InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

So once we got back from Folkestone and we had our fish and chips I thought as it was still dry (air, roads damp) I'd pull Rosie onto the drive and take her to the local petrol station and fill the tank. The filler is lockable and at the front of the riding position but low down! Good job I was looking closely as it was at £3.48 and it was filled to the brim. That equates to 2.65 litres. It had some in there already. Then I shot back home to get my phone. Claire took these as I set off again for a short run along the seafront. This is when I actually looked at the speedometer. Bloody hell, 50 seems so much slower! Ah. It has a kilometre speedo and odometer. I had a run up to Seabrook car park. It is so cold my fingers were turning numb! So back and now from 3kms on the she had 19kms....

Laguna have confirmed that Döra will be sorted by Triumph in the week commencing March 10th.  To save having to have a day off work I will take her in on the Saturday or Sunday and then Claire can give me a lift home or they will sort me out a loan bike. Triumph are supposed to be doing that anyway so we will have to see what turns up. Of course I do have Rosie for the station runs.....

Panto! This afternoon Claire and I went to the pantomine at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury.  We parked in the park and ride as Canterbury could be a nightmare at the best of times. The panto this year was Jack and the Beanstalk. An old tale about a dim boy that becomes a hero by killing the nasty giant ogre and all the trials and tribulations of getting that far. Fee fie foe fum and all that.  It starred Samantha Womack (Janus) from TV. Currently she is in the long runnng (and depressing soap opera EastEnders on the BBC) and a guy that the kids knew from Cee-Beebies. There was a reasonable amount of smut and innuendo, as per the rules of panto. Plus loads of sign-alongs and children's favourite songs and of course, a Princess to be saved and a man playing the Dame. Excellent all round family entertainment in two and a half hours...... http://www.marlowetheatre.com/page/3040/Jack-And-The-Beanstalk/453

My birthday!! Up early again to open my cards that Claire has brought with her, then breakfast By 0920 we were on the road heading north along the same route as on the way down. Again we dropped into a Luxembourg fuel station and I squeezed €12 in the tank. Topping right up the pipe to enjoy as much of the cheap fuel as possible. The plan was to stop off in Bastogne. On the 21st December 1944 the town was encircled by German troops and the US 101st Airborne under General  McAuliffe held the town until relieved some seven days later by elements of Patten's 3rd Army and 10th and 11th Armored Division. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Bastogne The Airborne museum was closed today, I expect it was open on Saturday as it was the anniversary! http://www.101airbornemuseumbastogne.com We dropped in the tourist office and picked up a leaflet on the new museum opening in March to commemorate the Battle of the Bulge and the Sie...

Cathedral We were up a little late for breakfast arriving when everyone else was there. Although the hotel was pretty quiet overnight there were lots others in the small restaurant. Our walk took us ended by the Wheel a different way via ancient arch, the Porte Serpenoise. Destroyed in the 16th century and then rebuilt three hundred years later. We went around to the Cathedral and down to the old town where there are bridges across some narrower sections of the Moselle. It was drizzling most of the time. Time for lunch. Back to Place 1 to get a bratwurst and a beer! After some shopping we ended up back at the hotel for a siesta. Looking out of the window I saw a group of about ten scooters with their riders dressed as Santa. Before we could get down their they started to ride off and so I had to get a few shots from the hotel window!! We were up and ...

We were up about 0530 on Saturday and checked in at the Shuttle less than an hour later. It was alternating between drizzle and proper cold rain. The temp gauge in the CC showed about 8°C! We were lucky for once and were loaded onto the back of the earlier train and at 0721 set off for France. The route options provided by TomTom were a dogleg south and east in France via Reims or a more straight line route through Belgium and Luxembourg. I chose the second as it meant avoiding France's toll motorways. "Plucky" Belgium has free motorways. TomTom said both were a similar time and distance. By the time we had arrived at the A25 to Lille it had dried up and we didn't see any rain again that day. Luxembourg has the cheapest petrol in western Europe at €1.28 a litre, and that is rip-off motorway prices. Hence the long queues at all the pumps. In both France and Belgium it was more like €1.55 and up for 95 unleaded. No sign of the creeping poison that is E1...

Poster This year I went for a simple poster from the Publisher templates in the Office 2010 version. I have a PDF version as well.

NO!!!! Although I do support Arsenal. An Arsenal onesie is definitely not me! Although I did buy myself a set of "lucky" legends sock. I did ask Santa for one of the red and white replica shirts from the seventies. The ones in the Arsenal club shops doesn't have the number on the back.  So I bought one on his behalf  from Campo Retro that does.  It is still an "officially licensed" product but is cheaper(same quality lower price)  and has the number 7 on the back. The number 7 should be George "Geordie" Armstrong from the 1971 Double Winning team or latterly (and assumed by Campo) to be Liam Brady. http://arsenaldirect.arsenal.com/afc-retro/1971-retro-t-shirt/invt/a8695

Going through a box of old photos I came across this rare colour epic from circa 1960/61. So I scanned it. Our Gran (who preferred to be called Nanny), Lily Devall, my brother Neill in a fetching pair of pre MC Hammer baggy pants and me looking cool and sophisticated.

Someone has been busy with photoshop and sent Claire this edited picture!

Sadly the proposed trip to Rudesheim for the Christmas Market has been knocked firmly on the head. Why? In 2010 the Germans introduced a law that says in "wintry conditions" you need winter tyres. Bugger.  In England we have relatively mild winters, with little snow, so we never bother with winter tyres. So, instead I had to hunt about for a Christmas Market elsewhere.  In France. So. Metz it is! I tried for Strasbourg but that would have been nice but at this late stage no hotels this side of the Waldorf Astoria price range are available.  Metz though had a few rooms.  So I booked one. City Centre, walking distance of the market and the sites. Now to get the TomTom re-jigged.... More info.

Last night at the O2 Arena. Black Sabbath live. Superb. Played a mixture of classics and some tracks of the "13" album. Ozzy might shuffle about a bit, but kept going for two hours. No missed lyrics and Iommi and Butler smashing out the Sabbath guitars.