Sometimes silly mistakes lead to good things. The other day I drove from Sidney, BC to the city of victoria, about 22 km south on Highway 17. My mission was to collect a rental projector from a camera shop located on the capital city's outskirts. But first I'd stopped downtown to do some Christmas shopping. It was a lovely blue-sky day (we don't have many of those in a PNW winter!) and so I decided to return via Victoria's "scenic route." The road follows the ocean shore with spectacular views of Washington across the Straight of Juan de Fuca. An enjoyable drive except that the slide projector was forgotten until I backed into my Sidney parking spot. That scenic route takes one through a minor intersection surrounded by a food market, tempting coffee houses, and a trendy pasta cafe. Normally I'd continue driving but on this day I'd spotted a 50's Jaguar XK Drophead finished in a soft peppermint green. I couldn't resist stopping for a close-up. This Jag had obviously received a frame-up restoration and was in superb condition.

(A brief diversion: I'm hoping to produce a small yet world-class concours on Sidney's waterfront in front of the new Pier hotel and condo. These being early days and with me still regarded as a Toronto ex-pat it's necessary to befriend anyone in the area with a classic car connection. Hence a tentative but fruitful conversation with car owner John Gordon and his friend Nicolas Harvey, both members of the Jaguar Car Club of Victoria.)

Nicolas and I compared histories, discovered that we'd both raced at Ontario's long-defunct Harewood Acres circuit and had obtained our pilot licences at Toronto's Island Airport, albeit during different eras. Small world! Nick is a professional photographer who specialised in airiel photography. His photo of an XK140 roadster in Whistler, BC is similar to the car that brought us together on that day, except for the Drophead's wind-up windows and more refined top (In Britain "drophead" translates as "convertible"). Those early XK's must surely qualify as history's most beautiful sports cars. With luck, my vision of Sidney's "Concours at the Pier" will happen in 2008 and Jaguars like this will be among the invited.