Decisions, Decisions

Max, my motorbike has been sitting quietly in the garage but with one thing and another the weather, or the amount of work I have I haven't been out as much as I would have liked this year - personal situation and upheaval hasn't helped and I have to make a long term decision about whether to keep him and deal with the costs or to bite the bullet and pass him on to someone who will be able to look after him and ride him like he deserves.

With the economy the way it is and the increases in petrol, I am having to justify each and every journey in the car never mind the motorbike.. although the job changes afoot at my location mean that parking is going to be even harder may provoke me into using the bike rather than the car for work - that or use the park and ride scheme.

Unlike the Back of Beyond, the nearest meeting here at the Edge of the World is about 80 miles away and infrequently too; with many events requiring longer rides which while I don't mind riding alone I also have to think about the Pond Boys too.

One option is the Helston Bike Night which is on a Thursday.. it is local, I will get to meet fellow bikers and perhaps make new friends..

Decisions, Decisions....

A holiday on a holiday

It might be 1st July, it might be a friday, but sadly it is the last day of my holiday and to celebrate? commiserate we took the bikes out for a spin up the coast road along from St Agnes to just south of Padstow and stopped for lunch at Berryfields Cafe.

The weather has been lovely and sunny, the roads relatively quiet... just a few muppets out there today.. the scenery was absolutely gorgeous and it is a shame I can't capture on camera what I can see when I ride (well I could if I only had the equipment).. but just think golden sands, sunshine and blue skies and sea that looks cool and relaxing..

A number of of other bikers were out today, and it was refreshing to see how many of them were dressed appropriately for the road.. not that t-shirt and shorts are inappropriate as long as you are not riding a motorbike! It is hot when you are wearing protective clothing, and yes it does feel like you are riding a sauna at slow speed, but at a higher speed it is refreshingly cool if sometimes as cold as an artic blast.

I was riding with a bad knee today, having suffered a tumble the other morning when hit sideways by two black labradors having a tumble in a field.. I ask you a big field and they have to launch themselves into me! I hit the deck hard, and my knee was already feeling a little fragile.. I don't know whether it was the knock or perhaps a touch of old age setting in.. I hope not but you never know.

Wanted!

Max, the motorbike is in need of a new battery... down here in the deepest darkest South West the nearest dealer (of any great size) is in Plymouth... so we have been trawling the internet looking for suitable batteries to put in him.

I am looking forward to getting out and about on him this year, using him for work as well as pleasure as some of the locations I get to are scenic to say the least.

Instead he is tweeting to himself and audibly telling us that the battery has reached its life span. On average it seems to last 3.5 years long and as this year he will have reached the grand old age of 8 years old it is overdue.

Happy 30th Birthday

SOH and I took a trip up to Jamaica Inn on the bikes today, for a 30th Birthday party. Over 80 members of the South West Section of the BMW club turned up to wish the section a happy birthday and Sally Robinson did a stirling job of providing the birthday cake. which was a lovely moist fruit cake under that lovely icing.

Can't say I knew many people there, but then again until I have been a couple of times it is hard to know who the regulars are but it is a lovely ride up onto Bodmin Moor and the parking is level and on solid ground.

Harvesting

Yesterday afternoon, after a short but good ride on the bikes down to Marazion where we had a cup of hot chocolate overlooking the Mount which looked quite forboding, I took Murphy blackberrying. We managed to collect 1.5Kg on our first expedition and I hope there will be time and weather permitting to get a few more before the season ends.

Murphy will pretty much eat anything, so I tried him with a blackberry about half way through the picking process and he wolfed it down. I have always said he is intelligent, next thing I knew he was helping himself to those ones on his level.

When I had gathered enough, we walked home, but Murphy decided that he found something so wonderfully smelly that he would roll in it.. so he was in disgrace by the time we reached home.

The blackberries are split into two portions, one is in the freezer in smaller packets ready for pies, crumbles etc. the others are in my dehydrator as I want to use these in flapjacks and cakes etc without having to use the fresh fruit.

Glorious Sunshine

The weather is gloriously sunny, all I can see is hazy blue skies and sunshine.

Fridays are good because I get to finish earlier than during the week which is nice, and will get home and still be able to enjoy the weather.

Luckily this morning I woke up, albeit a little later than I should have done, but then some numpty forgot to set her alarm last night and so I had some extra snooze time. Still managed to get everything done before leaving for work, including making my lunch and washing up the breakfast dishes.

I have a busy weekend ahead of me, tomorrow I have an appointment with the building society, then later a trip to a rescue centre at Newquay before heading to Penryn to watch a rugby match in aid of a young man paralysed by the game. Then on Sunday, the bike trip to Jamaica Inn, my first trip on the bike in almost a year.

It was once of the sacrifices I had to make, yes I could have taken him out on my own up at the Back of Beyond but more urgent things like decorating/tidying up/decluttering needed to happen and that allowed me to come down to the Edge of the World. One little sacrifice I didn't mind taking.

The bikes are now safely in the garage, the house is gradually taking shape with things in the right places though I fear it will be a long job, but this weekend is for us to enjoy ourselves and Saturday night will be the Chinese take-away from the Hong Sing which does the most wonderful food and extremely bad for the diet.

Have a good weekend all.

Exhausted

Not me the car!!

Coming home on Tuesday I thought the car sounded a little noisier than normal, and when I got back home one of the family said the exhaust has gone and the car now sounded like a tractor. I groaned... I didn't need this now, nor in the future, but the car is almost 10 years old and hasn't really had many problems at all during that time. Good job too as I am not an aspiring mechnanic and rely on garages etc to keep me sane and on the road

SOH lent me his car for work, as I have further to go, I have only driven it once and being an estate car I have felt a little nervous about driving it before. I only managed to stall it once and that was trying to reverse into a car parking space at work but in my defence the car was on full lock and apparently is a bit more tempramental. I made to work, and home again and even felt a little more comfortable.

Yesterday, SOH took mine to work and en-route the hole in exhaust developed into a fracture. He coaxed it home yesterday where hopefully at the weekend a family member might be able to weld it back together again, but now we have one car between us and his start time is earlier than mine so I get to take him to work and then come back for an hour or so before I need to get to work myself. Needless to say I managed to find the time to catch up with the news on the BBC and watch an episode of Heartbeat being too tired to do much more than tv watch this morning. Still it could have been worse, he might have still been on the 2am job rather than the 5am job.

I managed to leave my mobile phone at work yesterday evening, and today he left his at home... For those of you wondering about the bikes, and not using them, the storage area where they are being kept is boggy and my chances of getting the bike in and out is zero.. a nice couple of days of dry warm weather wouldn't go amiss right now.

The view from my window is lovely

I can see the football fields of a nearby school, and being based on the first floor means lots of stair climbing all day... great for toning legs, bums and thighs.. see positive things here in Cornwall. The workplace even have reserved parking for motorcycles, so come the next few months, Max and I will be winding our way to work where he is registered already. Just need to think about where I can put all my bike gear at work.

Chest is distinctly not improving but will give it another day, in case the steroids kick in; one effec they do have is to make me less tired at night, so I even managed to watch some tv last night without wanting to fall asleep through lack of oxygen.

The weekend coming is my first real weekend as a working girl in Cornwall (last weekend didn't count as I only managed 2 out of 5 days at work), so what to do and where to go.. I feel the need to visit Portreath and sit and watch the surf.. so if Cornish Beach Brummie and Cornwall by the Sea are still visiting this blog perhaps we can meet up one morning/afternoon for a coffee and a chat.

Fitting In

Its been fun, being the new girl but with some experience means fitting in is easier than if I had no experience of working with IT systems and means I can get on with the work without having to be micromanaged.

It is a lovely office to work in, and surprisingly warm given the colder temperatures it has been today, we even had to open the door as it was too hot. My working space is small, but perfectly formed, and the free tea and coffee is sheer indulgence; I haven't worked anywhere that you have free drinks and even a staff room where you can take lunch.

I enjoyed a stroll at lunchtime, to explore Truro a bit more, and was glad of the warm jacket I had taken as Jack Frost didn't really let up all day :-) then a quick cup of hot chocolate, a few pages of my book and then back to the Office.

Once I settle down into a routine, of understanding the work, I have been challenged with automating as much as possible so that less data has to be entered by hand as that is where errors creep in.. I like a challenge.

One other challenge is the drive in the morning, it isn't far from the caravan, but the frost last night managed to ice the car doors shut and this morning was a performance in trying to get into it to start it while I defrosted the ice off of the windows.

Luckily tonight, it was cold but not quite frosty and the drive home was fairly fast, taking a little over 20 mins but I am sure I will soon be getting Max out for the ride to work, and enjoying the experience; far better than the original mile and a half I used to ride when taking him to work.

Its always nice

Its a good feeling and nice when things get their MOT done and they get through it with no work needed.. Max my beloved motorbike had his 3rd MOT today (was it really 6 years ago that I purchased him - the time has gone by so quickly) and he got through with flying colours...

I am now free of car/bike hassle until January when Tax becomes due on the car, and then April when the MOT is due on that but I am hoping after paying for all the work last time that I wouldn't need to do too much more.

Of course this time last year, I was looking forward to a long and challenging ride down to the South of France, this year I might be going to Suffolk to the National Rally instead... oh how the mighty have fallen actually I have plans that might include a holiday in the sun but it does require the house to be sold and if there are enough pennies in the pot then I am going to have a break and am considering Cyprus... should still be warm enough in Oct/Nov time shouldn't it?

Any other suggestions welcomed... I want a beach, soft and sandy, don't mind if it is quiet as long as there is a bar to have a drink at, don't mind self-catering but happy to do full board or even half-board.

Its going to be

This weekend is going to be a beautiful weekend, one to sit back with friends and chill over a glass or two of cold wine..

BUT its not going to be my weekend for doing that, no sirree I am going to be busy getting stuff ready for collection on Monday when Emmaus come for their furniture. This week I have been busy going through the shelves in the 'study' and getting rid of old OU materials, some of which I promised I would do when I had a moment and never will now so they have gone for recycling. The shelves will be coming down so I can reuse them later on.

I hope to start some decorating after a little break when Max and I are going for a few days out to enjoy the sunshine and good weather - note please that when I plan something like this usually the weather gods interpret this as a mechanism for thunderstorms, downpours and any other type of unpleasant weather so I don't expect too much from this break.

It does mean that posts are going to be bit sparse, as it will depend on internet access.. oh how I wished I had gone mobile broadband, but a bit too late now.. never mind.. the saturday satire posts will be there to amuse and I am sure I will manage something to come on line automatically to share with you some of the pearls of wisdom that have escaped the decluttering process so far.

Hope you all have a great weekend, don't get too sunburnt

Gotcha

I have unashamedly 'borrowed' this image from an on-line store. It reminds me very much of my late friend, A who died 4 years ago and who was a motorcycle cop with the local police-force and he used to regale me with tales of his days with the traffic police.

His favourite pursuit car was a volvo, and one day he was out when a motorcyclist followed him so closely but didn't overtake because of it being a police car. Well this went on for a couple of minutes and eventually he stopped the car, went round to the rear and lifted the door motioning to the bike rider to open his visor.

When the rider asked what A wanted, the reply was "I thought you wanted to get in the back you were following so close" a few splutters from the biker but he was sent on his way with some good advice dealt with some humour.

A was very good natured, but that was him and his partner and he provided me with some very good advice when I decided to get a motorbike myself not to mention showing me how to ride (or rather showing me how he rode - I just followed slowly behind).

Just goes to prove that a cop is not always the bad guy, sometimes they are out to help you help yourself.

Zummerzet Weekend

I had a great weekend, camping in Cheddar near Axbridge in Zummerzet to attend the BMW AGM and met a lot of old friends and some new ones as well. We arrived on the Friday afternoon after travelling down, using the Motorway for speed because we wanted to get set up on the campsite and enjoy the evening entertainment. The campsite was superb, with individual pitches having both water and power supplied as well as a dusk til dawn light, and the pathways were great for motorbikes, the gravel not being slippery at all. I even managed to get a wolf whistle from another member, only because my bike and hers are the same model and colour, when he realised he apologised... sure and isn't that always the way, never for me but for someone else :-)

Once set up we went down to the bar, which was open for residents and enjoyed a couple of drinks I had some Pear Cider and we watched while other pulled in and then set up on the fields. The meals were good, and the bar/kitchen staff absolutely brilliant. We arranged a taxi to the AGM hotel in the morning with two other members which helped to keep the costs down, and then we settled down to an evening with old/new friends.

The AGM was more entertaining than most, the entire committee was either stood down, or not elected and has now got brand new people in positions all of whom will do their best to ensure we move forward as a club and not keep harking on to the good old days. While there are good reasons to keep history important, it is also necessary to realise that bike riders and buyers are a different kettle of fish with different needs in this century and we want to keep all of them happy with the club which will see some positive changes in the year ahead. But the most important change of all was to see the club bean counter get the chop, I have come up against him in the past and it was unpleasant to deal with him so I don't regret his departure one iota.

Saturday night saw a good night in the bar, for many a reason but not least of which was a new spirit amongst the members. More beer was drunk, and we headed back to the tents with a head spinning in the cold night air; unfortunately it was so cold I couldn't sleep comfortably and had to keep getting up to go to the toilets so was glad when morning came and a hot drink.

We left the tents up to dry out before packing them away, as the sun was shining brightly as we went down to breakfast one last time. Though the site was so good, I hope we get a chance to go back to it for a club event as there were a number of interesting places nearby that would have been good for a visit.

The route home took us through Bath and back out to the motorway, we were lucky in that the rain held off so the tent was dry when packed away as were most of the stuff, just needing an airing before being stored away ready for the next rally at the Spring Bank Holiday in Rutland.

Broadband

Finally, and after much nagging, I have done something about the broadband.. I was on option 1 from BT for ever such a long while though they kept offering me BT vision, free hub... it never seemed like the right time to take up any of the offers until now.

Now I have upgraded the system to Wireless, well I will have as soon as I have read the instructions and dealt with the issues relating to the PC not being wireless compliant at the moment not to mention installing the software, dealing with any cabling issues etc. Despite working in IT I am not a technician and never have been so this may take longer than I anticipate or I will have it cracked in 5 minutes flat.

I spoke to a very nice gentleman from BT last week, who when asked for a very advantageous price did his sterling best and I am now paying a lot less than I did for option 1 - I am sure that those of you out there will tell me that I could have paid a lot less for another product elsewhere but I was thinking that at the end of the day it is reliable and not too expensive.

So this weekend will see me plumbing the depths of trying to fathom out how to attach an aging PC to the wireless hub or relocating the PC closer to the hub so I can wire it in. Not to mention hacking revenge on the rosebush while it exacts its revenge on me by snagging me in its thorns. Hopefully on Sunday the weather will brighten up from the grey dreek damp weather into something more springlike and I can get out for a ride.. I have a hankering for a coastal run to Norfolk or Suffolk to get breakfast by the sea but haven't yet decided on where.

In my cleaning up of one of the cupboards holding some cutlery which I have pruned, I found some very tarnished spoons and when these were cleaned up proved to be marked with the REME regimental badge.. I have 6 dessert spoons and 8 teaspoons - I can only suppose that Dad never managed to bag the knives or forks to go with them.. they have been kept, but need to find some velvet to wrap them up in to stop the tarnishing getting too bad.

The Ratz are happily tearing up sheets of newspaper used to line the floor of their cage to make a bigger nest in the hammock.. seems they actually like their new cage after all the hassle I had to put them in it the other day.. pictures will hopefully be in the not too distant future.

And that was Easter

A grey and dank Friday morning, Max and I set off to Derby to stay with friends. Not my choice of weather, nor road, but M1 it had to be and filtering through the traffic was for me, at least, a slow progress.. admittedly faster than other car drivers because they were stationary... the reason I am slow is that those gaps that appear quite wide when you are approaching them, seemed narrower when travelling through. Only when I reached Leicester area did the drizzle turn more to rain and by the time I reached Derby itself I was dripping on the outside.

Though the friends had seen the bike before it was because I had lent him to SOH last year when his bike picked up an unfortunate puncture and the only solution was to lend him Max. It is a fair difference when you are used to riding a bike with a fairing to be riding something so naked and as it was a bitterly cold March day SOH reached his eventual location chilled to the bone. Now me, I ride with my electric waistcoat, heated grips and that does to a certain extent keep me warm so I don't mind too much.

Walked into the town centre on Saturday morning, a good 2-3 miles and it was a good pace but enjoyable in the spring sunshine. I ended up buying a Nintendo DS as they were doing a bargain on the pre-owned variety in a shop along with two brand new games this was the cheapest option I had ever seen. Though quite why today's pre-owned is better than second-hand beats me.. are they not the one and same?

We had steak and chips for our Saturday meal, along with some very potent pepper sauce... enough to fuel rockets to the moon but very nice with it..and the steak was some of the best I had tasted in a long while and the only chips I ever make are oven ones the home made deep fried golden ones that were served were delicious.

Sunday I took the bike over to Matlock Bath, to see the other bikes and their riders congregating along the main road was good fun and Max attracted his own comments notably 'What in the Hell's name is that!'... comes of having a belt drive bike.. usually reserved for Harley Davidsons. This of course meant that watching the Help for Heroes match in Bournemouth had to be postponed... but you can't be in two places at once.

Monday was a return home, to finish off the tidying up of the kitchen, to sort out what hasn't been done and what still needed to be done. While it is nice to go away, it is nice to return home to all things familiar.

Positive things

Lists can be useful, and focus your mind. The following is some of the things on my list :

1) I have decided to redecorate the house, overdue by years. Will take some time, but I have enough of that and that isn't as negative as it sounds it will be therapeutic and not only that but some very good friends have said they will help me out with the kitchen upgrade.

2) I have two holidays booked, one to France and the other in the UK. The bike will also get some usage this year at long last as I heard on the grapevine that the weather is going to be stunning. Take it from me :-) I have earmarked places I want to visit while I am in the UK, and just working out the best route. Friends have invited me to visit them, in US and in Australia but at the moment I need to root myself here before I too get the urge to run away from things.

3) The garden is going to benefit from an overhaul, again not a five minute job but I have plans in hand that should see it easier to maintain. I would like to be able to grow my own veg but it is a big garden and can be a bit much at times.

4) I plan to lose some weight, its not healthy nor do I like my body in the shape it is in. I have already made a start and want to continue the trend.

5) I brought a ticket to watch the Barbarians play Bedford next month, though sadly I can't make the Redruth v Cambridge game which I had hoped to do as something else has come up. I am considering getting hold of a ticket to see Northampton Saints play but it may well be next season.

6) I will be going to the Rutland Rally in May, the National in August and the Blackbull in September all bike events and by then I will have fathomed out the GPS connections to my bike. It is bluetooth and I need an adapter and a powerlead as the other one is on the ex's bike and I have no means of retrieving it.

7) I am entered in the race for life, and plan to do this in under 40 mins - it is only 5K in distance and I can walk 2K in 15 minutes now so I don't see this as unattainable. Training is going well for this.

8) I want to reduce the amount of 'stuff' I have and anything surplus to requirements will be donated to others using freecycle or sold if it has a decent value as I believe that I have clutter which though it might come in useful is simply not necessary. Not only that but as I get older I will want to downsize accommodation and rather than leave it to when I am less able to deal with it I plan to start now.

Max n me

Max is my bike, and yesterday we had the first ride out of the year, not without a lot of heart pounding on my side as still being a bit of an emotional wreck I was not 100% certain I would survive, but balanced against that is a little bit of inner strength that when I am on the bike seems to look after me and not let me do anything too stupid.

The roads were dry, and not too greasy. The weather cold but sunny and misty so the ride over to Towcester was enjoyable. I don't usually like to lead, but because some friends came over to ride with me I knew the way across the myriad of roundabouts in Milton Keynes to get to the A5.

Lunch was good, friends to catch up with and good company. Breaking the news to them of the demise of my relationship was hard and many a tear was shed and not just from me; if anyone can tell me when that will stop I will be grateful as it seems like the well is not yet dry.

Tonight I have a meeting with ICAS to try and iron out some of my issues relating to recent events, I am not looking forward to it, but it may help me in the longer term.

Punctured

It's not very often that I get a puncture, but it is always at the wrong time and in the wrong place and this is so wrong you wouldn't believe it.

SOH went to check on the bikes, a pre-check to ensure that all is well before we can get back on them; and loh and behold there was a nail in my back tyre. Which means one of two things, a call to the AA to see if they can help to repair it (until I can get a new tyre fitted), or call Ian from Bike Motor Works to see if he will pick it up and fit a new tyre.. either way it is going to cost in the region of £150 incl fitting... and the worst thing about it is that the tyre wasn't that old.

Safety must come first in my book, one of the issues I addressed when deciding to take up motorcycling as a hobby was never sidestep the issue of safety; you only have one life and I was determined to look after as best as I can (sharp knives and carrots aside).

Oh well, what is money for if not for pleasureable purposes, still it isn't as bad as the cost for Dickiebo's roof...

It's cold outside....

Overnight the temperatures dropped and this morning we have woken to blue skies and frost, but as pretty as it is, it isn't going to last as the weather forecast is for storms coming in from Greenland. So not only is it going to get colder, wetter and potentially drop some white stuff (or snow though it is likely to be sleet) on us but we are going to have days of it rather than just a few hours.

SOH and I are hungry to get the bikes back out on the road again, we would have done so last saturday except that we were kept busy with other tasks and this weekend he is working so it will have to wait a little longer.

The urge to ride again is growing stronger by the day, and as we head towards Spring, with hopefully the promise of long, warm and sunny days (yes I know I live in Lah Lah Land) and the start of the riding season events we are eager to get going and ensure the bikes have passed the Winter safely.

On a lighter note, if you want a laugh please click here for some spetacular failures...

Finally the Christmas season is over....

SOH and I attended the last of our Christmas occasions with the post Christmas Dinner last night in Lincolnshire... glad it wasn't as cold as it has been over the past few weeks; it would have been pretty miserable at -9 deg C driving over 150 miles on the round trip.

So our Festive season started on December 6th and ended on Jan 17th, a sum total of 7 weeks.. and all related to the BMW club.. now perhaps we can look forward to other things in the next few weeks; like Valentine's Day, Spring, getting out on the bikes again..

What are you all looking forward to?