21/03/07

March is a little more than half over, and I'm worried. In recent times life has become slightly manic, a kaleidoscope of airport lounges, car interiors and five-star hotels familar to anyone like me who is on the car-launch-o-round, but March has been particularly crazy.

For me March dawned in Carolina, on a BMW launch. I've been to the States four times now, all four times on BMW launches to the same bit of Carolina, and still, criminally, never to a NASCAR race - I must rectify that this year... This time Carolina was very wet, two inches of rain ensuring that on our driving day, the interior of the BMW X5 was the only place to be.

Back from Carolina just as the kids were getting up on Saturday morning, feeling tired probably because instead of sleeping on the plane I watched three movies, and courtesy of those kids not able to go to bed until I've been awake something like 36 hours. Monday morning, on a plane again, this time from the horror that is Heathrow, to Geneva for the show, or to be precise Geneva airport, on a coach, one hour journey to the hotel in Montreaux (getting hotels in Geneva at show-time is pretty nigh impossible), back the other way next morning, all day in the show, back to Montreaux, back to the airport next morning, home to Heathrow! Sounds crazy? Maybe it is slightly but I'm grateful for the hospitality of in this case Kia, rather than try to organise it myself, or even worse do the show in a day using a sleazyjet flight.

Tuesday, touring car press day, Rockingham in Northants. It used to be my first major event of the year, now this is my first in seven years, which is slightly weird. Only a little time to consider that though because next morning I'm due at Farnborough for a flight with BMW, again, to Valencia, Spain and the new 3 Series Convertible. Back on Thursday lunchtime, and the sudden relaisationt ha ti've got to build in time to write all this stuff up.

Which brings us to this week, and today, Wednesday, I'm returning from Spain for the second time in seven days, this time Seville, having driven Dodge's new Avenger and Nitro. Of course that's after I did the Nissan Cashcow, sorry Qashqai in Bath on Monday. The week should calm down now, except for the Race Retro show in Coventry on Friday. And I can fully take in the fact that Mrs C phoned yesterday to say she'd got the accounts job she went for at the car dealer, except that it's not accounts, it's PR – my mind can't help hearing the Imperial March from Star Wars - "you have now joined the dark side..."

So why, after all this, am I worried? Simply because for the whole of next week, my diary has nothing in it - nowt, pure white pages. Have I lost a week somewhere? Will there be an empty seat on a plane, a lonely, un-thrashed, sorry tested car? A late night red wine un-quaffed in a continental bar? This can't be right....

 

Some of the above is
yet to be added –
I'm trying to find
time, honest!