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news & updates 2004
les nouvelles du site 2004
This page contains news of notable updates and changes to the site as they occurred in
2004.
Cette page contient les nouvelles et les changements majeurs sur ce site comme ils se
produisaient pendant 2004.
2004-12-18
Merry Xmas and a happy New Year to all Renault 4 fans. An additional greeting (right) comes from Benoît in
Belgium, owner of the famous R4 Yellow Submarine, who tells me that he wishes all Renault 4-Play readers a
happy 2005. See his special seasonal photo here. Quick
site news: Several pictures are still to be added to complete the Gallery's offerings for 2004, so keep a
watch out for those. A bizarre new Star Car was recently added (number SC21), and don't forget to adorn your
wall with my 2005 calendar, available from the Gift Shop with a new set of Renault 4 images for the coming
year.
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2004-10-25 I can't believe it's really been this long again since I wrote anything here. Much has happened in my own Renault 4 world, but perhaps not so much has been visible here on the site. August 3rd - coincidentally the 43rd birthday of the R4 - saw the arrival of my third quatrelle, which I soon named 'Reflexia' after the initials 'RFX' on the number plate, and upon reflection of her light-bouncing qualities as an all-white car. Early photos of the vehicle can be found on the My Pics page of the Gallery. I've been working tirelessly whenever I've had the chance to design various new gift shop products. This is something I originally intended to launch in the spring when the designs - of the Renault 4 in the guise of all the 25 new European Union countries' flags - would have been more poignant, because the nine new members joined in May. Once again, constant work has seen me away from home week in week out, and I've managed to devote barely any time to other things. At last, six months behind schedule but better late than never, I can today finally launch these new products. A fabulous new range of never-seen-before items are available, including tile boxes and coasters, car bumper stickers, various garments such as barbeque aprons and junior raglan tops, postcards and mini posters, and the very popular wall calendar from last year makes a return with a complete new set of images for 2005. Visit the Gift Shop for details, and remember to order early in time for Xmas and New Year. One rather worrying observation of late is that I've not spotted a single Renault 4 in all my travels at work. Despite weeks spent in such unglamorous but potentially R4-filled locations as Eindhoven, Duesseldorf, Hamburg and Stuttgart, I haven't seen one. Is this a sign that the rain in northern Europe is taking its toll and rotting them all away fast? Next week I return to Haarlem and Amsterdam, previously better hunting ground, so let's hope it turns up something rewarding on the R4 front. The result of the last poll was that you most wanted to drive your Renault 4 in Europe and western Russia. The new one asks which pop star celebrity you would most like on your back seat. The Babes page in the Playroom has seen a little activity recently, with another image yet to come, otherwise it's the usual bits and bobs appearing in the Gallery that provides the main updates at present. Apologies for the continued absences, and delays therefore to updating the Classifieds and other sections, but this is unavoidable. |
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2004-07-11 This is just about the longest gap there's ever been in between updates to this page. My work has been taking me away from home almost every week to many exotic European destinations, although amongst them all I've not spotted many R4s anywhere. A smattering in Hungary, the odd one in the Netherlands and one in Poland being all I can recall. Were you the owner of a blue R4 van driving past the Belastingdienst office in Sloterdijk, Amsterdam recently? If so, I saw you, don't think you can't be seen. Or maybe you drive that red Renault 4 down Dyke Road in Brighton and keep teasing me when I'm passing in somebody else's vehicle, and can't attract your attention. Come on, own up. Anyway, in recent months I haven't afforded too many major updates around this site since I'm never at home, but the usual stream of additions to the galleries and articles keep appearing. Unfortunately, work on the new version of the site still hasn't got off the ground, and probably won't until the day I can get myself a laptop and find time for doing it when I'm away. I also still don't possess a Renault 4 since Nicolexia departed last September. Again, this is because there's little point in me having one if I'm never here, but I am intending to get another later in the year. This, combined with a new digital camera, should ensure that a steady flood of new R4 pictures taken by myself will eventually emerge around the site to bore you to death with. The latest poll in Vote 4 It! asks where you would most like to drive your Renault 4. In the previous poll, you decided you hated BMW drivers more than anybody else on the road, and so say all of us! New products in the Gift Shop have also been continually postponed since I don't have the time to create them, even though the designs are in my head, but one new feature to arise is the video department, labelled 'Four on Film', which has now been added to the Gallery section. Here you will find links to all the Renault 4 movies available on this site, including a peculiar new entry from a German fan. I'm still receiving countless wonderful new pictures on a regular basis, so look out for new entries every week or so around the site. |
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2004-03-28 Updates have appeared in the usual places over recent weeks, including several additions in the Gallery, one being a firey new Star Car. Spring star signs have also emerged to lighten your mood for the new season. Major updates or new features are currently on hold since I have very little time to spare at present due to my work. All the ideas for the design of the new version of the site are still contained within my head, but progress is slow whilst I attend to many other important things. I spotted just one red Renault 4 in Copenhagen recently, a city which is nonetheless full of Citroen 2CVs around every corner. And that is possibly the only one I've seen in a long while. I'd be interested to hear from the mystery driver of a lilac and yellow Renault 4 spotted close to where I live in Hove. It is apparently finished in a very similar style to my last Renault 4, Nicolexia, with bright yellow trim, and has appeared in nearby streets. This is quite astonishing since sightings of any R4s are so scarce in Britain these days, and I wonder if somebody is trying to taunt me! Other local 4s seem to have since disappeared, with those in Furze Hill and near the Withdean Stadium in Brighton not being seen for a long while. And who is the owner of a yellow Renault 4 spotted lurking at the back of a house on the Old Shoreham Road near the Holmbush Centre in Shoreham / Southwick? If you know anything about any of these, or other Renault 4s in the Brighton area, let me know. My own plans to acquire another R4 have seemingly all gone to pot. The original deal seems to have fallen through, whilst another 1973 model I looked at recently had to be turned down due to my inability to find anybody who could replace the floor on it reliably. A note about this has been added to the classified ads page, seeking further info. Since I am rarely at home presently, there is no real need for me to acquire another just yet, and I may wait until the summer or beyond, when it would be nice to envisage taking the R4 on a European road trip. Anybody wish to join me? Preferably young, female, single and vegetarian! Well, who knows? Maybe I'll go off on another Renault 4-related Interrail trip instead and write another book about it. Further revisions of the text of that book are still taking place, by the way, before I submit it to any publishers. Well, once again I seem to be filling these latter sentences with nothing more than waffle, so I'll go and get on with something useful. Have a good April / Easter / spring / whatever. |
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2004-02-14 Hello to the driver of a red Renault 4 spotted by the Seven Dials in Brighton last week. I saw you, don't think you got away with it! A few things to report of late, firstly an issue regarding a recent spate of computer viruses and spam. There has been an outbreak of viruses, including the 'mydoom' variant and others, and I have received dozens myself. Some of these contain fake email bounce messages and other information suggesting I have spread infected emails. I have also received assorted spam and viruses in the past that appear to have been sent from my own email addresses, and there is a slim possibility that other people will receive such emails that seem to have come from myself or Renault 4-Play, but these are fakes. I wish to make it clear that I run up-to-date anti-virus, firewall and other security software and never spread such viruses or spam. Although nobody has yet contacted me to suggest any such occurrence, if anybody should receive such an email with my address showing, please do not assume it is actually from me. On the home front, I am currently investigating the possibility of acquiring an old R4TL, whilst my sister's R4 finally went off to the coroner's this week. Whether bits of it still remain and will be resold, I don't yet know. An article in the current edition of Practical Classics magazine (March 2004) lists the top ten estate cars, in which the R4 features. There will always be debate about which is the most fitting description of a standard Renault 4. Some say estate, others saloon, many cite it probably correctly as the world's first true hatchback, and I've even heard words like sedan and limousine banded about. Well, whatever it is, Practical Classics declares it "The best car ever built", which is encouraging. There's a new poll in the Articles section; this is a good one. Who do you hate the most? Be honest, I want to know who aggravates you on the road more than anyone else. Is it those smarmy Merc drivers, the capitalist aspirational dullards in the BMWs, those weak-willed retro wannabees in their New Beetles and New Minis, taxi drivers or somebody else? Have your say in the Vote 4 It! section. In the last poll, you surprisingly decided that you most commonly encounter genuinely friendly people alongside you in other vehicles. Well, I wish I saw some of them since all I usually get is sneering idiots and other assorted British miseries. There are new entries on the Pets page in the Playroom, and several recent additions on the readers' favourite page, the People's Pics. |
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2004-01-06 Happy New Year to all. Well, it was to all except my sister, perhaps, whose R4 was badly damaged in an incident on the M25. Some idiot in a truck pulled out from the inside lane just as she was overtaking, forcing her to slam on the brakes to avoid collision. The R4 went out of control, zig-zagging across the motorway before smashing its rear end into the crash barriers. Luckily, neither my sister nor her 7-year-old daughter were badly injured, but the car is in a rather sorry state. Its future may hinge in part on proceedings with the insurance claim. The rear off-side corner is badly smashed but the rest of the car is in exceptional condition (aside from the paintwork being rather tatty), so it would perhaps be worth salvaging and restoring if there is no other major, hidden damage. Typically, my sister says that she was on the verge of giving me the car anyway, since she needs a less wacky car to purvey a professional image in her job, so that's the last time she's driving it. What will happen to the car is not yet certain. Better news, though, is that it shouldn't be too long before I take charge of my third Renault 4, and details on this will be posted later. There's nothing much else to report for the moment, all has been quiet here over Xmas and the New Year, but I will soon have to get stuck into work on the new version of this site, which will probably see the most major upheaval of Renault 4-Play so far, scheduled to finish some time before the end of the decade, depending on my level of enthusiasm. Check out the latest Star Car if you haven't already; think pink before viewing! And I'd like to encourage viewers to continue voting in my polls in the Articles section, since despite increased numbers of visitors over recent months, votes are on the decrease, and the longer it takes to build up a reasonable number of votes the longer it will be before I start a new poll. I should also mention that there could be delays again from here onwards due to the resumption of my last job, which will take me away from home frequently. So, things like classified adverts and other submissions may take longer than normal to appear. I'll post details on the Classifieds page in advance of when this is likely to occur. Right, I'll shut up now. |
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