Modern Vespa

For those of you who love a Samba:
http://www.oki-ni.com/Mens-Footwear/Adidas-Samba-x-MADSAKI-Trainer/invt/ads0048blk

Trainer porn !

Jim, thanks!

Alice, it's best to phone first if you're going to buy something in the shop - it's not huge and I think they have to 'get' stuff rather than stock full ranges of everything.

Yes, I remember Vesta meals and, regrettably, life before Vesta meals or at least before my Ma would stoop as low as to by a meal in a packet!

Tins is different.

Well I'm going straight back out for a ride in the dark.

Many cobwebs this week.

Bill X

Hey you need to pay toll to the keeper of the A13

how far did you go up to?

somewhere around dartford? passed the freaky ford plant i want to take some pictures there

off for a run now

Told you so ...

You could have gotton lost then... Dartford is south of the river and comes under the county of Kent. I'd say you went past Rainham located in the county of Essex.

oh, well, whereever i was, it was pretty fascinating. that ford plant is something else

it was pretty damn windy on the A13 too.

the random wind turbine is cool, it stands out yet fits the industrial landscape quite well

I've just ridden home on the A12 which wasn't too bad wind wise. Maybe that screen is doing me some good. I got all the way home and realised I'd been at 60 all the way with my visor open....

Me? I left the scooter at home today and got the bus after being slightly tiddly the night before.

I was busted by Bobo as posting under the influence.

That is my way home every night and it can get bloomin windy. You learn to keep an eye on the wind turbines to see which direction the wind is coming from. I live just down the road to the old ford plant. I could walk there from my house in Rainham.

I have been watching this Children in Need Albert Hall thing (i don't normally watch charity stuff because I end up giving away money I haven't got) but it has been really good. Highlights, Dizzee Rascal and Shirley Bassey duet, Snow Patrol and Cheryl Cole (managing to not completely kill "set fire to the third bar") and Lilly Allen and Mark Owen.

Multi Millionaire American rap stars could learn allot from Mr Dizee Rascal, an extremely talented young man.

Spent this afternoon/evening at the wedding rehearsal for older son Tom to Bryony (so I'll be off-line Saturday!) - it all took so long because after the quite swift actual rehearsal we retired to a nearby hostelry for a meal. "Shere Drop" on tap and a very good and well cooked menu, and a French waiter who understood "Bleu" and "Saignant" perfectly, and communicated those meanings to Chef! Might make it a mid or end-of ride stop one day...

Congratulations to Tom and Bryony for Saturday!!

So on my way up to the East End this evening the Hornet starts to do that juddering transmission pick up thing that makes you think that the belt is going to snap or the gearbox is breaking up which made me concerned a bit.

It really did feel like the belt was slipping under load and the casing was rattling as it flexed but on the way home nothing. Not a sausage.

It was as sweet as a nut all the way home with no judders or unwelcome noises.

Me thinks it could be dust in the belt casing that made it run so badly so next week I'm going to shove an air line into it to blow out all the crap.

Bill XX

I must remember to take my 'Retired' T-Shirt to get a pic of me in a morning suit with that underneath! New avatar material, natch...

Hope it all goes well with the wedding, Jim.

I love weddings.

I find weddings a bit dull, I confess, but the food is usually good. Last one I went to featured a ceilidh, which was way more fun than I was expecting.

The Decemberists were ace, and I'm not even a fan really - my friend wanted to go.

How can weddings not move you? Esp. when gerbils do

Having to dress up...the religious bits...the YUCKY SOPPY KISSY STUFF...the speeches...

...the fact that nobody will ever want to marry me

If you are of that mind, I suggest the patent WM NOSHIT wedding.

One designer dress, nice duds for the man, registry office, pub, Gatwick airport, Marrakech. Present one Ralph Steadman original and made the wedding rings ourselves.

Done.

I actually think a lot of women don't like the "mad marriage" thing. I had no desire to be a Bridezilla and a lot of my friends and their men didn't want it either.

Each to their own.

Ah, I see.

Of course we can do without the meringues, and the vicar telling you that the only reason you're here is because you can't keep a lid on your chastity (do they think people are virgins when they marry?!!!!) and so that you can have children and bring them up in God's name (check the wedding svce - that's a precis of the introduction, and effectively what prevented me from getting married in a church (even though they have all the nice buildings, and Mrs BB's dad was a vicar at the time)).

But doesn't the lovey dovey bit (at a registry office, every bit as much as in a church) make you go all ooooooooooooooh-ey? Am I the only romantic here?

I'm only romantic about doomed love; I'm always in floods throughout Casablanca.

I did tear up a little at a wedding in 2006, as the participants had been in a long-distance relationship (UK/US) for seven years and had made Herculean efforts to be together in the face of various unfair circumstances.

It would definitely be registry office for me; I'd be too afraid of lightning bolts if I was saying vows in a church.

London mob - Matt (manfetti) of scootertrap is coming to London 3-6th Dec. Can we meet up with him on Friday 4th Dec? He's staying in Earls court. See this thread in the MP3 board:
[topic56165]

I don't know manfetti, but any excuse for a piss-up...

How about the Distillers in Fulham Palace road? Easy walk (even for me!) from Hammersmith tube.

Someone more local may know somewhere far better of course!

You're talking my end of town.

Hammersmith has so many good pubs - god I'm going to miss them.

The Dove
The Salutation
The Black Lion
The Anglsea Arms
The Andover Arms
The Cross Keys
The Brook Green Hotel
The Ram
The Stonemason's Arms

And the beer is good.

Merde, just remembered I'm already booked that evening for out annual local MAG 'Seasonal Dinner'.

Humbug.

This is where I make myself quite unpopular...again

I've walked out of 3 wedding receptions and one of them was my Cousins.

I'm not proud of the fact but bugger me weddings and their receptions are pretty tedious affairs aren't they ?

There just comes a point in the proceedings when the penny drops and I think No I can't sit here with a smile plastered on my stupid face when all I want to do is do a runner and get away from the people who actually enjoy this formulaic rubbish.
It's when you get asked "So what are you doing now ?" for the 20th time that's roughly about the time I really want to leave which is usually just before Tainted Love gets played.
I mean they are ususally held in a too big a venue with a too loud disco so that any chance of having a conversation with any booze addled Uncle are reduced to zero.
The food is usually crap and the whole thing seems to last forever and you only seem to get about 3 and a half minutes with the Bride and Groom.
Apart from the close family everybody else looks like they are being paid for being there but remember people you have a choice.

In fact come to mention it that is my idea of Hell - being stuck at a wedding reception that never ends or being locked in at Argos on Christmas Eve.



Can't wait to leave.

Bill X

I dreaded the idea of a Church wedding and thakfully the wife didn't want it either!

Me and the Mrs did the Reg Office thing.
My son was best man and my daughter was bridesmaid.

Pub for lunch.

Local community center for the evening piss up and fight......but that's another story......

all this talk of weddings is making me think of what I would do... if it happens.

I'd go for an outdoor ceremony I think, near a forest or some trees and all earthy colours so the bride doesn't have to wear white. That would be the dream...

And finding a Virgin might be a problem.

Hey!!! What's a good wedding without a good fight, or two, or three???

As I recall, being in my third marriage now, that the parents often find the wedding ritual quite moving, despite the formulaic protocols and daft on draft uncles. My only child has yet to tie a knot, but if and when he does, I'll enjoy an excuse to make a fuss, too. Congratulations to you, jimc, and have a great celebration.

There'll be a bunch of squaddies at Tom's, so fisticuffs seem more probable than not!

Spesh when it's the wife.......

abso-freaking-lutely NOT if i could get married by sending in a form on the internet i'd do it that way... and yes i am aware that there are 'marriages' that are enacted by this very process - i don't mean those ones

i've just got a major problem with public vowing, i'm afraid. and white satin anything

yes

It was apparently quite a good influence! I could use that kind of influence most of the time.

The best fight I ever saw wasn't one at a wedding but it was between the Squaddies and the Pikies in a lovely pub in Maidstone about 20 years ago.

The boys did us proud.

It remined me of a bar room brawl that you used to see in Westerns.

Nice.

Okay golden opportunity has arisen here. I know it can be a bit difficult for people to get back home, and some of us like a drink.

We are moving out of our Hammersmith flat next week but are keeping it until the 12th. The flat will be completely empty.

So if anyone who wants a drink wants to park up outside the flat and bring a sleeping bag to kip on the floor you are welcome. Obviously there is almost be nada by the way of facilities and its not the loveliest (one of the reasons we are moving) but for one night its fine.