Flaming busy?

What - June already? Where is the year going? It's been another busy month from my still new base here in god's country - the Welsh borders really are a much nicer place to work compared to my previous Surrey base, and when I have to go south I'm given plenty of reminders of what I've left behind – like the time a few days ago when I arrived at the M40/M25 junction at just after 4pm, stopped in a queue due to a lorry fire ahead, and moved again just before 6.30. Deep joy...

One huge advantage of my new location is the quality of the driving roads, especially when you have a car that can handle, such as the MINI Cooper S Clubman pictured here. As for the other vehicle in the picture, as I write this I am tentaitvely looking forward to next week when I start my driving lessons on this beast - something that will take a while...

I enjoyed lots of interesting launches in May, from the Dodge Journey in Oslo to BMW's curious X6 at the very wonderful Ackergill at the very top of Scotland. Most memorable though was possibly the Fiat Eco Bravo in Henley, basically because Fiat's Managing Director turned up to chat to us all and revealed he was planning to cull around 30 dealers! Thanks for the Motor Trader front-page lead Mr Humberstone, wish other MDs were so forthcoming...

May also saw the annual SMMT test day at Millbrook Proving Ground, an event I always enjoy. This year myself and other journalists met with the SMMT over the forthcoming London Motor Show - I really enjoyed the last one in 2006. I hope this year's is successful, and recommend you all go to it - check out www.britishmotorshow.co.uk for more info.

Don't forget I'm still driving lots of new cars – exactly what you can discover by checking out the new road test page, just click here