InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

Happy New Year everyone.

The morning was sunny and so I got the bike out for the last ride of the year. One dry day amongst a succession of wet days and I needed to get the GS out of the garage. It was cold and I set off across the marsh, avoiding the cyclists that don't consider the marsh roads to be other than cycle paths. I looped down to Greatstone and Lydd and back up through New Romney. Stopping briefly at Dymchurch and then home. Bracing but good to be out again.

Writing this waiting for the high speed "Javelin" service into London. It's the last game for Arsenal in 2012. We have a good record against Newcastle but with our suspect defence we might find it will be another of those ebb and flow games where emotions are stretched. A little disappointing is that the local rivals, Spurs, won in the early kick off at Sunderland. Completed later! What a game, kept scoring and then giving goals away. 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3... You start to worry that with two giveaways at the back stick we were going to throw it all away. In the end the last fifteen minutes saw the goal rush that saw Wally Walcott complete his hat trick and Olivier Giroud come on as sub and score two in five minutes. 7-3. What a way to end 2012.

Our first proper cruise.  We had done an overnight in-port stay as a taster, then a two night cruise from Edinburgh to Dover.     So we have taken the plunge and will take to the high seas on a Saga cruise to the Fjords in Norway. The itinerary is: 12 Jun Dover, England Embark Saga Sapphire. Depart 1600. 14 Jun Stavanger, Norway Arrive 0800. Depart 1800. 15 Jun Jondal, Norway Arrive 0700. Depart 1400. Land by launch or tender. 16 Jun Olden, Norway Arrive 0800. Depart 1700. 17 Jun Bergen, Norway Arrive 0800. Depart 1700. 19 Jun Dover, England Arrive 0800. Disembark Saga Sapphire after breakfast Still over six months to go......

A couple of weeks ago, we were in Clark's shoe shop in Folkestone and Claire was looking for boots. I saw a pair of men's Goretex lined boots.  They had a price tag of £94.99 and so I put them back on the shelf. The other day I was looking online at their website and saw the ones I liked, the dark brown ones, were down to £64.99 in the post-Christmas sale.  As we were in town, we popped in to the shop whilst my watch was having its new battery fitted, and they were on sale at the same reduced price.  So with wallet bulging with Christmas and birthday money from my Mum and Father-in-Law I bought them.

http://bennettsbikingdreams.co.uk/dream/view/3243/0 Claire's dream is to get my GT out of the garage and back running so we can use it, rather than it sitting in the back of the garage looking unloved. If you happen across this page, then maybe give her dream five stars too!

After a succession of sub £3 watches from eBay, that may have provided a change but without longevity, I decided to get a new battery for the Casio Waveceptor. Okay, the Chinese could have provided me, postage included, with three watches for the price of a battery, and without a doubt they would have been easier to set the time! The guy in the shop had the old battery out and the new one in and had replaced the seal that allows me to dive to 50m, should I wish, all in a few minutes. Even with the user manual he managed to set the date, but not the time. I keep the manual handy as changing the time from UK to CET is a major operation when on holiday! Even harder coming back! The watch needs setting up to get the time automatically from the atomic clock in Nottingham. Or Frankfurt in Europe. Some four and a half hours later (!) I managed it! I just hope all the pressing of buttons A and B hasn't worn the battery down!

Started by the South East Region's Secretary - John Mitchell. Keep abreast of all things MAG. http://southeastmag.blogspot.co.uk/

Well here it is today. 57 today. Decided against anything spectacular and did some shopping for the last things needed for Christmas. Spent the day quietly. Weather dull and I had hoped the rain we have been having of late might start to go so that I can get out in the bike at least once. Sadly, it is raining again. Maybe things will improve tomorrow and I can see if the old girl will start. Winter is so bloody miserable in this country. If it would snow and then melt later at least we'd know that it was clear. But we have rain and miserable drizzle all the time.

For months there was been a growing clamour in the press about the Mayan calendar allegedly prophesying the end of the world. Another Armageddon like the last three or more that were supposed to happen. Unless there was a miscalculation we are now 12.5 hours into whatever comes after the fire and brimstone and nothing seems to have changed. Oh well. Onto the next one.

Mine is: http://bennettsbikingdreams.co.uk/dream/view/3180/0 Do me a favour and give it five stars, doubt I'll win, but every vote might help. It's not all that expensive so maybe they'll be able to help. You can have yours as well. Enter your dream and see if you can win!

Further to all the other deliberations in Europe over the Super MoT, the Transport Council of Ministers meeting yesterday confirmed that they wished all motorcycles to be excluded and that the Regulation be reclassified as a Directive, so that individual member states would have more room to implement what they chose. From the PR: "The Council agreed a general approach on a draft directive updating the common rules on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles. (…) (it) does not retain the Commission's proposal to extend periodic tests to motorcycles and light trailers and to increase the minimum frequency of checks for older cars and light commercial vehicles from every two years to every year throughout the Union. Member states, though, are free to impose stricter rules." The UK will of course keep its MoT for bikes, but won't now be forced to separate the testing centre from the repair shop, or introduce all the other excessive ideas that the EU Commiss...

I guess I am not alone in having a huge collection of photographs taken before the digital age?  Thought not. So I thought I'd look out a few and scan them in.  I have a collection of pics taken of the Kettle (Water Buffalo or Wasserbuffel) on a few runs out and a couple of trips in Austria for the Wasserbuffel Club's rally at Schloss Moosham. 1993 - Garage in Zastavka on the trickle charger 1993 - Hundertwasser Autobahn Services 1993 - On the alpine road 1999 - Maltatal waterfall The next little batch are all from the 1993 Wasserbuffel Treffen.  The treffen is hosted in the Schloss at Moosham, and a lot of the hardier types camp, others stay in the apartments across the road, and some in the nearest town of Mauterndorf. Twenty years ago (nearly!) I was booked in the youth hostel a few miles away but one of the German guys said to share their room as they had a big room in the gasthof and a spare bed.  They took pity on me as I was from the Czech Republic, s...

The implementation of the sanction for drivers not carrying a breathalyser – a fine of €11  – has been postponed from 1 November 2012 to 1 March 2013. HURRAH!

I feel a bit guilty now that I have planned the toy run elsewhere after reading Baxter's story.  If we didn't have the cat I might give him a home myself.  Read the original posting from The Last Chance . Baxter Baxter Gender/Age: Male Breed: Staffie X Colour: Black - silver muzzle Location: Edenbridge My darling Baxter needs his own love, he has been waiting year after year for someone to just ask about him, WHY is he still waiting? Why does no one even ask about this lovely old boy? It makes me sick to bottom of my heart, is there no one out there with some compassion, with some love to give? How many more years does this boy hope and pray that today might just be that day. I so, so wish I had the time, the money, the right home to bring all these poor unfortunate lovely over looked dogs and cats a home. Don't think I wouldn't, there is no question about it, if I could squeeze another few in I would. But I have to be sensible, this is why ...

After getting no replies the last time I tried to get a parking question answered... I get this almost immediately. Dear Mr Devall Thank you for your email. We do not have specific motorcycle parking spaces on street or in any of our public car parks as motorcycles are not prohibited from using normal parking spaces. All motorcycles can park for free in pay and display bays and permit holder parking places but they are still subject to the regulations that apply in time limited waiting bays and other classes of bay such as loading bays and disabled persons’ parking places. Regards Alan Lague Highways Engineer Shepway District Council Civic Centre, Castle Hill Avenue, Folkestone, Kent , CT20 2QY This looks pretty good but if I couldn't find this out by checking online and had to email a councillor, how are we supposed to know?

This is the letter I emailed to the cabinet members for parking at Shepway Council. Dear Mr Dearden, Last year I wrote to Shepway Council, using the form accessible from the website, to comment on the Parking Strategy. This was a mistake as I wasn't rewarded with a reply other than the automated response to say a communication had been received. The point I was trying to make was that the strategy ignores motorcycles and contains no mention of them at all. As a Shepway resident, council tax payer and motorcyclist I see this as a great oversight. In Hythe, where I live, until Sainsbury opened, and created a dedicated parking area, the only marked bays are two in the Prospect Road car-park by what is now Aldi and a small one in the Waitrose car-park. Sadly, the one at the end of Stade Street was removed when the Council decided to make the car-park “pay and display”; the motorcycle bay was removed to fit the machine! Are there any at all in Folkestone? There used ...

So it looks like a bad move to have changed my cover pic.  Since then the weather has taken a turn for the worst. Saturday not too bad but started get colder, then Sunday the frost was deep and even across the cars and the road, the dampness from the previous weeks and weeks of it pouring with rain was frozen into an ice road. This scuppered my ride out to the Whitstable Toy Run. Although the weaher looks good on the website and facebook pages in North Kent, it was too cold and too icy for me in South Kent. It has hardly improved.   Monday I couldn't get the driver's door on the car open when I came home from work. Fiat designed the Punto with the seam on the doors on top of the car rather than tucked under the roof - see small pic.   Punto roof line. The problem is that it freezes and the door won't open. In the end I had to go around the other side that was shielded from the icy blast and climb in through the passenger door.  Easier said...