¡InvictaMoto!

Well. That's it for another year. The Mo has gone. Final Mo Movember wanted a half-mo for the last day. Half Mo And then it was time to shave the final half off. No Mo

My day off today and weekend have been thrown into a bit of turmoil due to my foot. Yes. My foot.  For a few weeks I've had this problem where my right big toe seems to disjointed and I have to click it back in. But yesterday it did that and during the day my foot swelled up and red around the joint. It got worse overnight and so this morning we went to the minor injuries clinic. They are pretty certain it's not gout as that wouldn't include the joint popping out. So what is it? As it is swollen on the bottom of my foot I have a problem walking. Limping is good though. So. Today it wasted a few hours, but we still got Claire's car tyre fixed.  Tomorrow I'll go to Maidstone for #MAIOLD but I can't risk #ARSTOT with all the extra walking. See how it goes.

In 2014 when we were last in the south Florida area we had a few nights in Key West. We stayed in the Blue Marlin motel. A place that harks back to Hollywood of the 50's. I had a search around the net for a weekday or two during the second week we are away.  The Blue Marlin came out at £192 a night.  The lowest price anywhere in KW is £166. This is a night mind you.  Mmmmm. Maybe start to look for other places to visit during the Weston Week. We also like the Gulf Coast. April should be hurricane free so the choices should be pretty much as good or not better than when we have been in May and October. Gulp.  Back to the drawing board.

Still smarting from the last look at Miami car-hire I have delved back into the murky world of the web to have another look, Confused? You will be. Different comparison sites seem to have different rates for the same companies.  I usually book direct with National via there own website and have had some pretty decent offers for full-size cars.   When in the US, be it Florida, NY or Arizona, why have a Toyota that is smaller and more cramped than the car I own at home? I want to drive American.   Okay, like the Ford Mustang we had. The "hood" didn't look as though it was the right size for the hole.  It covered the engine okay and didn't fly up as we drove along and the gap at the front of the doors looked a little wider than really necessary...... But!!! It's all about insurance and the level of cover.  For the past few years we have gone National. All the cars have been reasonably new and in decent condition.   The only blip on the radar wa...

Perhaps it could be called #ARSCUM to use the more common name for the Mugs From Middlesex aka Tottenhan Hotspur. They will be full of themselves after beating Chelsea at the weekend at home on the mudbank that was formerly Wembley Stadium and the finest piece of turf in England.   But in the desperate attempt to force the British into accepting NFL as a form of sport, the FA managed to screw up vast areas of turf.  And not just down the middle where the armoured NFL players tend to play, but on both wings. Oh and of course they earned a shed load of cash for allowing it.... We came off the back of the away game #BOUARS and will have had less of a rest as we travel to the Ukraine to play on Thursday whilst the Totts will have an extra day off and playing at home at the mudbank. Who says that the Premier League offer no assistance to teams in the Europa League? Here we are with another Sunday lunchtime kick-off.

Football all weekend!  It doesn't happen very often and in the past I have been able to make sure that Alex took the games at Arsenal that clashed with the Oldham away games down in the South and South-East of the country. This year I have the full Arsenal season ticket and as luck would have it, there are few clubs in League 2 that meet my travel criteria of location and whether I can get there by bike due to the weather/time of year. So once the Latics had fought back from a dodgy Tom Daley penalty at Hampton & Richmond, and the draw came out (before that game) that the winners would be down in Kent at Maidstone United. Both Neill and I live near enough to make it an afternoon trip. With it being December 1st and the forecast for this weekend is terrible, I have decided to go by train and a short walk from Maidstone East station to the ground. Until I looked on Google maps I hadn't realised where the station was. I had (for some unkno...

Another Sunday and another lunchtime kick-off. This time away at 8th placed Bournemouth. One of the "little clubs" making headway and waves in the top division.  Always an entertaining team to watch but with many supporters from the third tier that jeer and moan all the time that they are "cheated" by the big clubs. And so it will be this week. They were "cheated" by the lino when he flagged a player offside as he shot them into what was sadly not the lead.  The TV replay showed that Mustafi laying on his back on the ground played him onside with his head. So a player lying on the ground has that effect.  Time to re-think the entire offside rule.  FIFA do it every couple f of years anyway. Arsenal started off at their usual pace with the opposition taking the initiative and had barely got into the game when Torrieia intercepted a stray pass and his shot beat the keeper but not the post and the ball rebounded to Iwobi who smash...

Thursday .  Turn my old Kindle on to download a new couple of books and nothing happens. Check the "settings" menu and the WiFi setup has gone. What? A few attempts at getting it to restart were ineffective. Then I see on Amazon Black Friday the Fire 7 tablet for sale at £29.99.  Mmmmm?  It will do Kindle and more. It's cheap... So I bought one. Delivery Saturday as too late for next day Prime. Friday. At work. Kindle playing up with messages saying unable to open the library.  I check settings. Still no WiFi and pages 1 to 3 there. Hold power button again for 30 secs or so. Screen goes white. No change  Workmate suggests holding power for much longer. Do that. Screen goes white.  Then "Kindle" appears on screen and then a bar showing it rebooting. Fixed. So there you go. Switch it off and on again does work. https://youtu.be/nn2FB1P_Mn8 P...

It's a bit premature, but if you don't act quickly then the opportunity is lost.  I was looking at the "local" MotoGP dates in the calendar for 2019. As we are going to Assen in September for the BSB Round in the car or by bike (to be decided) I discounted that round.  It doesn't leave that many within a few miles of the channel ports and so I thought of Le Mans and the French MotoGP. It's the weekend of 17-19 May.  It's not a school holiday and so I should be able to get the Friday and Monday off the "book-end" the weekend.  I checked on booking.com and of course there's hardly a hotel in sniffing distance of Le Mans itself.   So I have booked a hotel,  on the usual "no prepayment/free cancellation" basis in  Alençon .  It's called the  Hôtel Inn Design Resto Novo .  Part of a small chain across France. When Neill and I went in 2012 (!) we stayed at the Formule 1 hotel in  Alençon .  We ate in the nearby Campanile and eve...

Finally, I have managed to get the gpx track that I recorded from the TomTom off the unit and onto the laptop so that I can open it n Tyre . Previously when "sharing" from the 410 it failed. Now, and just a coincidence, after an upgrade to the laptop software and downloading the US maps, it worked. I was surprised that the files was almost 5mb and once imported to Tyre showed over 30000 waypoints.  Luckily, the program manages to plot them by choosing one every 300 to 400! The picture shows the actual trip I did. Including going the wrong way and around a block near the Eloi crater as "we" failed to find the Eloi 2 crater a few yards from the first one!! I might try and use "record" again and see what happens.

Another short run out to the Meldrews meeting at the Blue & White Cafe at Smeeth.  As expected after a lay off and the weather turning very autumnal (and wet) during the week,  Pepe refused to start once the dials had done their flicker to check there was a semblance of battery power left. Out came the dbPower unit and it was "boost-time".  I had charged it but since its last use it was only down to 98%! It took a few goes to get the big-boy running and I left him in the garage ticking over as I got my gear on.  It was a little chilly but once started he runs perfectly. In the end there were five of us there for an assortment of breakfast and bacon sandwiches.  I decided to ride a longer way home via New Romney to give the bike a few miles under the tyres.  Once outside the cafe of course it was boost-time and then we were off. Down the A20, then Bad Munstereffel Way and home via Brenzett and the wide open roads across the edge of the marsh.  ...

As motorcyclists, we don't ride out hoping to be killed or seriously injured.  We all have a vested interest in staying alive. So what's gone wrong with the road safety agenda, and why are we made to feel like the accused instead of the victims? The latest road safety agenda, Vision Zero, began in Sweden. It aims to achieve zero road casualties and the ideology states that safety can never be sacrificed for mobility.  Since London's Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has adopted Vision Zero – a concept which one of its inventors openly stated meant motorcycles "need to go," Britain's motorcyclists need to be worried. MAG's Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, said "A Vision Zero founding father, Claes Tingvall, was right to say what he said about motorbikes and Vision Zero.  He highlighted that, under this agenda, safety can never be sacrificed for mobility. So, to be consistent, he had to believe that motorcycles sh...

The Motorcycle Action Group claims modal shift to motorcycles reduces  congestion and pollution in the UK.  MAG's guidance document clearly  shows the evidence - in a manner that hasn't been challenged by ANY audience so far. What do YOU think? Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, said; "It is reassuring that, beyond the capital, we're winning the logical argument to exempt motorcycles of all ages from any toxic tax charging schemes. This fight is leaving London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, increasingly isolated in his incomprehensible resolve to push through this socially regressive policy in the form of the proposed Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).  MAG is determined to convince councils to make the promotion of modal shift to motorcycles part of their solution to improve air quality.  By contrast, London's policy is a tragic and embarrassing mistake which, unfortunately, seems to come simply from an inability to actually underst...

The Motorcycle Action Group asks: do you want us to continue our successful campaign for motorcycle access to bus lanes? Nationally, more and more transport authorities are seeing the sense in adopting a bus lanes access policy for bikers, with Nottingham City Council the latest to announce a trial.  MAG has released a comprehensive report on the state of play for motorcycle access, which highlights the random patchwork of policy that adds to risk of injury, as well as a sense of entrapment and fines.  MAG is campaigning for the DfT to change its guidance to local authorities on the matter from a neutral position to one of encouraging motorcycle access to bus lanes. Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, commented; "Despite the fact that bikers are entitled to have their safety concerns taken seriously, we still see certain councils, such as Hackney in London, actively opposing riders' safety.  Following the GLA Transport Committee's E...

I have been slow at putting up updates to my Movember Mobro page as I wanted the 'tache to show up in photos. So here we are are just a few hours before the half way stage. I've not made it too large as some of you might want to eat today. *** DONATE ***

When we were driving the Arizona section of Route 66 I didn't really think about a t-shirt.  Okay, we didn't do it all from Chicago to the Pacific but some of it.  And we took loads of photos. Sadly, not on a bike but in a Dodge Charger.  So when I saw these at a clearance price on Fat Skeleton's website I had to get a couple, especially with an extra 15% discount. One for me and one for my (now) BMW megabike riding brother, Neill. At the time of writing I am probably going to keep the winged one. And give him the other one! He has done the whole thing twice, once on a bike and once in a car.

When we were driving the Arizona section of Route 66 I didn't really think about a t-shirt.  Okay, we didn't do it all from Chicago to the Pacific but some of it.  And we took loads of photos. Sadly, not on a bike but in a Dodge Charger.  So when I saw these at a clearance price on Fat Skeleton's website I had to get a couple, especially with an extra 15% discount. One for me and one for my (now) BMW megabike riding brother, Neill. At the time of writing I am probably going to keep the winged one. And give him the other one! He has done the whole thing twice, once on a bike and once in a car.

Down the years the "Romance of the Cup" raises it's (often ugly) head in the early rounds of the FA Cup (the oldest football/soccer trophy in the world) when underdogs defeat the bigger boys. This David versus Goliath conflict is most often confined to the FA Cup 1st Round Proper.  So called because the teams from the lowest tiers of the football pyramid have been playing Preliminary and Qualifying rounds since August 11th! And so it was that last night, November 12th, that my original love, Oldham Athletic , currently in the 4th tier were drawn away to Hampton & Richmond Borough in the 1st Round. H&R, the David in this battle, are from the 6th tier. Another name for this type of game is "banana skin" or to keep the David and Goliath motif going, a giant-killing. And so after 13 minutes when in probably their first attack and with minimal contact any where about his person, the H&R winger went flying in the penalty b...

Part of the plans to get Claire back on the bike next year, once her hip has healed after the operation, is to get the rear seat upgraded to make it more comfortable.  Rather than having the current seat chopped up and widened and maybe dished a little to match the front, I was looking for a used seat on eBay and in breakers adverts. No sooner had I had the idea than both sources went quiet and then when some were advertised they were very expensive. I have sourced a guy to do the job and effectively I think he really only needs the seat base to work on as he will restyle the "brick" that it resembles currently into something comfortable and wider. The seller "triumphant20years" is well respected in the Rocket community. So stage 1 will be completed sometime this week.

T he Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) is gearing up for this year's  Motorcycle Live show, which is one of the country's premier annual motorcycle events. Leading riders' rights organisation, MAG, is busy working on putting the  finishing touches to its stand at the NEC 'Bike Show', to be ready to open on Saturday 17th November.  The show runs until Sunday 25th November. MAG's Chair, Selina Lavender, stated "We are looking forward, as always,  to attending this prestige event.  Do come along and visit us on Stand  D06 in Hall 4.  You can have a chat, renew your membership, join up if you're not currently a member, and even set up a Direct Debit payment to ensure that your membership doesn't accidentally lapse.   Our stand will  be manned for the duration of the show by a rota of valuable volunteers,  plus our political lobbying team will be in attendance: Lembit on Monday  and Tuesday and ...

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday. The actual day - 11th November. With the Centenary of the ending of WW1 it might have been nice for football and TV to have set aside greed and not played any games on the 11th. But we know greed outweighs decency and respect. And so we have a 4.30pm kick off at the Emirates against newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers. Fingers crossed for another win. Update.. Played terribly. Another giveaway goal. Could have been well beaten but for keeper Leno posted from Bloggeroid

This advert banned in the UK as it is too political. The Advertising Standards Agency has made them take it off air. Share the fuck out of it before they get it deleted from YouTube The Iceland is a frozen food chain in the UK not the country in the North Atlantic. https://youtu.be/JdpspllWI2o

https://e-britishlegion.org.uk/1LKB-5XRM6-61IB35KMEA/cr.aspx?v=0 Where are the Poppies. One is in my garden. https://1418now.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/d/57FA95CB69B7AE0F2540EF23F30FEDED/D41A505E62E8081720B193FBA00ED1DB

And back into the Europa League. This time Arsenal entertain Sporting Lisbon in Matchday 4. This ought to be the most difficult of the emaining three matches. Winning tonight should see us through into the next round Currently we top the group but can't afford any slip-ups. Let's see how it goes? Update Ten points from 4 games now after a 0-0 draw with Sporting Club Portugal to five them their proper name. Although Arsenal pressed to win the game, the final ball in the danger areas was generally poor. Sporting seeme dto have come for a draw. The dowmside of it is that Danny Welbeck broke/damaged his ankle landing badly from a header attempt on goal and then later Stephan Lichsteiner pulled up with hamstring problem. posted from Bloggeroid

Back to Paradise It's some time since we saw the fantastic Dualers in concert. Maybe it was at the same venue or at Skabour in Folkestone. So I booked tickets for Mote Park in Maidstone. Have sensible e-tickets on my phone. posted from Bloggeroid

Going through the motions of checking to see what the rates are.  For some reason National who I have been using for years appear to have hiked their rates up and for the "full size" bracket the quote is about 50% higher than last October (2017) Will look later. I prefer the idea of booking and not paying until I am face to face with the counter clerk! But too many are pay now.

And back to the Premier League. The toughest test since the opening two games when we lost, narrowly in one game, to the teams currently in the top three of the Premier League.  This time against the team in 2nd! At least it is at home. It's an evening kick off for television.  Who cares about the people that go to games? At least the Scousers will be able to get home after the game! Update: For the first time this season the Arsenal players started to play from the first whistle rather than let the opposition take the initiative.  It seemed to be working. The game would have been great to see for the neutrals watching on TV but it was more hard work for us in the Arsenal seats. In the end a defensive error led to James Milner scoring for Liverpool. A cross was parried out by the keeper Leno and Milner took his opportunity to strike the ball low into the net. Both sides had "goals" disallowed for offside in the first half and it ended 0-0. In the sec...