Farce isn't strong enough to describe what happened. How can somebody leading by 15 seconds with only a handful of laps to go lose the title due to somebody else crashing?
I can understand that all the cars need to scrunch up with debris on the track. But surely when any obstruction has been cleared and the green light has come on the cars should start with the same interval between them as when the race was effectively stopped. An accident that Hamilton had nothing to do with cost him the title and made a mockery of the entire race where suddenly the previous 50 plus laps became irrelevant.
Why not just get the cars to race for one lap in the order they finished the practice laps in? That way spectators could save themselves valuable time in which to do other things like Christmas Shopping whilst just popping in for a race that lasts about five minutes.
Let's put the same principle into other sport. If a tennis match is tied at two sets all they could play a golden point. We could have a one ball a side cricket match. That way we might win a match against Australia. It wouldn't be any less farcical than what happened in Formula Farce yesterday.
Anyway we had booked Sunday lunch at a pub just when the race was approaching its climax, or in the case of this one getting towards its safety car. There were at least four of us eating lunch with mobile phones propped up on the table. We all chuntered at the end. It is beyond me how millions and maybe even billions of dollars can be ploughed into a sport run by men with brains the size of Asia who seem to accept such a ridiculous way of holding a car race.
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You know how it's always said that young people grow up to be like their mothers/fathers. Well now we have the reverse. Older people turning into their youthful counterparts. That's the thought that raced through my mind sitting in a coffee bar in Church Stretton in Shropshire. There were three of us - all of a certain age - and we were all staring at our mobile phones. Something we always accuse younger people of doing with a disdainful comment. Now we are turning into those younger people!
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In the cafe in Church Stretton they had an interesting piece on the history of coffee and how in London coffee shops grew as centres for the arts, writers and poets. But do you know the origins of tipping in coffee shops/restaurants? Apparently you tipped before getting service and not after. The coffee shops of London etc were open to all irrespective of class. But some way of defining class had to be in existence. So if you wanted prompt service and show you were a cut above the rest you would pop a few coins into a tin. Those without coins or those loathe to pop them into a tin had to wait longer to be served.
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Will be going to Carrow Road on Tuesday night with renewed optimism despite Norwich losing against Manchester United. The new manager Dean Smith has re-organised the way we play and made us much more difficult to beat. Only thing is he has the same problems up front where we just cannot score and, as everyone knows, if you don't score you can't win.
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My piece yesterday about The Monkees and the death of Mike Nesmith brought a number of reminiscences and comments including one from Jackie Ross asking whether one of the Monkees had been involved with horse racing in the Middleham area. Jackie and Bob were licensees for many years in Middleham which is in North Yorkshire - in the heart of horse racing country.
Davy Jones (the British Monkee) did indeed train as a jockey. Jones was small of stature. The internet gives his height as 5ft 3in which made him ideal for horse racing. Jones intended becoming a jockey and actually won his first race at Lingfield in Surrey in February 1996. He looked as if he would fashion a good career in horse racing until music turned him in a different direction.
And I was also informed that Jones paid visits to Norfolk as his sister lived in Thetford. Thanks for all the comments/responses.
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Today's photos are more from Shropshire on a five mile walk in the hills. Hope you enjoy some of them.