InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

Since I retired I only use the train to go to London for football. A blessed relief for the wallet! Today I am making an exception. The short journey to Maidstone to watch my first love (no doubt) get battered by Maidstone United.  Amazingly today due to engineering works there is a direct service from Sandling to Maidstone East. What's less amazing is that it's the best part of ten minutes late! Luckily, I have plenty of time to walk round to the ground from the station!!

Took off yesterday. How to get it in the bag. Despite loads of photos as we unpacked it. Could we get it in the frigging bag? Could we buggery! Aaaggghh!

The cover arrived in the week. As the weather had turned bad, high winds and torrential rain, for a few days it was only today that it was calm, and dry. We unpacked it from the bag. It's not that heavy but is bulky. Finding a space under one of the seats meant leaving the sun chairs behind. The remaining space is taken up with the levelling chocks. It went on easy enough and fits okay. Not quite as snug as the photo on the website. Maybe we need to tinker more? We'll see how difficult it is to remove and pack down next weekend on the eve of our departure. I did take some photos as we unpacked it to do in reverse to get it in the bag!! The rest of the day was spent vacuuming and generally cleaning the inside of the van. In the week we'll start to pack stuff and move it across to the van ready for the departure.

When you take up a new sport or hobby it's good to be able to hit the ground running.  Back when I was a kid there were a series of books called "Know the Game", I had books on cricket and football. More recently we have seen the "Idiot's Guide"  books replace them.  But of course the internet has taken over from the printed word. I have joined Motorhome Fun .  As well as being a forum for all kinds, after all, it takes all sorts to make a world, it is very informative. Whether I want a sticker in a window in the Moho, I don't know....

Tickets bought. Only £15 for me as OAP. Brother Neill is £19. Not cheap for level 5 football.

This little clip has been the subject of much swearing and hair pulling since almost the day we bought Suki. Why? It holds the legs shut on the Elddis folding table.  Hamfisted Annie aka Mrs Moto managed to break the original one! For months the table has been restrained by a bungee! I have tried others from Amazon and Screwfix and none were just right. A bit Goldilocks and the Three Bears! And then I was looking on eBay and typed in the magic combination of words and hey presto .. The genuine and expensive Elddis version appeared. I bought two. You never know when Annie will strike again....

Before we embark on our next Moho adventure we decided that we need something better for the blackout of the front window when parked up.  The inside ones we have are okay but the little suckers that hold it on the screen and side windows don't adhere too well at times. So we decided to get an external wraparound type one. The one we have seen on sites is made to order and currently it's about twelve weeks turnaround. They do have "seconds" on the eBay shop but these aren't much of a saving. So as an alternative I had a look on Amazon and chose the Marvix version.  It's 7mm thick and thermal. The idea to keep the van warmer in winter and cooler in summer. I can vouch for the heat that comes through the front when driving in sunshine. The Marvix is a compromise choice as they had them in stock. I bought direct as it was £10 cheaper than Amazon. The reviews on Amazon though are a good point. This cover scores well. Another reason for this choice was...

Ahead of the potential Northern Ireland Assembly election in December  2022, MAG is asking all candidates if their party will take  motorcyclists’ safety seriously.  MAG NI Rep, Martyn Boyd, is angry that  the draft NI Road Safety Strategy contains proposals to improve safety  for virtually every road user group except motorcyclists. The Motorcycle Action Group, the largest riders’ representative body in  the UK, was the key consulting stakeholder for motorcyclists during the  consultation process. Martyn Boyd said: “Our perspective is very often ignored, despite us being one of the most  vulnerable road user groups. We comprise 2.5% of vehicles on NI roads:  virtually the same number as HGVs, who don’t get ignored. But we have  been almost completely disregarded.” The draft NI Road Safety Strategy was published on 24th October.  It  admits that one of the challenges is to tackle “Concerns surrounding the  risk to vulnerab...