This month has flown by...and even though it feels as though I haven't actually done that much, I think if I isolate every individual event, I've probably done quite a bit really. That was an idea I picked up listening to a podcast today (for the record, it was Beauty and Da Beast with Felicia Michaels and Joey Diaz) where Michaels was saying that sometimes, she thinks she's done nothing in a year but if she looks at every event and continuation of progress in life and a career, we get far more done in a space of time than we actually realise. So that's something I'm going to try and keep in my head going forward.
Work has been pretty good, though I'll admit that I've had a few days where it feels as though I'm just killing time and being given tasks for the sake of being given tasks. I've been working in sales for the last few weeks, though I've not been directly selling stuff...more working with the software and going through the backlog of entries to clean it up, keep things up to date and make sure any old entries were either sorted or deleted. Once you get your head around the software, it's not actually that complicated really, though I got the feeling that the people at work were relatively impressed with how quickly I was able to do some of the tasks set. So it meant that by the end of my three week stint, I had finished every job I had set and they were scrambling to find other bits and pieces for me to do.
I'm meant to move to finance tomorrow which should be interesting, simply because it's another load of things to learn, another group of people to get to know and work with and another load of weird technical and business-specific German words to learn and try to figure out. It'll be a bit of a challenge but something that I'm looking forward to...mainly since maths hasn't been a super strong point of mine in the years since leaving school (though you could argue that it wasn't a strong point when I was in school)
In the last week, I've gone from completely losing my appetite to discovering it again and then trying to do days at work on minimal amounts of sleep, neither of which were really fun. I can't figure out why I didn't really eat for a couple of days, and it definitely made me feel a bit on the sluggish side since I was lacking the energy needed to do...well, anything. It took a quick step on the scales in the hallway to realise that a lack of appetite wasn't the greatest thing... But on Sunday, I woke up with a craving for the box of cinnamon crunch that I bought on Saturday evening, partially because I can only eat museli so often before being bored...and it had a picture of parrots and panthers on the back. Yes, I'm a child. We all know it.
Then across Saturday and Sunday, I had very little sleep as for whatever reason, my body just wasn't interested in sleeping. Sunday was helped partially by a headache and a really bizarre pain in my toes which came from absolutely nowhere, but it left me lying in bed for hours unable to sleep through a combination of not feeing tired, being in pain and either being too hot or too cold. I'm yet to find the fine line of temperature in this room...we'll get there.
We ventured to a little place called The Cotton Club in town over the weekend. Cotton Club is a little jazz club in a pretty nice part of the city centre and they get various jazz acts from around the world playing there. I think that place will become a fairly regular place for us this year since it's nice to just chill out every now and then with some jazz.
There are some good outings and adventures being planned over the next month or so which I'm really looking forward to. At the end of next month, I'm heading down to Frankfurt for the weekend to catch up with Hessie and hopefully see Amanda, Susan, Jess and David provided everyone sorts out a way of getting there. And we're going to see Steel Panther too, which is pretty awesome. It also ties in conveniently as the weekend before my 21st, so I'm using this as an unofficial weekend to celebrate that. Mainly since I'm planning on heading to Oberhausen the following weekend for a couple of nights with wXw doing a joint weekender with CZW. I'm yet to fully commit to anything, so I don't know whether I'll do all three nights of shows (though it'd also give me reason to take at least two days off work for the Friday and following Monday to return). I might head out of Germany for a weekend at some point too and go to somewhere like Denmark if I can find a cheap flight and somewhere to stay. There are other countries that I'd like to visit, but I think they might be suited to the new year when the weather improves again.
I thought I'd written about that beforehand...turns out I mentioned that stuff in the last post. I'm just an idiot...
I've got some new things in a creative manner lined up too. I've been toying with the idea of starting a podcast for...at least a year and a half, maybe even two years and I've finally decided that it's the right time to do it. So I'm in the process of buying the equipment I need, and then I'll start trying to put some content out. It won't just be me talking about myself for a length of time and I've got some ideas for things I want to do with it, but we'll see what happens. To be honest, looking at what people on Twitter have been able to do, someone like Mick (@postalpoet), and seeing how they've been able to put out some really interesting and fascinating content with their shows. I can't promise that I'd be as interesting as these guys, but I can at least try.
I was about to say it's getting late and I'm off to bed. But it's not late...it's 22:40. That's not late at all. I'm someone who can quite happily stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning...but not when I've got an alarm set for 6.45 in the morning. These early starts are going to kill me.
Until they do though, I'm going to keep on going and make the best of the hand life deals me. That's all I can do, and I can't give much more than that.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Willkommen in Deutschland!
I’m more than aware that it’s been a while since the last entry, and I really seem to have settled into the groove of posting once every two weeks. Maybe that’s enough...I mean, Twitter is essentially a way of micro blogging and I’m there virtually every day. Here though, I can just gather all of my main thoughts and points and give things substance that just isn’t possible in 140 characters.
As you’ll have guessed from my title, I’m now living in Germany after I flew out on the 30th and I moved into the flat on the Friday after Len and Chris had finished packing up and caught their plane back to the UK. The flat itself is really nice, two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a hallway and a balcony coming from the kitchen which overlooks the street. For anyone who wants to come over/up/down/across to Hamburg to pay a little visit to their favourite British export (that’s me...right?), then there’s even a spare bed in my room. I’m not too sure how comfortable it is since it currently has a guitar and some spare sheets/cushions strewn across it, but I’m sure it does the job.
The first few days were spent getting through all of the wonderful German bureaucracy such as spending a Friday morning sat at the Ortsamt. Admittedly, I did get a bit lost and walk past it about 4 times until I asked a friendly looking German for help who pointed across the road. I felt a bit stupid, but what’s new? Setting up a bank account was pretty straight forward too since the bank found someone who could speak English to do the process with me, just in case I couldn’t understand something. We got away with speaking at a moderate pace and discussing all things German and British, including some wonderful insights into the delights of the Hamburg winter...from the sounds of it, I am NOT properly prepared for that.
After a weekend to unpack my stuff, settle down in the flat, tidy up a bit and do a bit of exploring the local area, it was off to work on Monday morning. All I can remember from the morning is being shown around the office, meeting a variety of people, shaking a lot of hands and then being given loads of stuff to read. Turns out that for whatever reason, there wasn’t a computer at the desk where I’ll be sitting during my stint in Sales (I’ll move on in the world to attempt to understand Finance in a few weeks which should be interesting) so I was given plenty to read about the euroShell card, the application forms for getting a card and a raft of other things before eventually getting given my laptop at about 4pm, just in time to check it worked before going home.
Tuesday was the day I discovered the joys of IT help lines as I probably got to speak to every English-speaking member of the Shell IT help line, most of which seems to be in Malaysia apart from one friendly American guy who sorted everything out. For whatever reason, my smart card, which is used to log onto the computers, had decided it didn’t want to work so I was unable to access the system. Using other methods didn’t work, so I was sat at my desk for the entire morning...and a good chunk of the afternoon, before I could have access to the computer and actually start work.
The rest of the week wasn’t too amazing, just trying to get my head around the software that we use at work. Once you get your head around the system, it isn’t actually too complex but when you’re trying to figure it out for the first time and you’ve got everything being shown to you at lightning speed...and in German, it isn’t the easiest thing in the world. That’s what user guides are for though!
Again, my weekend wasn’t too exciting. I just caught up on sleep, relaxed, watched some motorsport and went wandering. It’s a bit strange...I’m used sleeping for about 6 hours a night anyway but getting up at 7am every morning seems enough to make all of the difference. By the time I clock off work, I’m ready for bed...which leaves very little energy for exploring, or making/eating food, or watching TV. I have, however, managed to get plenty of reading done in the last two weeks. After years and years of not reading them for whatever reason, I’ve polished off Mick Foley’s first two books as well as reading bits and pieces from George Carlin.
I did do some exploring on Sunday afternoon though and found myself in the Stadtpark which is maybe 15 minutes walk away. The actual walk up there was really nice as it goes alongside the canal for a while where people can rent boats (something that has shot right to the top of my list of things to do) and there are some ice cream parlours and whatnot. The park itself is HUGE and took me quite a while to walk around, but I managed to strike lucky as I heard the familiar sound of drums being played...so I followed my nose (or ears) and found a samba band called Bloco Alegria. A brief chat, an exchange of names and contact details and I’ve hopefully found myself a samba band to get involved with while I’m here!
In short, life is good and I’ve enjoyed my brief time in Germany to date...but it’ll only continue to get better! There are a lot of good things I’ve got planned between now and Christmas such as trips to Frankfurt for Steel Panther (ohhhh yes!), a wXw weekend, perhaps Spinal Tap Day in mid-November and then no doubt some sort of pre-Christmas trip before I come home in late December for a bit of time at home. There’ll be more things that will be slightly more spontaneous.
Whatever happens, I think it’s going to be a good year.
As you’ll have guessed from my title, I’m now living in Germany after I flew out on the 30th and I moved into the flat on the Friday after Len and Chris had finished packing up and caught their plane back to the UK. The flat itself is really nice, two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a hallway and a balcony coming from the kitchen which overlooks the street. For anyone who wants to come over/up/down/across to Hamburg to pay a little visit to their favourite British export (that’s me...right?), then there’s even a spare bed in my room. I’m not too sure how comfortable it is since it currently has a guitar and some spare sheets/cushions strewn across it, but I’m sure it does the job.
The first few days were spent getting through all of the wonderful German bureaucracy such as spending a Friday morning sat at the Ortsamt. Admittedly, I did get a bit lost and walk past it about 4 times until I asked a friendly looking German for help who pointed across the road. I felt a bit stupid, but what’s new? Setting up a bank account was pretty straight forward too since the bank found someone who could speak English to do the process with me, just in case I couldn’t understand something. We got away with speaking at a moderate pace and discussing all things German and British, including some wonderful insights into the delights of the Hamburg winter...from the sounds of it, I am NOT properly prepared for that.
After a weekend to unpack my stuff, settle down in the flat, tidy up a bit and do a bit of exploring the local area, it was off to work on Monday morning. All I can remember from the morning is being shown around the office, meeting a variety of people, shaking a lot of hands and then being given loads of stuff to read. Turns out that for whatever reason, there wasn’t a computer at the desk where I’ll be sitting during my stint in Sales (I’ll move on in the world to attempt to understand Finance in a few weeks which should be interesting) so I was given plenty to read about the euroShell card, the application forms for getting a card and a raft of other things before eventually getting given my laptop at about 4pm, just in time to check it worked before going home.
Tuesday was the day I discovered the joys of IT help lines as I probably got to speak to every English-speaking member of the Shell IT help line, most of which seems to be in Malaysia apart from one friendly American guy who sorted everything out. For whatever reason, my smart card, which is used to log onto the computers, had decided it didn’t want to work so I was unable to access the system. Using other methods didn’t work, so I was sat at my desk for the entire morning...and a good chunk of the afternoon, before I could have access to the computer and actually start work.
The rest of the week wasn’t too amazing, just trying to get my head around the software that we use at work. Once you get your head around the system, it isn’t actually too complex but when you’re trying to figure it out for the first time and you’ve got everything being shown to you at lightning speed...and in German, it isn’t the easiest thing in the world. That’s what user guides are for though!
Again, my weekend wasn’t too exciting. I just caught up on sleep, relaxed, watched some motorsport and went wandering. It’s a bit strange...I’m used sleeping for about 6 hours a night anyway but getting up at 7am every morning seems enough to make all of the difference. By the time I clock off work, I’m ready for bed...which leaves very little energy for exploring, or making/eating food, or watching TV. I have, however, managed to get plenty of reading done in the last two weeks. After years and years of not reading them for whatever reason, I’ve polished off Mick Foley’s first two books as well as reading bits and pieces from George Carlin.
I did do some exploring on Sunday afternoon though and found myself in the Stadtpark which is maybe 15 minutes walk away. The actual walk up there was really nice as it goes alongside the canal for a while where people can rent boats (something that has shot right to the top of my list of things to do) and there are some ice cream parlours and whatnot. The park itself is HUGE and took me quite a while to walk around, but I managed to strike lucky as I heard the familiar sound of drums being played...so I followed my nose (or ears) and found a samba band called Bloco Alegria. A brief chat, an exchange of names and contact details and I’ve hopefully found myself a samba band to get involved with while I’m here!
In short, life is good and I’ve enjoyed my brief time in Germany to date...but it’ll only continue to get better! There are a lot of good things I’ve got planned between now and Christmas such as trips to Frankfurt for Steel Panther (ohhhh yes!), a wXw weekend, perhaps Spinal Tap Day in mid-November and then no doubt some sort of pre-Christmas trip before I come home in late December for a bit of time at home. There’ll be more things that will be slightly more spontaneous.
Whatever happens, I think it’s going to be a good year.
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Here we go!
When I started this blog just over two years ago, I was about to move to Leeds and embark on the journey that is university life. Having just looked back at my first post, it seems REALLY strange looking back at it. I mentioned how I'd managed to cram most of my possessions into a couple of boxes and bags, moving away from home for the first time and the hope that there'd be more entries to come on this page.
Fast forward to where we are now...and I'm about to take the next step in the life of a modern languages student: the year abroad. So we're back to a slightly familiar situation. This time, I'm trying to figure out what I do and don't need and fitting my life for the next few months into a suitcase. I sincerely doubt I'll be returning home until Christmas unless something major crops up. I can just plan to there and then reassess at that stage...maybe after Christmas, I can think about packing some clothes for when it'll get a bit warmer again.
The major difference, aside from being more stressed than I think I've ever felt before, is that I'm not just going across the country from Liverpool to Leeds. This time, I'm off to Germany. In the grand scheme of things, it's still not actually that far so I do wonder sometimes what the stress is about. Maybe I've not planned ahead well enough and I left myself with too much to do just a day or two before. Actually, thinking about it...that's probably what happened.
And of course, I definitely managed to continue with this blog. As weird as that may sound, I'm quite happy that I was able to keep this going over the last two years. I considered branching into video entries and sticking stuff on YouTube but that never really happened and I've always toyed with the idea of moving into podcasting. That hasn't happened yet, but I can see that changing in the next few months. That's the next evolution and step forward of the blog.
I've got a fair bit to do once I get over to Hamburg tomorrow morning, but I'm feeling quite content with the way things stand. I've got a job, I've got somewhere to live, I've got a hostel to cover me for tomorrow night until I can move into the flat...that's all sorted. Then I have to do all of the wonderful formalities like registering and opening a bank account which will no doubt be a joy, so hopefully I can make a start on these things tomorrow and Friday.
From there, I've got the weekend to settle down and sort myself out before I start work on Monday. I'm still not completely sure what my role will be, so that's a surprise to look forward to. And of course, on a personal note, I get to watch my first F1 race live with German commentary. Or, you know...I'll completely cheat and find an alternative way of watching with English commentary. Who knows.
Elsewhere, we looked after Maisie and Joseph yesterday while Cheryl was at work so it was nice to be able to spend some time with the kids before I flew off. To be honest, I don't usually connect too well with Maisie since we don't share an affinity for Hello Kitty and Disney princesses (I know, how can she not like them?!) but we got on fairly well yesterday. It's rather typical that it happens just as I'm about to not see them until Christmas. Such is life!
As things stand, I'm pretty much packed up. It's time to buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Fast forward to where we are now...and I'm about to take the next step in the life of a modern languages student: the year abroad. So we're back to a slightly familiar situation. This time, I'm trying to figure out what I do and don't need and fitting my life for the next few months into a suitcase. I sincerely doubt I'll be returning home until Christmas unless something major crops up. I can just plan to there and then reassess at that stage...maybe after Christmas, I can think about packing some clothes for when it'll get a bit warmer again.
The major difference, aside from being more stressed than I think I've ever felt before, is that I'm not just going across the country from Liverpool to Leeds. This time, I'm off to Germany. In the grand scheme of things, it's still not actually that far so I do wonder sometimes what the stress is about. Maybe I've not planned ahead well enough and I left myself with too much to do just a day or two before. Actually, thinking about it...that's probably what happened.
And of course, I definitely managed to continue with this blog. As weird as that may sound, I'm quite happy that I was able to keep this going over the last two years. I considered branching into video entries and sticking stuff on YouTube but that never really happened and I've always toyed with the idea of moving into podcasting. That hasn't happened yet, but I can see that changing in the next few months. That's the next evolution and step forward of the blog.
I've got a fair bit to do once I get over to Hamburg tomorrow morning, but I'm feeling quite content with the way things stand. I've got a job, I've got somewhere to live, I've got a hostel to cover me for tomorrow night until I can move into the flat...that's all sorted. Then I have to do all of the wonderful formalities like registering and opening a bank account which will no doubt be a joy, so hopefully I can make a start on these things tomorrow and Friday.
From there, I've got the weekend to settle down and sort myself out before I start work on Monday. I'm still not completely sure what my role will be, so that's a surprise to look forward to. And of course, on a personal note, I get to watch my first F1 race live with German commentary. Or, you know...I'll completely cheat and find an alternative way of watching with English commentary. Who knows.
Elsewhere, we looked after Maisie and Joseph yesterday while Cheryl was at work so it was nice to be able to spend some time with the kids before I flew off. To be honest, I don't usually connect too well with Maisie since we don't share an affinity for Hello Kitty and Disney princesses (I know, how can she not like them?!) but we got on fairly well yesterday. It's rather typical that it happens just as I'm about to not see them until Christmas. Such is life!
As things stand, I'm pretty much packed up. It's time to buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Counting down the days
Summer keeps ticking along, and it seems to be going relatively quickly. I could be talking complete rubbish (and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time), but it feels as though individual days can drag by quite slowly but the grand concept of time and summer is going by quite quickly. Maybe that’s helped by the fact that I’m counting down to a variety of different things, with the main countdown obviously leading to me flying off to Hamburg at the end of August...I don’t know, maybe I am talking crap.
I’ve had a slow couple of weeks really. There’s been nothing major to really stand out as a huge event. But as I get closer to August 30th when I move out to Hamburg, things are already starting to pick up. I've been playing cricket on Saturdays for the last few weeks, and while I haven't been performing brilliantly (read: I’m not going to get a call up from the ECB based on my batting performances), I've had fun...and that's meant to be what matters. I think. But I'm trying to improve with each game. I'd like to think that I've become a better fielder, and for some reason, the team has an ounce of faith in me since I spent a good chunk of last weekend fielding in catching positions. The week before that, I actually held onto a catch which is surprising since a few days before that, I’d been nothing short of atrocious when at nets doing some catching practice. Still, saving it for the matches is better than the other way around!
Everything’s starting to fall into place for Germany though. My flight is booked, the flat is pretty much sorted out, I’ve got a date for moving in...all I need to do is sort a hostel for one night and then pack my bags, board a plane and go. I’m really looking forward to going out there. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t...but then I’d also be lying if I didn’t say I’m more than a little bit nervous about it. I don’t think I’d go far enough to say I’m scared, but there are more than enough butterflies in the stomach.
I’m not the first person to get these worries, and I’d guess that more than a few people share similar worries. I worry that I’ll get out there and I’ll hate where I’m living, I worry that I’ll be rubbish at my job, I worry that I’ll realise how little German I actually know. That’s all they are though...they’re just worries. They’re (hopefully) not going to turn to reality.
But then, there are so many positive things to look forward to. Moving to a different country for 12 months is both something really exciting and terrifying at the same time...but I get the feeling I’m really going to enjoy it. It’ll be a new experience, as will the concept of working a full time job, but there are so many things to look forward to. I’m planning to do a variety of things over the year, whether it’s going to gigs and shows (the 16 Carat Weekender has no excuses to not happen!) around Germany, going to motorsport events such as the F1 race and Le Mans or just going to visit other cities and see some new places. I’ll meet new people and I’ll get to know people who I don’t know too well and find some new friendships.
Thinking about it, I’ve now only got two weeks left until I board that Lufthansa flight (other airlines are available)...and I’ve got some good things lined up like PCW’s anniversary show on Friday and Futureshock’s huge show from the RNCM, more cricket on Saturday at Mossley Hill (weather permitting) and I’ll hopefully make it to a day at Aigburth for Lancashire’s game a few days before I leave.
I’ve written another piece for Pure F1 since the last blog about innovation in the sport. I might see if I can get the pieces published on a few more websites like that to try and get more readership, comments and feedback on the work. It’s one of those things, I’m not exactly hoping to get an offer from Autosport about it, but it’s always nice to see what other people think and get discussion going. Mentioning Autosport, one of their articles published earlier today was about how pole position was still important in 2012, looking at the statistics of winners from pole and the front row of the grid. I’d just like to point out that I was in there first guys, I posted something on that same topic a few weeks ago with a lot of the same information/stats (though you’d expect that). I’ll assume that’s a good thing if I’m writing something that Autosport deem significant enough to write about. I must be doing something right!
I'll try and make sure the gaps in the blog aren't so great from now on. Even if I just return to writing every fortnight, it's better than having gaps of three weeks or so. Consistency is important on this, writing helps me get and develop ideas and I can share thoughts with the world.
Enjoy what you do and make the most of everything. Opportunity is everywhere, you just need to grab it.
Saturday, 4 August 2012
The importance of pole position
In previous years, pole position was thought of as one of the most important things in a race. If a driver was able to secure pole position on a Saturday afternoon, then all they would have to do was make it to the chequered flag on Sunday and they would be in with a very good chance of winning the race. In recent years though, with the return of a ban on refuelling mid-race and the introduction of KERS, DRS and Pirelli tyres, overtaking is at an all-time high. So, is pole position still as important in 2012?
Changes to the sport were introduced in 2011 in an attempt to spice up the racing and encourage more overtaking on track, as organisers, teams and fans became increasingly disillusioned with processional races featuring very little on-track overtaking, with the majority of positional changes occurring in the pit lane. In the last two seasons of racing, overtaking has seen a welcome return to races and while the action may sometimes be artificial and passing can be too easy with DRS at some circuits, processional races are largely a thing of the past.
As a result, the importance of pole position can be seen to have changed. Starting on the front row is no longer a driver’s best chance of picking up maximum points on race day as they must now have to manage their fuel load, look after tyres and potentially defend against drivers behind them able to use DRS when trying to pass.
Between 2004 and 2010, there were 126 Grand Prix with 67 of those won by the driver starting from pole position. This does not account for anomalies such as wet races which are notoriously more unpredictable and can throw ‘surprise’ winners, but a success rate of over 50% for a driver starting from pole position going on to then win the race is an impressive statistic. The driver starting from pole position will, in most situations, have the fastest car and would therefore be quite likely to go on to win, so this figure shouldn’t be too surprising.
During this time, the sport came under criticism for uneventful races with on-track action largely being limited to the opening few laps. With the cars becoming increasingly advanced and with engineers and designers looking for any way to add down force to the cars, overtaking was a rarity. It became common to witness cars unable to pass, trapped in the dirty air of the leading car and unable to use a speed advantage. According to some in the know, it was estimated that a car needed to be anywhere up to two seconds a lap quicker than the car in front to be able to pass on track.
Since the changes in the regulations to help aid overtaking, the starting grid hasn’t always reflected the positions at the end of the race. Looking at the figures from 2011 though, a familiar story is painted: of the 19 races held during the 2011 season, 9 of them were won from pole position. This was helped by the dominance of Sebastian Vettel in Qualifying, allowing him to lead races from the front and control the pace to never be in danger of being overtaken. So despite the fact that 2011 had more overtaking than ever before, pole position was still the best place to start the race.
At the halfway point of the 2012 season, six of the eleven races to date have been won by the man starting on pole position. Once again, the figures suggest that even with DRS and Pirelli tyres, the fastest man on Saturday is well placed to go on and win. Even where pole has not been converted into victory, the pole sitter has only failed to finish on the podium; Vettel in Canada (4th) and Valencia (DNF).
History suggests that pole position is a great position to start the race from and understandably so. The driver starting at the front will be in the fastest car, has a clean run to the first corner and has a great chance to lead the race. From this, he can look after his tyres and conserve fuel, turning up the revs when required to try and remain clear of the 1 second window needed for the chasing pack to use DRS. Even with the changes in regulations, exciting races and more overtaking than ever before, pole position remains as important as ever.
Changes to the sport were introduced in 2011 in an attempt to spice up the racing and encourage more overtaking on track, as organisers, teams and fans became increasingly disillusioned with processional races featuring very little on-track overtaking, with the majority of positional changes occurring in the pit lane. In the last two seasons of racing, overtaking has seen a welcome return to races and while the action may sometimes be artificial and passing can be too easy with DRS at some circuits, processional races are largely a thing of the past.
As a result, the importance of pole position can be seen to have changed. Starting on the front row is no longer a driver’s best chance of picking up maximum points on race day as they must now have to manage their fuel load, look after tyres and potentially defend against drivers behind them able to use DRS when trying to pass.
Between 2004 and 2010, there were 126 Grand Prix with 67 of those won by the driver starting from pole position. This does not account for anomalies such as wet races which are notoriously more unpredictable and can throw ‘surprise’ winners, but a success rate of over 50% for a driver starting from pole position going on to then win the race is an impressive statistic. The driver starting from pole position will, in most situations, have the fastest car and would therefore be quite likely to go on to win, so this figure shouldn’t be too surprising.
During this time, the sport came under criticism for uneventful races with on-track action largely being limited to the opening few laps. With the cars becoming increasingly advanced and with engineers and designers looking for any way to add down force to the cars, overtaking was a rarity. It became common to witness cars unable to pass, trapped in the dirty air of the leading car and unable to use a speed advantage. According to some in the know, it was estimated that a car needed to be anywhere up to two seconds a lap quicker than the car in front to be able to pass on track.
Since the changes in the regulations to help aid overtaking, the starting grid hasn’t always reflected the positions at the end of the race. Looking at the figures from 2011 though, a familiar story is painted: of the 19 races held during the 2011 season, 9 of them were won from pole position. This was helped by the dominance of Sebastian Vettel in Qualifying, allowing him to lead races from the front and control the pace to never be in danger of being overtaken. So despite the fact that 2011 had more overtaking than ever before, pole position was still the best place to start the race.
At the halfway point of the 2012 season, six of the eleven races to date have been won by the man starting on pole position. Once again, the figures suggest that even with DRS and Pirelli tyres, the fastest man on Saturday is well placed to go on and win. Even where pole has not been converted into victory, the pole sitter has only failed to finish on the podium; Vettel in Canada (4th) and Valencia (DNF).
History suggests that pole position is a great position to start the race from and understandably so. The driver starting at the front will be in the fastest car, has a clean run to the first corner and has a great chance to lead the race. From this, he can look after his tyres and conserve fuel, turning up the revs when required to try and remain clear of the 1 second window needed for the chasing pack to use DRS. Even with the changes in regulations, exciting races and more overtaking than ever before, pole position remains as important as ever.
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Share it with the world
It's been about three weeks or so since I last posted something on here. Without looking at the individual dates of each of my entries, that could well be one of the biggest gaps I've had between entries. I just think that if I don't have anything that I deem worth putting down into a blog, there's no point writing something just for the sake of it. I'd like to think that what I write here has some sort of meaning and importance...
Earlier in the week, one of the people I follow on Twitter (@LOSTBUDWEISER) mentioned that he was thinking of starting a blog, but thought that it wouldn't be worthwhile. Having just looked it up, his exacts words were "Thinking of starting a blog, but then I realise, who the fuck am I to write a blog". That got me thinking a little bit. It got me thinking about this blog, what I've wanted to get from it, what I have got from it and where things can go.
But that tweet stood out to me, and I felt it was worth a reply. So I told him that he's someone who has something to write. Everyone has a life story, views, thoughts and opinions on the world. If you feel you have something that's worth sharing with the world...share it. Whether you have a readership of just one or two people, or you end up with thousands of people reading what you're writing about, it's worth sharing. For me, it's a good way of writing something down and getting some level of creativity. My memory is shocking enough anyway, so to some extent, this serves as a way of me being able to go back and read through various events. I can go back and read about my time at the Grand Prix last year, the Berlin trip in December or even just time with friends. So for me, that's useful. Then there are times when I'm not writing about my life and I'm writing about something a bit more personal. That's not just for my own purpose and instead, it can be for other people to get to know the inner me a bit better.
His reply to my tweet was pretty positive, and hopefully that means he'll go ahead and start to write something. It might not be regular, it could be once a month or so, but having that creative outlet is important if it's something you want.
I look at what some people I follow on Twitter have managed to achieve, and I'm pretty amazed and impressed. There are guys like Mick (@PostalPoet) who started his own podcast, Postal Poet Podcasts. It started with him asking his boss questions that people were putting to him on Twitter. He would record the conversations and upload them to the internet for people to listen to and enjoy. After that, he went in two directions: Going Postal (featuring Pastor Joe, a character he created) and Keep Making Noise (a more serious podcast with interviews and some really good discussion). This is something that, as far as I can see, has been built up from nothing aside from having the desire to put something out into the world...and it works. He's putting out some fantastic stuff and keeps going from strength to strength. I usually throw him some sort of comment with each episode because I feel that he more than deserves it.
If anything, I guess it shows to me that if I ever get around to starting my own podcast (an idea I've been toying with for a while but never actually getting around to committing to), I can do it and provided I can make something interesting, it's something that can give something useful.
I have got some of my own creativity going on at the moment. In the last two weeks or so, I've been a bit busy with my writing, and it's been serving me pretty well.
Remember in the last entry how I mentioned I was toying with the idea of starting a motorsport blog of sorts? Well, I think I've pretty much decided against doing that for the time being. I had a look around and there are so many people doing them that I'd be lost in the shuffle. Everyone has a blog, everyone writes about the races and every little bit of news...and to be honest, that's not what I'd want to do anyway.
So I've taken a bit of a different approach. I stumbled across PureF1 on Twitter (@PureF1DotCom) after one of their writers included one of my tweets in their blog. So after looking around at it, seeing that it's a website with articles written by fans, for fans...I decided I could try and write some stuff on there. Fast forward to today and I've got three articles up there at the moment. While there are articles that cover the weekend's F1 action on-track, I'm trying to cover a different approach to the sport. So instead, I'm doing what I'd like to think are more magazine style pieces looking at deeper aspects of the sport. I did my first piece about Michael Schumacher and whether he should continue competing into 2013, my second on how pole position is still important despite more exciting racing than ever before, and my most recent piece about the teams at the back of the grid and their continued struggle in search of their first point.
I've got a couple of other ideas for pieces, though one might require a bit of luck in trying to get some sort of discussion with someone to help me out and get some more knowledgeable opinions. With a month to go until the next race in Belgium, I'll hopefully get two or three more pieces written in that time.
I've also been writing a string of stories. They're not quite epic novels and if anything, they're just short children's stories. I've been making them up for quite a while, but prior to a few weeks ago, I hadn't ever bothered to write them down. I then found myself writing one out for a bit of a joke, and then I've scribbled a few more down after making them up. There's no real reason for doing this...it's just nice to write down my silly stories. Maybe I'll do something with them once I've got a steady collection. I might just post stories on here. Let's just get there first.
In a quick life update: I fly to Hamburg at the end of August having booked my plane ticket earlier in the week. It's all rather real now. There are still one or two things that need to be sorted out, but I don't know how much I can do about those for the time being. Time is ticking, but it means that every passing day gets me one closer to my next destination.
Earlier in the week, one of the people I follow on Twitter (@LOSTBUDWEISER) mentioned that he was thinking of starting a blog, but thought that it wouldn't be worthwhile. Having just looked it up, his exacts words were "Thinking of starting a blog, but then I realise, who the fuck am I to write a blog". That got me thinking a little bit. It got me thinking about this blog, what I've wanted to get from it, what I have got from it and where things can go.
But that tweet stood out to me, and I felt it was worth a reply. So I told him that he's someone who has something to write. Everyone has a life story, views, thoughts and opinions on the world. If you feel you have something that's worth sharing with the world...share it. Whether you have a readership of just one or two people, or you end up with thousands of people reading what you're writing about, it's worth sharing. For me, it's a good way of writing something down and getting some level of creativity. My memory is shocking enough anyway, so to some extent, this serves as a way of me being able to go back and read through various events. I can go back and read about my time at the Grand Prix last year, the Berlin trip in December or even just time with friends. So for me, that's useful. Then there are times when I'm not writing about my life and I'm writing about something a bit more personal. That's not just for my own purpose and instead, it can be for other people to get to know the inner me a bit better.
His reply to my tweet was pretty positive, and hopefully that means he'll go ahead and start to write something. It might not be regular, it could be once a month or so, but having that creative outlet is important if it's something you want.
I look at what some people I follow on Twitter have managed to achieve, and I'm pretty amazed and impressed. There are guys like Mick (@PostalPoet) who started his own podcast, Postal Poet Podcasts. It started with him asking his boss questions that people were putting to him on Twitter. He would record the conversations and upload them to the internet for people to listen to and enjoy. After that, he went in two directions: Going Postal (featuring Pastor Joe, a character he created) and Keep Making Noise (a more serious podcast with interviews and some really good discussion). This is something that, as far as I can see, has been built up from nothing aside from having the desire to put something out into the world...and it works. He's putting out some fantastic stuff and keeps going from strength to strength. I usually throw him some sort of comment with each episode because I feel that he more than deserves it.
If anything, I guess it shows to me that if I ever get around to starting my own podcast (an idea I've been toying with for a while but never actually getting around to committing to), I can do it and provided I can make something interesting, it's something that can give something useful.
I have got some of my own creativity going on at the moment. In the last two weeks or so, I've been a bit busy with my writing, and it's been serving me pretty well.
Remember in the last entry how I mentioned I was toying with the idea of starting a motorsport blog of sorts? Well, I think I've pretty much decided against doing that for the time being. I had a look around and there are so many people doing them that I'd be lost in the shuffle. Everyone has a blog, everyone writes about the races and every little bit of news...and to be honest, that's not what I'd want to do anyway.
So I've taken a bit of a different approach. I stumbled across PureF1 on Twitter (@PureF1DotCom) after one of their writers included one of my tweets in their blog. So after looking around at it, seeing that it's a website with articles written by fans, for fans...I decided I could try and write some stuff on there. Fast forward to today and I've got three articles up there at the moment. While there are articles that cover the weekend's F1 action on-track, I'm trying to cover a different approach to the sport. So instead, I'm doing what I'd like to think are more magazine style pieces looking at deeper aspects of the sport. I did my first piece about Michael Schumacher and whether he should continue competing into 2013, my second on how pole position is still important despite more exciting racing than ever before, and my most recent piece about the teams at the back of the grid and their continued struggle in search of their first point.
I've got a couple of other ideas for pieces, though one might require a bit of luck in trying to get some sort of discussion with someone to help me out and get some more knowledgeable opinions. With a month to go until the next race in Belgium, I'll hopefully get two or three more pieces written in that time.
I've also been writing a string of stories. They're not quite epic novels and if anything, they're just short children's stories. I've been making them up for quite a while, but prior to a few weeks ago, I hadn't ever bothered to write them down. I then found myself writing one out for a bit of a joke, and then I've scribbled a few more down after making them up. There's no real reason for doing this...it's just nice to write down my silly stories. Maybe I'll do something with them once I've got a steady collection. I might just post stories on here. Let's just get there first.
In a quick life update: I fly to Hamburg at the end of August having booked my plane ticket earlier in the week. It's all rather real now. There are still one or two things that need to be sorted out, but I don't know how much I can do about those for the time being. Time is ticking, but it means that every passing day gets me one closer to my next destination.
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Home sweet home
Well, I've moved out of Leeds and most likely won't be back there until September 2013. Still seems a bit weird when I think about that properly...I spent a good chunk of last summer up in Leeds, and that option to 'escape' Liverpool for a week or two and go back up to Leeds isn't really viable this year. Of course, it wasn't ever really escaping. I'd go back up to Leeds to see some friends, or to try and sort some stuff out with various aspects of uni and uni-related life. But this summer, we've all scattered back to our homes. Some of us are already in Germany, some of us are heading out there in the very near future and some of us have still got a while to go before we embark on our year abroad. Thinking that I won't be back there for over a year is a bit of a strange thing to get my head around...I'm just refusing to accept that once I do that, it'll be my final year at university.
Moving out of Leeds wasn't too painful. I do own far too much crap though...I was amazed at how many boxes and bags I managed to fill with various bits and pieces that I've somehow accumulated over the last two years or so. Even with that, I still managed to leave all of my kitchen stuff in the house after simply forgetting to get it while moving out. It wasn't my plan to leave it...I had a very good set of scales in my drawer and some cake tins that I used which are either lost forever or now in Rachel's possession (which may well mean they're lost forever anyway) which was a bit annoying. No idea what has happened with my pots and pans. I sort of don't care...since the contract on that house ran out last Saturday, they're not my problem any more.
I had a realisation of sorts the other day, and (surprise surprise) it's a thought that I'm going to share with you. If things had gone to plan and not drastically changed as they did in May, I'd be in Austria right now. Now that is a bit of a strange thought to get my head around. If I hadn't lost the job with Adrivo, I would have flown out to Graz on Monday morning, I'd be living there and looking forward to starting work this coming Monday (9th). To some extent, I'm still beating myself up about that since I was really looking forward to it and getting a chance to get my foot in the door with a job in motorsport would have been a bit of a dream and potentially a great opportunity. I mean, I was never really thinking I'd be able to get a job in that. It's only really dreams where you can mix your hobbies/passions and a career. Very few get to do that.
I guess I'll just have to find another way in.
Still, that was then and this is now. Instead of being in Austria, I'm back in Liverpool for summer, not that there's anything wrong with that. I was back in Yorkshire last weekend with Beatlife for the Hebden Bridge Handmade Parade, which had been delayed a week after torrential rain led to flooding in the area. That parade is always one of my favourite gigs of the year and they put so much work and effort into making it a success, it's a real community thing with people of all ages taking part and making some frankly brilliant costumes. The weather just about held off for most of the day, though there were one or two rain showers during the static performances and it was a really good day. We got some good feedback from people about that which is always nice, and it was my first Beatlife gig since last summer so it was nice to play again. I just about managed to remember everything...and if I didn't then as the sole primeira, it wouldn't have mattered since I could just act like I knew what I was doing and keep on playing.
I'm toying with the idea of starting up another blog, I'm just weighing up the pros and cons of it before I jump in there because if I make the commitment, I feel it's only right that I stick with it. As I mentioned earlier in the blog, I still want to work in motorsport in some capacity and was having a few discussions with various people about this, talking about writing more stuff, trying to make some connections within the motorsport world and seeing if I can make something happen from my side. Essentially, a new blog would be a motorsport-style thing, not giving news or race reviews since there are other websites and established pages that can do that far better than I could, but instead focusing on opinion pieces. I've already got a few ideas for pieces that I'd like to write...so even if I don't make a different blog, I might just write them up on here. That might be easier. (I really shouldn't have a conversation with myself on here, it makes me look insane.)
I need to sort my bike out in the next few days...check the tyres and brakes, give it a bit of a clean and get out on the road again. It's been a while since I was cycling around and it'd be good to get back out there. Having been used to walking everywhere in Leeds, it seems strange not walking everywhere in Liverpool, though I'm finding myself going out of the house most days for a bit of a walk, even if it's just a half hour walk and coming back with a newspaper to do some crosswords.
To be honest, life is pretty good at the moment. I'm not doing too badly.
Peace and love to everyone, thanks for continuing to read these entries. Apologies for my rambling nature at times...but that's just who I am.
Moving out of Leeds wasn't too painful. I do own far too much crap though...I was amazed at how many boxes and bags I managed to fill with various bits and pieces that I've somehow accumulated over the last two years or so. Even with that, I still managed to leave all of my kitchen stuff in the house after simply forgetting to get it while moving out. It wasn't my plan to leave it...I had a very good set of scales in my drawer and some cake tins that I used which are either lost forever or now in Rachel's possession (which may well mean they're lost forever anyway) which was a bit annoying. No idea what has happened with my pots and pans. I sort of don't care...since the contract on that house ran out last Saturday, they're not my problem any more.
I had a realisation of sorts the other day, and (surprise surprise) it's a thought that I'm going to share with you. If things had gone to plan and not drastically changed as they did in May, I'd be in Austria right now. Now that is a bit of a strange thought to get my head around. If I hadn't lost the job with Adrivo, I would have flown out to Graz on Monday morning, I'd be living there and looking forward to starting work this coming Monday (9th). To some extent, I'm still beating myself up about that since I was really looking forward to it and getting a chance to get my foot in the door with a job in motorsport would have been a bit of a dream and potentially a great opportunity. I mean, I was never really thinking I'd be able to get a job in that. It's only really dreams where you can mix your hobbies/passions and a career. Very few get to do that.
I guess I'll just have to find another way in.
Still, that was then and this is now. Instead of being in Austria, I'm back in Liverpool for summer, not that there's anything wrong with that. I was back in Yorkshire last weekend with Beatlife for the Hebden Bridge Handmade Parade, which had been delayed a week after torrential rain led to flooding in the area. That parade is always one of my favourite gigs of the year and they put so much work and effort into making it a success, it's a real community thing with people of all ages taking part and making some frankly brilliant costumes. The weather just about held off for most of the day, though there were one or two rain showers during the static performances and it was a really good day. We got some good feedback from people about that which is always nice, and it was my first Beatlife gig since last summer so it was nice to play again. I just about managed to remember everything...and if I didn't then as the sole primeira, it wouldn't have mattered since I could just act like I knew what I was doing and keep on playing.
I'm toying with the idea of starting up another blog, I'm just weighing up the pros and cons of it before I jump in there because if I make the commitment, I feel it's only right that I stick with it. As I mentioned earlier in the blog, I still want to work in motorsport in some capacity and was having a few discussions with various people about this, talking about writing more stuff, trying to make some connections within the motorsport world and seeing if I can make something happen from my side. Essentially, a new blog would be a motorsport-style thing, not giving news or race reviews since there are other websites and established pages that can do that far better than I could, but instead focusing on opinion pieces. I've already got a few ideas for pieces that I'd like to write...so even if I don't make a different blog, I might just write them up on here. That might be easier. (I really shouldn't have a conversation with myself on here, it makes me look insane.)
I need to sort my bike out in the next few days...check the tyres and brakes, give it a bit of a clean and get out on the road again. It's been a while since I was cycling around and it'd be good to get back out there. Having been used to walking everywhere in Leeds, it seems strange not walking everywhere in Liverpool, though I'm finding myself going out of the house most days for a bit of a walk, even if it's just a half hour walk and coming back with a newspaper to do some crosswords.
To be honest, life is pretty good at the moment. I'm not doing too badly.
Peace and love to everyone, thanks for continuing to read these entries. Apologies for my rambling nature at times...but that's just who I am.
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