Head On Down the Highway...

Yesterday was kind of an unusual day for us. We spent a little bit of time up on the rooftop, but then we decided that a 20˚C blustery day on July 11th was better spent indoors.
I came in and watched the end of the 9th stage of the Tour de France. This stage ended in Mulhouse (pronounced Ma-looz), which is only about 45 minutes away from our home. I toyed with the idea of going to see it live (for about 10 seconds), and then I decided that the helicopter coverage on EuroSport from the comfort of our sofa would be a much more comfortable option. Something about watching the guys ride their bikes down the roads of Alsace must have put me in the mood to watch more road-related stuff, because Mrs. TBF and I ended up watching a British car program (which we occasionally watch) called Top Gear.
Now let me preface this by saying that Mrs. TBF and I are far from "motor heads". We view cars as the things that get you from one place to another, and I tend to view cars as a sort of necessary evil. But, the show Top Gear is really entertaining. Last night, they had a segment where the host - Jeremy Clarkson (in a car) - raced a marathon runner (running) over the route of the London Marathon during London's rush hour. The runner ended up winning the race! He beat Jeremy by eleven minutes!!! It was really entertaining, and I highly recommend this program if it ever surfaces on a cable channel near you. Tempting fate, we decided to watch another car-related program. We should have stopped while we were ahead, because we ended up watching the UK version of Pimp My Ride...and it was TERRIBLE.
The U.S. version, in case you're not familiar with it, is a show where some young person (often with some sob story) with a beater of a car has his/her car transformed (pimped) into a showcase of a "pimp-mobile". The host is the rapper - Xzibit. The crew at the garage consists of guys who look like the just got out of prison. They're big, pierced, tattoo-covered, and sound right using gangsta' slang. The U.K. version, on the other hand, is a bunch of pale white guys (plus one woman) who look like they just finished tea and decided to have a go at this poor chaps car. The host, also a pale white guy, trys to use gangsta' slang and street gang hand gestures, but he just ends up looking like an idiot. I was embarrassed for the guy. He should just go back to his pub, grab a pint, light a fag, and call it a day. Actually, it was so bad that I'll probably have to watch it again just so I can let it sink in how bad it actually is.
It reminds me of my sister Diana who has this great line: "When you smell a skunk that's been run over by a car [a common thing in the Chicago suburbs], don't you have to smell it again just so you can believe how bad it really smells?"