Footage of Ciara’s Civic Reception at Europcar Terminal 2 Dublin Airport yesterday as she headed out to New York to represent The Face of Ireland at the New York St Patrick’s Day Parade. Seen here chatting with Europcar Corporate Manager Jon Jerromes. Ciara will be reporting from the steps of St Patrick’s Cathedral (51st Street NY)..Also in this report we speak to Round 1 Wildcard Leanne Hore who helped see Ciara Off…. Brian Cunningham chats with Rogue Model Management Boss Fiona Roche about Ciara’s New York Itinerary which includes several star studded events she’ll be attending. Cameraman Philip Boyle, Photographer Michael Chester, Report by Ed Darragh ….. more to follow…..

Quick note of thanks to cameraman Philip Boyle, Photographer Michael Chester, Europcar Exec Jon Jerromes, Fiona & Darren at Rogue Model Management…. for a job well done this morning filming Ciara’s Farewell at Terminal 2 Dublin Airport ….Ciara’s now flying high on a 747 heading west to New York to represent The Face of Ireland at this year’s St Patrick’s Day Parade New York… Ciara can look forward to a fun filled action packed 5 days and nights schmoozing with New York’s finest and elite…from Presidents to movie stars… We’ll have some story to tell when she returns next Tuesday…..in the meantime this morning’s footage will be up here in a few days….. watch this space…..

 Tune into Midweek tonight on TV3…Europcar Face of Ireland 2012 Ambassador Garda Ciara Quinn will be chatting to Colette Fitzpatrick – tonight’s topic is Models and their ‘Day Jobs’…..Hello Hello Hello!….( a front cover would be good!) we’ll have the link up here in the morning – in case you miss it tonight….

For a  500€ rental by Europcar Italy, I had to pay an extra 700€ fee just 3 months after I returned the car. If you oddly still want to rent one of their cars (do you work for them?), I would suggest you:

- Never accept a Europcar Italy car already damaged: they will easily find a way to charge you the damage somebody previously did

- Never give back a Europcar Italy car without having somebody inspecting it in front of you, or they will easily charge you whatever damage they will find (any damage happening in their parking slot between the time you parked the car and they inspect it is at your charge)

- Always double check a Europcar Italy contract: Europcar service must sign it too, or the contract will have no value later.

I had to pay 700€ for a scratch (!)  I never did and I’ve never seen (!) on a FIAT Punto: the sum was calculated by adding around 500€ of hand work, 100€ of materials and 100€ of logistic expenses. It seems not only Europcar Italy likes to rob its (ex)clients ..

And The Europcar Face of Ireland Wildcard 1st Round is……… « Face of Ireland.

The suspense deepens as a dozen or more of the 1st round Candidates wait to hear who the Wildcard is. After much deliberation the Face of Ireland Team have just come out of the Wildcard Selection Meeting and their decision has been made…One lucky girl can expect our film crew to arrive at your home this day week – Friday 24th February? We will be dropping clues right here across the week…as to the location of where the Wildcard lives… the first clue is….”Beyond a secret garden lies a little pale”….

http://europcar.ie

http://FaceOfIreland.com

Heartfelt thanks to Martina Fallon at Beverly Hills Galway for the stunning dresses Face of Ireland Ambassador Ciara Quinn picked up from their Galway Branch last week. Here are just some of the Beverly Hills dresses Ciara can be seen wearing in recent public appearances;

TV3 The Morning Show
http://www.tv3.ie/videos.php?show_cal=2&newspanel&showspanel=1&locID=1.65.370&date_mode=1&date=2011-11-29

Kildare.TV http://bcove.me/ptidb3yk

for more see http://Youtube.com/FaceOFIrl

Web: www.beverlyhillsgalway.com Tel/Fax: +353 (0)91 533 849

http://bcove.me/ptidb3yk

Kildare.TV sent Jennifer Drennan to meet the girls who have taken part in the first round of “The Face of Ireland”. Jen catches up with the girls to see how they are coping with their nerves. She speaks to show creator Brian Cunningham and also finds out what advice they have been seeking from pervious winner Ciara Quinn. For more information about The face of Ireland visit http://www.faceofireland.com Call us Kildare TV on 045 848848

The 2nd Round takes place at the Red Cow Hotel on Friday 20th April 2012

]]> http://stillwalks.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/a-jaguar-tale/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:38:41 +0000 StillWalks http://stillwalks.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/a-jaguar-tale/ Introduction

Last year my daughter, Ellen Duncan, had a short story included in an anthology edited by Kate North and called “The C Word”. It was published by Cinnamon Press and launched at Waterstones. Needless to say I was very proud of her.

I asked Ellen to write an account of a recent trip I took with her to the north of Scotland to visit my sister, Jane, on the sad occasion of her husband’s death from cancer. Philip had lived with cancer as long as he was able and maintained, with Jane’s help at the end, a popular blog about his experiences (www.philiprogers.co.uk). Jane runs RichThinkers.

Whilst in Scotland I wanted to produce a StillWalk for Jane, which would be dedicated to Philip – The StillWalk is “Winter Woodland Walk – Forres”.

I asked that Ellen’s story focus on aspects of the visit other than that of the funeral.

Alastair Duncan 31/01/2012

A Jaguar Tale 

The trip to Bristol Airport at three in the morning, was probably more round-about than necessary, a result of attempting to figure out how to use TomTom on my Dad’s new iPhone and not being entirely successful. Nevertheless, we arrived there in plenty of time and spent the next two hours drinking coffee and trying to decide whether it would be better to stay awake or doze until the flight. As it happens, even dozing is virtually impossible in a busy airport at five in the morning, regardless of whether you’ve slept earlier or not, and I hadn’t. So we stayed in a mostly silent daze until it was time to head to the departure lounge.

Sunrise at 20,000 feet

The flight itself passed in a haze of tiredness, broken by a spectacular sunrise somewhere around eight in the morning, and constantly underpinned by the gravelly whine of the engines. It was cold when we got off at Aberdeen Airport, a biting wind that even cut through my thick winter jacket, and we were both glad to reach the warmth of the arrivals lounge. Checked in with Europcar rental service, then got breakfast, and wow, what a queue of riggers! We were too warm by then, that’s always the way, but a full cooked English breakfast could actually be enjoyed, and then it was back to the Europcar desk. Another queue, more waiting.

I was hanging back, staring at nothing in particular, so it startled me a bit when Dad just spun around, grinning like a little kid, and said, ‘We’re getting a Jag!’

Jaguar XJ

‘Awesome!’ Because, frankly, it was. Who’s going to be disappointed by that, especially when we were expecting a Ford Mondeo? So off we went, keys in hand, and suddenly looking forward to the two-hour drive to Forres rather more than anticipated. And there it was, gorgeous and shiny and black, absolutely stunning, with leather seats, and so comfortable . . . and Dad couldn’t figure out how to start it.

We worked it out, eventually; it was all electronic, automatic, but so smooth. We had fun playing with the digital display, tapping through the climate control (separate for each side of the car!) and figuring out the radio and sat nav. Hooking up the iPod was beyond us, so we travelled in the quiet – you could barely hear the tyres on the road, or the engine. I didn’t sleep. The sun was bright, the area was gorgeous and there was snow on the hills.

We were staying with my grandparents, opposite Jane, in her friend’s house. Lunch – thank heavens – was pretty much ready when we arrived, so after some admiring exclamations about the car, we settled down to eat, following which I passed out in bed for a couple of hours, catching up on some much-needed sleep while everyone else went out and got in the major shopping for the next few days.

And that, unfortunately, was when the problems began.

‘The boot won’t open.’

‘What?’

‘The boot won’t open. All the food’s in there.’

And try what we might none of us could get it open either. Dad ended up calling the rental service, Europcar, and they said they’d send someone out – but because it was snowy it might take a while. So we got on with things, and saw Jane, and cooked dinner, and poor Dad just had to hang around.

When they finally did arrive, late in the evening and while we were eating, Dad hung around outside while the mechanic tried to sort it out – but of course, things are never that easy, and even he couldn’t sort it out. Dejected, Dad came back in to finish his by-then cold pasta, looking harassed.

He had been explaining to the others about StillWalks, and since he had brought one of the DVDs up he decided to use it in a much-needed attempt to relax. It worked, too, for all of us, just sitting, watching and listening to them, going from a winter to a summer one, from coast to forest. Dad seemed pretty calm – right up until the point when Granny said, ‘I think you should call the car company again now, not in the morning!’ Quite a lot of the tension returned.

Next morning, while I was giving Jane a hand with some boxes of Philip’s books, poor Dad was still having to wait around, this time for the AA Jag specialist to arrive. As he had been hoping to use the time we were up there to produce a StillWalk of the area in memory of Philip, this was more than a little frustrating. When they finally did get there, still no luck. Whatever techniques they tried made no difference whatsoever, and on top of that it turned out the car wasn’t locking either. By this point we had all pretty much decided that a Jaguar, lovely though it might have been, was far more trouble than it was actually worth on this occasion.

Dad, in a last ditch attempt, tried calling Jaguar themselves, in the hope that they would have a solution. Considering the luck we had had so far, I don’t think any of us were surprised when they told him the only way to get in would be to cut through the steel and into the boot from the inside. By this time we decided just to give in, do the shop again, and apply to get the money back on the insurance.

That was how Dad and I ended up in Tesco, buying everything again – and it’s funny how it doesn’t matter where you are, Tesco is the same. At any rate, by the time we were finished, it was nearly dark, and sleeting along with it, making for a fairly miserable drive back while we tried to remember the route without a great deal of help from street signs. On our return my Uncle Simon joked that the boot would open only when we got back to the airport!

The next day, Dad took the morning to do the work for the StillWalk – by then, thankfully, the snow had more or less cleared. Granny had done the flower arrangements for the service that afternoon, so we drove there a little early. It was further than we had realized, and the roads were quite twisty, so I suppose we shouldn’t have been surprised when a humpbacked hill came out of nowhere – it felt like the car almost took off.

That evening, I found myself keeping my little cousin, Isobel, entertained with just about the strangest game of Hide and Seek I’ve ever played – it involved her showing me where she was ‘hiding’ something, and then the pair of us wandering off to start ‘looking’ for it together.

Unfortunately for us, we were leaving in the early hours of the morning again, and had to be up at 2am, which I can’t say is a time I’m too fond of. Nevertheless, when it actually came to it, despite all the trouble we’d had, the Jaguar is a nice car to drive and be in, and the roads were silent and empty, so we arrived at Aberdeen Airport in plenty of time, and not quite as tired or stressed out as we might have been. We parked in the hire car area, which was more or less completely abandoned, and were just grabbing our things off the backseat when Dad decided to try the boot one last time.

It opened! After everything, all the trouble and time we had taken trying to get it sorted out, and right at the very end it just opened. Leaving us to abandon £130 worth of food and wine just as it was finally accessible again.

Ellen Duncan 31/01/2012

I wondered later if it was that ‘flight’ from the humpback bridge that unstuck the boot, but I guess I’ll never really know. And the car? Well I know from the texts I sent, just how frustrated and annoyed I was at the time – but when I look back, it is the pleasure I felt at driving a brand new Jaguar XJ that I remember first and foremost.

Alastair Duncan 31/01/2012

NB Anyone interested in Philip Rogers books should contact Rich Thinkers.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced the signing of a multi- year, multi- million euro contract with Europcar. After a rigorous evaluation process, Europcar Information Services (EIS) selected TCS to manage strategic IT Services development for its French operations.

Pascal VALLERENT, Skill Center Director, Europcar Information Services said, “The objective of the partnership is to continue to improve our structured and standardized development process across Europcar. We were looking for a partner with the highest standard in quality; demonstrated flexibility and one that could help us optimize both time-to-market and cost control. TCS scored high on all counts and its strong global delivery model (GNDM) and industry knowledge of our field was key criteria in our selecting them for this project. TCS’ localization strategy with mixed teams at all levels also proved to be a key factor in the selection process.”

Kumar Narayanan, Director & Country Head, TCS France said, “This partnership with Europcar is part of the development of a strategic relationship with industry leading companies in France. It reiterates TCS’ strategic commitment to the region and our ability to create operating models specific to the unique needs of our French clients.”

So here are the first three ladies on the path to Ciara’s crown…… « Face of Ireland.

…Stephanie O’Reilly from Cavan….Shauna Lavelle from Co. Mayo and Leann Fay from Dublin…three worthy winners who now move forward to the National Final on Saturday 13th October….the 2nd Semi-Final takes place at Morans Red Cow Dublin 22 on April 20th… Heartfelt thanks to exec producers Brian & Kieron & all the production crew who were just dynamite….Staging & Stills/Producer (vince) Additional Stills (derek) Hair (denise & Sinead) Make-up (Cara, Vanessa & Nicola) Backstage security (Sean) Co-ordinator (Chloe) Judges (Fiona, Audrey & Eamon) Presenter (Deric) Cameras (Philip & Gerry) we’ll do it all over again April lol Producer (Ed)

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Ciara Receives her Official Invitation to attend The New York St Patrick’s Day Parade – Extravaganza – Representing Face of Ireland as Ambassador 2012 « Face of Ireland.

Europcar Face of Ireland is very pleased to announce that our Ambassador for 2012 Ciara Quinn has just received her formal invitation to attend this year’s St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York from Hilary Beirne himself, the Executive Secretary NYC  St Patrick’s Day Parade.

We know that Ciara will do a fine job representing Face the of Ireland and will thoroughly enjoy her time stateside filming with an amazing TV film crew.  For details on how to enter this year’s competition search for 2013 visit http://FaceOfireland.com

As time has gone on, Dude and I made the decision to get rid of it. This is mostly because it has been in the way when we try to pull the car out of the garage or into the garage. The back part of the shed had a pillar that is just a tad far out which makes getting the car in or out somewhat difficult.  I still had my doubts about getting rid of it but after a great deal of thought we went with my uncle’s old stand-by term “When it doubt, throw it out”.

This decision was made in the beginning of November so I waltzed myself over to the town Maire to put in a request to have “les montres” pick-up at my house. Les monstres are for the huge items that you can’t set out with normal everyday trash so you have to go and ask for a special pick up and then the city comes by and takes it away for you. Since we have this service in The States I figured we were all good.

So in the beginning of November I made my request. The lady at the Maire said that the pick up only happens once a month and she told me that the next pick-up was schedule for the beginning of December. I gave her a list of what we were going to set out and was on my way.

Since we had sometime before the pick-up, Dude and I didn’t destroy the shed right away. We figured we would do it the weekend before and that would avoid us having a bunch of crap lying around our yard. By crap I mean, roof tiles, wood, cardboard, rebar, cement, and a bunch of rocks and other junk.

Here is a picture of what the shed used to look like.

Now you will have to sing the “Jeopardy” theme song in your head while mimicking the wait we had for the following three weeks until pick-up……..all good? All done singing??

Okay.

Now we come to the beginning of December. Dude and I got down to business and made Mince meat outta that shed. It did take the better part of the weekend, but that’s because Dude wanted to start the project later in the day and go into the evening. Folks, it gets cold here when the sun goes down in the winter and the weekend we decided to do this, it was also windy. Cold provincial wind. Not really feelin’ the love about 6pm at night!

So right around that time, I bailed on him cuz I was just too plain cold. I went inside to cook dinner and sit right next to the heater. With only one man on the job it took a bit longer, but that’s life.

The next day we were able to finish it up and made some piles around the yard to get ready to take everything out to the drive way by mid-week for the pick-up.

Even even dug up some old bones. Cool, huh?

Here is what our yard looked like by the end of the second day.

The area where the shed once stood actually looks pretty good, and now it even seems that we have a bigger yard. Still haven’t decided on what to do with this area now, but I guess that will be a spring/summer project.

The next day I went over to the Maire to be sure that the special pick-up was really going to take place before I threw all our junk out onto the street the night before. When I got there I spoke to a different lady (of course) and she assured me that the pick-up was on schedule for this week and my request was put in. I reiterated to her exactly what I needed to have picked-up (and what was also written down on my request form). Well no sooner had I started telling her my items then she started shaking her head NO. I was like, “Excuse me?? I came here a month ago and the lady behind the counter wrote my request and items down and she didn’t have a problem then”. Well this lady tells me that the lady I dealt with was a substitute for the day and she should have had me come back instead of taking my application because they only come and pick up things from inside your house like beds, refrigerators, couches (you get the picture). Really?? And how is that my fault??

Of course, the Maire is not going to budge on this issue so I went home totally pissed cuz now I had all this crap in my yard ready to be hauled away and no one was coming to get it! Lucky for me I checked before setting it all out or I would have had a real big surprise on the day of pick-up and all that stuff would have still been there. I would have had to haul it all back into my yard!

Now the whole reason for this special pick-up is because Dude and I don’t have a truck or a trailer to go and do it ourselves (right now all we have is Benoit and he’s no good for stuff like that) so this was the next best thing and it was FREE!!!. There was no way I was gonna pas up free in this country.

So now Dude and I had to go waste 100€ on a rental truck and do it ourselves. Sheesh if I would have known that, we could have done this month’s ago when we had rented a truck to haul away a bunch of trash and did it all at the same time to save money! Gosh, the French bureaucracy sure pisses me off sometimes.

So, Dude and I start trying to find rental deals online and we found a Europcar near us that had a big truck to rent. Their site said that if you book your reservation online you get an “online deal” so we thought what the hay, go for it, even though they don’t tell you what kind of deal you’re actually getting.

The day to pick up the rental came and off we went. We had stipulated that we wanted the car at 10am so we could be sure to make several trips to the dump that day. No, I didn’t tell Europcar about the dump, I’m just telling you guys. Heck no would I say that to them, they’d probably charge me double. They just thought we were moving furniture.

We got to the rental place at 10am on the dot and guess what?? There was a sign on the door that said that they had left on an errand and wouldn’t be back until 11:45!!! Are you kidding me?? I swear these people will do anything to mess up your day. What! Does, like, only one person work in the stupid office! Well we weren’t about to go home so we looked around and saw that there was a Renault dealership across the round-about and decided to see if we could get an oil change on the car. The Renault shop said “Minute Renault” with no appointment necessary so maybe we could get her done. I left my business card on the Europcar office door with a note to have someone call cuz we had a reservation and they weren’t there. I really did write that.

Then we drove on over to Renault and after telling the guy across the counter that I only wanted an oil change and new filter and NOTHING more, he proceeds to tell me that it would be 109€. For an oil change?? You have got to be kidding me! What the heck is wrong with these people??!! A dang oil change and filter should be, like, 35€, MAX! What a rip off. How do these French people afford this kind of stuff? Where the heck is Jiffy Lube when you need them? I told the guy to forget it and that price was just too expensive. Then we left.

Lucky for us, right about then Europcar calls and says they’re back. Well, that was sure nice of them. I want to know why when we arrived back at their office there were two girls there. What’s up with both of them leaving to do the errand and close the office? Lame.

The next thing was even more fun for me. See, we found out that because we had rented the truck online and on a weekday that we saved a whole 11€ from the last time we rented which was on a weekend with no reservation. Now, I ask you, how is that supposed to get me to dance the jig?? A freakin’ whole 11€??!! I can’t even get a McDo meal for two with that. Here we go again trying to save money in this country and not ever able to! Just so you know Dude and I are looking into buying an old beat up truck or a trailer. We’re done with this ridiculous game playing they got going on here. Stupid 11€ discount. What the heck?! If I went right back over to Renault to have them change the oil now I could feel soooo much better knowing that I just save 11€ over at Europcar! Sheesh! There’s a whole lot of stupid going on in this here place.

After getting all our ducks in a row on the rental and feeling really ripped of for the day, we headed home to go load up on junk and make our rounds to the local dump. It was now almost 12:30pm and we had been at the rental car place 10am. Ahhh! Two and one half hours wasted on nothing. I actually got more pissed than that, but I’m a bit over it now.

The good part of the day came at this point. Dude and I actually got rid of all of our stuff in just three trips! That was pretty cool.

Trip #1

Trip#2

Trip#3

It did take the rest of the day and we slid in the gate of the dump on our third trip just before closing, but we did it and we were successful. The only funny thing that happened to us at the dump was that the guys that work there came up to us on our last trip to see if we were a company or not. I guess the same Europcar van showing up three times in one day is kind of a tip off. I told them no, we were not a business but that I had bought a nearly 300 year old house and was renovating. He gave me that look like, oh-I get it, and let us go on with our merry selves. I think if you are a business maybe they make you pay to dump your stuff. Not sure.

Home we went and finally happy that our crappy start to the day didn’t end up the same way. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I actually like going to the dump here. It isn’t icky like in The States. The one we have by us is all for recycled stuff and they have it all laid out nice and neat and it’s new. Also, it’s something you can just go and do yourself.

Well, one of our many projects has been completed. It sure does feels good when you can finally say that.

MODELS / ACTORS REMINDER Europcar Face of Ireland TV Production team require 2 male and 2 female model/actors to join 2012 winner Ciara Quinn modelling a new ‘brand’ range of clothing – in an exciting one day filming/photo shoot. Thank you to all who have registered already final decisions will be made Monday morning. If you are interested please send portfolio pics and stats to info@faceofireland.com Entries close 9pm Sunday night 11th December. Please include a contact/mobile number. Good Luck!

I was delighted to see that despite the “carrots cash crisis”, Euskaltel-Euskadi remain in the first division. The other team which has “lost out” is Geox but given the sponsor walked away at the last minute, it was to be expected. Rumours have abounded of the management seeking sponsors as far afield as Venezuela. If they’re successful, the team will have to settle for a place, once again, in the second division.

2012 World Tour Teams

• AG2R La Mondiale
• Astana Pro Team
• BMC Racing Team
• FDJ
• Euskaltel – Euskadi
• Garmin – Cervélo
• Katusha Team
• Lampre - ISD
• Liquigas – Cannondale
• Lotto Cycling Project
• Movistar Team
• Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
• Rabobank
• Saxo Bank
• Sky Procycling
• Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team

Pending:

• GreenEdge Cycling
• Team RadioShack – Nissan

Postscript: The pending have been ratified.

So I had booked the smallest hire car, a manual Hyundai, with GPS, for the few days I needed it. I did this over the phone and received a confirmation email the following morning. No problems.

On the morning, I turn up at the office at Southern Cross and see if I can upgrade the car with my Entertainment Book card – but all the other cars available were dirty, so they couldn’t. This is understandable. Next they inform me that they don’t have a GPS for me. I ask if there might be one available from another office nearby, but to no avail. Instead, I am offered a Melways, from 2005. Given that I only needed to get to the Hume and then follow signs, I figured I would be alright.

I get up to the car and find it still dirty from the previous customer – including sand in the boot, receipts and pop-top lids on the front seat and scum on the windscreen. I called back down to the office to let them know, and head off. Only to find that I need a ticket to get out of the carpark. And the Europcar office is now closed. So I make a few calls, and after an hour since I collected the car, I head on my way.

Thinking that would be all of the issues I could encounter, I enjoy my trip away in Beechworth and come back a few days later. Here my second adventure began. At the end of the Hume, I end up turning off by accident and end up in Greensborough and Epping. Unfortunately, the 2005 Melways didn’t given me any help with the new roads in the area, but eventually I get back heading south and home. I call Europcar and say that I will be dropping the car off the next morning because I’m lost without a GPS. Fine.

I returned the car to the carpark at Franklin Street, leaving it in the middle of the aisle because the place is so full. I queue in the office for 20 minutes before reaching the desk and being told that I need to pick up a slip from the office in the carpark. I return, but there is no one there, so this takes more time. Eventually I am able to return the car, make sure I’m not being charged for extra-cleaning and get back on public transport where I feel much safer.

In the office while I waited, there were people who had booked a hire car, and had to wait for cars to be cleaned or transported from the other office before they could head off. Frustration all around it seems.

I headed up to Beechworth on Thursday afternoon, to give myself some spare time and a break from the city. I arrived not long after lunch and it was a beautiful day up there. Given my previous experiences with ‘country folk’, I was worried that there would be unfriendly faces all over town (being charged ‘tourist prices’, lack of customer service etc). However, it was not to be. I arrived at the Tanswell’s Commerical Hotel on Ford Street and found a friendly, if a little busy, Helen greeting me. Checking in was no issue, I was shown to my room and left to my own devices.

So, the Tanswell’s Commerical Hotel. It’s an interesting place. As far as I know, the current owners are fairly new, which explains a lot about the disorganisation around it. The rooms were clean and tidy enough, but no bins. Each room has a basin, but the four bathrooms are shared amongst the 12 rooms. This in itself isn’t an issue, but given that they were often missing toilet paper, or handles to hang towels on, it was a bit frustrating.

Downstairs functions like a normal bar – front and back bar, restaurant and back lounge, where the bands played. There was also a breakfast room for our ‘continental breakfasts’. The first morning there was no bread and only just enough milk. The next morning I was a little worse for wear so headed out for bacon and eggs, skipping it entirely. On the last morning, I found some apple juice which had gone off, bread which was a little stale, and not enough cutlery. It was a little frustrating, but we all seemed to manage through it.

After I had checked in, I went out to the information centre to get my tickets for the Celtic Festival, and have a little walk in town. Again, the friendly staff at the information centre made sure I had everything I needed, local maps, a guide for the festival and advised me to book for dinners over the weekend. The tickets were actually coloured wrist-bands, one for each day. They allowed you into any ticketed events (most indoor concerts). However, there was also plenty of free entertainment for those who didn’t want to buy a pass.

I dropped in for a late lunch at Beechworth Bakery before checking out the Bridge Road Brewers next to my hotel. I’m a big fan of their beer and was excited to finally be at the brewery. While there, I swapped between the Saison, Pale Ale, Bling IPA and Stella IPA, all hopalicious brews. They shut up fairly early in the evening, so I moved onto Tanswell’s soon and settled outside in the afternoon sunshine. A couple of the hotel guests, two sisters from New Zealand, joined me and we had a nice chat.

I seemed to find myself at the brewery fairly often over the weekend. It has a shaded and comfortable area outside, and of course a fine selection of beer. The toilets outside are supposed to be male and female, but are used more as unisex, and I was pleased to see both had baby change facilities and disabled access – equal opportunity and all that. While there I also managed to try their new Scrumpy cider. Very dry, which I liked, but not as full flavoured as it could be. Definitely an easy drinker, and I think I prefer this over the Napoleon & Co ciders by Punt Road Wines.

For my first evening I decided to explore the other bars in town, where some of the bands would be playing over the weekend. Unfortunately, I had a drink and bite to eat at the Hibernian Hotel. I had the not so local Coopers to drink, and a poor excuse for a parma. It was disappointing, but soon I was back at the Tanswell’s, drinking more Bridge Road beer. It seemed to be the only bar in town serving the local brew – the others were very standard beer varieties and food.

On the Friday, the festival wasn’t due to start until the haggis supper in the evening, so I went to explore the local area. The bartender the night before had advised the Milawa region for food and wine, and on the way into town I had seen some wineries, so off I went. I found Amulet Wines, Wood Park wines cellar door, EV Olives, Milawa Mustards, Milawa Cheeses, Pennyweight Wines and some lovely countryside. I began to wish I had some talent for landscape photography, but settled to admire instead.

I tried many delicious things, and iven the number of wineries I was visiting, I was of course concerned about drink-driving. I managed to master the act of spitting with their help, and didn’t end up with red wine all down my chin! There were some very nice wines, along with some not so nice ones. The Pennyweight wines near town is certified organic and bio-dynamic, which led to a great discussion about the environment with the winemaker. Another unexpectedly friendly local!

I bought far too much food and wine, and wished I had an Esky or refrigerated car to buy up on cheese. Instead I tried a few up there, and had a pizza for lunch at the restaurant attached to the factory – goats cheese, anchovies, sardines and caramelised onions. Beautiful.

Again, a few late afternoon beers at the brewery was a satisfying end to the day, before I decided to have dinner at the Tanswell’s dining room on the recommendation of someone at a winery. The food was great – especially the chocolate mousse for dessert! I decided to stay at the hotel that evening for the bands, rather than head to one of the other bars with poor beer and a bad atmosphere. Firstly there was the Miles to Go Trio, a quiet and folky group. Quite peaceful and nice. They were followed by Between the Wars – the opposite. Loud, rocky and wonderful fun. The night ended with more beers, some chatting to the acts and some locals and a late end in bed.

The next morning there were celtic flags across the town, some of the roads were closed, and pipers were around the town. I loved the atmosphere, but first I needed a breakfast and a coffee at the Pantry on Ford Street.

Throughout the morning I checked out some Irish dancing, Highland jigging, the Celtic market, some folk groups, the band Highlander, the farmers market and many of the pipers. It was great, there was a nice atmosphere around town and things to see and do everywhere. Many of the stalls weren’t very Celtic-related, but it was a nice mix to keep everyone happy.

In the heat of the afternoon I had a nap up in my room, but once I was awake, headed down to the brewery again to see Richard Perso, a very talented musician and singer with a great voice. After a while more chatting to some interesting tourists and locals, I went for dinner at Gigi on Ford Street. I had a great three course meal – homemade sourdough, warm local olives, followed by lamb and finished with panna cotta. All absolutely perfect. The restaurant was fully booked but as my table wasn’t taken until 8pm, I had time to eat before heading to see some bands.

In the evening I saw Sibin (pronounced ‘she been’ apparently) who were great, more folky than Between the Wars, but just as talented. They had a very good vibe. After that, I was hoping to hang around for The Go Set, who I think I’ve seen before, but wasn’t feeling well so went for an early night. I managed to sleep through the music underneath my room, the beer garden of the brewery being rocking and people going up and down the corridor. I think I needed it.

Sunday morning was a bit slower to start with the market and the street entertainment, but it was still a nice atmosphere. I enjoyed just sitting and watching the world go by. I watched a few acts, had a bite to eat at the brewery before loading up the car with beer and heading home. It was a lovely afternoon.

Unfortunately, my drive home wasn’t so enjoyable. There was roadworks and unclear signs around the end of the Hume and I got lost in Greensborough/Epping area. Due to issues with Europcar, I had no GPS and had to try to to find my way using an old Melways, which didn’t have all of the new streets on it. Finally I got home and was glad to be there.

Four matches on a pulsating last day of Pool games completed the Quarter Final line-ups as expected. Georgia kept Scottish hopes alive against the Pumas, scoring a try in the 1^st half to go in at the break only 7-5 down.

Alas for Scotland, Argentina finished them off in the 2^nd half despite a pretty poor display & the Kiwis will be licking their lamb chops in anticipation for next Sunday’s quarter. Even without Dan Carter (his loss is taking on biblical proportions here) the All Blacks could knock up a record score in that one.

Carter’s loss focussed the nation on his replacement, Colin Slade, poor bastard. He can’t scratch his arse without the whole population commenting on it. So the AB’s final pool game against Canada drew at least some attention away from the Auckland Warriors’ Rugby League Grand Final in Sydney (they got thumped btw).

New Zealand scored just the twelve tries then with Zac Guildford, playing his first game back after a large bender during the Tri Nations, scoring four of them. Even their drunks are good. Coach Henry described Slade’s game as “pretty good” but experimented with scrum half Weepu at stand off.

Very ironic after France did the same thing against the All Blacks & were accused of deliberately playing a weak team. Weepu looked good though but you can bet the Springboks/Australians will see this as a weakness.

Wales put on a master class against Fiji in Hamilton, qualifying for the knock out phase in the first half with a four try bonus point. The side looks really good & ominously will have the injured Hook, Shane Williams & Lydiate back for next weekend.

There they will face a powerful Ireland team that despatched a fired up Italy in a bloody encounter in Dunedin. Punches aplenty as Italy tried to get amongst it in the first half, but O’Gara back to his best slotting three penalties to give the Irish a 9-6 half time lead.

Ireland totally dominated the second half finally putting some back line moves together with Tommy Bowe & flankers Ferris & O’Brien outstanding. They scored a hatrick of tries with Earls getting two & O’Driscoll t’other.

Some controversial moments in this one but Ireland need not dwell on, rather concentrate on next weekend in what will be an absolute cracker against Wales in Wellington. Ireland will be hoping for O’Connell (hamstring) & Best (collarbone) to be fit for an epic battle in the forwards.

As for me, I’ll be watching the rest of the show back in the Philippines. With the way they’ve organised accreditation here, ticket requests for the knock-out phase are not known till this morning, which is a bit late for organising flights. Never mind, it’s been a blast & I’ve enjoyed my first trip to New Zealand & I hope to come back. Ta ta.

Quarter Final Line Ups (NZ Time)

Saturday 08 October

6pm Ireland v Wales, Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington

8.30pm England v France, Eden Park, Auckland

Sunday 09 October

6pm South Africa v Australia, Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington

8.30pm New Zealand v Argentina, Eden Park, Auckland

NZ times now corrected as above. Apologies, original times taken off Europcar website, wrong times, so wrong car obviously.

In other news:

• Toyota  Motorsport GmbH has set a new lap record for electric vehicles on the Nurburgring Nordschliefe circuit. Its twin-motored TMG EV P001, based on a Radical chassis and driven by Jochen Krumbach, clocked in at 7min 47.794 seconds. More at TMG’s website.

• Bentley’s planning plug-in hybrids, CEO Wolfgang Durheimer has told Car and Driver.

• BMW has issued some updates on its heat energy recovery projects: more on the Turbosteamer and Thermoelectric Generator at Green Car Congress.

• Hertz is adding EVs – Nissan Leafs and Smart Fortwo eds – to its On Demand fleet in San Francisco. The cars will be based at the  Airport Marriott Waterfront Hotel and at Hertz’s downtown HQ, where chargers are installed. And UPS is putting 100 electric vans to work in California, the largest fleet of electric delivery vans in the state (Autoblog Green).

• Europcar, meanwhile, is putting the Peugeot iOn on-fleet for one-day hire from Heathrow, Luton and Gatwick airports, or bases in Marble Arch and Kings Cross, London.

• The city of Salinas, California, is suing bankrupt EV-maker Green Vehicles for its $500,000-plus investment in the development of the Triac 2.0, a three-wheeler claimed to have a 100-mile range (Green Car Reports).

• Biofuel catalyst of the day: panda poo. Or, more specifically, the microbes which live in a panda’s guts, and which are so efficient at breaking down bamboo into sugars and energy, could hold the key to easy synthesis of biofuel from waste plant matter such as corn stalks. More at Grist.

• And more biofuel-scatology: a team from Tulane University have been experimenting with animal dung kindly donated by New Orleans Zoo, and have discovered bacteria which can break down old newspapers into butanol. Thanks, Detroit News.

Europcar is reinforcing its commitment to the environment by being the first UK rental provider to add the new Peugeot iOn to its fleet.

This follows the announcement of Europcar’s global partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroen last October.

Providing travellers arriving at several of London’s airports and heading into the Capital with a congestion-charge-free option, Peugeot iOns are available at Europcar’s Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airport locations. Vehicles are also available from the company’s King’s Cross location.

“This is a tremendously exciting initiative for us, demand for electric vehicles to rent is really starting to pick up as both businesses and leisure drivers want to make the most of both the environmental and cost advantages.” said Ken McCall, managing director, Europcar Group UK.

Initially, the vehicles will be available for one day hire only, in order to ensure they are properly recharged, and can only be returned to the Europcar locations designated for electric vehicles – Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports, Kings Cross and Marble Arch.

Tuesday and Thursday of last week was when we were able to move all of the stuff we had in our garage over to the new house. It took two days for two reasons: 1. We have a ton of stuff and 2. The moving van was small.

So on Tuesday, we headed over to Europcar to rent the biggest thing they had to offer which isn’t really that big, but it did the job okay. It took us around 3 hours to load as much stuff as we could possibly cram into the thing. It took a while because we had to park the van in front of our apartment complex since it was too big to get into the garage (which means the underground parking garage is REALLY dinky cuz the van was really small). So we had to constantly run up and down the stairs to go back and forth from our garage to the van to load it. Thank goodness that there was a whole gang of 3 of us to do the work!

On Thursday we did the exact same thing. Same Europecar, same scenario , same time frame and same gang. We figured that we did just fine on day 1 that we would probably do just fine on day 2. Lucky for us the weather was great both days because on Wednesday it poured!

It takes 1 hour to get from our apartment to the new house so each day we go out there we are looking at a 2 hour round trip. It seems long, but I really love the drive. It winds through some nice forests, mountains and vineyards and three small villages on the way. It is a wonderful drive (well except for the crazy, butt-hugging {as Dude calls them} drivers). Other than that, I love the peacefulness and the gorgeous view!

Once we arrived at the house, it was time to do a bit of clean up and then unload the truck. Before we could do that, however, we had to figure out how we were going to get the van through the gate. Now, I know I said the van was small, but this is by American standards, it is actually too big for these tiny roads in France and as we found out, our gate. Dude proceeded to back the van into the street and towards the gate. Once there he had to carefully maneuver it so that the sides wouldn’t scrape up my ancient stone wall (who cares about the van, my wall goes down and someone is gonna hear about it!) Then we got to the part of the side mirrors. He pushed in the side mirrors all the way flat and Tinki and I stood on either side and helped him guide the van (VERY slowly) through the gate. Guess what?? It fit, but just barely. There was only a hair left on each side to spare.

Then he was able to back the van all the way to the garage which made the unloading significantly easier than the loading. We proceeded with an assembly line method and in no time had the van unloaded. Then we divided up chores. Dude arranged all his stuff in the garage and Tinki and I took boxes up to the second story. This worked great and we were able to get all the stuff arranged and out of the way.

By the way, for the story of what happened on Thursday go two paragraphs up (it was pretty much like the movie Groundhog Day) the exact same thing happened and I won’t bore you with making you read it again! I swear when Thursday came around it really felt like déjà vu (French pun intended)

After all our stuff was out of the van, we decided to take some of the furniture out of the house that 1) either we didn’t want and 2) was crap and no one would want so it was going to the dump!

All the crappy stuff was either stair-surfed down to the ground floor or thrown out the third story window (literally- I took a video short of it-you can click on it below) and loaded up into the van. On our way home we were going to find a dump to take it to. The other things we sat outside the gate near the side of the road and put a sign on them saying everything was for free and to please take them. Now this works like a charm in America, but I was uncertain if the French would go for it. Well, they proved me wrong in about, like, 10 minutes! They dove in like vultures, I tell you! It was amazing that stuff was gone so fast that you’d had though it was gold! I am glad, though, because if something is still good, but YOU happen to not want it any more, I think some else could always benefit from it.

So with that, we had a small accomplishment and it felt really good. Things seemed to be looking up and we were starting to get excited about our country home. I was hoping all the other things we needed to do would work out too!

Now, let’s examine some of the firsts:

• Cadel Evans, first Tour de France winner from Australia
• Frank and Andy Schleck, first brothers on the podium
• Mark Cavendish, first Brit (and Manx man) to win the green jersey
• First time the Norwegians have taken 4 individual stages

I’m sure there were many more firsts but these were the ones which sprang to mind.

Not forgetting, of course, that there was plenty of cheer for the home nation:-

• Europcar’s Thomas Voeckler’s 4th place was the first since 2000 (Christophe Moreau) having spent 10 days in the maillot jaune
• Five Frenchmen (Voeckler, Peraud, Rolland, Coppel, Jeannesson) in the top 15 was the best result since 1991
• First best young rider classification (Pierre Rolland) since 1999
• First winner (Pierre Rolland) atop Alpe d’Huez since 1986 (Hinault)
• FDJ’s Jeremy Roy voted most combative rider
• Amael Moinard, the only Frenchman on the winner’s team (BMC)

The hopes and dreams of a number of notable riders were dashed largely due to crashes in the first week. Some struggled on to Paris, others departed the Tour in ambulances. A speedy recovery and return to two wheels to you all. Sadly, one of my favourite riders has decided to retire. It was on the cards and his fall in the Tour only accelerated matters. You’ll be sorely missed Alex but I’m sure you’ll lead your team to many more victories albeit from the team car.

Finally, congratulations to the winners of the various jerseys and classifications. I’m sure Dave Z was touched to see his full-sized cardboard cut out atop the podium as part of the winning team. I wonder, does Garmin Cervelo have one for each of the team?

It seems as if the entire world has proclaimed this the best Tour for the past 20 years. I can’t comment as I’ve only been addicted since 2004.

Finally and thankfully

The last three stages have been absorbing, fascinating and have made this year’s Tour truly memorable. Consequently, it seems inappropriate  to lump them together when each is deserving of it’s own fulsome report. Nonetheless, that’s what I’m going to do. Sadly, we sacrified the space normally dedicated to my beloved’s camera in the backpack for more clothes. I’ve spent many holidays in the Alps and while it’s often been wet I don’t think I’ve ever been so cold as this summer. I wasn’t one of those idiots risking hypothermia to grab my 15 seconds of fame in a skimpy outfit. No, we were the mummified couple huddled together sharing a little body heat.

When Andy Schleck rode off on the slopes of the Col d’Izoard on Thursday’s stage from Pinerolo to the top of the Galibier with 60km still remaining, you could hear the collective holding of breath. Was this a suicide mission or Andy’s response to the incessant sniping of the Press? In a move reminiscent of days of yore in the Tour and, fittingly on the 100th birthday of the Tour’s first visit  to the Galibier, Andy’s escape proved Merckxesque.  But that wasn’t all, to the delight of the French public, a last gasp effort from Europcar’s Thomas Voeckler ensured he would spend yet another day in yellow. Evans responded and singlehandedly dragged everyone else up the Galibier. After their exertions of the previous two day’s, sadly Bertie and Sammy weren’t able to remain with the contenders and they both slipped back in the final kilometers and down on GC. Tour over for some and just igniting for others. Only the white jersey changed shoulders, passing from Sky’s Rigoberto Uran to Cofidis’s Rein Taaramae. The eighty-nine riders who finished outside of the day’s time limit were reinstated but, with the loss of 20 points, the margin between Mark Cavendish and Jose Joaquin Rojas, in the fight for the green jersey, was reduced to 15 points.

Another day another fight, you write Bertie off at your peril. If he was going to lose his Tour crown, he was going to go down fighting. Anything Andy could do, he could do too. On Friday’s stage, which finished atop the iconic Alpe’d'Huez, Alberto attacked 15km into the stage. Initially the others responded  but Voeckler and Evans dropped back into the bunch before the summit of the first climb while Andy rode with Bertie, clearly hoping to put time into Evans who tried to organise the chasing group. Cadel had both the brothers for company when Contador soloed off on the Alpe and while they encouraged him to continue the pursuit he desisted. After all, who was the better time triallist? Who needed to put time into who? Exactly.

While Contador was leading the charge up the Alpe to what many assumed would be a Tour stage win, Sammy Sanchez, second on this stage in 2008 to Carlos Sastre, was in hot pursuit tailed by Pierre Rolland who’d been let off the leash by his leader, Thomas Voeckler. With 5km to go, Bertie was visibly fading. 3km later he was overtaken by Rolland who became the only French stage winner of the Tour, the first Frenchman to win here since Bernard Hinault in 1986 and he also took the white jersey of best young rider. Sammy was 2nd again, his 2nd 2nd place of the Tour but, as consolation, he landed the spotted jersey. Alberto was a gallant third and was adjudged the most aggressive rider which was to be his only podium appearance of this Tour. The maillot jaune slipped from the shoulders of Thomas Voeckler onto those of Andy Schleck. Cavendish remained in green, while both he and Rojas lost a further 20 points apiece for again finishing outside the time limit.

Most commentators felt that while the actions of the freres Schleck had been heroic, their time-trialling skills were much inferior to those of Cadel, who had the added advantage of having ridden the same course in the Dauphine. The stage was set and, while those going earlier in the order had to cope with damp conditions, the roads had dried by the time the top riders set off. HTC’s Tony Martin, heir apparent to Spartacus, set a blistering and ultimately winning pace. The body language of Cadel and Andy in the start gate was interesting to observe: the first focused and intent, the latter nervous. The brothers posted similar times to remain on the podium, a first for the Tour. Cadel Evans posted the second best time to leapfrog over Andy and take the treasured yellow jersey: the first winner from Down Under. The realisation of a long held dream and just reward for a very intelligently ridden Tour. Thomas Voeckler rode the time-trial of his life to remain in 4th place, the best finish for a Frenchman for a very long time. Pierre Rolland resisted the challenge of Rein Taaramae, a superior time triallist, to retain the white jersey. Bertie and Sammy both turned in very respectable times in the time trial to finish in 5th and 6th places respectively ahead of the Italian duo of Ivan Basso and Damiano Cunego.

Okay, the Tour’s not yet over but today is largely a procession around the suburbs of Paris followed by a criterium around the capital. Etiquette dictates that the yellow jersey is not attacked on the final day. There still remains the question of the green jersey but I would be very surprised to see anyone other than Cavendish win today, his 5th win of the Tour and his 3rd consecutive win on the Champs Elysees. As an aside, I love the fact that all of BMC are wearing yellow Oakley’s today – nice touch.