Neanderpundit

to go back to driving a stick, especially when you spent so many miles doing it.

Today, on a long day trip, I reached for the… coffee cup, to downshift, about forty times.

Rowing a clutch back and forth to work doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, but I did it for a quarter million miles and the roads werent’ as good then as now. Maybe I’ll have to go back. They even made a Sploder with a 5 speed, though the clutch is stiff as an everclear milkshake. Now all I need to do is drive a Passat for a while, if I can do the Passat diesel and the clutch is as nice as the Jetta, I may have something worthwhile.

is still a good read, all things said. I just did the three Smiley books, and they’re everthing they always were. I’m tickled to have reread them.

There’s a good deal of subtlety in what those clever Circus folks did. I know there’s a lot more electronic shit going on now, and it has probably replaced the subtlety of that earlier time. But those skills, if you can develop them yourself, still work.