The Diary of a Country Bumpkin

Like so many things I see in modern life, this is yet another of those stories that leaves me somewhat lost for words, perhaps I’m getting a little too old fashioned and not in tune with modern thinking.

The story concerns Marius Ciolac who was Romanian but was living in this country and it seems was running amok in a Derby Police station car park armed with a knife when Police tried to subdue him using a Taser, a baton round and a stun grenade, however it seems none of these had the desired effect.

A very sad story but one with a twist, apparently his sister who is eight months pregnant and is unable to travel to the UK said, ‘ Marius was clearly in the wrong, he was not innocent,’ adding ‘we heard that he had a knife on him. But why kill him?’

Whilst his family admit that this young man was not innocent and was obviously completely out of control endangering the lives of those around him whilst wielding a knife and after the Police failed to subdue him with enough force to take down a rampaging rhinoceros they sadly had to resort to a more drastic solution.

His sister also said, ‘my mum cannot really talk about it, she is very upset. We know there will be a large sum of money involved.’

Assuming this statement to be correct, I find this to be a very strange reflection on modern life that the family would expect to be paid a large sum of money for the actions of their son when it was his actions which ultimately led to his death, I’m not sure what more the Police could have done when faced these circumstances.

I have been quite busy at the moment, so forgive me for just using an article from another site which I just copied but I thought it was quite interesting to say the least.

The price of charging an electric car using a public rapid charger is now more expensive than filling up with diesel according to data gathered by Parkers. The soaring price of wholesale gas and electricity has forced up the cost of charging a typical electric car, with £10 of charge taking you less far than the same amount of diesel.

This rise in EV charging begins to bite just as petrol and diesel prices are finally beginning to fall. Despite the spiralling costs of public charging, the long-term consideration of an electric car is still very much on many drivers’ minds.

The RAC says that the average price per kilowatt hour (kWh) of a UK rapid charger is 63.29p, but it can cost a lot more. Osprey announced in August 2022 prices on its rapid chargers to £1 per kilowatt hour. Tesla charges an average of 77p/kWh for non-Tesla drivers (according to Zap-Map), and the second largest rapid network, Gridserve, charges 66p/kWh.

Refilling petrol vs public charging prices

The gap between petrol, diesel and electric is closing. Using Parkers’ own Miles Per Pound data gathered from official WLTP testing we can directly compare how much it costs to fuel your car – by saying how far your money will take you when using public chargers at the RAC’s average cost. Putting £10 in your tank is now working out cheaper than £10’s worth of plugging in at a typical fast or rapid charger.

• Audi Q5 (2.0 TFSI petrol) vs E-Tron
  Petrol takes you 46 miles for £10, whereas electric on a public charger takes you 35 miles
• BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe (420d) vs i4
  Diesel takes you 73 miles for £10, whereas electric on a public charger takes you 44 miles
• Citroen C4 (110hp diesel) vs e-C4
  Diesel takes you 84 miles for £10, whereas electric on a public charger takes you 59 miles
• Mercedes-Benz GLA (2.0 petrol) vs EQA
  Petrol takes you 43 miles for £10, whereas electric on a public charger takes you 52 miles
• Peugeot 208 (110hp diesel) vs e-208
  Diesel takes you 89 miles for £10, whereas electric on a public charger takes you 56 miles
• Vauxhall Mokka (110hp diesel) vs Vauxhall Mokka-e
  Diesel takes you 80 miles for £10, whereas electric on a public charger takes you 50 miles

Lord only knows how much it will cost to run one of these ludicrous machines when the Government put the 40% tax on the electricity as they will surely do if they loose it from all the petrol and diesel fuel.

‘ Were you miss sold an electric car?’ Sign up here to get your compensation!

My wife and I went on our usual pilgrimage to the Goodwood Revival and were very pleased to bump into fellow Bentley Drivers Club Members, RODGER DUDDING and EMMA, NICK BROWNE and NICOLA, ALAN BANNISTER, and TIM MILBANK and his son LEO, I’m sure there were many more members who were there but it’s quite a large crowd to spot people.

We always start with the cricket match on Thursday at Goodwood House, with the Duke of Richmond’s 11 against the drivers, always a pleasant place for a quick gin and tonic with ‘the sound of leather on willow’ as background soundtrack.

The car park can also be worth a look round and I came across interesting Bentley as I wandered round.

Friday saw the first day at the circuit and having settled into the March Enclosure we met our friends Lady Nimmy March and Awanthi Mendis.

We always love dressing up for Goodwood so here is an image of another of my outfits, this one I modelled on Henry Morton Stanley but I didn’t bother wasting too much time looking for Livingstone.

Whilst wandering around the paddock we ran into our neighbour George Edney from over the road who was racing his Lester-MG in the Madgwick Cup race.

And finally a photo of my good self at the Old Railway Station in Petworth where we always stay sporting my new ‘forties’ suit which I had recently made, originally called Urquhart plaid it was made popular by the then Prince of Wales, Edward VII but it became massively fashionable when it started to be worn later by the style icon of the day, Edward VIII and is now referred to by its more common name of Prince of Wales check.

It’s always nice to meet up with friends but I think the Goodwood Revival is one of the nicest places one can run into them, here’s looking forward to next year and doing it all again.

I was delighted to be invited to P & A Wood for their book launch of The Story of P & A Wood which also turned into a tribute to the recently departed Paul Wood and his brother Andrew.

We were extremely lucky with the weather which rather than the recent rain was a very pleasant summers day, so my wife and I went in my 1947 Mk VI which I bought from P & A Wood and was at one time owned by Paul Wood.

After tea and cakes, meeting fellow Bentley Drivers Club members and chatting we had a look round the immaculate workshops, just time for a quick gin and tonic before taking our places ready for the book presentation which was done in the style of ‘This is your life’ by Andrew’s daughter.

A collection of various cars was paraded telling the story of their humble beginnings, from going to work in an Austin Seven and living in a caravan at the back of the garage to save money on travelling expenses.

Then moving on to the time they both, without the other knowing purchased Bond Bugs at the same time proving the bond between twins is very strong indeed.

Many beautiful cars passed before our eyes all of which had been restored by Paul and Andrew, here is a rather eye catching Bentley Continental for example.

The story continued with details of how they finally became dealers for Rolls-Royce and an appearance of the famous Napier Railton which is also looked after by the garage and was driven today by Paul’s daughter.

Finally a 1931 8 litre Gurney Nutting Sports Tourer owned by Sir Michael Kadoorie which was the first car to win Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance Best of Show which had been restored by a British company, P & A Wood.

The presentation finished with Sir Michael Kadoorie complimenting Paul and Andrew on their fantastic achievements from such humble beginnings.

The day ended with an air display of some the the planes owned by the twins and included a World War Two Hawker Hurricane, all great fun and next week we are off to the Goodwood Revival, how lucky am I?

What a wonderful image to remember this remarkable woman who said on 21st April 1947 “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”

She was certainly a woman of her word, God bless her.

As if we don’t have enough to contend with at the moment with the war in Ukraine, the massive rise in prices, inflation, the price of fuel and gas and God knows what else I’ve lost track, we now have another bunch calling themselves Animal Rebellion who are stopping the world with a view to forcing us all to embrace a plant based future.

They have just recently blocked the delivery of milk by gluing themselves to the delivery trucks and puncturing their tyres with electric drills and today they have sprayed Big Ben with white paint, although what the Elizabeth Tower or the clock and bell inside have done to upset them I have no idea.

I’m sure that like me people of a certain age are sick to death of these predominantly young ‘woke’ people causing criminal damage and chaos in an attempt to force their views on the majority of people who are quite happy eating meat and drinking milk and have no wish to change to a plant based future.

We have at home made certain changes to our diet due mainly to a medical condition which my wife has which means we no longer drink cows milk and have changed to the plant based soya milk, however my wife’s diet is limited by her condition and meat is a necessary part of her diet.

Many years ago when I was a single man I used to have a virtually plant based diet, consisting of either cheese on toast or baked beans on toast for lunch and a prawn and mushroom vindaloo for dinner in the evening but now I find for some inexplicable reason the baked beans are not agreeing with my stomach so I have chosen not to eat them anymore.

This leads me on to an extremely important point with regard to what one chooses to eat and that is the freedom to choose, for as we all know we in this country live in a democracy, a point which seems to have escaped all the Animal Rebellion protesters, for when we all choose of our own free will to embrace a plant based future the farmers will have no option but to respond and supply the plant based products we desire.

I suggest, therefore that up until that point the Animal Rebellion protesters accept they are vastly in the minority and should realise that everyone else has the freedom to choose exactly what they want to eat and stop causing criminal damage in an effort to force plant based diets on the majority who choose to eat otherwise.

One has to wonder should we ever get to a point where the majority of us wish to embrace a plant based diet there will always be some lunatic minority who suggest we should not be doing so as eating plants is cruel as they are certain they have heard the tragic cries of agony from a fresh lettuce that has just had its throat cut prior to being plucked from the ground.

I was watching the latest Green Flag breakdown advertisement where it portrays various actors playing the part of local garage employees taking part in the Green Flag breakdown championship and are seen vying for a coveted place in the Green Flag network.

It starts with a collection of males and females lined up on an athletics track and at the start of the race they all run off through a collection of hazards, a herd of sheep being one, some fall and some keep going until finally at the end of the race one of them reaches the car and is declared the winner.

I was rather surprised that the winner was a black female as I felt this did not represent the true nature of those employed in this industry and on doing some research the nearest category I could find was vehicle technicians and electricians which must be fairly representative of those employed by the sort of garages vying for work within the Green Flag network.

Rather unsurprisingly I found a total of 1,600 females (0.81%) were employed, whereas some 195,672 (99.19%) employed were male and I have to admit although I have been lucky in not breaking down frequently but I have never been rescued by a woman since taking up driving in 1968.

This being the case, one has to wonder if this is yet another politically correct ‘woke’ style advertisement where the principal character is a BAME female and is just there as yet another example of box ticking as it quite clearly is not representative of what one might experience in the real world.

I’m not a great betting man but I have to think that if this race were to be run in reality, with the proper percentages of males and females taking part, I would have to say I would be wagering heavily on the winner being a male of the species.

Can one ask for an advertisement to be removed because it is misleading I wonder?

Answers on a postcard …………………………..!!

I noticed the children who had recently received their exam results were delighted with how well they had done especially as they had to deal with the restrictions which were forced upon them due to the Covid pandemic.

They particularly thanked their teachers who had assisted with advance information and extra exam information, now call me a sceptical old so and so but I have to think that reading between the lines, the phrases advance and extra information are actually euphemisms for giving the students the answers, I could be wrong of course!

I have a feeling I am not the only person who finds the latest advertisement from Birds Eye Green Cuisine extremely annoying and not just because it’s yet another advertisement playing the politically correct box ticking game by using BAME cartoon characters.

No, it’s not the box ticking exercise although that is annoying enough in its own right but it is the dialogue between the mother and her young daughter which is giving me high blood pressure.

Daughter. We had Green Cuisine chicken free dippers at Lucy’s house for lunch, they’re made from plants not chickens and they’re really nice. Why don’t we have them sometimes?

Mother. I’m not sure.

Daughter. Is it because you fear change and you’re scared to try something new?

It carries on extolling the virtues of plant-based foods, yet another box to be ticked, but I always hear another version in my head when I watch this advertisement.

Father. How dare you speak to your mother in such a disrespectful manor young lady, now I suggest you take yourself upstairs to your bedroom without any dinner, either chicken or plant based and spend some quality time thinking about the correct way to speak respectfully to your mother.

Now, that seems a lot better to me and we have ticked another politically correct box by showing an example to young folk of an alternative family unit together with a lesson in respect and good manners.

I have to say I am getting a little bored with the ongoing Conservative Party leadership elections, especially as it is a foregone conclusion as to who the winner will be, there is after all only one candidate worth voting for.

Who, I ask you could possibly vote for Rishi Sunak, a man who allegedly spends thousands of pounds having his suits made in Savile Row and yet manages to come away looking no better than a spotty adolescent fresh from a shopping trip to Primark.

The jacket is too short and is in the style of what was once called a bum freezer, the sleeves are too short and the trousers are too tight and too short, once again in the old style once called ankle swingers.

I know fashion and style always repeats itself which is why this is the modern style for trousers, jackets and suits but I still don’t see that that gives anyone the excuse to waste the talents of an extremely expensive Savile Row tailor to produce such an awful garment, when a trip to Primark would have sufficed.