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Driving… India, Paris and the new M5 (yowsa!)

A friend sent me this great video clip of a traffic scene in India….

It’s quite funny and very interesting, but I’ve seen much worse.   Having driven in about 25 different countries, India is by far the most challenging and unique.   I’d put Rome or Cairo as a second, and driving in England is the most fun (the drivers are extremely well trained and the winding country roads are a dream).   I don’t believe people in the U.S really ‘drive’… they mostly just go from place to place.

When I was living in Paris in the 90s I always suggested visitors go up the Arche de Triomphe at rush hour and watch the fun on Etoile, the big roundabout.   You see, in most (civilized) countries, roundabouts, or traffic circles, operate such that you have right of way if you are on it.   In France, people entering the roundabout have the right of way, creating some fun chaos… Check out this clip, which demonstrates a little of what I’m talking about.

Not a lot of difference between the two clips, is there..?!   A Swiss chap I worked with once in France looked out at such a scene and shaking his head with a grimace, said “dis is reely a third verld country!”

M5_img05_1280×1024.jpg

Originally uploaded by Joe_Runs_26.

On a related note, I was in Waterloo recently groveling about my remarks about the (truly outstanding) engineering program at the University of Waterloo (a really really great institution).   I was visiting Mark McArdle, a good friend (and bigwig at McAfee), and I got to check out his brand new BMW M5.   He’d just bought the car and graciously took me out in it.   500 bhp, for god’s sake (I mean, really!)   So we went out in it and Mark said “I’m going around a corner, watch what happens”.   I was thinking about the handling and such, but as we rounded the corner, an airbag under my armit suddenly filled up and the bucket seat ‘extended’ itself on that side to hold me in place.   The experience of a car groping you is, well, unique; but, once you get over that, it is a truly exquisite machine.   I was fortunate enough to drive the original M5 (my cousin’s) when living in the UK, so already ‘knew’ the car.   My jaw is still on the ground at the power and handling and the memory of driving Mark’s will stay with me for a while.   Here’s a pic of one of the new M5 beasts… quite exquisite.    [Sigh, one day I'll be rich and famous enough to get one....]

3 comments May 17th, 2006

Khare’s car saves my bacon…

After IIW on Tuesday sitting at the official dinner in Mountainview, I did some train checking and found out there was no train that would get me back to SFO for my flight back.   I was, to put it mildly, irked.   I think a reasonable person expects a train system at 7pm on a weekday to operate with more frequency than 90 mins.   For a New Yorker, it boggles the mind.

Anyway, I called resident expert Rohit Khare to get a taxi number and he incredibly graciously drove me to the airport.   Actually, Smruti-his -better-half drove.   God bless those two.

Aside from the maniacal nature of yet another travel adventure, IIW as an unconference was excellent.   Kaliya did a great job facilitating 150 techies through a couple of dozen workshops, the content was compelling and selfishly, about 10 people that I’ve been wanting to connect with were there.  The capuccino bar was the icing on the cake (what a great idea).

Thanks Kaliya, Doc & Phil for a putting together a great event.   Kim Cameron summarizes it nicely….

Add comment May 5th, 2006

New York drowns…

This past blizzard in New York reminded me of an experience in Montreal years ago where I lived for a few years as a kid.   One winter, my sister and I were out playing in the deep snow and I carefully set my brand new glasses on the snow bank so as not to break them.   I forgot them there and by the time I came back, the snow plow had been by and buried them!   After getting a shellacking from my parents and a new pair of glasses, spring eventually came and there they were lying in the spring thaw.   In those days, the snow came in October and stayed through April.

[Shudder] Global warming ain’t that bad!!!??

So I finally got around to uploading some shots of the blizzard last weekend.   Quite incredible.   This is a row of cars….

Another row of cars….

The view from my apartment…

New York is a mess after a snowfall. Slush is everywhere. My favorite sight is skiers wending their way through the streets.

The coolest thing I’ve ever done in New York snow was three years ago.   During one of these storms, the city obviously grinds to a halt – the silence is deafening.   I remember going to the middle of the intersection of 42nd St and 5th Avenue, lying in the snow and making a snow angel.

Add comment February 19th, 2006