TURNER'S TORQUE

Is it October already?

It’s been a weird year, not as bad as 2020, obviously, but weird nonetheless.

When we first started to publish the magazine back in December 2018, from a simple to maintain review website to this, I was constantly asked whether we’d have enough content to fill a few issues, never mind for a whole year.

31 issues later, I’m happy to confirm that not only are Muddy Madam and I kept busy (often too busy), but the whole 4x4 community is still thriving, despite the best efforts of Covid to kill it, and us, off over the last couple of years.

Shows are packed, green lanes are being used and companies are doing their upmost to supply us all with the products we want, but it's not easy.

Before everything hit the fan, getting products from foreign suppliers was relatively simple - buy the space you need in a container, and wait for it to arrive.

These days however, companies have bidding wars just to get their products into a container. Once a container would cost around £1,500, but these days they’re looking at around £20k!

Then there's the ongoing problem of not having enough HGV drivers to move the products once they arrive on these shore. It's a double whammy! So if your favourite 4x4 or outdoor company is struggling to get stock - be patient, it's not their fault.

On the subject of companies, please support our advertisers, as without them, and of course our lovely Ko-Fi supporters, you wouldn’t be able to read The Mud Life for free.

Being truthful, we wouldn’t be able to afford to create the mag without our wonderful advertisers and businesses who send us products for us to review, so give them a click, and spend some of your hard-earned cash!

AND THEN.....

More panic buying, only this time it’s dino-juice instead of bog roll!

Trouble with this is that you can’t distinguish between the morons who are panic buying, and those who are actually running on fumes.

Who is to blame?

The media is most definitely to blame, all because of their sensational reports of a few petrol stations that couldn't get fuel because of a localised shortage of HGV drivers.

They then gleefully stirred everyone up into a frenzy (and as I am writing this I have the radio news on, and they still are!!) - that’s what they do, isn’t it?

Queues stopped traffic, the stations that got fuel hiked up prices, papers created more shocking headlines, TV companies fanned the flames seeing a chance to raise their ratings, and to hell with common sense and consequences.

Hey, we're running low on ad space in the mag, anyone fancy a bit of panic buying?

muddy madam's moment

Gadgets, Guns & Gorgeous Blue Eyes

As I'm writing this there is less than a week to go before the long awaited new Bond film No Time To Die arrives in the cinemas, and I'm excited!

I'm purely eager because it's Bond, as I have no idea what the story is or who is in it. I am probably one of the only people in Britain who has managed to avoid all of the trailers, which has involved a lot of fervent switching TV programmes at the first mention, not buying film mags just in case I glance something and sitting in the cinema with my jumper wrapped around my head whilst humming a deep tone to drown out the very loud Dolby surround sound previews.

I've done this with any film I really want to watch since 1986 - the year that the funniest bit of Crocodile Dundee was ruined for me, you know the bit,...

"That's not a knife, this is a knife!"

I'd seen it so many times before I got to see the film that it turned into a damp squib, therfore ever since I've avoided them like the plague. This meant I had a problem when it came to this month's mag, as I wanted to include a bit about the Bond cars.

I am glad to say that I managed to avoid any spoilers about the plot, but I do know what cars I'll be expecting to see, and honestly they're pretty much what I was expecting - Astons and Land Rovers - just more of them.

As you are reading this I will probably be sat in a darkened cinema, stuffing popcorn in my mouth, waiting to drool over Daniel Craig's immaculated dressed physique and beautiful blue eyes, whilst Damian will no doubt be drooling over the gleaming motors. Fingers crossed that it is worth the wait.