Shetland Classic Motor (stationary engines, pushbikes, tractors, steam engines and motorbikes) Show

To the Shetland Classic Motor Show, while Martha was off doing something orchestral. It’s salutary to think that I may have been to all of these bi-annual shows…and normally I’m thrilled by the vast array of machinery  – the steam engines (traction engines and a belching steam-driven lorry this year) the motorbikes and Frank Johnson’s astonishing collection of Hetchins curly-stay pushbikes.

This time, for whatever reason, and despite the prospect of a trip in a vintage double-decker bus, I was left a bit cold by it all. Suddenly it seemed like a whole heap of old stuff that probably didn’t work very well. Nostalgia and obsessive-compulsive, anally retentive maleness write large.

Then I saw the two E-Type Jaguars, and all bets were off. The Type One two-seater has to be the most beautiful motor vehicle that has ever existed.