Points of view

Here are two special views... the pics are of the sunset over Dolomites after a storm taken from my room window. Not a bad vista huh?This video was taken on the hill above Como. It was a hazy day Im afraid... But just behind the town on the other side is Swizerland...we were avoiding the border all day!

Trolly's car of the day...3

Another Lancia...this time an Ypsilon. (I found out that it isn't pronounced Lanseea, but Lanchia because ci is ch in Italian, something I was aware of but never put two and two together). These things are everywhere and very similar to another Lancia, the Musa. The musa won't be on here as its not as pretty and its a Fiat Idea really. It has the all the classic Lancia DNA, the long, stepped back lights, large grille and long downwards swooping line on the flanks. Many of them are this tidy two tone colour. I think its smart and stylish and the Piemontese drivethem in their thousands. They do one in a sporty bright orange body and matt black roof number, a bit loud for most though. Bring Lancia to Britain!

......Right did you enjoy those?...Do you hate me a little bit?...Do I care?! The plan for yesterday was head Northish and a bit east and see what we hit. We knew what we wanted to see but it was just getting there. I've always wanted to see the Italian lakes and Yesterday I did and it didn't diss appoint in the slightest. First off is Lago Maggiori, The largest and some say the less pretty (but thats like saying Jessica Alba isn't as nice as Charleize Theron or Noemi Lenoir...anyway what I'm trying to say is its a damn fine bit of lake. We initialy went up the west side to the town at the start of the pics. (Arona, just had to look it up). We were gonna go round the top and accross but we saw a map and bleeding Swizerland turns up. We didn't have our documants so we had a change of . Back the way we came, up the other side and round to a small town called Laveno. The pics through the arch and the two above are Laveno. There I saw a veeery expensive little boat (the wooden one) its a Riva Aquarama Super. Built on Lake Garda and the best speedboat evermade. After that little stop off and a shared pizza and a beer, we drove to Varese, a town between Maggiore and Como and headed for Como city itself. Now i've learnt that Italian sign posts are frigging useless as it they took us such a long way round it was untrue. We made it, had a recovery icecream and ran into a classics rally, now this is my 3rd one in 3 and a half weeks, i'm attracting them, not that im bothered! Wandered round the waterfront until Nigel suggested we go up the grand Fenacular Railway that goes up the hill above Como. Turns out it was a great idea. It was beautiful up there and it was very steep as you can tell, the town looks right underneath us, shame it was a bit of a hazy day. From up there I could see George Cloony's house (fourth one up from this text, the square one right on the lake front facing towards you. has a small boat just going past infront of it) and Ville d'est which is a huge hose on the lake side with a big lawn and hosts the best Concourse d'elegance (dead posh car show) in the world. Up there there were amazing houses that must be worth a bob or two. Some pics ive pposted but there are more on request. Then back down the railway and home again to watch the footie finals, and a good match it was too. What a day that one was.

Lingotto - Was Fiat, now mall.

Before I get started, the first Picture is of NEEEERRRRRDDDDSSSS. There was a hoofing great World of Warcraft convention with card "battles" and computers with pale and unwell Italians having great fun. Anyway This is the famous Lingotto Fiat plant just 2 miles down the road from me and is best known for its test track on the roof that featured in the escape section of the Italian Job. Its a very impressive, quite vast art deco building...that is now a Marriot and a massive shopping mall with a cinema at the end...and a Juventus shop. Shame in a way but thats the way it goes, totally unfit for modern car building. Fact time. Its name has otto in it (eight in english) referring to the floors it has. Each floor was a different stage in building from forging chassis from iron in the basement through piant, trim, powertrain, body etc until the finished car was tested on the roof. Cool huh? I dont want you to think I wasn't learning. The bridge with the red loop is huge, it was built for a winter olympics and spans a big chunk of downtown, pointlessly!

Fireworks on the Po

I know it's never the same if you weren't there, but this was the best set of bangs and flashes I've ever seen that wasn't a thunderstrom. I would have liked to have shown you how many people were there but lack of light prevented that. Imaging Westminster Bridge packed with people, climbing on the statues and lampposts looking over the river and thats the kind of thing. The atmosphere was great. The occasion was Turin's parton saint's day and like continental European country it was another excuse to have a day off work for religious reasons! Lazy...

I have more vids and pics but they ain't great so I'll not bother this time. Available on request.

Trolly's car of the day...2

One of the worst pieces of news I recieved last year was that todays car would not be sold in England, after they said that they would... Its not cheap for a golf sized car (its, mechanically, a FIAT Bravo) but its better looking, more stylish, great detailing and is just way cooler than aything else. It looks even more expensive than it is. I want one, this colour too...I dare you to disagree with me. (in Louise's case, disagree again)

P.S. I want one.

Education...

Have been taliking with Justyn Norek (Head Designer, ex deputy director @ IDEA Institute) quite a lot today and it has been very elightening. It was mostly non aesthetics stuff, for expale where the door appertures should go in relation to the people and where the hinges will hang and glass drops etc. This is the kind of stuff you kinda think you know but you don't really. These lessons are down to the process of design being undertaken. We have nearly the exact chassis, ergonomics and engine decided as well as some hard points and common parts. This means we are simply doing a clothing job, which is cool but is restrictive creatively in many ways. The points I've been learning are things I know I'll need in the future though and it's good to learn now. Some aesthetic tricks ive learnt, to keep the essence of a sketch and improve it without the shape disappearing through constant copying, have been useful too. You grab a sheet of tracing paper and just do the key lines and then do the rest around it as these will always be altered at some point. Also do the key lines quickly as this will mean you keep the energy without labouring them and loosing its "sparkle". Keep turning the paper so you see the other side, its the same (obviously) but looks whheeey different cuz you get used to seeing it all day. This alllows you to see any exaggerations in the shape you would never see....

(I know this was boring (not for me!) but I gotta keep a record of my work experience, it can't all be crazy lizzidz and fat faced cars, sorry!)

Lizzidz and Lunch.

Lunch tiiime! And it can only mean one thing... To the sarnie shack! Obviously in Italian it sounds whaey better (eg Villa de panini caldi. Doesnt that sound awsome? But its just sarnie shack, honest). It doesnt look like anything from the outside but, like most buildings here its actually great. The food is amazing, yesterday I had minced meat and roasted pepper on ciabatta and today I had a frittata ina bun with lettuce. All home made. The pic below is the view, not a bad one, hot in the foreground, cold in the background. On the walk I go past a huge hedge and trilix's front lawn...it FILLED with these lizard blighters that run under your feet and make yo jump! The bottom pic is an example of one of them...

Cool parts of Turin...not just an industrial metropolis.

Yes, yes I am working here but I also wnna see whats going on OK? Don't judge me for being a big fat tourist, I'm getting out of my system all at once so here goes (deep breath)... The Pic below is the main station and its ver nice I think. Then there is the royal Chapel. A grand building in the Piazza Castello. The Royal Place. The river Po going through the town. A wedding, theres always a bleeding wedding going on in Italy, they are mad for them. Piazza Catello again, big huh? The Castello that gives the Piazza its name, Its just this huge castle in the middle of a huge square, bizzare but cool. Some pretty, nice old building. Ditto. The main sqaure and fountains in the sqaure. Not bad huh? Some info on the Mole... its 95meters high and is the biggest brick built/supported building in the world. Oh I think im missing a nice pic of the square, if I find it ill post it. Ciao!