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By invitation of the Motos Scooters Club des Falaises - the local branch of the Vespa Club de France - and together with the Classic Car Club Normandy we got a top spot at the quay in QuilleBeuf to park our cars.

Arriving very early in the morning, we got ourselves installed ahead of the huge crowd that struggled to find a free patch of grass near the river bank to watch the ships go by, have a glass of cider wine and stroll by the motorcycles, oldtimers… and Bluetooth cars. It was a lovely day and the atmosphere was cheery, the ships were stately, the oldtimers plucky (both the cars and the foursome playing cards at a picnic table next to us) and our enjoyment very, very, véritable.

So, after a bit of preparation, it seems we’re in good shape for the festivities around the French National Holiday. Taking an elegant convoy of cars to the beautiful region of Normandy when large crowds gather for the Sail Armada on the river Seine is definitely a winning tactic. If they weren’t looking at the boats, the folks in Rouen were certainly looking at us.

Created in 1989 and held in Rouen every four or five years since, the ten-day Armada is a festival for the finest sailing ships in the world. Attracting literally millions of people, it is one of the largest international events in the world. In the days leading up to the 14th of July, many people already come to take a look at the majestic ships that are lying in the inland port of Rouen. There is music (Iggy Pop seems to be everywhere these days), there are markets, there are of course fireworks and there is - after all, this is France - lots of food and drink. And then there’s us.

Doors, steering wheel, gasoline, check!

2000 Watts sound system and subwoofer, check!

Roof, check!

Crazy driver, check!

Mudtrail, check!

This car is officially ready… Landcruisers can eat our mud.

What better idea to get noticed than driving around in a flashy car? Well… driving around in three flashy cars! Beside our trusted Lotus, we took the Parrot MG out of the stable and added to that a Landrover Lightweight. Greasemonkey had to work until the last moment, and then some, to get the old boy (born in 1980) in shape for the trip.

Although, in shape? With a maximum speed of 80 km/h, it’s not exactly a bullet on the road… more like a boulder. But it does get you noticed. And when an Aberdeen-Le Mans classics race passes by, you get quite a few nods (’one of us’) and consenting salutes from old Jags and Bentleys. Cool. Pity about the weather though, it was raining cats and dogs all day… glad to be inside now in front of a glass of cider wine, the local specialty.

Yup, it’s been awful quiet here… Not that there wasn’t much to tell, I just did not take the time to tell it. Blogging about driving fancy cars around in European cities is fun and easy, but it sort of gives the impression that it is all I do. It is not, but I just do not feel the urge to communicate about the fact that I work on strategies for niche products in specific demographics, chase new business, guide the production of press releases, case studies, by-lined articles and newsletters, set up press briefings and host interviews, play coach and coachee, think about the future, muse on the past, glorify and curse the present, and of course getonthebackofmilkcartonson stakesinthemiddleofcornfieldsoncoversoffuturehistorybooksonoldlady’s mantleswalkin’onwaternailedoncrosses…

While driving around in Geneva, I became the living proof that - when talking about telephone calls and music - Sony Ericsson makes sure you are connected wherever you are in whichever way you want. Headsets, handsfree carkits, stereo headsets, audio dongles, fm transmitters, audio speakers and phones with shake control ensure that you can make calls safely and comfortably and that there is no place on earth where you cannot listen to your music.
I have been listening to Chet Baker at the shore of Lake Geneva today and calling my dad from a traffic jam (Dad! Coool cars!).

I’ll be streaming Chet again tomorrow morning via the Music Receiver audio dongle on the dodgy old Denon amplifier in the apartment here and knowing who’s calling me then before I have my phone out of my pocket. The future is now, and it is wireless. It also still has traffic jams, but they’re a bit easier to tolerate now

A lot more pictures can be found on Heliade’s picture site here.

And it goes so well with my Hermès handbag… oooh, suit you sir.

When I was about 14, for some reason I suddenly really got into cars. I kept files of as much car brands as I could and tried to know all the models out on the market. Later on, it faded away until I couldn’t care less and I actually never owned a car until I was 28. Now I enjoy driving, but I know nothing about engines compared to some of the car nuts in my direct environment.
But today, while being in Geneva to create some buzz for Sony Ericsson’s car accessories, we were allowed to visit the Car Show itself… and boy, that was AWESOME!! It almost made me go VROOOOOMMMM. But not really.
A sea of shininess, squeaky rubber and suave boothbabes. We saw so many stunning cars that I just don’t know which ones to post (they’re all here).

It was very obvious that Italian car brands still find it important to express their knack for style. The Alfa Romeo booth was dazzling, with cars in the bloodiest red, pitch black and iPod white, all caressed by elegant ladies.

The same was true for Lancia, the supercar brands Ferrari, Bugatti, Maserati and Lamborghini. Why, even Fiat did its best! And they won the prize for the cleverest hospitality suite with ease. Wherever you were in the gigantic hall, you always had the gigantic Cinquecento in the back of your view.

I am truly glad I had the chance to walk around the show today. The 14-year-old in me says it was kick-ass. And the Greasemonkey agrees.

I did my first official TV interview today (I think). It was internet TV from New York… or was it Canada? Anyway, internet-tv still counts. As you can see, there are worse things than being interviewed in our Lotus Eliseabout cool gadgets by a sassy tv-show host. I hope the message - that there are much more interesting Bluetooth applications for cars than one may think - got across.
Right after this interview, the funniest thing happened. I drove to the end of the avenue to make a (legal) U-turn, right where the Guardia Urbana police station is. A cop pulled me over, and I instinctively checked my safety belt (check!), headset (forbidden in Spain!!) and ‘I Hate Pigs’ t-shirt (left at home). To my surprise, officer Antonio asked me if he could have his picture taken behind the steering wheel. While his fellow traffic officers huddled around the car, the policeman slipped into the driver’s seat to have the snapshot taken. When I got back into the car, they asked the obvious questions about break horsepower, engine and top speed. However , when I was about to leave he and some of his colleagues blocked the complete road. ‘You show us now how fast the car accelerate!’
For a moment there, I expected the old candid camera trick. And the moment after that, I was sure this was a local trick to confiscate cool cars. But then I just hit the pedal and with the roar of a million smoker’s coughs, I bulleted away down the street. I guess I love my job.

I am now in Barcelona for The Mobile World Congress (MWC), where I hope to see some pretty neat stuff, phones and their peripherals mostly. It’ll be nicely advanced and technologically nifty. But getting in is more of a ‘ape-uses-bone-for-a-tool-and-wahey!’ type thing.
This morning, I spent one and a half hour to get access passes for me and my fellow visitor/exhibitor/ blogger/non-approved-but-finally-confirmed-MWC-registrant Danny.We received more than a dozen e-mails from the GSM Association, and as I write, they are still dripping into my inbox. Even though I showed up at the registration desk with a mail saying it was the final confirmation of my registration, a kind lady told me that our passes were ‘pending’. Just after driving 1250 kilometers. Something else would soon be pending too, from the ceiling by its little hairs, if GSMA would not provide our passes quickly.

I’ll spare you the details but in the end, Danny got a press pass and I only got a visitor pass. Why not? Because my blog hadn’t been updated regularly. The lady admitted she didn’t really know a lot about ‘those blog things’, so she called in professional help… a jovial British guy who decided I did not qualify. I pointed at my tanned face (3 weeks holiday in December) and my blog post about not being able to go to CES in January, but that was to no avail. No press pass for me!