Went away with the missus and landed in Geneva at about 11:00. Hired a car as our hotel was some distance from the airport, and all the roads were closed. In my wisdom, i thought id programme the sat nav to find an "Alternaate Route", which took us into a road adjoining the world trade protest on Saturday.

I reversed out gingerly, into another T Junction, and on my side (Left) were a load of charging riot police heading towards us, and to the right were the mob that were setting fire to cars in balaclavas etc....

~Needless to say that the wife was almost hysterical at this point, and my saying that id park up and take photos didnt really help matters! So we drove off fairly rapidly, just in time to see the tear gas and rubber bullets in the rear view mirror.

It was a good weekend in all. Recommended place to visit, and generally a very friendly place (otherwise).

Drove to Evian, Montreaux, and Chamonix, then through the Mont Blanc tunnel to the Italian side and back again (three inches of snow, darkness and no preparation). In all, i drove 500km from Sat lunch to Monday lunchtime.

Now im back, ive decorated the front room so ive got some time booked in for the sump change and turbo replacement. Found a GT30 turbo in the states which is calling out to me!

Riots are not fun places to be are they?

We were on holiday in Rome at the time Italy won the football world cup. The streets were filled with people having an absolutely awesome party, there were reports that over a million people had crammed into the circus maximus to watch on large screens.

Somewhere during the night the balance tipped from having fun to rioting... Some of my friends were fortunate enough to end up on the police side but we were caught up in the riot itself. We were accused of being french and managed to get away 'lightly' with a few bruises and one guy with a broken nose. He thinks it was a metal bar that hed been hit with. Short stay in a very horrible hospital and then a walk back to the hotel....

Again, lovely city and lovely time for the rest of the holiday, just no desire to get caught up in another riot.