Waynes BurstaBubble site

Since he has not written a new article for DesignerTechniques I have been unable to plug Waynes new site so far. Then I thought why not put it on here. For those of you who dont know, Wayne is my current flat mate in sweden (he is leaving soon....but more on that later). He started his website at around the same time as I started DesignerTechniques. He will hate me for saying this...but whilst my site has grown to the point of getting 15000 to 20000 visits per month, his has had a grand total of about 500 since it launched!! I get more than that in a day (cue big cheesy grin from Allan!). Anyway. Its a pretty cool site and idea. I wont try to explain it.......its best you just go and visit the site. I have already ordered a pair of jiffy pants! Cant wait till they get here! ANYWAY....GO AND LOOK AT HIS SITE NOW! Just click the link at the top or look under links over on the right of the page.

FH16 ROADSHOW days five to ten

Well, I have been trying to remember what we did everyday since day four....and to be honest it is all a big jumble in my head. There was so much going on that all the days have rolled into one. If only I had remembered to update my blog every day like I planned. Because I cant remember I have decided to finish my FH16 tour update by just putting up a few more pictures. The rest of the journey did have a lot of excitement though. Some things that come to mind? Well we bought Johan a radio controlled helicopter for his birthday (although we could not get it to work). We did an all night drive from Austria to Germany (plenty of red bull and loud music). We drove on some very narrow roads (you can see this below), and we managed to fit in a few party nights. There was also the highlight in Austria of seeing a truck being driven rather poorly...and into another truck.....this you can also see below. I think it is fair to say that I had an awesome 10 tens and would gladly do it all again. Getting back home was nice though....a good nights sleep was the first order of the day! Thanks to all of you who were involved in the tour.

FH16 ROADSHOW day four

With some spare time in hand this morning...and since i spent so long laughing at Linus yesterday, I decided to try my hand at the dolly trailer. Crap....its not easy. You have to steer in the same direction as you want to go....as if you have NO trailer! I would love to see you have a go at this dad. Anyway, after shaming myself for half an hour we hit the road and headed to our first stop. I didnt get too many pictures of this event. It was a small service station and we didnt have much space. The weather was good though....and I even found time to contemplate the Imperial ambitions of the USA and the Bush dynasty!!

During the day we also managed to take some time out to drive over to Vienna. I have never been here before and it is a pretty place. We went on a horsey ride, saw Mozart covered in gold?? and ate the biggest schnitzels we have ever seen. I even found time to buy a new pair of jeans!!

FH16 ROADSHOW day three

Well, I finally found out what truck I will be driving. ONLY THE COOLEST ONE (the one above which was the only fully chromed one on the tour)!! Or at least I thought that it was the coolest until everybody else unanimously decided that it was indeed the gayest truck. Never mind. I am still pretty sure that you dad will be very jealous. You can see in these pictures as well, the sheer size of our convoy. In fact, in these two pictures you can see no more than 6 trucks at a time. The convoy was actually nine. Factor in a safe driving seperation and that makes a half a kilometer roadtrain! We did make a bit of traffic chaos!

Anyway, the plan was that only the lead truck knows the way.....everybody else just knows their place in the queue and follows the guy in front. This in general seemed to work very well....until. When the guy at the front of the queue gets lost and starts pulling into petrol stations to ask directions, general chaos can result behind him. This is exactly what happened as we tried to drive through rush hour Bratislavia. Throughout the entire time though I had the windows open....the sterio up loud...and the biggest grin ever!

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventfull and we eventually reached our first destination. A Volvo dealership where we could park up the trucks for the night. The one small amusement at this first stop was I did get to watch Linus attempt to reverse park his truck. To explain to those in the know reading in Britain. Although his truck looked like a regular trailer and drag....its not. It actually has a short bogey attached the rear trailer. In short this means that it bends in two places. Go away and think about that for a moment. Uncle alec...I am talking to you here!

FH16 ROADSHOW day one and two

Did not sleep much the night before.....I have been looking forward to this journey SOOO much. Anyway, it was an early flight, so we were in the airport at about 7.30ish. Johans observation is very true; it doesnt matter what time it is.....people drink beer in airports. Would these people have a beer at 7.30 in the morning at home?? Anyway, we met up with Linus on the way and arrived in Bratislavia at about mid day. First impression it made on me was how much it feels like Russia. Although the other curious thing I noticed was how many advertising bill boards line the side of the road. Didnt get any pictures because I was just too tired, but will try to get some before I leave.

We were collected from the airport by the hotel taxi and then it was a 45minute drive to the town of Piestany. After dropping off our things we went directly to the event and straight away realised that this is going to be a LOT of fun. As you can see there are even dancing girls!!. The trucks are awesome, and everybody has been really friendly since we arrived (not just saying that in case they read this by the way). Spent the day just soaking up the atmosphere and checking out all the trucks and trailers. I also managed to have a go on a hovercraft! Anyway, at the end of the day we all went back to the hotel, and since sunday is a day off (it is illegal to drive a truck on sunday), we all had a nice evening dinner with plenty of wine. Johan, Linus and myself then went into town to try out one of the local nightclubs. It was pretty good and the prices are very cheap. Many people speak good engllish here (better then in germany) so managed to meet a few interesteing people.

After a little lounge in bed on sunday morning I decided to take a cycle through the town . Its a very grey place.....and it seems to be a country with not a lot of money. All the buildings and apartments seem very run down, although in the centre of town things seem better. I didnt once see what you would describe as even a middle class house though. They do have a famous spa here though that was interesting. Either way, it was nice to have a cycle round and work up an appetite. It will be early to bed tonight though (perhaps after a sauna) as we leave early monday morning for Austria. I have posted some other pictures underneath for you all to take a look at. Enjoy. Oh...and would everybody at work please leave some comments!!! I want to here what you all think of my adventures.


Did not take too many pictures at the show as i was too busy wandering round. The trucks are awesome though, and i cant wait to get me grubby little hands on one. I did have a wander around the next day after the show to take some pictures though. The building below was actually right next door to our hotel. I just thought it was really interesting looking. I have no idea what it is, what happened to it, and why it is still there. It was pretty spooky anyway.