Wheeler Dealers

Wheeler Dealers.  The show is about a couple of blokes from Brighton or wherever they’re from in England who buy old cars cheaply, fix them up and resell them for a very modest profit.  The show is a little like Wrecks to Riches and Desert Car Kings but with an accent.  Interesting accents at that.  Ed China, the 6’10 mechanic sounds like a proper mechanical engineer with a academic vocabulary and just the slightest of accents.  Mike, has a much grittier accent and is frankly, barely intelligible.  They pepper their speech with the oddest British vocabulary – saying things like, “it’s looking a bit tatty”.  “We’ll have that interiour looking smart in no time…just need a few more bits for the exteriour.”  They call the cars motors, and you’ll hear Mike saying, “that’s ‘quite the crackin mota,  just need to have the dings in the bonnet touched up and the dodgy engine sorted.”  Sorted seems to be Ed’s favourite word.

Have you noticed that poor Ed rarely leaves the garage or workshop as they call it, until Mike pulls up and honks with a new project. I’m left to wonder whether he can safely drive those small European cars with his nearly 7 foot frame.

As  Mike Brewer says at the end of the show, tarra, or ta da, or is it telah or salah?  As we say in my neck of the woods – whatehva.

Moribund World Cup Broadcast in English

The English speaking broadcast of the World Cup match between England and Germany was like listening to a golf match.  They whispered.  It was Ian something or other, a monotone, crestfallen Brit, who sounded suicidal after Germany’s 4th goal.   I had no particular interest in the outcome, but I myself was becoming disturbingly depressed and nearly fell asleep at the 60 minute mark so I had to find the Spanish speaking broadcast to wake me up so that I could really fully appreciate the spirit of the game.   GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!