Melksham (Thursday 25th May 2023)

Handover day. The BMW sales executive Nick drove over in a Mini Electric which I then drove back to the BMW Mini dealership, my first experience of driving any electric vehicle (EV), with his instruction. For the time being I was retaining Archie, my Hyundai i10, because it had a tow bar and because I might need it for long journeys where I was unsure of being able to recharge at the far end.

After doing all the paperwork I then took the drivers seat in what was now my EV and had some more instruction as I drove around the car park practising reversing and customising the dashboard. Although very different, I took a liking to it and felt confident of mastering the learning curve in time. It's maiden voyage was to C's in Trowbridge, with a stop at Tesco's on the way where I discovered I hadn't quite remembered how to get into Reverse (I've never had an automatic before), so I called back at Dick Lovett's on my way home for instruction and to pick up the manual that should have been in the car already.

The colour of the car is described as Moonwalk Grey so when deciding on its name I quickly decided not to call it Jackson or Jacko, or Apollo, or Neil (first to make one small step for man on the moon). Most of my cars have been given female names (Archie was named after the actress Archana Panjabi, from The Good Wife) although I did have a Renault 5 called Miles, but as the second man on the moon was Buzz Aldrin I settled on Buzz, as it seemed appropriate for an electric car. Perhaps he was the first astronaut to do a moonwalk on the moon, though if so this is strangely unrecorded. I got it home safely but with considerable nervousness!

L.
Monday 29.5.2023 (1202 hr)

Blip #3888 (#3638 + 250 archived blips taken 27.8.1960-18.3.2010)
Consecutive Blip #010
Blips/Extras In 2023 #096/265 + #057/100 Extras
Day #4807 (1108 gaps from 26.3.2010)
Lozarithm's Lozarhythm Of The Day #3028 (#2868 + 160 in archived blips)

Taken with Panasonic/Leica DMC-LX100 M4/3 compact

Melksham series

Lozarithm's Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Ike & Tina Turner - The Hunter (1970)
R.I.P. Tina Turner (26 November 1939, Brownsville TN - 24 May 2023, Küsnacht, Zürich)
One of the first vinyl albums I ever bought when I was 12 or 13 was a compilation on the London label, I Think It's Going To Work Out Fine, by Ike and Tina Turner. At the time she was a blues, rhythm'n'blues and soul singer. Later, after she'd escaped Ike's clutches and conquered the world as a more mainstream singer she appealed to a predominantly white audience, but I prefer her sixties work. LOTD has featured several examples, including of course her massive Phil Spector produced hit River Deep Mountain High, so today I have chosen The Hunter, recorded for the Blue Thumb label, with its predatory lyric originally recorded by Albert King ably assisted by Booker T and the MGs, and later given a swaggering performance by Paul Rodgers with Free. Tina Turner turns it on its head, making herself the hunter, with Albert Collins providing the lead guitar.

One year ago:
The Woodland Garden (Great tit on a feeder)