Lens-Artists PC: Wonderful

• Manja Maksimovič

My blog is a testimony to this wonderful world on most days, and it is wonderful, but today here are various kinds, levels and meanings of wonderful.

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Today Slovenia turns 30, and this is wonderful. On July 1st it takes over the European Union Presidency and let’s hope it goes wonderfully. In case you missed my monster post Friendly Friday Flashback: War, posted on Monday, be my guest.

Today it’s Strawberry Full Moon, and this is wonderful (except that I don’t eat for 24 hours, but this is my choice).

Last week the annual 1000 Miglia race of oldtimers passed 40 minutes from me. I witnessed this event once before, in 2015 with my parents and already took an incredible amount of photos back then, so this was a wonderful opportunity but not absolutely essential that I went again.

When I mentioned it here in a comment, not so eager to go as it was really hot, Sue replied “Oh, you lucky person!” This was wonderful because it made me pack the dog, some water and off I went.

When I sat in the car (previously moved to the shade for half an hour before departure), it showed 28 degrees C. As I was approaching Manciano, where I was to intercept the racers between their lunch in Castiglione della Pescaia and dinner in Viterbo, the temperature (outside, the car is air-conditioned) went 29 – 30 – 31 – 32 – 33 – 34 – 35 – 36 (96.8 F).

Can you see the heat?

When I stopped just before Manciano to take the photo above, the heat of the tarmac hit me in the face, a snake swished to the right just where bestia moved to pee, a huge hornet was seen on a nearby bush, and it was hot hot hot hot hot. Really not all that wonderful.

Alas, I was on a mission, so I drove into town around the roundabout, guarded by the police, and then immediately it started.

You must know something about this race: they don’t close the road for it. They let you mingle among them as you wish and go on your errands, and Manciano is a busy town. You can stop anywhere (where it’s safe, of course) and take photos or cheer (I hollered and yelled Bandiera rossa). There are some closed sections of the race which are timed, this is a race after all, but mostly it’s just… well, posing.

But still, I didn’t expect what was coming from the opposite direction. I swerved into the first courtyard I saw and found the only shade I could under a tall tree, calmed bestia who was giving me his “you must be mad” look and trembling a little, since how could he have known that what was going on was wonderful and not scary? It certainly sounded like war, like bombers flying over, like tanks deploying, but what it actually was, and my timing couldn’t be more perfect, was the Ferrari tribute drive-by.

One hundred and twenty Ferraris (here is the list with details, if you’re interested) passed me by (well, I might have missed some) and I caught 62 of them on camera – so the selection above is just the crème de la crème.

It took only twenty minutes or so for all these photos. Luckily, there was the speed bump at the crossing just before they reached me, without it they would have been too fast for my camera.

As you can see, all their starting numbers come after 500 (with 501 the most beautiful and obviously oldest of the bunch, manned by a couple of Russians).

But it’s the first 500 which are the contestants proper. Later, when I moved out of town a few turns nearer Terme di Saturnia in the woods and they started coming, the shade was better, bestia could rest in the car most of the time, and in a little less than two hours I took photos of one half of them. As you will see (another time), the photos are not all that wonderful, really rather terrible, but I had a great time. How fortunate that I’m not a pro.

But the Ferraris? They are too new to compete. The Ferraris were there just for the show. Hm… moral support? Intimidation?

To show how wonderful they are.

Crisis? What crisis?

But of course, we’ve got all this oil and gas and who is going to use it if not us?

Bestia was starting to enjoy himself once he realised there was no danger, but driving home I felt nauseous from all the noxious fumes and had to have some milk. Next year, if there is still no crisis, I’m going to see where the cars are parked while the drivers have lunch.

I will not leave you with a different Wonderful World song that came to mind from 1993, sung by certain Scandinavians. Well, maybe just one stanza:

meanwhile in a suburb some fancy boulevard
there's a couple in a house with a dog on guard 
3 cars in the garage they keep everything inside 
afraid of the violence afraid to go outside 
money ain't funny if you're afraid to use it 
you grip it too hard when you're afraid to lose it 
working as a lawyer in some upperclass area 
alone at home his wife goes into hysteria 
a gun under her pillow too tense to relax 
too rich to face reality 
too scared to face the facts 
they stick to what they got 
and they try to make it pretty 
hiding from the life 
that's going on down in the city 
such a wonderful world

For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, hosted by Amy at THE WORLD IS A BOOK…: It’s a wonderful world

This day in my blogging history

32 thoughts on “Lens-Artists PC: Wonderful”

  4. Beautiful photo collections,Manja! 96F is too hot, we are dealing the heat this week, stay in AC most of the time.
    I, too, love to be there. Thank you for the wonderful post! 🙂

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  6. No barriers! That’s crazy but I suppose anyone can hear these beasts coming. I see why some folks like these races but your end of day reaction pretty much sums it for me. It just doesn’t appeal to me. Cars, fumes, noise and OMG 36C heat. Yikes.

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    1. Thank you, Sandy. It doesn’t seem many have read this post till the end like you have. They have been blinded by the cars. 😀 I must say that I enjoyed waiting in my next spot to see which car will appear around the corner because they were really old, as you’ll (have to) see in another post one day. But! Their beauty is no excuse for their impact.

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    1. Thank you Sarah. I never paid much attention to this race before so I can’t say I’ve heard of any accident. The thing is that the cars in the race should be driving according to the regular traffic rules. But I’ve seen some dangerous manoeuvring by these Ferraris. After these I took photos of 250 more cars, imagine that. The photos are good for not much but I will show some eventually.

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  10. You’re such an adventuress, Manja. It sounds very macho and a little dangerous, this car-racing! Were any of the drivers women?

    Love your photo stories as ever. THE HORSE, the horse, goddammit. There’s always a money shot in your collections, bloody marvellous 💕

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    1. Hihi, Sunra Nina, I like to make you use strong wording. 😀 Money shot! Thanks a bunch!! And what an interesting question you pose! I must say that I don’t recall any woman driver but I didn’t really pay attention to that. Gender is not something that interests me much. I shall have a look at all my 300 photos and see what was what. Or I could skim through the names on the official site… I found one Corinna, one Katarina and one Silvia in the first 40 of the starting line-up. And No. 500 is a Francesca… Very macho and a little dangerous? Hm… Mostly they pose.

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  11. Ha ha! I write as I speak. That’s pretty tame for me though tbh 😄 Yes I imagined it was mostly men! Boys playing with their toys! Though there is always a woman or two who likes to give them a run for their money. I always notice gender and representation, I can’t help it. It’s informed my life experience. It’s lovely if it doesn’t affect your quality of life. Still, nothing wrong with a bit of posing. Though the environmental aspect would bother me. Oh no, now I’ve started! 😄 💛 Have a lovely day ☀️💕

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    1. Exactly my point, the environment. This post has “Wonderful” as the title but it dwindles down to really not so. These Ferraris weren’t even in a race! Just posing! I love it that you write as you speak. Do not amend this. As for gender – I know. And I was giving guys a run when I was playing cards against them at national tournaments in Slovenia for ten years. That was fun. They kept reminding me of my gender though, how annoying. They could say I played well, and not “you play like a man”. Hahhah!!

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      1. I can imagine! It’s the expression “stop being such a girl” that gets me, when guys say that to each other. Thats actually a compliment as women are superhuman. Or the c*** word being the height of insult! Why?! Arguably the most magical part of a woman’s body. Oh dear, Manja, I really ought to leave it there for the day! Ha ha! It could get out of hand. (Yes I’m a staunch feminist).☀️ 💛

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