RobiNZ Personal Blog

Traffic Light Thought – Not sure that knowing helps

I’ve been trying the TOMTOM traffic and finding it pretty useful but when the nice lady says: “The delay on your route is nineteen minutes, You are still on the quickest route” I wonder if ignorance actually is bliss Read more →

Traffic Light Thought – Ovlov before Alfa?

Approaching the motorway both lanes have a car waiting at the red light. Following the quicker will mean getting to the motorway faster & avoiding having to overtake once there. I went for the Alfa 147 lane as it seemed obvious the stereotypical Alfa driver would beat the Volvo V70 off the line. But I was wrong, those Ovlovs shift when driven with gusto! Read more →

MG Rover's ‘Phoenix Four’ & Fiat?

An interesting Fiat link in this tale of the MG Rover demise which was new to me MG Rover's ‘Phoenix Four’ neglect “they approached Fiat about buying in its JTD diesel. Fiat, the insider claims, came back with an amazing offer.” Read more →

Fiat and Ferrari dominate 2011 Engine Awards

In my experience Fiat engines have always been great. It’s the bits surrounding them which usually account for the demise of the car! The images below are two I’ve owned, Uno Fire & Bravo HGT, but the awards went to the amazing 875-cc TwinAir mill in the “500” and the Ferrari 458's 4.5-litre V8. One day I’d like to own those two! Fiat and Ferrari dominate 2011 International Engine of the Year Awards Read more →

The Blue Bike

I saw The Blue Bike on Sky NZ (Living Channel) and loved it. I’m a recreational cyclist who can totally relate to struggling up mountains (South Island NZ in my case) but thought the story was amazing and nicely captured. Although not currently listed for another screening they often repeat programmes & I recommend keeping an eye out for it. The Blue Bike Documentary | Great friendships should be celebrated This is a story about a wonderful vintage bicycle that captured the imagination of a young boy and created a life long friendship between two very different people… Read more →

Derek’s last post

I only knew Derek K. Miller from his blog but have been following his feed for years. That the last post came is no surprise and his view of death matches my own: “I haven't gone to a better place, or a worse one. I haven't gone anyplace, because Derek doesn't exist anymore. As soon as my body stopped functioning, and the neurons in my brain ceased firing, I made a remarkable transformation: from a living organism to a corpse, like a flower or a mouse that didn't make it through a particularly frosty night. The evidence is clear that... Read more →

The FSM Uno on TradeMe!

So I don't have the only Flying Spaghetti Monster touched Fiat in West Auckland! Learn more about FSM at http://www.venganza.org/ or see my FSM Fiat here Read more →

Warm'ish but wet continues

It has been this way for a couple of weeks and it ain't looking much better in the near future. Quite warm in regards to but feels like winter. Read more →