Man buys book on-line

In a curious collision of technologies representing seven centuries of human progress, a man in a second-hand shirt in Hammersmith has used ‘the internet’ to buy a print edition of a book about racing cars that was delivered to his house by a real human being in a diesel-powered van.

An excitable James May told Carbolics, ‘I once met Adrian Newey at an event. We talked very briefly about some tiny aspect of aerodynamics and then moved on to trivia.’

He continued, ‘But now look. A whole lump of Adrian Newey, delivered with a resounding crump to my doormat by Amazon Prime (who also offer streaming video, music, and more etc). This book is a staggering 37mm thick, or 1 15/32 inches.

‘I’m resisting the urge to start reading, because I want to save this for a forthcoming flight to the US. It will stop me drinking, and will be even more effective than my Clarkson-cancelling headphones at ensuring in-flight privacy.’

But he went on to admit, ‘It’s difficult. Just fanning the pages to check for acceptable new-book smell, the terms ‘Gurney Flap’ and ‘Coanda Effect’ spiralled vortex-like from the leaves and found the backs of my eyeballs wanting. And look at the lovely diagrams.

‘I can’t wait.’

The long dreary hours of international jet-setting will rush by

The long dreary hours of international jet-setting will rush by