completion of the Wabash & Eric Canal to Delphi in 1840 a steady stream of fashions & new products turned Delphi into a cultural outpost in the Indiana wilderness.

The highest selling item was this

one of a kind 1917 WILLMAR LITTLE OAK – Sold $420,000

 

Believed to be the only known Little Oak in existence

Purchased from Ralph Hall

 

Featured in the magazine Antique Power - March/April 2015 edition.

 

Old advertising promoted it as a one-man tractor.

 

Cross-mounted engine - engine sits crossways in the frame to eliminate the need for bevel.

Engine is located between the machine's rear wheels.

Engine is started from the driver's seat with a lever.

One of the first tractors to use the engine's power to lift the plow.

 

Upon looking at the tractor in its original form, it was discovered there was red paint hidden in the corners and edges on the exterior of the sheet metal and under the hood.

 

Waukesha Model P Engine

4-cylinder engine

20 HP - drawbar

40 HP - belt

Chain driven

All-new clutch parts were cast

New drive chains

Radiator cleaned and repaired

All-new sheet metal

Painted with high-quality automotive paint

 

The Little Oak tractor was an engineering masterpiece of its time. This machine was coined the one-man tractor for the operator's ability to start the tractor from the platform and raise and lower the plow from the operating position. While most tractors of the time were unstyled machines built for practicality, the Little Oak was built as an absolute work of art.

 

An example of the amazing craftsmanship on this tractor is the oil tank above the chain that drips oil on the chain as it operates. In today’s world, where tractors steer themselves and turn around on their own, it’s hard to imagine how revolutionary a one-man tractor like this was at the time.

 

There is no other prairie tractor like it. George has a keen eye for capturing the absolute best tractors ever built, and this Little Oak is a testament to the extraordinary machines in his museum.

 

Mecum Gone Farmin’ Auction

Schaaf Truck & Tractor Museum

Frankfort, Illinois

Will County, USA.

  

As seen at Henry Ford's Greenfield Village.

 

The first time I seen one of these was in a 1930's Three Stooges Short called, Yes, We Have No Bonanza.

 

Originally published in the Wheelman Magazine, 1979

 

The Ingo-bike was invented by two brothers, Phillip and Prescott Huyssen, during the early 1930's.

Its safety and versatility-two could ride as easily as one - made it a healthy source of family fun. The Ingo's revolutionary driving principle was akin to perpetual motion, and its ride was compared to "the sensation you get standing at a ship's prow enjoying the lift and lull of the rhythmic swell as the ship rides high on the crest and gently falls into the trough of the wave." It was touted at the time as the "first great advance in wheels in almost half a century."

 

Phillip Huyssen got the idea for the Ingo while he was at Prescott were returning home from the Chicago World's Fair. They were riding in the upper deck of a double-decker bus in order to enjoy the view. While riding south on South Park Avenue, Phil began to watch a group of small boys riding home-made scooters. The scooters were made of 2x4's and used a roller skate for wheels. one board was used to stand on, one to steer, and a cross-stick was used for handle-bars. One boy was using a 1x6 instead of a 2x4 to stand on, and when he pushed off, the board would hit the sidewalk and act as a brake. As Phil watched the boys, he got an idea, and told Prescott that if the rear wheel hub was off-center, the scooter could be propelled by pulling on the steering bar, and using a little "body English."

  

The two brothers went home, and began to work on their idea. They built a number of scooters with various size wheels and experimented with putting the eccentric wheel in the front and then in the back. These being depression days, there was no work and the banks were closed, the brothers were short of money and often had to improvise. The first working Ingo had a 12-inch front wheel and a 36-inch

   

rear wheel. The tried it out on a cold winter night, but avoided riding in their neighborhood at 70th and Calumet in Chicago, as they feared the neighbors would think they were crazy. This first success greatly encouraged the Huyssens, as they had invested hard-to-get money into their invention. They continued their work and made a final prototype with an 18-inch rear wheel made of 3/4-inch plywood wrapped in hard rubber. The bike received U.S. patent no. 1,679,819 with others pending.

 

The Huyssens took their prototype to Derinforth, Lee, Criten, and Wiles-Patent Attorneys. They demonstrated their invention to their attorney, Horace Dawson, by riding it in the hallways of the office building, and he liked it very much. The brothers borrowed some money and had movies made to show the Ingo in action. They took it to the Toy Fair in New York City where the bike was a hit. The Huyssens received hundreds of tentative orders while they were at the New York's McCalpine Hotel. On their return from New York, Mr. Dawson recommended

 

Illustrations courtesy Phil Huyssen, Hot Springs, Arkansas

 

giving the idea to Borg-Warner Company, a manufacturer of automobile, home appliance, aviation, marine, and agricultural products. They decided to release the Ingo-bike idea to Borg-Warner Company, who then transferred it to a subsidiary, Ingersol. The two brothers then spent some time testing the design at the Borg-Warner plant in Rockford, Illinois.

 

Production of the Ingo was set up in the fall of 1934. Many mistakes were made in the first construction, and a second, improved version was later developed. The second version was quicker and easier to ride, but it still had one drawback, its curved, steel platform supports would crack between the wooden riding platform and the rear wheel when the bike was ridden too hard. Then the rider would have to take the two halves of his broken into to the nearest welding shop. The bike was also very heavy which provided the rider with good exercise or a lot of work, according to his point of view.

 

Unfortunately, the Ingo was only manufactured for a short time. Production stopped in 1937, when the building the Ingo was made in was converted into an army shell factory. Then World War II broke out, and the Ingo idea was side-tracked.

 

The Ingo is both a novel and practical invention. It steals the show at any parade, and can be used in eye-catching tricks, such as jumping over low-fences, and pyramid riding in which a group of people form a pyramid while riding on an Ingo. In Hollywood it was pictured in many magazines, ridden in movies and in a Three

Stooges comedy and it was featured in the Pathe News. In the 1930's, rental agencies from Hollywood beaches, to New York's Central Park, did a substantial business renting out Ingos and teaching people how to ride them. They often gave out membership cards, which allowed the carrier to ride for free, after having paid for a certain number of rides. Games such as Ingo-polo became popular. Regular Ingo races were held at Victor McLaglen's Hollywood Sports Center in the '30's, and today, these bikes which can reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour are raced on the quarter-mile track at Wheelmen meets.

 

The Ingo is not only fun to ride, it is also one of the safest bikes ever invented. The riding platform is only six inches from the ground, so injuries from falling or being bounced off are unlikely. There are no chains, sprockets, or gears to catch fingers or clothes, and the fenders prevent both flying mud and injuries from the wheels.

 

When compared to modern-day 10-speeds, the Ingo bike doesn't seem to be a distance machine, but its inventors proved otherwise. On one of their early rides, Prescott and Phil rode from Chicago to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 8-1/2 hours. On another long and widely publicized ride,

   

Phillip Huyssen rode from Chicago to Miami, Florida, in April, 1935. The trip took him 12 days, and on his arrival he was officially greeted by the mayor of Miami. Six Ingos were shipped to Florida for publicity on his arrival, and many people learned to ride there. This ride also led to the Ingo being featured in the Miami Chamber of Commerce promotional magazine. The inventors weren't the only people who used the Ingo for long-distance travel. A 113-mile long Ingo-bike derby, running from Los Angeles to the Desert Circus Day Celebration in Pal Springs, California, was planned both to prove the practicality of the Ingo for traveling long distances, and to demonstrate the ease which which it could be used for sport and to improve one's health.

 

Many people used the Ingo for basic transportation, and office workers bouncing to work down Woodward Avenue were a familiar sight in World War II era Detroit. Others rode the Ingo as a safe, effective way to keep in shape. Ingo riding was promoted as a health-giving sport and was compared to tennis and jogging. It was advertised as a new Hollywood craze, used by the stars to keep their healthy good looks. The exercising theme was carried out in the Ingo's original name, "Exercycle," which was used in early news accounts. Its name was later changed to Ingo because R. C. Ingersol made "Ingo-clad" steel. Ingo-riding was touted as a gentle, rhythmic, non-monotonous daily exercise, which was a pleasant way to lose weight and gain perfect posture, poise, and balance. Ingo-riding was said to flex the muscles, rest the nerves, tone the system, and renew vitality.

The slogans, "It's fun to keep healthy," and "The Ingo is for everyone from 8 to 80," promoted this idea.

 

In recent years, the Ingo has not been forgotten. Wheelmen from all over the country collect, restore, and ride them. In various cities, modern bicycles which have been customized with an Ingo-like off-center rear hub, have been ridden in parades and as street bikes. Phil Huyssen has continued working on the Ingo idea. He has made a child's scooter patterned after the Ingo and is trying to make connections with a company to develop it. Mr. Huyssen also obtained a patent on an improved, easier-riding Ingo in 1972, which he hopes to get into production.

    

This month’s LUGNuts challenge is calledSpace Is The Place...all about vehicles with space names. Nothing sounds spacier than the 1974 Mercury Comet and this vehicle holds a special place in my heart as it was my first car...except mine didn’t look nearly this cool. If I had the money and the know-how I would have turned my white rusted heap into something like this. Because who needs practicality, trunk space, and seating for five, when you can have...drag racing!

Hundreds of African Refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia make a pilgrimage to Bethlehem to visit Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity for a Coptic Christmas. Bethlehem, Palestine, 6th January 2012.

 

Shortly about me:

 

It’s my passion to create stories and bring back pictures of events, people and places that are rarely seen. It’s a combination of exploration, exposition and artistry that together create a life of adventure and excitement.

 

In my work it is imperative for me that information be accurate and the images must be respectful of the subject and viewer. My goal is to combine creativity with practicality to capture the best possible images to document events, tell a story, meet the picture editor's deadlines.

 

If you would like to know more, or even just pick my brains to discuss your project with me, please visit my homepage documentary photography or send me an Email.

 

well this is not good.

  

like so many others i can only express my exasperation with those recent deteriorations. being on flickr for 6 years as a pro user there were many occasions when changes were introduced and people protested, there was the censor thing back then, then came the video controversy, but nothing was as bad as this. the other things, i had an opinion on them or not, but it did not massively affect the way how i used the site.

 

now this. when i looked at it first i thought i had the wrong link. this new design has made it basicly - i felt revulsed and unable to use it, it's just a complete psychological closing down, a visceral, visual reaction of aesthetic refusal. my soul doesn't want this.

 

flickr was always the place on the net where i operated in the most constant way and where i made the best experiences, got to know the nicest people.

i guess it's the end of an era.

 

so, practicalities. i relocated - already quite a few people there - to ipernity to play around a little to see how it feels and current activities take place there.

 

i will not close down here immediately, to observe the next developments & in the unlikely event the changes will be reverted & to figure out what to do with the archives. who knows what might happen.

 

one thing is clear: the way flickr looks and operates now, i can't use it like this. i really can't. it fucked with so many things.

 

so, see you on the other side.

www.ipernity.com/home/286665

 

or:

www.flowerville.co.uk

The car that whisked Paddy Hopkirk to victory at the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally. It could only be a Mini!

 

Here we have it, one of the most iconic little cars in the whole of history. A machine that revolutionised the concept of the city car, and what has now become a pure symbol of Englishness!

 

This little machine is simply known as the Mini! :D

 

Construction of the Mini first began in 1959, with the car designed by the British Motor Corporation's (BMC) chief designer Sir Alec Issigonis, who envisaged a car that had as much space as was humanly possible devoted to the passenger so as to combine the practicality of a big car with the nippy nature of a Dune Buggy. The result was that 80% of the car's platform was available for use by both passengers and luggage. The car was also designed to be fuel efficient, built in response to the 1956 Suez Crisis which resulted in rising fuel prices and petrol rationing. During this period it became apparent that German 'Bubble Car' equivalents such as the Heinkel Kabine and various Messerschmitt designs were starting to corner the market, and thus the Mini project was launched under project name ADO15 (Amalgamated Drawing Office project number 15). Great care was taken to make sure that as much space was saved for the passenger, including the instalment of compact rubber springs instead of conventional metal and the small but powerful BMC A-Series four-cylinder engine tucked away at the front.

 

In April 1959 the car was launched to the press under the designation of both the Austin Seven and the Morris Mini-Minor (due to the amalgamation of the Austin and Morris brands under BMC). By the time the car was let loose thousands had already been sent abroad in an audacious promotional campaign. Things however started slow for the Mini, but this rising star soon became an icon during the 1960's, selling 1,190,000 by 1967.

 

But, behind all the shining sales figures, there were some major problems for BMC and their wonderchild. Baffled by the car, Ford bought one for the base price of £497 and took it apart, desperate to know how their rivals were doing it for the money. As it turns out they weren't, and were able to determine that BMC was losing at least £30 on every single car they sold. Novelty was the only way to get the car properly moving in this competitive new world, and the Mini was all about that. By 1970 the car had appeared in a variety of movies and TV shows, the most famous of which was their charge to glory in the 1969 film 'The Italian Job', where a trio of Minis were used to plunder gold from under the noses of the Mafia and the Italian Authorities. A Leyland Mini holds a place in the heart of British TV under the ownership of Mr. Bean and his various clumsy antics, usually involving an unfortunate Reliant Regal. At the same time it was a car of choice for TV and Music Stars who wanted to show off their quirks!

 

From then on the car continued to keep up its notorious status as a British symbol of motoring, with a huge variety of cars being made including a spacious van, a country camper, a pickup truck and the Moke dune buggy! There were also two almost identical saloon versions of the car known as the Wolseley Hornet and the Riley Elf that were built between 1961 and 1969 as more luxurious alternatives to the original.

 

In 1969 the first major facelift came in the form of the Clubman, designed under British Leyland to give the car a new lease of life, but ended up being something of a mongrel. Although functionally the same, the boys at British Leyland couldn't help but get things off to a bad start by relocating construction from the Cowley Plant to the Longbridge Plant, which meant that all kits and tools had to be moved too and thus initial sales were very slow. British Leyland's reliability reputation was soon to follow, with the unfortunate Mini becoming a victim of the shoddy workmanship that had mired so many of its other products.

 

Eventually the Clubman was killed off in 1980, although the original Mini design had been built alongside and was still selling strong. British Leyland however had plans to kill off the Mini in 1980 by introducing its new small economy car, the Austin Metro. Built very much to the same principals of the Mini, the Metro was a much more angular design but still a capable little family hatchback. But the angular lines and big bulky body did nothing for the Metro, and the car failed to sell in the numbers domestically than those of the Mini internationally!

 

Towards the end of the 1980's and 1990's, the car came in a variety of different 'Special Editions' as the car became less of a mass-market machine and more a fashion item. The iconic nature of the car had sealed its fate with new owners of the Rover Group, BMW, who intended to keep the car going for as long as possible. At the same time the car was a major seller in Japan, which gave a boost of sales in the early 1990's with 40,000 new cars being exported there.

 

Eventually however, the design was starting to look very tired and with Rover Group making heavy losses, the Mini and its spiritual cousin the Metro were killed off in 2000 and 1999, respectively. Rover was granted the ability to run-out the model to the very end before Rover itself was sold off in 2000. During the breakup, BMW designed a new version of the Mini which was launched in 2000 and is still being built today as quite a sleek and popular machine, a little bit more bulky than the original but certainly keeping the novelty and charm. The originals however ended on the 4th October 2000, with a red Mini Cooper S bringing an end to 5,387,862 cars.

 

However, although the original Mini is now very much dead, the novelty that surrounds these tiny little cars is enough to keep thousands and thousands of these machines preserved or in continual everyday usage. Older Mini-Minors are a bit hard to come by and the Clubmans rusted away before you could get them home from the showroom, but the later Mini's sold in the 1980's and 1990's are still alive and kicking on the roads of Britain, and can still draw the attention of passers by even 56 years after the first ones left the production line!

First of July 2017 I made my way to Stonehaven, a small fishing town a few miles from Aberdeen, while there the sun shone high in the blue sky making it a perfect day to capture the scenery and landscape surrounding me, hence I packed my Nikon D750 and made full use of it, I left Stonehaven around 16pm and drove the few miles to this wonderful location Dunnottar Castle, absolutely breathtaking , I post a few of the photos I have taken along with a brief history of castles heritage .

 

Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope" is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Stonehaven.

 

The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength. Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.

 

The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.

 

The ruins of the castle are spread over 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres), surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 50 metres (160 ft) below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse.

 

The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is a scheduled monument, and twelve structures on the site are listed buildings.

 

History

Early Middle Ages

A chapel at Dunnottar is said to have been founded by St Ninian in the 5th century, although it is not clear when the site was first fortified, but in any case the legend is late and highly implausible. Possibly the earliest written reference to the site is found in the Annals of Ulster which record two sieges of "Dún Foither" in 681 and 694.

 

The earlier event has been interpreted as an attack by Brude, the Pictish king of Fortriu, to extend his power over the north-east coast of Scotland. The Scottish Chronicle records that King Domnall II, the first ruler to be called rí Alban (King of Alba), was killed at Dunnottar during an attack by Vikings in 900. King Aethelstan of Wessex led a force into Scotland in 934, and raided as far north as Dunnottar according to the account of Symeon of Durham. W. D. Simpson speculated that a motte might lie under the present caste, but excavations in the 1980s failed to uncover substantive evidence of early medieval fortification.

 

The discovery of a group of Pictish stones at Dunnicaer, a nearby sea stack, has prompted speculation that "Dún Foither" was actually located on the adjacent headland of Bowduns, 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) to the north.

 

Later Middle Ages

During the reign of King William the Lion (ruled 1165–1214) Dunnottar was a center of local administration for The Mearns. The castle is named in the Roman de Fergus, an early 13th-century Arthurian romance, in which the hero Fergus must travel to Dunnottar to retrieve a magic shield.

 

In May 1276 a church on the site was consecrated by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews. The poet Blind Harry relates that William Wallace captured Dunnottar from the English in 1297, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is said to have imprisoned 4,000 defeated English soldiers in the church and burned them alive.

 

In 1336 Edward III of England ordered William Sinclair, 8th Baron of Roslin, to sail eight ships to the partially ruined Dunnottar for the purpose of rebuilding and fortifying the site as a forward resupply base for his northern campaign. Sinclair took with him 160 soldiers, horses, and a corps of masons and carpenters.

 

Edward himself visited in July, but the English efforts were undone before the end of the year when the Scottish Regent Sir Andrew Murray led a force that captured and again destroyed the defences of Dunnottar.

 

In the 14th century Dunnottar was granted to William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland (d.1370), and in 1346 a licence to crenellate was issued by David II. Around 1359 William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, married Margaret Fraser, niece of Robert the Bruce, and was granted the barony of Dunnottar at this time. Keith then gave the lands of Dunnottar to his daughter Christian and son-in-law William Lindsay of Byres, but in 1392 an excambion (exchange) was agreed whereby Keith regained Dunnottar and Lindsay took lands in Fife.

 

William Keith completed construction of the tower house at Dunnottar, but was excommunicated for building on the consecrated ground associated with the parish church. Keith had provided a new parish church closer to Stonehaven, but was forced to write to the Pope, Benedict XIII, who issued a bull in 1395 lifting the excommunication.William Keith's descendents were created Earls Marischal in the mid 15th century, and they held Dunottar until the 18th century.

 

16th century rebuilding

Through the 16th century the Keiths improved and expanded their principal seats: at Dunnottar and also at Keith Marischal in East Lothian. James IV visited Dunnottar in 1504, and in 1531 James V exempted the Earl's men from military service on the grounds that Dunnottar was one of the "principall strenthis of our realme".

 

Mary, Queen of Scots, visited in 1562 after the Battle of Corrichie, and returned in 1564.

 

James VI stayed for 10 days in 1580, as part of a progress through Fife and Angus, during which a meeting of the Privy Council was convened at Dunnottar.

 

During a rebellion of Catholic nobles in 1592, Dunnottar was captured by a Captain Carr on behalf of the Earl of Huntly, but was restored to Lord Marischal just a few weeks later.

 

In 1581 George Keith succeeded as 5th Earl Marischal, and began a large scale reconstruction that saw the medieval fortress converted into a more comfortable home. The founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen, the 5th Earl valued Dunnottar as much for its dramatic situation as for its security.

 

A "palace" comprising a series of ranges around a quadrangle was built on the north-eastern cliffs, creating luxurious living quarters with sea views. The 13th-century chapel was restored and incorporated into the quadrangle.

 

An impressive stone gatehouse was constructed, now known as Benholm's Lodging, featuring numerous gun ports facing the approach. Although impressive, these are likely to have been fashionable embellishments rather than genuine defensive features.

 

Civil wars

Further information: Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

In 1639 William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal, came out in support of the Covenanters, a Presbyterian movement who opposed the established Episcopal Church and the changes which Charles I was attempting to impose. With James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, he marched against the Catholic James Gordon, 2nd Viscount Aboyne, Earl of Huntly, and defeated an attempt by the Royalists to seize Stonehaven. However, when Montrose changed sides to the Royalists and marched north, Marischal remained in Dunnottar, even when given command of the area by Parliament, and even when Montrose burned Stonehaven.

 

Marischal then joined with the Engager faction, who had made a deal with the king, and led a troop of horse to the Battle of Preston (1648) in support of the royalists.

 

Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the Engagers gave their allegiance to his son and heir: Charles II was proclaimed king, arriving in Scotland in June 1650. He visited Dunnottar in July 1650, but his presence in Scotland prompted Oliver Cromwell to lead a force into Scotland, defeating the Scots at Dunbar in September 1650.

 

The Honours of Scotland

Charles II was crowned at Scone Palace on 1 January 1651, at which the Honours of Scotland (the regalia of crown, sword and sceptre) were used. However, with Cromwell's troops in Lothian, the honours could not be returned to Edinburgh. The Earl Marischal, as Marischal of Scotland, had formal responsibility for the honours, and in June the Privy Council duly decided to place them at Dunnottar.

 

They were brought to the castle by Katherine Drummond, hidden in sacks of wool. Sir George Ogilvie (or Ogilvy) of Barras was appointed lieutenant-governor of the castle, and given responsibility for its defence.

 

In November 1651 Cromwell's troops called on Ogilvie to surrender, but he refused. During the subsequent blockade of the castle, the removal of the Honours of Scotland was planned by Elizabeth Douglas, wife of Sir George Ogilvie, and Christian Fletcher, wife of James Granger, minister of Kinneff Parish Church. The king's papers were first removed from the castle by Anne Lindsay, a kinswoman of Elizabeth Douglas, who walked through the besieging force with the papers sewn into her clothes.

 

Two stories exist regarding the removal of the honours themselves. Fletcher stated in 1664 that over the course of three visits to the castle in February and March 1652, she carried away the crown, sceptre, sword and sword-case hidden amongst sacks of goods. Another account, given in the 18th century by a tutor to the Earl Marischal, records that the honours were lowered from the castle onto the beach, where they were collected by Fletcher's servant and carried off in a creel (basket) of seaweed. Having smuggled the honours from the castle, Fletcher and her husband buried them under the floor of the Old Kirk at Kinneff.

 

Meanwhile, by May 1652 the commander of the blockade, Colonel Thomas Morgan, had taken delivery of the artillery necessary for the reduction of Dunnottar. Ogilvie surrendered on 24 May, on condition that the garrison could go free. Finding the honours gone, the Cromwellians imprisoned Ogilvie and his wife in the castle until the following year, when a false story was put about suggesting that the honours had been taken overseas.

 

Much of the castle property was removed, including twenty-one brass cannons,[28] and Marischal was required to sell further lands and possessions to pay fines imposed by Cromwell's government.

 

At the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the honours were removed from Kinneff Church and returned to the king. Ogilvie quarrelled with Marischal's mother over who would take credit for saving the honours, though he was eventually rewarded with a baronetcy. Fletcher was awarded 2,000 merks by Parliament but the sum was never paid.

  

Whigs and Jacobites

Religious and political conflicts continued to be played out at Dunnottar through the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1685, during the rebellion of the Earl of Argyll against the new king James VII, 167 Covenanters were seized and held in a cellar at Dunnottar. The prisoners included 122 men and 45 women associated with the Whigs, an anti-Royalist group within the Covenanter movement, and had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new king.

 

The Whigs were imprisoned from 24 May until late July. A group of 25 escaped, although two of these were killed in a fall from the cliffs, and another 15 were recaptured. Five prisoners died in the vault, and 37 of the Whigs were released after taking the oath of allegiance.

 

The remaining prisoners were transported to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, as part of a colonisation scheme devised by George Scot of Pitlochie. Many, like Scot himself, died on the voyage.

 

The cellar, located beneath the "King's Bedroom" in the 16th-century castle buildings, has since become known as the "Whigs' Vault".

 

Both the Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts) and the Hanoverians (supporters of George I and his descendents) used Dunnottar Castle. In 1689 during Viscount Dundee's campaign in support of the deposed James VII, the castle was garrisoned for William and Mary with Lord Marischal appointed captain.

 

Seventeen suspected Jacobites from Aberdeen were seized and held in the fortress for around three weeks, including George Liddell, professor of mathematics at Marischal College.

 

In the Jacobite Rising of 1715 George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal, took an active role with the rebels, leading cavalry at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. After the subsequent abandonment of the rising Lord Marischal fled to the Continent, eventually becoming French ambassador for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Meanwhile, in 1716, his titles and estates including Dunnottar were declared forfeit to the crown.

 

Later history

The seized estates of the Earl Marischal were purchased in 1720 for £41,172, by the York Buildings Company who dismantled much of the castle.

 

In 1761 the Earl briefly returned to Scotland and bought back Dunnottar only to sell it five years later to Alexander Keith, an Edinburgh lawyer who served as Knight Marischal of Scotland.

 

Dunnottar was inherited in 1852 by Sir Patrick Keith-Murray of Ochtertyre, who in turn sold it in July 1873 to Major Alexander Innes of Cowie and Raemoir for about £80,000.

 

It was purchased by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, in 1925 after which his wife embarked on a programme of repairs.

 

Since that time the castle has remained in the family, and has been open to the public, attracting 52,500 visitors in 2009.

 

Dunnottar Castle, and the headland on which is stands, was designated as a scheduled monument in 1970.In 1972 twelve of the structures at Dunnottar were listed.

 

Three buildings are listed at category A as being of "national importance": the keep; the entrance gateway; and Benholm's Lodging.

 

The remaining listings are at category B as being of "regional importance".[39] The Hon. Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray, currently owns and runs Dunnottar Castle which is part of the 210-square-kilometre (52,000-acre) Dunecht Estates.

 

Portions of the 1990 film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, were shot there.

  

Description

Dunnottar's strategic location allowed its owners to control the coastal terrace between the North Sea cliffs and the hills of the Mounth, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) inland, which enabled access to and from the north-east of Scotland.

 

The site is accessed via a steep, 800-metre (2,600 ft) footpath (with modern staircases) from a car park on the coastal road, or via a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) cliff-top path from Stonehaven. Dunnottar's several buildings, put up between the 13th and 17th centuries, are arranged across a headland covering around 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres).

 

The dominant building, viewed from the land approach, is the 14th-century keep or tower house. The other principal buildings are the gatehouse; the chapel; and the 16th-century "palace" which incorporates the "Whigs' Vault".

 

Defences

The approach to the castle is overlooked by outworks on the "Fiddle Head", a promontory on the western side of the headland. The entrance is through the well-defended main gate, set in a curtain wall which entirely blocks a cleft in the rocky cliffs.

 

The gate has a portcullis and has been partly blocked up. Alongside the main gate is the 16th-century Benholm's Lodging, a five-storey building cut into the rock, which incorporated a prison with apartments above.

 

Three tiers of gun ports face outwards from the lower floors of Benholm's Lodging, while inside the main gate, a group of four gun ports face the entrance. The entrance passage then turns sharply to the left, running underground through two tunnels to emerge near the tower house.

 

Simpson contends that these defences are "without exception the strongest in Scotland", although later writers have doubted the effectiveness of the gun ports. Cruden notes that the alignment of the gun ports in Benholm's Lodging, facing across the approach rather than along, means that they are of limited efficiency.

 

The practicality of the gun ports facing the entrance has also been questioned, though an inventory of 1612 records that four brass cannons were placed here.

 

A second access to the castle leads up from a rocky cove, the aperture to a marine cave on the northern side of the Dunnottar cliffs into which a small boat could be brought. From here a steep path leads to the well-fortified postern gate on the cliff top, which in turn offers access to the castle via the Water Gate in the palace.

 

Artillery defences, taking the form of earthworks, surround the north-west corner of the castle, facing inland, and the south-east, facing seaward. A small sentry box or guard house stands by the eastern battery, overlooking the coast.

 

Tower house and surrounding buildings

The tower house of Dunnottar, viewed from the west

The late 14th-century tower house has a stone-vaulted basement, and originally had three further storeys and a garret above.

 

Measuring 12 by 11 metres (39 by 36 ft), the tower house stood 15 metres (49 ft) high to its gable. The principal rooms included a great hall and a private chamber for the lord, with bedrooms upstairs.

 

Beside the tower house is a storehouse, and a blacksmith's forge with a large chimney. A stable block is ranged along the southern edge of the headland. Nearby is Waterton's Lodging, also known as the Priest's House, built around 1574, possibly for the use of William Keith (died 1580), son of the 4th Earl Marischal.

 

This small self-contained house includes a hall and kitchen at ground level, with private chambers above, and has a projecting spiral stair on the north side. It is named for Thomas Forbes of Waterton, an attendant of the 7th Earl.

 

The palace

The palace, to the north-east of the headland, was built in the late 16th century and early to mid-17th century. It comprises three main wings set out around a quadrangle, and for the most part is probably the work of the 5th Earl Marischal who succeeded in 1581.

 

It provided extensive and comfortable accommodation to replace the rooms in the tower house. In its long, low design it has been compared to contemporary English buildings, in contrast to the Scottish tradition of taller towers still prevalent in the 16th century.

 

Seven identical lodgings are arranged along the west range, each opening onto the quadrangle and including windows and fireplace. Above the lodgings the west range comprised a 35-metre (115 ft) gallery. Now roofless, the gallery originally had an elaborate oak ceiling, and on display was a Roman tablet taken from the Antonine Wall.

 

At the north end of the gallery was a drawing room linked to the north range. The gallery could also be accessed from the Silver House to the south, which incorporated a broad stairway with a treasury above.

 

The basement of the north range incorporates kitchens and stores, with a dining room and great chamber above. At ground floor level is the Water Gate, between the north and west ranges, which gives access to the postern on the northern cliffs.

 

The east and north ranges are linked via a rectangular stair. The east range has a larder, brewhouse and bakery at ground level, with a suite of apartments for the Countess above. A north-east wing contains the Earl's apartments, and includes the "King's Bedroom" in which Charles II stayed. In this room is a carved stone inscribed with the arms of the 7th Earl and his wife, and the date 1654. Below these rooms is the Whigs' Vault, a cellar measuring 16 by 4.5 metres (52 by 15 ft). This cellar, in which the Covenanters were held in 1685, has a large eastern window, as well as a lower vault accessed via a trap-door in the floor.

 

Of the chambers in the palace, only the dining room and the Silver House remain roofed, having been restored in the 1920s. The central area contains a circular cistern or fish pond, 16 metres (52 ft) across and 7.6 metres (25 ft) deep, and a bowling green is located to the west.

 

At the south-east corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, consecrated in 1276 and largely rebuilt in the 16th century. Medieval walling and two 13th-century windows remain, and there is a graveyard to the south.

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On the set of the dystopian science-fiction movie Ready Player One, being filmed around the western parts of Birmingham City Centre. For the duration of the film, the city centre has been decked out to look like the horrifying future of 2044 Ohio, with burning oil drums, graffiti on the walls (which already had graffiti on them!) and a selection of old vehicles from both Europe and America which have been battered and broken to resemble the results of years of neglect and vandalism.

 

The vehicle demonstrated here is once again externally beaten up but internally pristine, it being one of the rare and ambiguous Renault Avantime's, among one of my favourite cars!

 

Oh how I wished this car had succeeded, but sadly has gone down in the annuls of history as one of the biggest automotive failures of the 21st Century, largely due to what it is, a Coupé MPV.

 

The Renault Avantime was the company's attempt at marrying the sporty looks and charms of a luxury coupé with the size and practicality of an MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle), or as we Brits like to call them, 'People Carriers'. The Avantime was built onto the same platform as Renault's pioneering People Carrier the Espace, which is widely considered the first and greatest of the People Carriers, making its début in 1984. The biggest problem with People Carriers, and the Espace is no exception, is that they are unbelievably uncool, being for all intents and purposes vans with electric windows, and chocked full of as many seats as possible so as to cram in all the relatives you need for the day. Renault hoped to change this by making a luxury version known as the Avantime, a word in direct translation meaning 'Ahead Time' or 'Ahead of Time'.

 

Design of the Avantime began back in 1998, being conceived by Renault's affiliate Matra and the head of its automotive division Philippe Guédon. Styling was carried out by world famous motoring designer Patrick Le Quément, and upon the car's release in 1999 at the Geneva Auto Show, people couldn't help but be astounded by its ways. Unlike other People Carriers, there were only five seats for extra legroom and space, and no central pillar dividing the cabin, with just one long window and door on the car's profile. This was an early point of contention as there were concerns for safety without the all-important pillar for structural rigidity. This was overcome with a much stronger structure supporting the roof. The doors themselves were another point of interest as they were double-hinged, which meant that rather than the door opening for miles, it could slide forward in its mounting so it would only open to the width of a regular car door, but could still provide access to the rear without putting the front seats down. The biggest party piece of them all though was the Avantime's ability to open all windows and the giant Sunroof simultaneously, giving the feel of driving a drop-top coupé. Power was also pretty good, coming in the form of Renault's 24 valve, 207hp 3.0L V6 engine.

 

Upon its launch in 2001, the car was still lauded critically for its brilliant design and attempts to marry sports and speed with the size of a People Carrier, but didn't actually sell. The problem is the car fell in between two categories. The idea of a coupé car is that it's meant to look sporty and sheek, and the idea of a People Carrier is to cram in as many people as is humanly possible. The Avantime failed to meet both these criteria, looking not especially sporty, and not having the capacity of a regular MPV. The result was that the Avantime absolutely tanked in terms of sales, not helped by the launch of the Renault Vel Satis, a similarly sized 5-door family car which was built more to the proportions of an Estate car that was more upmarket than the Espace, Modus or Scenic People Carriers.

 

The result was that the Matra division folded after suffering massive losses on building the Avantime, and thus their factory was closed. Renault chose instead not to move production elsewhere and decided it would rather just kill off this bad egg rather than suffer any more pain. In 2003, the Avantime's time ran out, with only 8,557 units built. Here in the UK it was only sold in the petrol version and was on the market for a grand total of 18 months before being removed from sales with 435 examples leaving the showroom.

 

Opinion on the Avantime since its discontinuation have been mixed. While many put it down as one of the worst failures in automotive history, and even so far as to dub it the worst car ever made, most critics and the few owners who actually bought one declare it to be an automotive marvel, thinking outside the box and technically innovate in more ways than one. The most notable critics to acclaim the Avantime are Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond of the late, great Top Gear, who noted it as one of only three cars they all unanimously like, the other two being the Ford Mondeo and Subaru Legacy. In fact the Avantime re-entered a few minutes of fame when one appeared on the show in 2008, where they were given two days and a budget of £9,800 to get their plucky Renault to lap the Top Gear test track as fast as a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. Eventually, after tuning the engine, removing the seats, fitting track-ready tyres, adding a spoiler just to remove it, and adding a chin-spoiler just so it could catch fire, they eventually did the lap and it was as expected, hopeless rubbish, but the Avantime was the overall winner in that since then it's really kicked off a cult following.

 

Today they are incredibly rare cars here on the roads of Britain. In France you'll probably find a fair few as that's where the majority were sold, but other than that they're touch birds to follow.