gsnedders

Formula 1 is in chaos, we've got 6 cars running the US Grand Prix after a severe problem with the Michelin tyres, with 11 tyres failing before the race, Michelin advised all their partner teams not to race, failing to get a chicane built before the 9° banking of turn 13, to slow the cars down as that was causing the problems for the Michelin runners, however, the FIA refused as it would have been unfair for the Bridgestone teams.

IMO, and in many others, this is a direct result of having the one tyre rule, allowing one set of tyres for qualifying and the race, and they aren't allowed to change them without genuine and obvious safety concerns, while they could've done that, they'd have to pit every 10–15 laps, resulting in 5–7 pit stops, which makes racing more or less pointless.

The Michelin teams went out on to the grid, and came in at the end of the Formation lap, which means the top 2 Michelin cars on the grid may score points (Trulli and Raikkonen).

People have ended up throwing things on track, such as water bottles and beer bottles, which put the drivers in danger. The marshals are having to run onto the track, dangering themselves, to get them.

Another thing must be noted is this extract Article 73 part b from the Sport Regulations:

two tyre suppliers present: each of them must, if called upon to do so, be prepared to equip up to 60% of the entered teams on ordinary commercial terms ;

Michelin supply 70% of the teams. Notice something? This probably part of Bridgestone's trouble this year, with Sauber switching to Michelin at the beginning of the season, despite there car having been designed for Bridgestone tyres, otherwise it would've been a 60/40 split.

I got home from London yesterday, and I have been lazy and not bothered to post a blog post about it all day... Got other stuff to do :) (yes, I do have a life).

As I've told others, it was a school trip, as I am in the final year/class (only one class per year at my school), who have an annual trip to London.

So... What happened:

Friday

• Got up at 5:30am
• Got to school at 5:55am
• Left on minibus at 6:00am
• Arrive at Edinburgh airport
• Fly via EasyJet to Luton (aka. a "London" airport), on a plane departing at 9:35am (or at 9:50am, as it was late)
• Get shuttle bus to station
• While the headmaster buys train ticket a random guy verbally abuses the staff
• Train arrives at Kings Cross Thameslink
• Walk YHA St. Pancras, dump luggage in the only room (out of the 4) that is ready

Now, time to provide more detail about our accommodation for the 4 day (87 hour) trip. The YHA St. Pancras is a 4 star hostel opposite St. Pancras station (currently closed and being rebuilt for the Eurostars, for when the CTRL is finally finished "in 2007"), as you should know, the Kings Cross area is rather sordid...

We were in 4 rooms, each with 4 beds in (well, 2 bunk beds in each), in one room (507), was the headmaster and his wife, in 506, was the 4 girls, in 505, 3 boys, and in 505 was me and 3 other boys.

Anyhow, back to Friday:

• Have lunch at McDonalds, we get given £5 each, and get to keep however much is left over
• Went on a Duck Tour of London, quite oceanic :) and enjoyable (and leaves you rather soaked)
• Walk to Buckingham Palace, through St James's Park, as we have some spare time
• Head off back to near were we came from, for the British Airways London Eye ("We hope you enjoy your flight" :D)
• Go back to the hostel for supper (rather horrid Fish 'n' Chips)
• Lights out at 10:15 pm. Nobody goes to sleep :P

After midnight, the boys in 505 are now asleep, while us 4 in room 504 are talking quitely, but the girls in 506, opposite 507, where the headmaster and his wife are asleep, are screaming and laughing their heads off. One of the boys from my room is returning from the toilet when he sees one of the girls standing in the corridor, nobody knows why she was. By the time another of the boys looks outside all the girls were outside, they all barge into our room. We're talking quitely (mostly about trying to get one of the girls pretend to fancy one of the boys in the other room, as we had heard him say that he thought she fancied him :p), but it isn't quiet enough, and the headmaster manages to hear what we're saying before knocking on the door, one of the boys opens it and without us saying to the girls hide, by the time they know it's the headmaster they make a stupid choice and continue to hide, however, we already know the headmaster knows exactly where they are, and we all get in a hell of a lot of trouble - I quote: "I am extremely disappointed in you, I thought you'd be better than this."

Throughout the next day it becomes obvious that something like this happened the previous year. Oh well, that's life :D

Saturday

• Get woken up at 6:45am
• Everybody got dressed and showered
• Questioned about what happened last night, before we have time to talk together, to get our stories straight (it ended up with nobody saying who knocking on the boys in 505's door, apart from that, they were all the same, or at least to my knowledge)
• Breakfast at 7:30am (*yawn*) - Sausage, Bacon and Baked Beans, as well as a cup of orange juice and a mug of Hot Chocolate for me
• Managed to get to Euston station, we all buy:
  1. Sandwich
  2. Bag of crisps
  3. Drink
• Get the underground to London Bridge to go to the London Dungeon, before finding out we have 30 minutes to wait before it opens :(
• Walk along the river bank to the Tate Modern, where we have time to see half of the first floor, before having to leave and (almost) loosing a girl (:twisted:)
• Eat our lunch outside the Tate Modern
• Use the underground to get to Oxford Circus, and then go shopping at:
  • Hamleys
  • Lillywhites
  • HMV (Where I bought two U2 albums: Achtung Baby and Pop)
• Finally, go to the Globe Theatre to see The Tempest, the most confusing play in the world

Sunday

• Get up, breakfast, etc.
• Visit the science museum
• Have lunch outside the Natural History Museum
• Visit the Natural History Museum, end up getting boiled and go outside and play Brick on my iPod Photo while sitting on a bench)
• Spend an hour wondering around Covent Garden
• Go to the IMAX, see Cyberworld 3D (crap film - don't see it)
• Go back to Covent Garden, to go to Pizza Hut, where we all end up talking about something, and the headmaster tells his son (who is in my year/class(/room)) to make sure what is gonna happen tonight doesn't happen, although it's nothing about tonight, just the girl pretending to fancy the boy (he is away at the toilet at the time)
• Sleep. Nothing happens tonight ;)

Monday

• (Attempt) to blow up the Tower of London
• Attack the Tower of London from HMS Belfast
• Go Home

:D

I've been busy recently, and not had time to post all the blog posts I said I would, I do, however, I do have some great things coming up :)

I'm off to London tomorrow on the annual school trip, which the top year (and class, seeming there's one class per year) get to go on after the exams (which finished yesterday), we're leaving from school in the minibus at 6am tomorrow... Ugh... :(

Once I get home from that I should have the time to finally write all the blog posts I promised, some I have started, but never finished.

Well it seems to be all the rage in the blogosphere these days, so I'm joining in :D. 'Cept it's not a musical baton, it's a literary stick. Our beloved tsguitar has devised his own meme. Kudos to Andrew Sutherland for letting me join in. Here goes nothing:

First 5 Songs in Shuffle of Entire Music Library

• Deep Thought — Joby Talbot
• Somebody To Love — George Michael & Queen
• Play The Game — Queen
• Keep It Comin' — Uncle Kracker
• You Belong To Me — Jason Wade

Current Book You're Reading (or lightly leafing through)

• The DaVinci Code — Dan Brown

Last Movie Seen in a Theater and Where

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — My local cinema

Five People To Whom You'll Pass This

Most of these are unlikely. Sod cares.

• Eric Meyer
• Jeffrey Zeldman
• Ronald van der Wijden
• Matt
• Ryan Parman

I just went into shortstat, and I saw my blog had reached the 2000 uniques milestone :) (2046 to be exact), and 9104 hits in total, which, at the current rate, should reach 10,000 in the coming week :) Well, at least my blog isn't being ignored :D

Anyhow, "So long, and thanks for all the fish."