My Favourite Birds

I have been lucky in my life to experience the company of two very gorgeous girls. I can remember seeing the Lockheed SR-71 fly at an airshow at USAF Mildenhall in the late 80s. The aircraft is just a wonderfully beautiful design and amazing technologically. It is a lovely aircraft.

Here’s the one on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford:

SR-71
SR-71 Beautiful Blackbird

Here’s the one on display at the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles in Washington DC.

Blackbird

Here’s my other favourite bird, the Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird. Named after the aircraft and I am proud to have owned one of these for about six years and covered around 70,000 miles on it.

Honda CBR100XX
Honda CBR100XX

Just so you know, this bike was FAST. Top speed by Honda was 186mph. I never went that fast, because the took the wing mirrors off to make that speed. I might have managed somewhere more like 71.53 metres per second.

dashboard
dashboard

If I could I would own another Honda Blackbird. I really like the matt black with gold wheels version they issued. It’s a shame that the ‘bird is no longer in production.

Head

HEAD is the title of my current favourite playlist on my iPhone and Sonos system. I use the iPhone in the car and the Sonos system at home. If I ever get the chance to listen to music at work then I use the iPhone there also, I have some Bose headphones I plug into.

Anyway the HEAD playlist consists of the following songs (an eclectic mix!):

  • “Das Grauen” from “Hell Starts With An H” by Reaper
  • “TIP the DANCER” from “YOUR WORLD IS BURNING” by Panzer AG
  • “Get Out of my Head” from “Today We Are All Demons” by Combichrist
  • “Inhuman” from “All Beauty Destroyed” by Aesthetic Perfection
  • “Duality” from “Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses” by Slipknot
  • “Motherfucker” from “All Beauty Destroyed” by Aesthetic Perfection
  • “Surfacing” from “Slipknot” by Slipknot

I once owned “If You Want Blood . . . . You Got It” by AC/DC on music cassette and I think that whole album pretty much played the same role in my life as this current playlist. I played the cassette so much that the tape eventually stretched in various places and I had to upgrade to a CD as it sounded awful.

I’m grateful to Andy for helping chose the songs for this playlist.

Crank – Almighty

I downloaded this album after a friend recommended it. I was after more British rock. I’ve seen The Almighty a few times and really enjoyed their shows.

This album is good. It’s playing right now on my Sonos system. It is an Almighty album. It does what it says on the tin. I think this is the first album that friend got by the Almighty and therefore he thinks it’s the best, whereas I already have a couple of albums and therefore I think Powertrippin’ is better. When you get introduced to a band you hold the albums you hear first on a pedestal, it takes a lot to remove the new sound and excitement from top place.

Look, it’s worth buying but it doesn’t stand out. Also, see Old Dog, New Tricks.

My Favourite Car

The best and most fun car I think I ever drove is the Toyota Land Cruiser FJ60 (Australia edition). I spent a glorious weekend driving around Fraser Island off the east coast of Australia with Pom, Mel and ww.

Gorgeous Truck, Fraser Island
Gorgeous Truck, Fraser Island

This truck definitely wasn’t the newest on the island. There was gaffer tape holding up the passenger windows and broken bits all over it. There were loads of newer Toyotas and other 4x4s racing the fishermen to the best sports areas but I’m glad we had this one. It made us feel like we were really getting into the wilderness. Also, it made us rather relaxed about getting it dirty.
Pom and I took it in turns to drive over the world’s largest sand island. It’s a place where there is an 80kph speed limit on the main highway (or beach as we would call it) and you just have to go slower inland. Where in the world do you have to check the tides before you can drive the highway?
We had a couple of close shaves! We entered some soft sand within the first hour of being on the island and the truck slowed but didn’t quite stop and we continued on. From then it was rather uneventful apart from placing the bottles of wine in towels so they didn’t break as we went over the bumps and they jumped about in the boot. This truck was a hoot to drive.
On the way back to the mainland we had a bit of an issue with a large wave that spread water up the beach and over the highway. I swear we were close to turning over! The truck lurched sideways and bounced around a lot. It was very exciting. On the ferry back to the mainland lots of people were laughing at just how dirty our truck was. It proved we had a great time.
Once back on the main land I drove along the beach (why use tarmac?) and we tried to find somewhere to rejoin the main road. Someway along the beach we came to a blockage. A tree had fallen over and there were two choices. Drive into the sea and hope or turn around and go back the way we came. I just drove straight on into the sea. We probably went about a foot deep and then with luck on our side we managed to get out the other side and keep driving. It was hilarious at the time although later that night we would whistle about it!
Here’s a glorious shot of the Toyota:

Gorgeous truck in a gorgeous location (Fraser Island)
Gorgeous truck in a gorgeous location (Fraser Island)

I want one.