With a sigh I switched my computor off yesterday afternoon. Nothing to do with recalcitrant programs, impossibly tough game levels, or yet more analysis of the Tottenham Riots. It was the approach of the thunderstorm. In my experience, thunder and lightning invariably causes a blip in the electricity supply when it hits the pylons that criss-cross our local area, and that can spoil your whole day when your data vanishes into digital smoke.

So I retreated to my favourite seat with a good book. Sure enough the daylight dimmed ominously, and distant rumbles were audible over the traffic rushing up and down the hill. Then the rain began. A heavy downpour that sent pedestrians running for any available cover. hardly anyone expected rainfall and in the summer clothes they were drenched in seconds.

Not me. This time I'm safely esconsed indoors. Just as well too, because all of a sudden was a bright flash. usually in Britain we get "cloudstrikes", where bursts of lightning travel in the sky and merely light up the clouds briefly. That wasn't anything of the sort. We were getting ground strikes, and that means a serious stormcloud was overhead.

The thunder rattled the window next to me. I thought I might try and get a photo out the back window of the house. Why not? It might be an interesting experiemnt to photograph heavy rain and who knows? Maybe I'll catch a lightning fork by good fortune. Where's my camera?... Oh, there it is. Batteries are still good... Right. Open the window and... Oh ye gods!

The rain pelted through the narrow gap I'd opened. It was like being on a ship in an atlantic squall where a sailor foolishly opens a porthole and gets a faceful of seawater for his trouble. Quick, close the window... Close the window... Phew. Please excuse me while I go and dry myself off.

Brake Brake Brake!

After the storm passed I sat watching the Touring Car racing at Snetterton. It goes on all afternoon with various races in different classes. Much more interesting than the Formula One Circus. Here we get cars jostling for space in a frantic rush to sneak past the other guy. it's raw, down to earth racing, and I love it.

I was watching the Ginetta Juniors race. Teenagers learning how to drive performance cars in competition. They race every bit as savagely as their seniors, and not without some skill and talent either. Then a drama unfolded. A bunch of cars approached a sharp bend at speed. The lead car suddenly locked its brakes with smoke and tires squealing, then spun off gently as it tried to enter the curve.

Hilariously the two commentators began to get excited and ask each other what happend. What went wrong there? They came out with all kinds of theories, but to me, it was blindlingly obvious. The lead car had approached on the inside to cut off the others, braked late to try and stay in front, realising at the last minute he was running out of room, and with wheels locked turned too sharply into the bend with too much speed carried forward and no grip. Result? The car flicked round and carried on its merry across the track sideways.. No... Backwards... No, sideways again...

He should have slowed down and accepted he was going to contest that corner with the other cars, or as an alternative, go wider and hope the extra speed would keep him ahead of any car trying to cut inside him. But I guess he's probably figured that out for himself at his leisure as a stream of cars whizz past him.

Could I do any better? Well, I don't actually know, but if my gaming experience is anything to go by, I'd probably be sat on the grass in a thunderous mood too.