Fill her up please

Copyright AG Walsh

My Dad has always fancied himself. Sorry, that fullstop shouldn’t have been there, my Dad has always fancied himself as a bit of a photographer, and the above picture he took at the British GP in 1969 proves he was more right than not. Graham Hill had nipped out of his Lotus 49, probably for a crafty fag, and my Dad decided to snap it being refuelled, probably whilst having a crafty fag himself. You’ll note the detailed safety precautions the man with the large cannister of petrol and big metal funnel is taking (hint: he’s not having a crafty fag).

If you squint really hard, you can even make out the Shell logo on the blokes jump suit.

In my capacity as a daddy blogger and as a part of the parent blogging community I’ve been invited by Royal Dutch Shell to be part of what they call their Shell V Power Network of Champions. We’ve just had a fairly intensive couple of days being inducted and learning about the technology behind their fuels. Believe me, combustion is only a part of it.

So far I’ve also learnt a few other things too:

• It’s almost impossible to call James Allen “James” and for some of us it’s hard to not call him “ITV’s James Allen”. Almost a decade of television links to him is mostly to blame;
• James Allen is a surprisingly nice bloke and very down to earth;
• Shell have covertly been trying to weed out the weaklings by feeding us huge meals every two or three hours. They’ve failed, we’re all still here;
• In reference to the above, I’d be 86 stone by Christmas if I were a celebrity;
• Roman Catholicism is the official state religion of the Philippines, on account of it being a former Spanish colony. They’re all lovely people and Beeboy has a hat I’ve lusted after for the last two days;
• I talk too much. Generally, and also specifically. Never mind though, some of what I say is amusing.

I’m still digesting the technology part of it but will no doubt blog about that more when I’ve had a think, either here or probably over at my parenting blog.