When Richard Hammond graced his face on This Morning on Monday to discuss the end of The Grand Tour I knew I had to comment. While, wondering where Cat Deeley got her dress from I then pondered how I would make this an upgraded version from a piece I wrote earlier this year. And, it came to me while I was ironically reversing and not hitting anything. If I reverse into a space without an insurance claim, it’s a cracking day. At least once a day I share an insight which is a bleeding obvious one at that, and today is no exception. An absolute classic was being asked whose car was blocking a delivery driver in on my road, and I responded with, “If it helps i was blocked in last Thursday” and I have never been able to rest it. So, if it helps you’re having one of them in at least 500 words because I practice what I preach. Search Engine Optimisation. Speaking of engines…
When Jeremy Clarkson announced that tomorrow’s episode would mark the end of the trios 22 year threesome. And yes that was intentional. I wasn’t shocked and if I’m honest saw it coming a mile away. God, my puns are at next level today. As a long term viewer, I begun to see a decline in the episodes some would feel staged and I’ve always stood by an opinion that in fact my Mum supports. Hear me. I have never actively thought, I am going to rewatch that episode of Grand Tour. When the trio launched on Amazon, their appeal drew subscriptions in and people felt like the Top Gear era we grew to love had reignited.We wanted the jokes, the destinations and the 4K imagery yet in recent specials I felt it was missing – but maybe this was the mental space I was in during those years or maybe it was because the show had found it’s mojo. I won’t lie, but The Grand Tour has been through a real change; when it aired in 2016, the first series felt staged with lots of jokes designed to make fun and test the editorial boundaries Amazon had. Some things worked, others fell flat like the ‘I guess he’s not coming on’ but the trio noticed and took on board what fans were taking to social media to moan about. In fact, I attended a press event in 2017 which had Andy Willman the Executive Producer answer questions and during such interview he admitted the mistakes and listed off even more critiques than I had and even with my bias I remain constructively critical. I’ve lived with OCD for years, it usually presents itself in patterns and for me, perhaps it’s the OCD or sentimental part of me who remember the episode I watched the day I was diagnosed with a chronic neurological condition, the episode I watched the day I landed that pay rise or promotion they too have been weaved into my life tapestry.
All 22 seasons of Top Gear that are sat on BBC iPlayer have been my soundtrack. Why? I’m not sure, is it because the Top Gear days feel nostalgic or even just sit rent free in my head? Nobody can underestimate the simple thing that whether you watched one or the other you laugh at least six times. My other realisation is perhaps because my ex thought there were no amusing Top Gear episodes and like lots of things, he was wrong on that one too. A bit like when he compared Clarkson to his hero, Andrew Tate. Absolute bollocks. The trio are like marmite quite strong marmite I add. You either love and can quote the show or you despise every minute like my Sister. It was rather funny that when I wad admitted to A&E with my urinary retention, the Doctor who was overseeing a Foundation Doctor fit me with my first catheter I rewatched a Top Gear clip not Grand Tour. He too, stood over watching and chuckling which gives me a nice conversational starter too. I should note that lots of friends and family have asked how I genuinely feel about the end of their on screen unit and weirdly it feels a rather natural end. If, the three said we’re retiring and never coming out of a remote Island then maybe I’d need an extra therapy session a week but it’s time. I add, that if the Smallest Cog want to create better social media strategies hit me up. Link in bio.
The penultimate episode recreated the magic that we had during the noughties. The snacks, the blankets ready for a special. I had dug out the M&S cookie dough, if you don’t know you need to get to know. I was living my best life, and yes I did say that in my mind like Gypsy Rose. That episode for me tapped into something that had been missing for a while, it captured what the fans who share my dingy boat believe is authentic. It’s the jokes and essentially the package we all fell in love with during the infamous Botswana special. I loved it, but then I loved the previous two. I ask whether it was intention to finish on a high. The trio have appeared on a number of press engagements, with sentences being pulled and made into incorrect tabloid newspaper headlines – and during the one with the journalist that knew Ghislaine Maxwell we heard from the horses mouth something very interesting. ‘We’ve stripped the show back to what we know was at the heart of it’s success. Friendship and no dynamite or Amazon budget effects.’ For me, that feels the perfect way to conclude their three piece. But, as you reach this sentence you’ll ask, Ev why thank you? Well…
As I reversed beautifully into a bay with multiple empty spaces around me, something dawned on me. I owe a major thank you. Since, setting up Short Stuff Communications, yes intentional plug too I’ve had to be in the discomfort zone. For me, that’s looking over my nearly 10 year career and I realised two things in the development of my website and branding. This website, this post and this sentence you are reading owes a huge favour to Jeremy Clarkson. When Clarkson was involved in the the fracas that led to his departure from the BBC I became glued to the news channels commenting and speculating the future of his career. A career, that I would argue has had a major face lift since his farm show aired in 2021. It was the fracas that led me to open my WordPress account and put pen to paper. I’m unsure if I would’ve even started this platform had it been for that episode. 1 year after setting this channel up I was immersed in a variety of partnerships and opportunities that had arisen from something that I never knew existed. Teachers, would always say I wrote as quickly as my internal monologue goes and I’d agree. I am asked at least once a year, thats a lot for a girl that was called Ugly Betty, why I set this home up and I owe it to that steak and Jeremy Clarkson because I might be still looking at graduate jobs had it been for that incident. Quick one, I did not agree with the punch. But, it’s not just Clarkson. I’ve always been very lucky that I’ve always known what I wanted to do once I left school. I knew that I wanted to work in some form of PR/Marketing/Advertising, the blog was what opened the doors. If I go back through old school work, it was always something in media/communications, I did go through a phase of wanting to teach but realised my deep loathing of children and resembling Miss Trunchbull everyday was a sign that wasn’t my destined future. I knew I liked talking, but strategically speaking was born earlier than 2015. It birthed itself in 2006. When the news aired that Richard Hammond had been admitted to hospital with a serious brain injury it dominated the headlines for weeks and was like what the heck to my brain but I don’t remember necessarily at the time, but when I found clippings in the years that followed I kept seeing the words ‘Spokesperson‘ and BBC News journalists using a ‘a statement for the programme‘ at the time of the Rimac incident. And ‘the programme now need to agree a plan with their team to understand the future of their show.’ So, when I realised it was PR, and events like this became the argg in my corporate career I realised that this was always the path I was always going to take. God, if I could tell my 11 year old self that her screensaver never changed she’d think my life was very empty and quite amusing. Both those events contributed and led to you reading this and you thinking God she’s boring. I realised this as I sat proud as punch I’d reversed parked into an empty car park.
I knew when I had this in my head that I had to write it in advance of the finale airing because a critique on the last episode is a bit of a yesterday.comer. It’s a bit like having an appraisal in your exit interview. Do you really give a flying if you put the comma in the wrong place on your last day? Or whether the boxes were perfectly aligned as you’re preparing for the next adventure. It was ironic that I was so engaged in a trio that spoke car chat because it took me 5 times to pass a driving test. But, there again, I bought a Fiat 500 Abarth because Richard Hammond drove one on the show – and I told that to the car salesman who looked at me like I was joking, the reality was, I wasn’t joking then and I’m not joking now. But, he did miss two things. 1. Not economical, if you fancy spending every week at your petrol station, go for it Glen Coco and 2. Everyone can hear your engine half way down the road so you won’t need to drop them a text to say you’re outside. I wouldn’t recommend the vehicle to anyone who is crazy and follows their other half to check they’re loyal because your wife will hear you before you’ve stepped foot in your special friends home. So, in my dreams I’d cry if this ever crossed either of their eyes but, thank you. Thank you for being the white noise to grief, chronic illness and break ups. If it helps, I will continue to replay the BBC era and avoid the car crash, again punny, that Chris Evan’s started in 2016. Makes my toes curl just thinking about it. So, thank you for the lols, the quotes and the friendship, and on that bombshell goodnight.
