InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

In Memorium Remembering my mother, Mildred, who died last week in hospital at the grand age of 83.  After a fall in her home she didn't recover and passed away in her sleep on 17th January 2013. She will be missed by all our family; from her brother Frank, sister Linda, son Neill and his partner Catherine, her granddaughters Jennifer and Eleanor, nieces Caroline and Kate, and almost lastly me (eldest son)  and my wife Claire. Not forgetting other nephews and niece, Michael, Julie and Chris and sister-in-law Yvonne. Student Nurse circa 1951 Christmas 2012  RIP Mum.

Forty years ago, the Vietnam Peace Agreement was signed, the Tory Government led Britain into Europe, the Twin Towers were completed in New York, Skylab was launched into orbit, Pinochet led a coup in Chile, Nixon accepted responsibility for Watergate, David Bowie swore he'd never perform another gig and in a house on Verne Drive in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, the Motorcycle Action Group was founded, as an organisation "opposed to all oppressive and discriminatory legislation aimed at motorcycling." So it's our 40th Birthday and I hope you'll help us celebrate one way or another throughout the year: see the website and your copy of The ROAD magazine for events and parties throughout the year get someone you know to join MAG so they can enjoy £25 of adventure motorcycle DVDs as a special gift from Continental Tyres ! consider MAG if you plan any fund-raising events yourself revel in the ease of use of the new MAG website which will be launched soon, making ca...

Wow. This video camera lark is a bit harder than I had imagined.  The human eye is such a complex piece of equipment and with no thought at all our brains track objects near and far with ease. As soon as you put a small screen at arms length, or nearer, the whole thing goes awry. Tracking the simple run of a dog becomes the hardest thing imaginable.  I uploaded a couple of test videos to You Tube.  It was so much easier when I used the video recording tool on the little Sony compact camera.  The Xacti is much better quality, it does 720 HD, but the technique of following the more random motion of the dog in the snow needs mastering. Video 1 - Springer Spaniel Video 2 - Ducks! The second is marginally better as the camera was resting on the bridge support and this allowed it to be steadier. Practice needed! https://www.cnet.com/reviews/sanyo-xacti-vpc-cg10-review/

In England there is a campaign to get a change to the knee jerk reaction law passed in the aftermath of the Hillsborough Disaster to force the larger clubs to have all seated stadiums. However, other countries have what is called "Safe Standing" and the Early Day Motion in the UK Parliament is to introduce this in England. I emailed my MP, Damien Collins,  as requested and received a letter back which was basically bollocks. He hasn't read the facts or anything. I sent this to the FSF and this is their reply: Many thanks for your email and taking the time to contact your MP as part of our Safe Standing Campaign. Unfortunately this is not the first MP to give us this standard reply, I have made a note of this MP a long with the others as we hope to send them an official FSF reply to the 'no appetite' comment very soon and will update you of the outcome. We have successfully managed to get 64 MP's to sign the EDM 573 http://www.parliamen...

Although it might seem a little early to be looking at 2014 when 2013 has just started, we are looking for places to go for Claire's landmark birthday in 2014.  It's rude to ask a lady about her age. I am thinking America. Claire is thinking America.  But not the same places.  I am thinking warm and sunny all year around, Claire is thinking cold and snowy in winter. I am thinking Florida and Claire is thinking New England. We have the timeshare we can use and the US must simply have the most access to places to visit.  I have scoured RCI for places but until we think of a date, it's all pie in the sky. We will come back to this!

Borrowing this little toy at the weekend from work. It has to go back, but it will give me chance to see if it is worth buying one of these type of combined video and still cameras. It takes HD video and a claimed 10mp still.     The first test of the still camera wasn't that easy to get focussed. The screen shows the object "live" and when the button is pressed, the photo is in focus, but not WYSIWYG.  In fact much smaller.  First pic with the Xacti   https://www.cnet.com/reviews/sanyo-xacti-vpc-cg10-review /     

  Miserable cold morning. The early frost on the screen had melted by the time I left the house. This was taken at Sandling Station. Cold and an empty platform.

New Year's Day drive to Dungeness. Dungeness , originally uploaded by InvictaMoto .   Had a drive out to Dungeness so that Claire could test the budget Sigma lens I bought for her Sony DSLR. A good day for the bike but at the moment she is still not able to take to the back seat. The weather was pretty mild and very bright and so I managed a few pics with the D50. Via Flickr: Old Lighthouse & Martello with cottages.