Citroën ds3

Seen in Exeter, at first sight the Citroën DS3 certainly attracts interest.

Sat in my hallway is a nice (old) Gazelle Reynolds framed road-bike. Elsewhere there is an even older Dawes Super-Galaxy, again Renyolds framed, this one with a Brooks saddle. There is also an old-school Diamondback BMX.

I like bikes, I like them a lot, preferably steel, or titanium, and they don’t need to be too new either. For me a simple bike is a thing of beauty that combines engineering, design and minimalism.

Cinelli Track Bike

As a teacher I used to do a design lesson where I showed pupils pictures of things I liked the design of; Guzzis, Porsches, Minis, Trangia cookers… The common link was design. I knew I was getting through when a Year 9 girl saw the Cinelli track bike (shown) and said “that’s dead sexy that is”. She meant it, she was correct too.

I love going to London in part because of the cycling scene there. Twenty (plus) years ago, as a student, I was a cycle courier, I guess it was a relatively new thing then. At the time I rode a mix of bikes: Rory O’Brien, Holdsworth, Ellis-Briggs and latterly an early Ridgeback. Sadly in the first week I crashed the Ellis Briggs, I rode into the back of a Ford Granada stopped outside Kings Cross station. I ended up lying on the guy’s boot and can still remember the look of surprise as he looked in his rear view mirror, fortunately he had checked before diving away with me there. The frame needed re-building and I had the pleasure of using Tom Board who was at the time making Paris cycles, this honour made the accident almost worthwhile.

The London scene is vibrant and organic. Recently we have sat outside pubs in Islington and watched as cycle polo teams have returned en-masse riding a selection of unique machines. On one occasion I was almost tempted to pull the classic Bob Jackson from the pile to protect it from damage. There is a range of styles and approaches but, once again, steel is king, whether it is an original or a fixie, and, if it is adorned by leather and a bit of canvas then so much the better.

Sometimes it is difficult to tell the recreations from the re-builds not that this is an issue. There are a number of boutique dealers such as Tokyo Fixed in Soho where you are likely to find all manner of classic machinery.
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I totally missed this one, more about it later I’m sure but for now a bit more here

OK so there is something that has been troubling me for a while…
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Just in case this seems like a load of tosh, as predicted from my last post ‘youtube cigar smoking football players’ now occupies position two in the Google rankings (using the cleared cache and history, not logged on Firefox not Safari search…). This is an overnight increase of four positions.

Good News!

“Man-willing-to-look-after-aston-martin” Is now (overnight) occupying top Google ranking. No replies yet but fingers crossed. Top news though pop-pickers.

Andrew Butler, Design, Photographer, Topsham, Exeter, Devon …

4 Feb 2010 … Andrew Butler a Designer & photographer based in Topsham Exeter Devon. Design Credo, design, photography and SEO for websites, …
designcredo.co.uk/…/man willing to look after aston martin/ – 12 hours ago -

I suspect further lame postings referencing the need for Beyoncé to help in light household duties will not go down well at homé.

aston martin V10

Further to my last post about collecting the data, I have just noticed that a particular search string that has led people to this site is ‘youtube cigar smoking football players’. Imagine my surprise?

Sure enough if I throw this string back into Google I find my own site listed at number six.

Andrew Butler, Design, Photography, Topsham, Devon | Design Credo …

Posts Tagged ‘YouTube’ … men and children (v. young) stood in the street trading football cards, cigar smoking men trading post cards. … WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better. …

So there you go, sometimes you don’t get what you expect but clearly I will now have improved the ranking of this search string by referencing it again.

With that in mind then,

SAAB 900 T16s

Recently, on Top Gear, James May said that he quite liked SAABs, in part because he felt that people who drove them were ‘interesting’. This left me with a slight smug glow, I have had a few SAABs, four actually and drive one now. I’ve also had three Volvos, three Moto Guzzis, and three BMW K Series motorbikes. For those with the slightest interest in this a picture will be developing, of brand loyalty, perhaps an interest in design maybe safety too. For others I will be coming across as a ‘bit of a yawner’.

Having recently spent some time looking for a new car with my partner, I am sad to say that anyone buying a current SAAB is beyond interesting (by some degree) and well into the new category called ‘Of Clinical Interest’. It was bad enough when SAABs started wearing Dame Edna Everage glasses, but who ever thought that re-branding them as little Cadillacs was a good idea? Oh yes General Motors did. At the time of writing SAAB’s future is tenuous to say the least.

Prototype NG 900 SAAB

Of course I realise that my car shares the underpinnings of an old Vauxhall Cavalier but despite what people say the GM 900s were actually rather good and for someone like me they offer a lot of car for not much money. It has been and continues to be a good car although it uses far too much fuel. At the time when I bought it though it was one of a handful of affordable cars that offered speed, space and three proper seat-belts in the back.

I see no great reason to sell the car although I wish it would use less fuel. It does most of what I need and, as Mr May’s colleague Mr Clarkson once accurately predicted, as a SAAB driver I have a little too much linen in my wardrobe. My son often comments on how the car seems right for me. I am interested to know the bigger picture with regards to the Scrapage Scheme, does it make environmental sense to scrap a perfectly viable car?

NG 900 SAAB

Anyway, I like cars, particularly older ones, but I don’t often look round garages until recently since K has been looking for a new one.

Initially she had wondered about a BMW Z3, we went to the local BM dealer but they didn’t have any. I went into the showroom and kicked the rear tire, the salesman got the joke, I explained it to K later. We looked at the One Series which ticked many boxes. However to my eyes it looked like it had already been in an accident, as Clarkson said;

The BMW, however, is just plain ugly. It may have the double headlamps and the kidney grille and the Hofmeister kink, but viewed as a whole it looks like a van….And it’s why I’m choosing the words for my conclusion with even more care than usual. So here goes. The 1-series is crap

The simple truth is that there isn’t much out there to excite, cars seem to be designed for people who watch X Factor a little too much. Yes we did venture into the local Aston dealership (to look at an A3) and yes I would, but I can’t so I won’t.
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Yesterday was another trip to the Apple Store to take part in the third MacBook purchase in as many months. This time with someone who had managed to get to his late forties without really using a computer. An interesting experience all round for me when trying to facilitate.

As ever I have in my mind the relatively short time that this technology has been around. A quick look here for an interesting reminder?

As I sit typing I am listening to The Clash, London Calling, having been reminded of it by Zane Lowe recently. This again pre-dates the technology by considerable time..

Anyway first problem for a newbee, no email address. My 9 year old has at least one, possibly many. While we were buying the MacBook she bought another Puffle using one of the AppleStore iMacs. Surely everyone has an email address? Well no, of course not. But it helps if you have one before you even turn the computer on.
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