From time to time we all need a little help. Yesterday it was a young man asking if anyone knew how to get to the town centre. Even at a good pace, he looking forward to a hours walk and the route wasn't entirely obvious. So in a moment of generosity I suggested he came with me - I was going that way anyhow.

We got chatting. He was a talkative type and the conversation was fast and furious, not just for intensity of communication, but also the subject matter. We got chatting about cars. As it turns out he bought himself a serious motorbike a few years back (so he claims, but I hadn't any reason to doubt him) and he described with considerable enthusiasm the thrill and excitement of travelling faster than everyone else. It's what you want a fast car for, he advised me. With that I couldn't resist a small lecture. You see, there are three reasons for wanting a sports car...

1 - Status. You want to show off. You want people to notice you.You want a symbol of dominance and/or importance. You want everyone else to see you as a wealthy and sexually rampant daredevil. But this didn't apply to me. I was never that interested in what other people thought of my purchase, which mostly consisted of rude hand signals anyway.

2 - Thrill. A fast car? A very fast car? The sense of power under your right foot elevates your mood. You derive satisfaction from travelling faster than anyone else, but more importantly, you want to experience danger as humans enjoy doing. You want to be overwhelmed by noise, speed, vibration. Again this doesn't apply to me. Sure, I like speed as many people do, but this route dictates that the car overwhelms you. Ultimately, the danger is derived not necessarily from situation, but because you're essentially not in total control of it.

3 - Challenge. You want to master this raging bull or wild stallion. You want to push through a corner hard and with precision. You want to drive without thinking, reacting to the forces developed by the car instinctively, making the car an extension of yourself. You want to be a better driver (and not necessarily a faster one, though with performance cars the temptation is always there, and any idiot can press an accelerator pedal). Now this is me.

Which are you?

Research of the Week

Can you believe this? The skull of Adolf Hitler preserved by the Russians turns out to be that of a 40 year old woman, not a 56 year old dictator. One researcher says "There is no forensic evidence that Hitler died in the bunker".

Well there wouldn't be. The bunker was demolished some years after the war to prevent it becoming a shrine. In any case, there were witnesses to events in late April 1945 and they all agreed on what happened. He shot himself and the body was burned outside in the yard. Anything else is conspiracy theory, especially since there's absolutely no forensic evidence the man survived the war at all.