Modern Vespa

Weather permitting, this Friday I'm planning on riding with one of my kids to visit a hospital in northern Israel.

Kitty (and anyone else who's interested) Module 2 Direct Access TICK!

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Dead chuffed

Congratulations Doug, is it the geared test you're going through?

Ew, kosher.... what about those who don't want that?

Does passing M2 mean you have finished and now have the full A class bike licence or is there still more to do?

£725 = $1164.79 = 846.41EUR = ¥7097.41 = ₪4098.50 as of a few minutes ago. Never let it be said that getting licensed to ride in the UK is cheap...or easy. But if it results in better riders and less crashes then it worth it I guess.

Any new toys planned ?

Peppy it's the full unrestricted glitter and sparkles licence. With bells and a cherry on top. Nowt more for him to do.
I wanna do that

Me two, I'll catch up with that in the next couple of years (having gone Auto restricted so far).

Really well done Doug - 'nowt more to do'!

At the moment she is spending a week 'in the field' doing day/night navigation exercises and practicing long distance evacuation of wounded (marches over hilly terrain of 10-15 km carrying a 'wounded' soldier on a stretcher).

Have you ever violated, or engaged in a conspiracy to violate, any law relating to controlled substances?
Yes No

Are you coming to the United States to engage in prostitution or unlawful commercialized vice or have you been engaged in prostitution or procuring prostitutes within the past 10 years?
Yes No

Have you ever been involved in, or do you seek to engage in, money laundering?
Yes No

Have you ever committed or conspired to commit a human trafficking offense in the United States or outside the United States?
Yes No

Have you ever knowingly aided, abetted, assisted or colluded with an individual who has committed, or conspired to commit a severe human trafficking offense in the United States or outside the United States?
Yes No

Are you the spouse, son, or daughter of an individual who has committed or conspired to commit a human trafficking offense in the United States or outside the United States and have you within the last five years, knowingly benefited from the trafficking activities?
Yes No

Do you seek to engage in espionage, sabotage, export control violations, or any other illegal activity while in the United States?
Yes No

Do you seek to engage in terrorist activities while in the United States or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities?
Yes No

Have you ever or do you intend to provide financial assistance or other support to terrorists or terrorist organizations?
Yes No

Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization?
Yes No

Have you ever ordered, incited, committed, assisted, or otherwise participated in genocide?
Yes No

Have you ever committed, ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in torture?
Yes No

Have you committed, ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in extrajudicial killings, political killings, or other acts of violence?
Yes No

Have you ever engaged in the recruitment or the use of child soldiers?
Yes No

Have you, while serving as a government official, been responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom?
Yes No

Have you ever been directly involved in the establishment or enforcement of population controls forcing a woman to undergo an abortion against her free choice or a man or a woman to undergo sterilization against his or her free will?
Yes No

Have you ever been directly involved in the coercive transplantation of human organs or bodily tissue?
Yes No

I already had a full A class licence, BUT it had a 78 code next to it. That meant I could only ride automatics. There are a few of us Skoks who have exactly this type of licence... I never thought I would want to shift, but hey, things change.

A coworker asked me for help filling out the online application for a visa to visit the U.S.. As I was helping translate the form for him, we arrived at a series of questions that kinda took my breath away: So here are a few things that have been puzzling me:

In the history of US Visa applications, has anyone ever answered 'yes' to even one of those questions?

Also, I'm troubled by a couple of the questions that ask the applicant to make a judgement call as to whether they have engaged in "severe human trafficking" or "particularly severe violations of religious freedom". No, your honor... I only participated in casual human trafficking and mild violations of religious freedoms.

Seriously! If you answer yes to even one of these questions, you deserve to be denied a visa just on the assumption that you are too stupid to function in a normal society.

Wow. Just, wow.

Kitty (and anyone else who's interested) Module 2 Direct Access TICK! This morning. Funny, I wasn't nervous about this at all, unlike the Module 1. Managed to do two corkers - first, I locked up the back wheel in a patch of diesel and did a nice rear wheel skid and also managed to make the rear let go on a roundabout (stepped sideways about 6 inches). The first got me a minor, as I had applied the brakes rather sharply to avoid entering a box junction where the exit wasn't clear (lack of forward planning) and the second wasn't for the roundabout issue but for running wide on one particular corner when I wasn't looking where I was going.

The good thing about it all was the examiner said that it was a breath of fresh air riding with someone experienced. Another point of note, is that we spent very little time doing slow stuff most of it was either dual carriageway town ring road plus roundabouts or NSL A/B road stuff. Nice to be able to sit a 60 and 70 mph during a test. Dead chuffed

At this end, we get asked "has anyone placed anything in your luggage without your knowledge",,,,,In my best Lee Evans voice,,,HOW THE FUCK WOULD I KNOW.

Someone I know left his helmet on a petrol pump and rode off without it. The police officer's question was "Have we forgotten something, Sir?"

Departed Paros on the 10:45 AM ferry on Wed, Arrived London at 9:30 PM. Departed Lon at 13:00 on Thur, arrived Walnut Creek, CA at midnight. The things we do for friends.