It’s that time of year again. For a few years now – dating right back to the Saabs United days – I’ve been supporting Jim Coggeshall in his bid to raise funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass. Readers of SU and Swadeology have been gracious contributors to this cause in the past and I hope you can […]
Forgive me for being a little downcast today, but I’ve just been watching another one of those “follow your dream” videos online. I’m not normally a sucker for such things, but this video featured a car guy of some note, so it was a natural point of interest for me. I did find myself a little frustrated at the end
I hope you had a great Easter. Mrs Swade and I got away for a few days, to visit an area south of Hobart called The Channel. It’s actually called the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, but people have trouble saying D’Entrecasteaux and just called it The Channel. Van Diemen’s Land – as Tasmania was originally known – was actually first discovered by
[hr] A non-automotive post. Attempt #4. Yes, I’ve been trying to write this one for a while. I am a bleeding heart lefty. I didn’t grow up political at all. I first noticed my political interest around the turn of the century, at 30 years of age, while observing the campaign for the 2000 US Presidential election. We’ve always had
[hr] Hi all, Forgive the lack of activity but we had a minor family emergency that called me away for a few days, followed by a busy weekend. Normal irregular transmission should resume some time this week. In the meantime, here’s one of my favourite European car memories from the 1980s, the Renault Fuego. Thankfully, I’ve never spoiled the memory
[hr] [dropcap]P[/dropcap]lease forgive this self-indulgence post, but I’ve found this recent tradition (for me) of writing down yearly goals and accounting for them to be helpful, so I’m going to do it once again. On January 1, I listed a number of goals for 2013. Here’s how things turned out: Do my job better – Check. I can’t claim to
[hr] [dropcap]O[/dropcap]ne of my goals for 2013 was to get more familiar with The Beatles. I was born in 1970, the same year The Beatles released Let It Be, and subsequently took their own advice and broke up. I grew up hearing plenty of Beatles hits on the radio, but aside from a taped copy of Abbey Road given to
[hr] It’s Christmas Eve here in Australia. We’ve had a BBQ dinner, played a few family games and ‘Carols by Candlelight’ is on the telly. I’ve got some presents left to wrap before they get distributed at our family lunch tomorrow. All you northern hemisphere types might be interested to know that it’ll be 27 degrees C here tomorrow, with
Never forget this quote: It is always better to ask forgiveness than to seek permission That was our new Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, after he announced his paid parental leave scheme, a scheme that even most of his own coalition didn’t like. Here’s a few other quotes for you, this first one from the Liberal Party newsletter, otherwise known at
A non-automotive post. —— It’s been 2 months now since Labor lost the federal election in Australia – and I describe it that way quite deliberately. I am convinced that Tony Abbott and his Liberal/National coalition did not win this election because they offered attractive policies or solid personnel. Rather, Labor lost the election because of their ongoing leadership farce,
I know I said I wouldn’t mention it but just like the politicians themselves are prone to doing, I changed my mind. We have an election coming up in four days and I’ve got a few issues. I apologise to regular readers here, but I’ve got to get this stuff off my chest. I’ve voted for both sides of the
