Goodwood Festival of Speed Tips

I was lucky enough to attend this year’s Festival of Speed at Goodwood. I thought I would share my advice having been there.

Before you go

The event is on for four days, Thursday to Sunday. The weekend tickets are more expensive and it’s obviously far busier on those days, so bear that in mind. You need to book tickets in advance, you can’t buy them on the day either.

Check the weather forecast. We had a few showers, which we timed well by being in the woods around the rally stage for, but there aren’t too many places to hide from the elements, so if it’s going to be sunny, lots of sun cream, loose clothes, hats and water. If it’s going to rain, don’t scrimp on the wet-weather gear.

Equally, don’t forget you’re going to be lugging whatever you take around all day. You can return to your car, but depending on where you park, that is a long trek, so somewhat impractical.

Wear comfortable shoes, because you are going to be doing a lot of walking. The hill climb itself is only 1.16 miles, but the track extends well past it, plus you’ll be criss-crossing back and forth and trying to get around the various paddocks. This is another reason to travel light.

You may also want to peruse the attractions and decide what you want to see, because you may not get to all of it. Also check the itinerary for when everything is on, no point going up to the rally track during the lunch break.

The Law of Benevolent Inaction

My second (full-time) job, I worked as a Document Controller. In large projects you need people to track documentation, build a library and disseminate them to the interested parties.

Not long after I started, one of my colleagues introduced me to the concept of ‘benevolent inaction.’ Which is to say, leaving a task for a while, because it often saves you time in the long run.

Our main duty was to take documents dropped off by engineers, copy them, then distribute and/or file those copies. By copy I mean photocopy. Depending on the size of the document and the number of teams it impacted, this could be a lot of work. We had an in-tray for processing and engineers would simply leave the documents with us.

As an eager newcomer, my natural instinct was to process the waiting pile as fast as I could. I didn’t want to be responsible for holding up a project or causing expensive alterations because someone didn’t get a document in time. The thing is, engineers aren’t perfect. Not often, but regularly, an engineer would sheepishly reappear after leaving his document and take it back to make amendments. They’d forget something, overlook something, maybe they’d spot a typo.

If that happened after the document had been processed, it meant a new revision and another round of copying. So I learned to let the documents wait a while, not too long, but long enough to eliminate the sort of things we seem to remember only after we finish.

It’s something I have learned to do in all my jobs. Obviously there are some things that blatantly can’t wait, those that are impacting people right now, but it’s also very easy to come up with an idea and ask someone to do it without thinking about the work involved, let alone whether you actually need it.

It could be an idea that quickly gets replaced, or a fad that is hot this week, but not next, or the result of an emotion that dies down with time. You have to make a call on whether the task you’ve been given can be left, which is sometimes a challenge. There’s no hard and fast rule to identify them. As long as it’s not business critical or impacting people right this second, you’re probably safe. The old faithful ‘when do you need it by?’ can be a helpful way to gauge the priority.

If someone really wants the job done, they’ll chase you on it, or at least follow up to check progress. If not, you just saved yourself some time that can (probably) be better spent elsewhere.

Lessons Learned from a Year with a Safety Razor

I started wet shaving with a safety razor (or a double-edged razor, DE for short) on Christmas Day 2013. That was because Father Christmas was kind enough to deliver me a brush, razor and soap. I’d never shaved with anything other than a cartridge razor and canned gel/foam before.

The past year has been something of a learning curve as I’ve stepped into the world of ‘traditional’ shaving. From humble beginnings I have jumped in with both feet though. I’ve been gripped by acquisition fever as far as blades and software (soap/cream) goes, I’ve even bought a few brushes. There has been so much in fact, that I put together a site reviewing the products as I go through them.

I’m still a novice in this area really, still learning the best techniques. I already have plenty more products lined up to try this year, and I might even try a new razor too (the one bit of my kit that has remained constant). Still, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on what I’ve been through.

Pre-Shave

Many people have seen the barbershop method of a hot towel, though mainly in the movies. Most of the guys I’ve followed tend to go for a shower first, using that to soften up their bristles. There seems to be a growing fashion for cold water shaving though, especially by those with sensitive skin. Then there’s the people who wash with a normal face/hand soap or apply a pre-shave treatment (typically an oil or gel).

Personally, I simply wet my face with warm water, attempting to soak it enough to help soften the bristles and provide some hydration ahead of my lather. I’ve had some good results with this, though I should probably try some other techniques for comparison.

I did get some pre-shave oil for Christmas (2014), initial use has been inconclusive, but I need to give it a proper try.

Brushes

I started with a badger brush, the undisputed top dog at any level (there are different qualities of badger hair, which affects the price). I have also tried some cheaper bristle and boar brushes as well as a synthetic brush. Not tried a horse hair one yet (something else that seems to be creeping up in popularity).

I have to say, my boar brush, which was much less expensive than any badger brush (under £10) has proved very good. It’s pretty big (has a lot of loft) and is sturdy (good backbone) so I tend to use it for harder soaps.

My synthetic is a small knot (i.e. is small) and doesn’t seem to either hold water or splay very well, so is my least favourite brush. I have heard good things about some of the bigger/more expensive synthetics, so may give one of them a whirl at some point.

I do have a craving for something with a big knot, but not so much loft as my boar, generally the price has kept me away from them though.

The Opposing Forces of Consumerism

I listened to the audiobook of Adam Minter’s Junkyard Planet recently. It’s quite an eye-opening look into what happens to much of our waste, the stuff that gets recycled anyway. The phrase ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ stuck with me (although it’s not new).

To counter the growing amount of waste the world generates we should first reduce, i.e. buy fewer things; second reuse, either ourselves or hand off to someone else who can reuse the item for its original purpose; and only then recycle.

Anyone who has seen the huge amounts of toxic chemicals both required and produced in recycling much of our waste (especially e-waste) can obviously understand why, not to mention the growing pressures with dealing with our waste in general.

The problem is that our economies are built on continual demand for new things. When consumer demand dropped after the financial crash it threw most of the world into chaos. It’s been a long haul back to where we were and we’re not there yet.

So how do you balance these two opposing forces? On the one hand we need to buy less, and on the other we must continue to buy or many businesses will cease to function (and their associated jobs will go).

Why Don’t Car Manufacturers Offer Upgrades?

When a manufacturer sells a car, that’s it, their entire income. Many of the forecourts where you actually buy them have a garage attached, willing to offer you servicing in order to continue making money from you, but little of that (if any) makes it back to the actual car company.

The average car has a lifespan of ten years. Most people don’t keep them for the entire ten years, they’ll likely have a few owners through that period. Still, it’s a long time not to be making any money from a product.

During the recent recession, new cars sales dried up and threatened to put many car manufacturers out of business (it did to some), while car owners preferred to hang on to their existing models a bit longer. Where work on repairs may have been enough for someone to consider a new vehicle, it was being done instead.

I happened to be reading an article about new car technology (as CES is on) and thought how it would be many years before it made it to me, even if it goes into this year’s models. Which made me wonder why car manufacturers don’t offer upgrades.

I’m not saying it would be easy, but if they started at the design stage they could build the capability in. The option to swap out components on the dashboard to give you new technology, for example. I use an aftermarket Bluetooth unit for hands-free in my car, but it would be better to have it built-in (at a reasonable cost).