President’s June Ramble
I am back, having seen parts of Canada, U.S.A., Germany, (airport lounges and out the aircraft window views only of the last two) Scotland, England, Italy, the Vatican City, Switzerland, France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Singapore. However I have come back to a heavy work load and despite the editor’s anticipation that I might fill a couple of magazines worth I simply don’t have the time.
I have read the magazines and must say I have enjoyed the Vice-Presidential rambles and noticed that he finished off the last one suggesting he had more to write so I have given him a heavy hint (read instruction) to carry on – he was doing such a good job. I have also been privy to the immediate past presidents’ overseas rambles (well some of them – not all) along a email grapevine and know that some of his and hers (Shayne I believe has done most of the writing) rambles are to be reprinted in this magazine.
So to get to the point – we very soon have a few important events as a club coming up. At the time of me typing this as a club, after a quick bit of canvassing opinions were are hoping to bend Citroen minds and have a midday get together for Bastille Day, but of course this is all up in the air, so if you haven’t given Jeanette your email address yet, email her now (as you read this) so that you can be aware of the result of the final negotiations. Apparently there has been little enthusiasm for the proposed Sunday evening in Queen Street, and less still for the option in St Heliers.
Prior to that we have a club night coming up on June 23, it is my belief that it is probable that this night will be primarily a case of my and Greg’s photographs on our recent European Travels, I went to the Peugeot Museum and have many many photos of that as well as other Peugeots spotted on my travels – I concentrated mostly on photographing commercial Peugeots (whether vans or cars making earning their livings) rather than the saloons, but got plenty of them too. HOWEVER, I MAY be tied up with a school parent-teacher evening for part of the time, in which case you will hear/see all about the trip next time.
I would like to say this much, you will read in the Shayne – Greg report that he enjoyed passing a Ferrari and then being passed by another, this was not my Italian experience – I saw zero Ferraris in Italy, In Vancouver, Canada I saw a dealership that had a three storey glass frontage full of Ferraris and I saw one parked on the road in Bruges, Belgium (one my son informs me is 1 of 499 and sold for USD 1.5million). Nor did I see any Lamborghinis in Italy, just saw one in London, England (we heard it first, saw it second) and then had the same experience in Lucerne, Switzerland. When it comes to Italian supercars I did see a few Maseratis in Italy but that was it, other than Fiats, Lancias and Alfa Romeos (none of which were particularly expensive Alfas – the Maseratis were of course expensive – but nothing compared to the other two brands). I did however see a number of Aston Martins and brand new top of the range Jaguars, both of these being relatively common in Rome.
Another major difference I had with Shayne and Greg was the motorways, you can read what he found later in this magazine. I however found them (except in parts of Sicily) to be well maintained, beautiful wide roads with many lanes to drive on. Some of these were toll roads, others weren’t and all were of great standard. You will have to wait till read what I have to say about Sicilian roads, let’s just say they were diverse.
Brent