Quite smug about my decision to train it today.
Less smug about the diminishing possibility of riding tomorrow - or, indeed, home for Christmas.
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Quite smug about my decision to train it today.
Less smug about the diminishing possibility of riding tomorrow - or, indeed, home for Christmas. |
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Size of a Chaffinch
PX 125 "The Bruise" (SOLD)
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Size of a Chaffinch
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Yes, I confess I had imagined that I could ride to Hertfordshire on Christmas Eve. That is beginning to look like rather a faint hope.
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I am SO NOT getting the damn train to Dorset on Christmas Eve with all my presents and luggage and the cushion I picked up in IKEA for my mum because they'll deliver the armchair but not the matching accessories...argh!
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Gobshite Shiva
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doug popped in for tea at half past three .... looked out the door at half past four and found the roads completely impassable lower clapton is a gridlocked skating rink so we're having more tea and maybe some wine soon to pass the time.
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Size of a Chaffinch
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Size of a Chaffinch
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Wonder Machine wrote: Oh cock - I don't want to spend the evening in the office. Maybe I'll have to walk home. |
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Size of a Chaffinch
PX 125 "The Bruise" (SOLD)
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Size of a Chaffinch
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Mmm. I see more clouds of snow coming. And they've just closed Charing Cross Station.
176 runs from the Aldwych. |
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eeeee bip
![]() BMW R1100RT The Problem Child Kymco Downtown 300 - I'm not the Uber BMW R1200 RT Big Red
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Red or White
Rainy and horrid down here but more of the white stuff due later.
What joy !! Going out with the company later. Keep warm all. Bill X |
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Mr Wonder(ful) wrote: Actually not looking so bad now - considering riding home now the snow has been (mostly) smushed away by the traffic. Hoping Kate took something other than the Vespa. David |
Gobshite Shiva
![]() Kymco Downtown 300i the 'Dolphin Noise'
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a wise choice david. doug and i have done a nice bottle of wine and the GTS is resting comfortably in my front garden.... doug is walking back to wanstead... after chucking a kg of salt on my front steps so as to avoid horrible accidents getting the scooter down tomorrow. or the next day.
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Gobshite Shiva
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well i know it's not my local pizza delivery guys .... saw one of them earlier, pontooning down the road at bicycle speed (he was still going faster than the cars).
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Size of a Chaffinch
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Size of a Chaffinch
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South London is completely shagged and there is ice everywhere. I am not going anywhere tomorrow unless they grit the roads.
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Wonder Machine wrote: South London is completely shagged and there is ice everywhere. I am not going anywhere tomorrow unless they grit the roads. It is a mess over this side of town also. Hackney was gridlocked at 8pm, snow starting to melt and I managed to get on a bus which was the wrong one... I chose the 55 to Bakers Arms when I should have got the 56 to Whipps. The 55 was sliding sideways most of the way down the Lea Bridge Rd and collided with a traffic light. The GTS is on Genie's front "garden", who knows when I'll manage to rescue it. Just got in. Nice evening at Genie's though - good chat, food and a bottle of red wine that I had bought on my way home.... I hate snow when I'm out and about. ![]() |
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Size of a Chaffinch
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Size of a Chaffinch
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Jesus. Chaos everywhere then. I had a light sentence and had to walk from Peckham. Traffic at a standstill.
My DM did pretty well in the snow though - better than my poor colleague who walked home with me she was wearing ballet flats. |
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So scooters abandoned by us all..... If I hadn't had some wine, the roads would have been just about passable with care on two wheels at 9pm. I'm still glad I didn't try though.
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![]() BMW R1100RT The Problem Child Kymco Downtown 300 - I'm not the Uber BMW R1200 RT Big Red
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Roast
Went out for a curry with the people that I work with and the only drama was one of our demo's slid on the ice in the car park after it was parked and it stopped itself 2 ft from the Dwarf Shark.
The funny thing was a guy rushed into the resturant and said has anyone here got an Audi ? and about 8 salesmen put thier hands up. I'm so full. Glad you got home alright Doug. Bill X |
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Vespa 300 GTS 14- / Vespa 180 GTR / Mini Cooper S Mk3 / 2002 200 disc / 1978 150 Super / 1963 Lambretta 150li
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Addicted
![]() Vespa 300 GTS 14- / Vespa 180 GTR / Mini Cooper S Mk3 / 2002 200 disc / 1978 150 Super / 1963 Lambretta 150li
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sorry to all for not hgetting in touch lately been so busy with hospital etc .. just wanted to say from me and tracy thank you all for all the surport and kind things sent to us and the visits .. that you guys and girls showed after our ding dong .. means a great deal .. and we wish you all a very merry christmas and lots of love at this time ,,,
Spider and Tracy xxxx |
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Merry Christmas to you too - and it was a pleasure to visit you, wish I'd done it more often.
I went to the theatre last night (The Misanthrope at the Comedy) and got to Charing Cross at 10PM to find my train's details moving across the departure board without actually acquiring a platform number. It slunk in half an hour late, then I had to wait another twenty minutes at Grove Park for a guard to walk over from the depot. Why a two-carriage train that goes two stops needs a guard is beyond me. |
Ossessionato
![]() 2021 White Racing Sixties, 1959 Vespa 150 VBA, 1959 Lambretta Series 2 LI125, 1999 PX200E, 2012 BMW R1200R
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The wife hasn't had any problems commuting from Huntingdon to Regents Steet the last few days. Trains are a little slow but she's made it none the less.
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Not been too bad up here really, although it's currently -3°C with 100% humidity and a Northerly wind to make it even less pleasant. So icy icy.
On my way home last night (after I got off the bus) I saw a hackney that had driven down into a resident's car park where the entrance was half way up a hill and went downhill into the car park. The untreated surface was frozen solid and he just couldn't get any traction to get out of there. He would start moving towards the hill but kept going crazy sideways as soon as he hit the slope. Eventually his way out was to turn around, go up on the pavement and take a massive run-up in reverse. Quite entertaining. I was on my way down to offer whatever assistance he could have used but he just made it out before I got to him. |
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London roads are all nearly clear now. I arrived at Genie's this morning to find her clearing the pavement - thanks for that G! Rode into work, did sweet fa, had some lunch, a swim and came home. Now off to Waitrose for some Xmas treats!
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Gobshite Shiva
![]() Kymco Downtown 300i the 'Dolphin Noise'
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it's the canadian in me - i see snow on the steps, i run for the shovel
my road is still covered in icy slush which will turn to ice again in a few hours when the sun goes down |
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TheJ wrote: Not been too bad up here really... ![]() Ah.
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Did everyone else (the Wonders in particular) manage to retrieve their scoots? The unreliable temperature gauge was showing 5 degrees on the way home...
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Size of a Chaffinch
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Size of a Chaffinch
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After reading some other threads I'm rather concerned in case my parking brake has frozen...
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Well that was hilarious. Turkey, christmas pud, potatoes, sprouts and all loaded on a Vespa with no topbox. That bag hook is useful to have everything sitting on the floorboards. No pissing around in the car in the nightmare of the supermarket car park. Only one more trip to load up with vino.
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Mine's been in the bike shed for a few days now. Initially on account of the moisture (the sort that keeps getting slipped down one's throat in the last working days before Xmas), but today it was too icy to get from our side street to the main road (where it was clear enough to ride).
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eeeee bip
![]() BMW R1100RT The Problem Child Kymco Downtown 300 - I'm not the Uber BMW R1200 RT Big Red
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Ferrero Rocher
The Hornet is safely tucked up in the garage with a matching green blanket wrapped around it and it will stay that way until the sun shines again.
It has a new battery and starts a whole lot better than before. My respect to anyone who has riden in the recent crappy weather. I've just spent the evening with a mate who used to work at Audi with me but 20 months ago flew off to Austrailia and hasn't looked back. He's in full time employment as is his girlfriend and her daughter has adjusted well to a different school. He surfs before and after work and says he has never regretted leaving the UK. I can see his point. Bill X |
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![]() BMW R1100RT The Problem Child Kymco Downtown 300 - I'm not the Uber BMW R1200 RT Big Red
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Believe it or not, that is in the heart of Glasgow's "International Financial District" (which has taken something of a knock over the last year) and is part of a collection of half-battered buildings the owners have been holding out for better offers for before they get replaced by skyscrapers. It now looks like they should have perhaps controlled their greed, but they're clearly not the only ones.
On an entirely unrelated note, we had the neighbours round for some mulled wine (and beer and snacks) tonight and it looks like I may now have Winter storage for the bike. I didn't want to put it away but the weather now has the better of that plan and that would obviously be a better idea than leaving it in the garden either while we're away or while I can't ride it. We actually live in a really amazing community, and tonight has really reinforced that. Great stuff. I had to walk the 5 miles home from work tonight because the city was gridlocked with the snow. The buses couldn't get through the traffic and Central Station shut for a good while. Was actually quite a fun experience. There was a girl dragged a suitcase all the way out, which made me feel much better about my shoulder bag + carry-out. |
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All I want for Christmas is a dozen meerkats in the snow:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8424374.stm Or a seal in my garden: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8427436.stm |
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Well, this is primarily for Bill, but as it's a general whinge I'll burden the rest of you with it too.
No new car, Bill - your suspicions have been rather vindicated. We were supposed to be getting a car to replace our bureaucratically crippled Punto and I was given free rein to sort it out even though the Mrs will be the main driver. She's satisfied that I know slightly more about cars than she does and thinks I'm more likely to pick something we'll get a bit of enjoyment out of. Also she's quite a busy lady generally and could do without the hassle of hunting one down. So finally last night all the paperwork was in place and we drove 60mi through the snow, ice, and fog to pick up a lovely Alfa Romeo 145. Low mileage, nice nick, decent price, and a fair bit more car than the wee FIAT. The Punto was a faithful servant but we now want something bigger, comfier, and faster. We're really looking at getting something from around the turn of the century and I'm keeping open minded (to the extent that I've been attracted to a couple of BMW 3 Series, having previously vowed never to own a Beemer) but this Alfa seemed to fit the bill. Speaking of "bills", Bill Dog here expressed grave reservations about the reliability of Alfas over a certain age when I mentioned it to him, but we'd already stuck down a desposit and thought we'd be as well to take a gamble. Anyway, back to the story: went to pick it up last night in the Smart car we've borrowed to keep us mobile. When we got to the trader's house and had handed over the cheques, I jumped in to start the car and there was a new warning light on the dash. Wee bit of investigation showed it was the Injection System Malfunction warning and the head had to take precedence over the heart. So the guy was pretty apologetic and immediately agreed to give us our cash back (including deposit) and now we go back to the hunt. It's a real scunner because we've got a lot of miles to cover over the festive period and we've arranged to give someone a lift over a decent proportion of the miles so the Smart car won't suffice and we now need to rent a car. Unless we can buy one today. But I'm working. So we probably can't, really. ![]() Never mind, at least it happened before we took it away. |
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well done for walking away, the j.
old italian cars with flashing warning lights are a nightmare - i know, i've owned a few. you may be be better off with something japanese. |
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Funnily enough, we have seen adverts for a Mazda MX6 and a Honda Accord Coupe that kind of grabbed the attention. They're japanese.
The lady's choice MX6 is a 2.5l V6 flying machine, which as a group 16 may present alternative problems when it comes to insuring it. The Accord is slightly tamer but is a wee bit American, possibly a point against when the Scottish back roads come into the equation? Somehow less economical on fuel too. Decisions, decisions. |
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Ossessionato
![]() 2021 White Racing Sixties, 1959 Vespa 150 VBA, 1959 Lambretta Series 2 LI125, 1999 PX200E, 2012 BMW R1200R
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TheJ wrote: Funnily enough, we have seen adverts for a Mazda MX6 and a Honda Accord Coupe that kind of grabbed the attention. They're japanese. The lady's choice MX6 is a 2.5l V6 flying machine, which as a group 16 may present alternative problems when it comes to insuring it. The Accord is slightly tamer but is a wee bit American, possibly a point against when the Scottish back roads come into the equation? Somehow less economical on fuel too. Decisions, decisions. Loads about, the latest one are quite good looking with loads of toys. 1.6, 2.0 and 2.7 available. |
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![]() BMW R1100RT The Problem Child Kymco Downtown 300 - I'm not the Uber BMW R1200 RT Big Red
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Help me Honda
Go for the Honda. Reliable and bulletproof. Simples.
PM Me for anymore advice J. I hate to say I told you so but I told you so. I love Alfa's but they can be a nightmare when they go wrong which they do often. Bill X Could I just wish you all a very Happy Christmas. |
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