I must say, I feel rather goatish after having spent a large chunk of my day at the 89th Salon in Brussels, where all sorts of car, van and motorcycle manufacturers present their latest models. And models: that's what it's all about at the Salon.
Take the ones you see on top of this page - the Suzuki girls aka Agent Kitties from Hell. I turned blood-red when I saw them for the first time this morning, draping themselves on the hood of the latest Swift. The Dodge Damsels weren't too bad either, wearing leather kneeboots that ended right where their miniskirts began. Amazing.
I was at the Salon in my capacity as editor of a transportation magazine. For most of the time, it's a 8h/day desk job, scouring through press files looking for the amount of horsepower Scania put in their newest R-series long-haulage trucks - but just now and then I get to do something really cool.
For example: I visited the aforementioned truck brand at their facilities in Sweden, where I visited an icehockey game and got to drive a 60-ton road monster through the pinewoods (without actually carrying the appropriate license). Mercedes-Benz invited me to Hamburg (Germany) to navigate a Vito van through the town's gianormous port - their PR girls were really nice, too. I'm still hoping for Volkswagen to give me a drive in the Dakar Rally, but I imagine that's just a matter of time.
Now, I wouldn't exactly qualify visiting the Press Day at the Salon, collecting press releases, loading up on a mixture of coffee, champagne and grub and talking to corporate hotshots as 'really cool', but it definitely beats a day at the office. Plus, being around Suzuki Bad Kitties from Hell and kinky Dodge Damsels isn't too bad, either.
So I had a good time today. The night before was pretty sweet as well: I got an invite to the informal launch of Land Rover's new Evoque, which took place at the trendy K-Nal club downtown Brussels. The guys that organized the event also run the Kitsch Club in Knokke (a Belgian coastal town where I'm also a lifeguard during the summer), so they asked me over.
I gladly accepted the invite, enjoyed some whisky-cola's, digged the jams Monsieur Moustache and especially The Aikiu (YouTube those guys) were spinning and got blinded by the über-hipness of the Brussels party crowd.
(One word of advice though: if you see the band name 'Mustang' pop up - run. Mustang - the name sounds preposterous after you've seen them play - are a mediocre, four-piece pop group fronted by hoity-toity singer who'd fit right in with the Von Trapp family. I'm just glad they didn't do an encore.)
Roight, I'm out. I'm gonna enjoy the €34 worth of magazines I bought yesterday at Waterstone's: the new Vanity Fair, a nü-metal special by Kerrang! and the latest issues of both Total Film and Empire - I'm a magazine nut, me.
Catch y'all (me) tomorrow.
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