HossC

They're completely different songs: Tim McGraw's is from 1997, whereas Fleetwood Mac's is 1987.

Our non-essential stores only reopened yesterday, and today I treated myself to one of these. Unfortunately, the model is encased in polystyrene, so it can't be displayed in the box. They also had a 1975 Coronet in Hazzard livery, but they're not cheap over here and I couldn't justify buying both!

I see that Romain Grosjean took his first IndyCar pole at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis this weekend and ended up finishing second. He's due to make a one-off return to F1 with a demonstration run at the French Grand Prix next month.

I see that Tuesday's average gas price was $2.98/gallon. If it keeps going up, it won't be long before you're paying half as much as we do (current price approx $6.70/gallon)!

Liquor What a coincidence - I only read that story after my previous post. The owner apparently drove off with the tiger in his SUV, which would suggest it's not completely wild. I remember "Put a tiger in your tank", but this is a step too far!

Let's hope that no one takes Bart's advice and eats his shorts, otherwise he'll get kicked out as well!

It wasn't a faux pas - that list wasn't the race result, it was the drivers' points standings after the New Hampshire race, so it's quite conceivable that there were three drivers tied on points for 6th place. That would explain why the next driver was in 9th. You can see the full results of that race here.

Escape (apparently, 3 leopards have escaped from a Chinese wildlife park, and only 2 have been recaptured!)

From 'Mrs. Rosco P. Coltrane': Mama Coltrane: Rosco P. Coltrane, you can't get married. You ain't ready yet. Rosco: Well, Mama, I'm 48 years old. Mama Coltrane: True, but you still don't pick your clothes up...your socks don't match...and you still squeeze your toothpaste from the middle. Rosco: But, Mama, you don't understand, I want a wife! Mama Coltrane: When you was five, you wanted a fire engine...and look how fine you growed up without it. Rosco: All them other kids had a fire engine. Mama Coltrane: So now you got a police car. Eat!

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Roger, and especially considering the day. Mother's Day was in mid-March over here, so I didn't know that yours was today.

Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton who achieved his 100th F1 pole position today. To put that in perspective, the only other driver with seven world championships, Michael Schumacher, only reached 68, and Ayrton Senna only had 65.

That reminds me of the way that Wheeler Dealers added painted "wood" panels to their Jeep Grand Wagoneer. You don't get to see much of the process in the video below, but the end results are clear to see.

So far, the only comment in that story is: "TALK ABOUT FIXING A RACE LOOK NO FARTHER THAN SUNDAY THEY TRIED BOY DID THEY TRY"

I have a vague memory that Margaret Thatcher opened my junior school while she was Education Secretary (it was a few years before I went there, but there was a picture on the wall). It was soon after this that she acquired the nickname "Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher" because she abolished the free milk which schoolchildren used to receive in the '70s. The satirical puppet show 'Spitting Image' overlapped the latter half of her time as Prime Minister, and showed how they thought she viewed her cabinet with this famous sketch:

I can see why they'd want an exciting finish, but the way you describe it, it sounds more like manipulating the result. The main controversy at this week's F1 was varying enforcement of the track limit rules. Due to travel restrictions, some races are taking place at circuits which aren't usually on the F1 calendar. Especially on circuits where they host motorcycle racing, the outside of corners are paved for safety rather than being gravel or grass. To prevent the drivers from gaining an unfair advantage by taking a wide line on corners, at least one wheel must remain within the white line which marks the edge of the track. During qualifying, drivers had their times deleted if they exceeded the track limits, and Max Verstappen had his fastest lap deleted for the same reason. The commentators were suggesting that it would be better if they could remove the advantage of going wide. I'm not sure that there's an easy solution.

As usual with your projects, I'm looking forward to seeing this one progress.

Take away the number you first thought of, and the winner is...

I'd forgotten that the brown truck made it to California. Cooter and Daisy use it to follow Rosco, Enos and Jesse as they look for the boys in 'Deputy Dukes' (roughly 2/3 of the way through the episode). In 'Double Sting', Bo uses it near the end of the episode to push the shack into the lake. Is it safe to say that it only appeared in season 1?

I see that the new mayor, Mayor Roy Stoner, was played by Parley Baer. According to IMDb, he played the mayor in seven episodes, which is the same number of times he appeared as Doc Appleby in Dukes.

The same truck appeared without the plank of wood in 'One Armed Bandits' (inset), but not driven by Cooter. The image below is from the Cooter's Tow Truck thread. I don't think it appeared after the Georgia episodes, so there's only three more to check!

traffic There used to be a Heinz product called Toast Toppers. You buttered your toast, spread the savory topping from the can and heated it under the grill. It looks like the product's been discontinued and was probably only available in the UK and Ireland. I haven't had one for years, but their mention brings back childhood memories.

Now that The Simpsons have stopped white actors voicing non-white characters, they've now managed to offend Morrissey!

toast

Well, we had a wet start to the race in Italy today, and it produced some great driving and a few crashes (admittedly not many by NASCAR standards!). Hamilton made a rare mistake, but made an impressive recovery to finish second and with the fastest lap. While I've got the thread diverted to F1, it was announced earlier today that the Austin Grand Prix will be joined by a new race in Miami in 2022 to give the US two grands prix next year. The 3.36 mile circuit will be around the stadium of the Miami Dolphins - more info here.