I got wiiiiings!

So, last week was an absolutely epic week for me. Professionally it was crazy but good with press week and meetings and visiting suppliers.

On Monday, for the first time ever, the explanation for the slow, delayed and lumpy ride on thetrain really was the 'wrong kind of leaves'. How we laughed.

Note that this week, train grumpiness is on track to be re-established. So far my train to work has been cancelled for two days in a row. This is bad for three reasons:

1. Being late for work. Only by a few moments as next train has been fine, so not a problem for me, but it's the principle, and it's a problem for other people.
2. Having to sit on a platform for an extra 20 minutes freezing my a$$ off. Not fun!
3. (and most important) That's 20 minutes extra in bed I could have had!

Me with one of David Coulthard's cars. It still has a map of the last circuit driven on the steering wheel.

Spent the weekend with the girls in Purley watching movies, drinking wine, eating good homemade food and bitching about the universe in general, which was marvellous.

The drive home was interesting, with complete lunatics who should not be allowed to be in charge of 1.5tonnes of metal that hurtles along at any speed whatsoever. On the other hand, a Range Rover Evoque, a black batmobile-like BMW sporty thing and a Landrover with a camera in the back, all faffing about in a layby seemed to point to the Top Gear team being in town, which made me very happy. You never know, but Ghostie's bum might be on BBC2 one day.

And last, but by no means least, in fact far from it, I got to go to the Red Bull Racing factory. That's not the one where they make fizzy, highly caffeinated drinks, but the one where they make really, really fast cars that win world championships.

It was very large, with the enormous buildings, all of which were white and pristine. No dust in hard to reach places to be seen anywhere. And F1 cars are all that's designed and built there.

The people there were still on a high from their boy Sebastian Vettel winning the World Championship for the second time a couple of weeks ago. We got to see some of the hi-tech engineering machines, and the scale model that goes into the wind-tunnel for testing, and some of the cars that weren't being used - and they had the niftiest 'petrol pump' fridges full of Red Bull drinks around.

Slightly terrifying were the F1 cars hanging around on walls or on the ceiling above ones head. I'm sure they'd never fall down, but if one did, it would hurt. And very magnificent were all the trophies in reception - you don't realise how beautiful and uniquely designed that most of them are (apart from the ones that are sponsors logos) on the telly.

There's not a lot more I can say without getting really geeky, but it was a totally fab experience.

Snxzzzzzzzzzz...

Today I am doing nothing. Lots and lots of nothing. Because I deserve it. So there.

I was in the office for three days this week, so my usual 13+ hour days there (yes, I do count the travelling!) On Wednesday I was in Woking for a top secret meeting that involved sets for studios, including Pinewood.

The plus side was finding out *literally* behind the scenes stuff on Harry Potter, Brad Pitt's new movie, the new Snow White, Jack the Giant Killer and something with a certain Mr Craig starring.

The down side was being on the M20 by 5.20am and getting home at 8pm.

I was a bit early getting to Woking, and was pootling across the roundabouts that someone left lying around, when this enormous great sign popped up, which said 'McLaren'. With absolutely no direction from me, my little car decided that she wanted to go and see what that was all about, and who am I to argue with Ghostie? So we took a wrong turn and got completely lost around an outer car park.

I spotted a couple of McLaren road cars lurking about on roads nearby.

On Thursday I went to an Awards do - something to do with knobs and knockers, and it was excellent and topical for work. But on a personal level, the best part was sports presenter Steve Rider was guest speaker and we got to chatting a teeny bit. He co-presented Formula 1 for ITV in 2006 to 2008 and just got back from the Rugby in New Zealand. Hee!

Yesterday was the Lotus 1000km race at Brands Hatch. It was kind of damp all day, but the Lotus club is really appreciative of marshals and we got fed three meals, although the curry last night, while great tasting, was strong enough to strip paint.

So anyway, today the hoovering and washing can wait.