Modern Vespa

He might go a bit soggy in the rain...

This morning, in protest of the cutbacks in National Health Service on the island, we held a "General Strike" and protest from 10 AM to Noon. Virtually everything was closed, and a couple of thousand of us gathered in the port in protest. The "highlight" was a symbolic "Occupy Blue Star", with protestors delaying the departure of the Athens bound ferry by gathering on the boarding ramp. I say "symbolic", as it appears that the ferry company was fully supportive of the demonstration, with the crew smiling as the boarding ramp was occupied, and it was all coordinated well with the port police.

Some of the passengers looking over the aft rails seemed a bit confused.

At noon, all went back to normal, and we flocked to the coffee shops who reopened to welcome us.

I found this amusing today - your choice of new flag if the Scots decide to leave the UK. I like 4 and 5 but number 1 really looks like a bad tea towel design... what is your choice?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/shortcuts/poll/2014/feb/26/poll-british-flag-scotland-independent

Seems 11 is the second popular design so far behind 2. Weird because it looks unfinished. I like 5, 12, and 4 in that order.

Don't you have anything better to do than to make people late for work?

Hey, Sticky, if I don't have to work, why should anyone else? It's winter here, and we need all the social life we can get.

I LOVE 1. By far the most British of the lot. (I thought it was more like a Coronation mug design, but I suppose they come from the same fertile minds that also do tea towels).

5 is a close runner up, but probably not suitable for those who are prone to fits triggered by bright lights.

I think it needs more green. I like the one with the 1/2 green background on the bottom but it should be semetrical so the top has the same pattern.

Yeah that is the one that looks unfinished to me.

Very civilised Al. What a contrast to Kiev.

I hadn't thought about the flag changes. Hands off I say, I like the Union Jack as it is. I glanced at the designs but I was more amused by the colourful comments added to the Guardian article Reminds me of the several weeks of press speculation trying to find the 'hoards of invading Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants' coming here in January. It was so obvious it wasn't happening it became embarassing to watch the TV journos report on a 'story' that didn't exist

Fine people on our island. I was quite impressed with the size of the crowd. Some offices of entities not headquartered on Paros had to stay open (banks, tax office, post office, chain groceries), but allowed selected employees the two hours to be in the port so they would be seen. Even though they had to stay open, our bank had a poster on the entrance supporting the strike. All municipal offices closed for the two hours.

I agree, 11 looks the best but sadly it will never happen.

What a beautiful day it was today. Warm sunny and dry.

Sadly on the work front we've just made two people redundant and a 3rd has just handed in his notice.

It's not a happy ship.

Bill xxx

Hope you launch off to a new one if that ship is sinking Bill.
It's someone elses job to salute from the bridge as it slips under the waves...

I think we almost had some of Al's weather today 8)

I took the Triumph in for its first service today. I was a little concerned with the clonking noise from the front end when I applied the front brake. It has floating discs on the front so I had thought that this clonk might be normal; it was, however, very annoying and not what I remembered from the test ride. It turns out that the head bearings were slightly loose - they've been adjusted and will be replaced under warranty fairly soon. The ride home felt so much better. And the service cost? £52. Great.

Half the price of a GTS 1st service ?

Strokes chin.

Bill x

6 or 11, the blue must go.

Update on US internet woes...

Just had FTTP installed (found an independent upstart supplier) - ten times the speed (we could have had 200 times for more money) for $5 a month less. At last - fuck *you* AT&T DSL, bye-bye suckers! Future-proofed to some extent as well, YAY!

And thank you 'Astound' for a very efficient provision. 750m of fibre strung up down the road, base-station installed, final few metres of coax hidden away in the attic, all up and working and very neatly installed. Full marks.

Best of all, no longer any buffering stutters (stuttering Buffers?) on streaming TV.

apologies for the intrusion of a non-member but I wanted to make sure no one missed the flag review site mentioned in the comments to the guardian article:

http://www.otago.ac.nz/philosophy/Staff/JoshParsons/flags/alpha.html

.. Bolivia is marked down for 'plagiarism' and there is a category for flags containing 'colonial nonsense'. The review of Guam is particularly scathing.
Really top stuff.

Excellent find - thanks! Some wonderful comments in there.

Colonial Nonsense would be a great name for a band.

So we did

Came today, and Graham called by to help a quick de-crate and setup.
We think they'll be loads of jobs we'll get to do now.
We also expect to gain a few extra friends
Happeh.

Hello friend.....

Oh hello.... 8)

Bonjour position grenouille

Patisserie Jambon Fruit de Mer.

Birre'

In on page 69.

Sure. Why not?

I thought you Brits were banned from speaking the language of the frogs....

No, we signed the papers so we can actually do what the hell we like.

Bill xxx

Aren't first services free?

Depends what kind of deal you swing when you purchase...

I can only speak from 3 experiences as I've only ever bought 3 bikes brand new.

The only deal I've ever done is the usual discount up front for cash but I've always got the first service absolutely free.

That's from 3 completely different dealers too, one of which was/is a Piaggio Main Dealer.

It looks like I've been lucky.

The 1st service on the BV was a freebee but only because the GTS was such a conveyor belt of unfortunate events.

Must think about riding it fairly soon.

Bill xxx

Given the debacle of your GTS I'd have expected no less. In fact I'm surprised the free 1st service didn't come with a fortnight in Magaluf and a euro pallet of jaffa cakes.

Oh on the point of GTS's one arrived in our bodyshop today which was a novelty.
It had 7 Kilometers on the clocks and had scuffs to the front fender,foot plate and right side lower panel which I presumed was transport damage.
While I was out many a painter with many a paint swatch was used to match it's body work until yours truly piped up with " What's that Dragon Red GTS doing here?"
The look they all gave me was priceless but why the f~~~ they didn't ask me if I knew what colour it was I honestly don't know.
I even have a fly screen with the company name written all over it for God's sake.
Slaps palm to forehead.

Bill xxx

If you see that promo deal on, let me know, it might swing me

An Apache helicopter flew low and slow over my place today, which was a first. Man it looked mean and cool both at the same time. Poised to sting like a killer insect - no wonder the ground troops love to see the flying cavalry show up when they're in a hot firefight.

I'm 48 hours or so off my assignments deadline on Monday morning. I think I may be doing some sort of rapid physical evolution where books and keyboard are becoming extensions of my body Or something. I have panda eyes to rival Chi-Chi. I'm not hallucinating yet, but give it time.

The BV is out of the garage.

Hard to believe I know.

Bill x

I am not sure why the BV has been placed into forced hibernation? I know we have technically had a winter, but in truth more a prolonged windy rainy period. It has hardly dipped below freezing. So what's the story Bill? Have you fallen out of love with "two wheels". Or is it a case of "two wheels good, four wheels better"?

That topic we mentioned a few pages back where London is pulling away from the rest of the UK is covered in a 2 part BBC2 documentary called 'Mind The Gap - London vs The Rest' starting on Monday night at 9pm -> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03xhcjg

Panorama on BBC1 the half hour before covers the rise in food banks in the UK (neatly contrasted with Mary Berry Cooks on BBC2)

Hmmm, go figure...

The windy and rainy elements are the reasons I've not ridden for a while as I hate riding in both.
Plus i like my scooters looking immaculate all the time so I either ride it and wash with a scowl on my face or just leave it on the garage until the sun shines like it did today.

Mind you I still managed to find the only shower in Kent. Arse.

Bugger it was cold.

Bill xxx