We recently talked about the prospect of fuelling your Fiesta with sand and now – hot on its alternative heels – comes the notion of the Pee Powered Punto.

Damn those pesky scientists in their technologically advanced University of Ohio laboratories – I had earmarked myself as the inventor of fuel from animal excrement, as per my recent post of July 13th.

And now it seems the green fuel pioneers believe that by pooling – yeuch – the effluence from farm livestock, such as chickens and cows, they can harness the hydrogen in urea just by gently electrocuting the wee and using the hydrogen it creates to power the farm buildings.

Oh, well, never mind – I shall go back to the socks idea!

Image © Brian Forbes via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Far from the chunky plastic pedal cars of my toddler years, 'Totcars' these days are beautifully crafted replicas of their 'adult sized' equivalents which come with convincing number plates, reflector lights, brand badges and a price tag that's not far off the real thing too.

For those looking to impress - there's the Audi TT, for the wannabe Lewis Hamiltons - there's the Ferrari F1, or for the toddler needing to tend to daddy's estate - perhaps a 12v John Deere with frontloader would come in handy?

Made for toddlers that are just a bit too cool for the Mothercare own brand pedal car and with parents or relatives with a few too many pennies to spend, these are just the thing.

For the sociable toddler wanting to take their friends out for a spin there is even the option of two seater versions, which obviously are available in electric for those who are too posh to pedal.
Have a look on their website . Which one would you choose?

[Image © Tammra via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence]

To 'P' or not to 'P', that is the question! Will provisional plates really keep you safer on the roads? It seems there's a lot of disagreement out there about whether putting on a pair of 'P' plates after you've passed your test will actually make you any safer. Yes it certainly raises awareness that you are a new driver, but is that really a good thing?

As a learner I found the 'L' plates simply gave other drivers the excuse to tailgate me before overtaking right at the last minute rather than evoking any kind of patient or sympathetic response from anyone.

I therefore think 'P' plates are a bad idea. For some road users they cause your car to become a target to unleash their intimidating and aggressive driving onto.

While it could be argued that they help to ensure other road users keep their distance, the amount of intimidating driving they evoke far outweighs any more positive responses they cause.

What do you think? Are P plates are good idea?

[Image © Macinate via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence]

"If you don't go to Bognor Motors, you must be mental".

This is the end strapline of a radio ad that saw a used car company in West Sussex get into trouble with the Advertising Standards Agency recently, because it breached "good taste and decency".

It only took one complaint from mental health charity The Capital Project Trust to get the ad taken off the air. They felt it might be offensive to people suffering with mental health problems and the ASA agreed.

We think the people that complained must be… (insert your own mildly offensive insult here). We came up with a few, but would not dare to repeat them.

In a comment on the piece in MediaWeek the commenter suggested that Bognor Motors should be very grateful to the charity that complained as they couldn't have bought publicity like that. He also suggested further ‘types' that Bognor Motors may decide might not go to the car dealership, such as ‘tall' or ‘smelly' people, so that more people would have a pop and get further ads banned.

Ah yes, the game of being controversial – clever and calculated, or with the possibility of backfiring horribly?

So, what next for the car dealership marketing magicians?

Let us have your slogans and remember - we do not endorse Bognor Motors, but we are sure this isn't doing their customer figures any harm. We hear there aren't many mental people in Bognor anyway.

[Image © vagawi vie Flicr, under Creative Commons Licence]

The Sun has told us we can run our cars on sand!

I live near the beach so I thought I'd be laughing – but no, it's only a special kind of sand found in Canada and Venezuela, and it probably won't be commercially available for a long time.

Meanwhile, I'm sure there are many other forms of alternative fuel out there and here are a few of my innovative ideas that I will be working on in my shed in the very near future.

1. My boyfriend's football socks – they can walk by themselves so, they must be able to power something.


2. My little brother's hamster – it goes round and round and round and…


3. Harnessing the collective disappointment in British sport – Murray at Wimbledon, The Lions in South Africa, the under 21s against Germany in the European Championships and don't forget the Ashes are coming. That should be good for a bit more disillusionment.


4. Dog Poo – there is so much of it about, surely someone can make it useful for something.


5. Chocolate – I'm going to stockpile a large supply of Mars, Snickers and M&Ms and find a way to make them power my Punto. And if I can't… well, I'll just have to eat the evidence of my inability to solve the world's energy problems.

Image © mikebaird via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

Cars have always been a staple of children's TV but which one is the ultimate favourite? For me it has to be a toss up between the amazing and unique design of pink panther's car and the girly luxury of Lady Penelope's FAB1 car. Other great contenders would also have to include the Batmobile (obviously), Dick Dastardly's Mean Machine and Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine.

Herbie undoubtedly boosted Volkswagen Beetle sales after the films and subsequent TV programmes reached almost iconic status. Despite having celebrated its fortieth birthday, Herbie is still a much loved character with the young and old.

A roadworthy version of Lady Penelope's car was made for the film version of the hit TV show and even featured on CBBC's Newsround although sadly there are no plans for it to hit mass manufacturing.

Which children's fictional TV car would choose as your ultimate favourite and which would you love to drive?

[Image © Don Cheps via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence]

The other evening I was driving out of town, passing the local speed camera, when I spotted in my rear view mirror this old black fiesta that was screaming up on the outside. The car in front was a silver Astra being driven by a very cautious older lady, and coming straight toward us in the oncoming lane was a bus.

I could see what was about to happen – I slammed on my brakes – the Fiesta carved in front of me, hammered on his brakes and the bus missed him by an inch.

I was still convinced the old Ford would not stop before rear ending the Astra and so, gripped my steering wheel hard and braced for impact.

Two accidental loud bursts on my horn later, the windscreen wipers coming on as I flapped around in disbelief, and… all cars carried on with their journeys without a scratch on anybody.

I nearly lost my lunch though!

It is this kind of young driver that gets most of us a bad name, but I was relieved to see, as we got on to dual carriageway, that the baseball-hat-wearing idiot appeared to have frightened himself. He stayed patiently in the left hand lane and kept a respectful distance behind the silver Astra which was going no faster than 60.

And just in case you don't believe that these sorts of things happen, watch below.