InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

It's winter and so I thought a winter picture, or at least one with snow would be right. This isn't actually winter. It was taken in May and this is the northern entrance to the Grossglockner in Austria. The full picture is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grossglockner_High_Alpine_Road

Anyone used or know someone that has used one of these or the SanDisk version? If it can wifi (supposing there is a wifi connection) from anywhere to your PC or phone, then okay, but the blurb I have read seems it has to be your home wifi?  Doesn't seem much point as you can put it into the SD slot......

If you want one, follow the link. http://www.iomtt.com/Shop/Gifts/Classic-TT-2013-Limited-Edition-Poster.aspx?ticrumb=ClassicTTPOSTER!

Last weekend we had some of the heaviest rain in the UK for many years.  A phenomenon that continued across the country for a week or more.  Some parts of the country had floods. Hundreds of peple without power and their houses ruined. Today we awoke after a chilly evening to thick frost on the cars and the gardens "whited" over.  It's one of those things, but allied with the revelation from one scientific body, or other, that the Greenland ice field is shrinking and not being replaced like for like, climate change or global warming must be having some effect. Sunday is the Whitstable Toy Run.  I'd prefer it to be cold rather than wet.  I'd prefer dry roads and not the icy ones I had today on my drive to the station. After weeks of rain, the ground is sodden.  Every time it rains again, there is simply nowhere for it to go and it runs off. Near me this means that due to poor maintenance the drains are blocked and the water follows the lay of th...

Movember 2012 , originally uploaded by InvictaMoto . The last morning. Rule 2 states that the Mo Bro should grow and keep the mo for the "entire month". As a mo fundamentalist that means until midnight tonight.

The last day is a few hours old. Some people on the radio said they would shave today. Rule 2 says for the whole month. So another 22 hours and 8 minutes left. If you haven't sponsored me. Shame on your. One pound? Ein Euro?

We've just heard that the French interior Minister Emmanuel Valls has decided to withdraw the 150 square centimetre hi-viz rule. Apparently he has acknowledged the protests from riders and that there really isn't any basis for the move. MAG highlighted a few months ago, that apart from setting a dangerous precedent and creating the possibility that responsibility for accidents could be automatically shifted toward those riders not wearing the hi-viz as required, the French Government had also found itself in possible breach of a Directive which stipulated minimum quantities of hi-viz IF hi-viz was being prescribed. If you read French: http://motomag.com/Derniere-minute-Emmanuel-Valls-suspend-le-brassard-jaune-des-motards.html Paddy Tyson  Campaigns Coordinator  Motorcycle Action Group  www.mag-uk.org    01926 844064 

With new licensing categories coming in to force on 19th January 2013, the rules change on what the power/cc/ weight the bikes have to be for candidates to take their practical test to enter each new category. They've changed a lot recently and now it seems they've changed again- to what they were It is a complicated system and a number of revisions which have all managed to further muddy the waters. It was a very long campaign for example, that finally got the EU Commission to acknowledge that most 600cc bikes weren't exactly 600cc, so if the minimum test vehicle requirement to get a full bike licence was 600cc, they would actually permit the use of a 595cc machine. With 6 months to go to implementation, the Commission again changed the minimum/ maximum power and weight requirements (depending on category), which had the effect of rendering some machines the training schools had just bought, as useless. There were many complaints, but the EU Parliamentary commit...

Day 22.

So, in the EU Parliamentary vote yesterday, the Type Approval Regulation was roundly supported by MEPs; our elected representatives.  643 of them voted yes in fact, which illustrates that many of them didn't have time to read it in their own language and as such blindly did as they were told. Hurrah for democracy and Parliamentary scrutiny. The text was finally produced in all languages just before the vote, but without time to read and consider the text in their own language and compare it to the concerns constituents may have had, the Parliament was led by the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) of MEPs. Yes indeed, those tasked with protecting consumers didn't really want to hear from us, the consumers. Even the public hearing they had in Brussels all that time ago to gather opinions from stakeholders, didn't include a single dedicated riders representative group. None of us were invited to speak. In the end 16 MEPs voted against and 18 ...

Although for the best part of 18 years our north London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, have rarely beaten us in any competition. In 2010 they beat us 3-2 after we had raced to 2-0. The first at our place for 19 years. In 2011 the tables were turned when it looked for 38 minutes like it they may double the win count. We came back to 5-2. And that's where déjà-vu comes in. In today's north London derby the score was once again 5-2 to the Arsenal. This time our hated rivals only led 1-0. Sometimes it's hard to enjoy the games as the tension is so palpable. Tense or what?

Today was the day. In the inaugural year we had four tens entering. The ICT Crowd were winners. I was the keeper and played all fours games and was beaten only twice. Each team had five players on the field and it had to be mixed gender! The nature of our business means we are male heavy.. One side was all women. The tackling was pretty tough. In the end we managed to end up unbeaten, drew 2, won 2, and also had the only three yellow cards in the tournament, two that became red..... The £37 raised in the charity bucket was given to my Movember charity. Thanks to everyone that took part.

The half way point in this year's Movember fund raising and only 15 more days before it can be consigned to the annals of history.

Day 13 Another few days and I had to trim it a bit near the ends. It was growing lobsided in any case and to even it out meant losing the Zapata look and having more of the Selleck stylee. Needs to bush a bit!! Might end up with the dippity-doo Flanders.

Piebury Corner (Arsenal vs Fulham 10/11/12) , originally uploaded by InvictaMoto . Corner of Gillespie Road and Avenell Road. The pie of choice today was the "Tony Adams", a steak and ale pie. All the pies are homemade on the premises, and are named after Arsenal legends. Tony Adams was the Arsenal and England Captain over three decades. ( http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/gunners-greatest-players-no-3.-tony-adams ). The Charlie Nicholas, after the wee Scottish wizard that joined us in the early 80's, is a scotch pie made with 100% beef. (http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/gunners-greatest-players-28.-charlie-nicholas ). So steak and ale? When I say steak I mean steak. Not some minced brown stuff and gristle in a brown sludge, but steak. Proper pieces of meat in an excellent and tasty gravy. If God made a pie, this would be it.

Day Nine and it's looking more like a moustache... The rules are specific about starting position. Some of the mo's I've seen are a little on the hirsute side for 9 days.

As we edge ever closer to the (currently timetabled 20th Nov) full EU Parliamentary vote on Type Approval, within which are the sections on anti-tampering, MAG Central has written to all MEPs explaining why they should attend, but vote against, the Regulation. Just to recap, most of the Type Approval Regulation is consolidating existing legislation, which we are not and never have been, in a position to address. There are also sections of the Regulation we welcome, such as the removal of the 100bhp ban that France favoured, now that the Commission acknowledges there is absolutely no link between power and accidents. The reason our letter asks them to vote against the proposal, is because at this late stage our options were limited, but one we could use, was to point out that the Regulation has been drafted illegally and the MEPs should not be willing to be complicit in law breaking. As evidence for anti-tampering has not been produced, article 18 of the regulation is in co...

Received a new donation today that has lifted me up the table by about 3000 places. You can still donate to the cause by visiting me on http://mobro.co/2865109

On the way home we planned a shopping trip in Auchun and to fill the car with diesel, so we were up and at breakfast by 8.30am and off on the road. A stop in Lidl revealed no different makes of beer so we bought eistee and then were off again back tracking along the autobahns towards Holland.   As we approached the border we couldn't help notice this sign for a town with a humorous name....     Once in Belgium we had a stop for a coffee and a leg stretch at the E17 stop and decided that we would go straight to Auchun and shop, then lunch then fuel and back to the Shuttle.   Shopping included some beers we had never tried before, plus cheese, casoulet and chocolate. For those times when people drop round a 5 litre cask of wine, rose, was also dropped in the cart.   5l ought to be enough Last night's purchase!! When we put fuel in at Auchun it worked out that for 518 miles we had used 10.5 galls (imp)...... around 49mpg...

After a feast at BK, we went back into the hotel and changed into our football gear.   A pint of Veltins Pils Veltins and bretzel   Once at the stadium getting in was very easy and we found ourselves in Block 65 along with the home supporters. The fact that we weren't segregated actually went off very well and there was none of the expected and customary trouble.   The game was a disappointment ending 2-2 after we had been 2-0 up.    Teams warming up.   I was there.... and so was he.... I took this video on my phone of the "community signing" before the kick off.  Most of the songs to rouse their crowd were like this - http://youtu.be/9ZuWfryxUVo    

Starting to look like a moustache ought to. Now 20% through November and going for any shape I can as it grows.

We were up about the same time I get up for work and out of the house about 0820 and by 0840 I had secured my first coffee of the day. Before the off! As usual the shuttle was late leaving by about 10 minutes. First stop Auchun to fill the tank. Diesel is much cheaper in France at €1.348 a litre rather that £1.45. At the current exchange rate that makes it about £1.15!!! A considerable saving. An £80 tank was about £60 instead. The first problem was TomTom failed. No map of Germany. With no paper map we had to follow our noses. Having been this way before I knew the route and occasionally used the Skrobbler app on my phone to check when we were nearby. We had a coffee break about 1.30pm and arrived at about 4.15pm at the hotel.    Arena Hotel The room is small but clean and cheap! Once checked in we set off for the Stadium to see where to go in daylight.   The bratwurst and beer stands had barely opened and so we ended ...

Today, we had a trip up to London to see the War Museum.   The main intention was to see the Blitz Experience and the museum as a whole.   We took the HS train into London and then a couple of tubes to North Lambeth and the short walk to the museum, set in a local park.   The museum was once the Bethlem Royal Hospital. The original "bedlam" hospital. The name associated with mental institutions.   As well as the exhibits of aircraft and other equipment, the museum focuses on exhibitions that show aspects of war and the effects on people.   The Blitz Experience closes tomorrow (4th November) and is in the basement.  A kind of sound and light show taking you through the lives of people in an air raid shelter when the enemy were bombing.    The other exhibition we saw was the Holocaust Exhibition . I have been to Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam, and the one of the Dora Concentration camps in Germany, but this was far more enl...

With the EU Parliament vote on Type Approval approaching (20th Nov), here's an action that MAG would be grateful you got involved in. It's the signing of a petition for the EU Parliament, however it will take a few minutes because perhaps unsurprisingly, it isn't as straight forward as writing your name...  Please do spend the time. You will be actually creating your own petition, but so that it links with the one that MAG member Jon Strong has already submitted, it is vital that you use the same title.      Follow the link . F irst put in your personal details and ignore the box that asks if you are representing an organisation, (unless you are perhaps representing your bike club) Then enter stage 2, which asks if you are happy for your petition to be public etc, below which you can enter the title of your petition. Please enter the title as: Petition requesting postponement of IMCO and EU Parliament Plenary votes on Regulation for Powered Two Whe...

Summer is over and we are into the miserable autumn (or fall) when the clocks have gone back and the mornings are darker and the early nightfall arrives. November is the month where we remember the men (and latterly women) that have given their lives for the freedoms that exist in the Western world. Freedoms that we take for granted that had to be bought by the blood and the lives of young men sent to defend our future. The photo was saved from the Imperial War Museum website.  The copyright lies with them and I have credited them here. If you are in London, or Leeds or Manchester you can visit one of the museums.  The IWM is a charitable organisation and needs funds as it is not sourced by Government. Recently the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced that school children across the country would be taken to France to see the battlefields and the cemeteries that are crammed with those young men killed on the Western Front.  This is in anticipation ...

Wear your poppy with pride , originally uploaded by InvictaMoto . Paul Devall