For some reason, when it comes to our annual trip over to Aylesbury to put Pav’s M3 onto the dyno, something always goes wrong. Last year, Pav was missing one alloy wheel as it was either still being refurbished or had a major scratch. This year, he was missing one half of his grill. Nothing major, just the plastic cover which hides the fan. Not an issue, he had ordered replacements from one of the guys from the E36 Coupe forum. It was great to be back in the M3, even though he did miss his ETA by around forty minutes. He also had misplaced his GPS receiver and asked I bring my TomTom. There was no real need, I knew the way, but I suppose having an accurate ETA to work helped. We got there around 10am, when we had planned to be there at least half an hour earlier. Never mind, the main thing was we had made it and we could book in, get some breakfast and then take photographs of all the lovely cars on show. We arrived just as a Porsche GT2 was coming off the rollers. It had recorded a 502bhp which is just insane! Pav replaced his missing grill and then gave it a good polish before it went onto the rollers. Rather than ramble on about what happened and what cars appeared, just go and check out all the photos over on FlickR. I switched my camera to video mode and fixed the lenses onto the computer screen showing the power output from Pav’s M3 on it’s three runs. Below is the best of the three, which was the second attempt. Make sure your speakers are on, or you have your headphones plugged in. The most important aspect is the sound of the car, the image is a bit blocky but you can make out the maximum brake horse power reading.

We had lunch at the Brewster pub just around the corner from DVA with Matt and Chris. I say lunch but it was around 4pm by the time we actually sat down to food. Then we left to head back home. It was getting dark, so any thoughts that I had for washing my car were dead in the water. Instead, we got back at 4.30pm and I took Pav for a quick spin. I was conscious of the time, so it was just a quick zip down the by-pass, up to the Marlow turn and back again. It did give him a flavour of the power of the car. I am sure I will be able to take him for a proper drive some time soon. Then for me it was a case of jumping on the computer, checking my e-mail, transferring some photographs over and also uploading the Quick Time video to You Tube. I then got ready and headed over to Caversham. I got to Pav’s at 7.30pm but he was still getting ready so I waited in the lounge, watching music television. We then headed over into the town, parking in the Oracle before going to walking to the Thai restaurant, which was towards the train station. We were late, but this has been the running theme with Pav ever since I met him (all those years ago). We eventually got around to ordering, it was very nice. It was only my second time at a thai restaurant but I enjoyed the food and company. Charlie was on great form, with some stories from the wacky time when Pav and him drove back from Sheffield to Reading in two hours. Record time, particularly when you have to go work on the Monday morning and you left the steel city at 6am. After the meal, we headed around the corner to Revolutions. The queue was quite long, so we had to wait a good fifteen minutes or so. Outside were the usual Saturday night revelers but there was a girl unconscious up ahead. One of Pav’s friends decided to be the Good Samaritan and provide some assistance. There are some benefits of going out with an NHS employee. A few minutes later, an ambulance arrived. By this time, a bloke was also on the floor, completely smashed. Just an average weekend in Reading. I dropped Pav off at 2am and got home just after 2.30am, texting Chris. I could and should have just stayed up and then gone over to Henley to collect him for his football game in Wickhamford. However, I was knocked out by 3am and got woken up at 7.47am by my phone ringing. I had left it on (as luck with have it). It was Chris. I apologised that I would not be able to make it. I was just too tired and he had to leave in the next fifteen minutes and it would take me longer to get ready in those fifteen minutes, let along bomb over to Henley. I apologised again and let him get on. I was so tired, I just went straight back to bed and did not get up again until around 10.30am. Today has been quite lazy. I cleaned my car. I say clean but it was quite quick hoover and rinse this lunchtime. I used the pressure washer but also gave the car a polish inside. My alloys were dirty, so I gave them a wash with the Turtle Wax Shampoo. Then I came back inside and jumped on the computer for a few hours. It was more a case of filling in the time before the big match. What more can I say? The Sky Sports machine had been in major overdrive with the whole Grand Slam weekend marketing hype. Did it live up to the billing? Well I was out yesterday, so did not see the Liverpool Chelsea game but only hope to watch Mr. José make some pitiful excuses. I watched the full hour of build up prior to kick off, including a big montage of the “big guns” going head to head (including fantastic gunshot sounds). Then, after another commercial break, the match started, as the teams came out at the Emirates. It was edge of the seat stuff, right down to a nail biting finish. The main man, came to the rescue again. I am looking forward to what the Arseblogger says tomorrow and the fantastic that will be posted by lasagne chef over at The Cannon blog. We did Chelsea a favour but it was very important to win, keep the undefeated run at home running as well and once again come back from a goal down. My parents came back from ASDA shopping with a gift. Talking Homer Simpson slippers. My weekend was complete. Perfect. What more could you ask for a weekend to bring? I will stop myself from uploading a photograph but am sure my friend Sippy is really jealous (if he has not got a pair himself). They are not the face slippers, but talking slippers. They are extremely comfortable, more so than my last pair.