last week I was busy again. so busy that I started to wonder when is the time for me to switch off? or as my daddy would probably said: where is the button to switch me off? to be fair I didn’t have any plans for myself, just wanted to play with my toys, enjoy the space I have in the playpen and use a little bit of these relaxing morning walks with daddy – I mean relaxing for me as he walks while pushing the buggy with me strapped to it – but somehow I realised that there’s more things I’m getting excited about and last week proved to be no different.

I heard it early on. from the very start. the beginning of the new era. the hybrid era as they were calling it. if you know, you know. I certainly like cars: the noisier the better. there’s no question about it. but when my daddy showed me some of the WRC cars starting this year’s championship in Monte Carlo, I couldn’t stop thinking about them and pretending that all my other little toy cars were the true match to these new powerful beasts. especially now when the Christmas tree was taken away and I have much more space to use the window ledge as my display arena, I felt so proud that all my plastic trucks were able to stay on the side of my imaginary road just as good as the world class drivers were able to do the same on the hairpins of Sisteron. and somehow I felt like it was a beginning of the new era for me too…

from Thursday evening we were watching the competition at every possible moment, whether it was on TV or on daddy’s mobile. it didn’t matter what time of the day it was, daddy could always figure it out how to play it again. we went to the local coffee shop at some point and he had it on even then! the race was happening so quick and the stages were falling one after the another that I could barely keep on with my feeding time – and I won’t even mention my disturbed sleep and unsatisfied nap time!

but it doesn’t matter as it was fun to watch. I mean it’s something different. how long can I stick to my Masha & the Bear routine after all? I need some new distractions in life, right? I kept on hearing people talking, usually the same couple updating us with the results and much needed stage information, but when they were taking a break, I could hear the co-drivers calling out the notes through the rumbling sounds of the engines. and these were the moments I was enjoying the most as I could see the twisty roads they were taking in front of my own eyes and listen to the calls I have no clue about yet, but it was still fun!

now the best part is that at some stage of the week (pity it wasn’t a rally stage) daddy finally took me to sit with him in front of his magic steering wheel he has attached to the funny looking seat that sometimes he sets up right in front of the TV. usually I would see him doing some racing too, but this time he let me hold the wheel and move it so I could spin and drive and do all the things I possibly could with the car. each time I was moving it, I saw the screen changing and the views in front of me were changing too! that was amazing! although I preferred to hold on to the wheel and only ocassionally I was desperately trying to grab the gear stick, daddy was always quicker and kept taking my hands away. not sure how long I was driving for, could be minutes or hours or days, but what I remember is that I didn’t crash not even once and was able to control the drive just beautifully.

I wonder now would it be the same if I could reach out for the pedals I apply some proper force on the throttle? I think I will have to look it up and maybe even ask for advice from this Loeb guy who won the event in Monaco once again. it’s obvious he knows what he’s doing if he handled it so well, right?