Aaahhh Giulietta

Last time I said mostly right. I'm upgrading it. About the only thing to get used to in the Giulietta is the big B column, but then most new cars need to hide their airbags somewhere, as if one no longer needs to check one's blind spot in this modern age of safety.

Then there's Blue&Me. Its voice recognition has dialed Brazil, Chile, Singapore and the UK, all in an effort to dial down the road. Somehow I don't think I can blame Alfa though. I suspect that my pronunciation, and its phonetical interpretation, of French names may have something to do with it. Thank god I didn't get the GPS, imagine trying to pilot that around France by voice.

Alfa's ad campaign uses a quote from Act IV of Shakespear's Tempest, ironically the car is rather zen inside (albeit one could imagine some upheaval in the cylinders). So much so, I can see myself getting zapped by a radar one of these days. I can see the conversation, "but officer, we are such stuff as dreams are made on...". 

"Name?"

"Prospero", and so yet another dime is raised in the name of road safety, and Prospero loses two points.

What the the ad doesn't say is that driving the Giulietta makes you feel like following another of Prospero's quotes:

"Hey, mountain, hey!". 

Paris needs a good mountain road, bring on Camps Bay road, De Waal drive and ooooh, Rhodes drive. Ok, so I'm not taking on Africa to get there... I think the Alps need visiting.

OOOooooohhhh

She came into our world on Friday 25 March at 18h35, weighing 1320 kg and is 4,35 m tall. We're already quite fond of little Giulietta.

Up until now, there are quite a few rants about Paris traffic and drivers in this blog. I suspect nothing will change in Paris, but at least I will be happier to just sit there. The new Alfa Giulietta achieves, what I think is the essence of Alfas; it is just such a nice place to be.

Alfa have gotten it mostly right with this completely new Giulietta, which incidentally is also the model released to celebrate the centenary year of Alfa Romeo. I'm not the only one to think so, The Car of the Year jury also agreed, awarding the Giulietta the 2011 laurels. In addition to making cars that one wants to make detours in, Alfa have also managed to top Euro NCAP's safety rating with the Giulietta coming out tops in its category.

I said 'mostly right', there are some things that aren't perfect, but that's what makes it an Alfa, a car with soul.

An azalea

Just because it is feeling springish.

What's it come to?

Just been to London. Isn't it amazing what we take for granted. Amazing what man has done. We can travel at 300 km/h, through a tunnel, under the ocean. All whilst being in touch with friends, family and colleagues with a little gadget in the palm of our hand (well not in the tunnel, but you get the idea). Amazing!

The, you get to England, and one sees this:




Isn't it amazing what man has done...