¡InvictaMoto!

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Another month with mileages being nil  I have dropped down the table quite a way.  

Yes. With a 3pm kickoff I decided to check on Google Maps when to set off. It reckoned door to door was 82 miles and one hour fifty five minutes driving time. That did seem somewhat slow so counting back from 3pm I decided to leave at noon. Apart from about 3 miles at each end the entire journey is on motorway or dual carriageway.  The M20 and M26 were okay. No dramas. The M25 was the usual mixture of no drama and wankers. It seems that removing the hard shoulder and making it another lane, making four lanes, it seems that no one wants to sit in the left lanes. I drive with cruise control set to 70mph, which is probably more like a real 65mph. Sail past all the wankers who hog the middle lanes.... Anyway I arrived at the parking, about 200 yards from the EBB Stadium, after about an hour and a half after setting off. Plenty of time to eat my sandwiches and then wander up to find a cash machine. Once that was sorted I returned to the stadium around 2pm. Outside there's a sign sa...

January 25th. https://nationaltoday.com/burns-night/#:~:text=U.K.,be%20held%20throughout%20the%20year. My plate.

What a game. https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/12793150/arsenal-3-2-manchester-united-premier-league-highlights Arsenal on top from the kick off. Silly give away and Rashford scored. 1 shot. 1 goal. Back on top. Eddie equalised with a clear header with United defenders flat footed. Saka made it 2-1 with a shot from outside the box. A mistake from Ramsdale led to the equaliser.  Constant pressure from Arsenal paid off with Eddie's second goal. A back heel right in front of De Gea. VAR showed no offsides in the build-up. Goal. Five points clear. Game in hand. 

Great start to today's trip to London. Trains cancelled on our entire line due to signalling problems.  One train an hour on a Sunday and they can't see them through the problem manually? Poor service from the privatised rail service in UK. In the end I had to drive to Ashford and park there. Luckily i was able to get the front half of the train I would have been on, if my half hadn't been cancelled. So just out of pocket a gallon on fuel and the fare difference. Is there a claim?

  Slightly modified ticket photo! Dummy.  That's me I guess. After the euphoria of the trip to Dorking Wanderers, with my brother Neill, I decided today to go to Aldershot.  Another ground I have never been to in the South and East of the country. Until we dropped into the fifth tier in the English pyramid there was never any need to go to these "small" club grounds.  Now it is the bread and butter for a club that has fallen from grace. I have pre-paid to park and so I hope when I drive all the way over there into deepest Hampshire and "The Home of the British Army" that my parking space will be reserved for me!   Onwards and upwards! I tried to obscure the ticket as best I could with "paint" on the laptop. Just in case someone wants to steal the ticket!

Hurrah!  I am not Billy No-mates for this trip.  I added it to the Meldrews' and the Old-SOCS Facebook pages to see if there was any interest. Canadian Memorial @ Vimy Ridge Old mate Phil, who came with me to Czech last year, has signed up to come along and booked his tickets for the same boat as me and also booked himself into a B&B he used last year to save the long ride back to Cheltenham! I have had a few knock-backs with places to have lunch replying to say they won't accept groups as it is  Pâques - Easter. We are hardly a group!  Unless in France TWO is a group!  At this rate it looks as though we will indeed be eating at the McDonalds' by Lens football stadium! So any more?

It seems like forever since I last went to a home game at the Emirates.  It seems like whenever there has been a home game that there has either been a train strike or it has fallen over the Christmas and New Year holidays when there are no trains running in any case. Hopefully the rail unions are having a break from striking this weekend and the £24 I have shelled out for a rail ticket will see me get to London and across on the underground to Arsenal Station for the game. With Helen away in New Zealand and Australia her ticket will be used by my old mate Phil.  He has been riding up on one of his bikes from Cheltenham to attend games. As a fair weather rider nowadays (I'm 67 you know!) there is no chance I am getting Vera out to ride 75 miles each way to Islington! I actually don't have the gear to survive that far on a motorcycle in January. Anyway. Manchester United always seem a bogey team. They can be billed as the " worst ever MUFC since Fergie retired " and we...

I set off from home to meet my brother at our Aunt's house so we could park one car. It was his turn to drive. We made good progress from Maidstone to Dorking. The football club is right by the town centre. Parking was easy enough although we had to look for long stay as those nearer the shops were limited to a max of three hours. £4.40 later we had four hours parking secured and we set off to the Wimpy. Wimpy was the first burger 🍔 restaurant in the UK way back in the 60's. They have mostly disappeared, but Dorking has one. It was full. Plus there there were people waiting. A few doors down was a fish and chip shop with seating. We went in and as it was still lashing with rain we ate in. Saveloy and chips from the Seniors Menu later we set off for the ground. It was getting on for 2pm. Most of the customers were also Oldham supporters. Luckily we arrived during a dry spell and managed to get in the seating near the halfway line. Frank Rothwell arrived and we gave him cheer. T...

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG), the UK’s leading voice for riders’ rights, is gearing up for another busy year of defending motorcycling. MAG will be building on the successes of last year, defending riders’ rights and contributing to the decision-making processes of national and local Government. Looking forward to the year ahead, MAG’s Chair, Neil Liversidge, said: “Last year MAG chalked up a number of significant successes, including an independent review of the scientific argument behind the Government’s plan to ban all new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.  We engaged with Government, the Department for Transport and Transport for London, among many others, and will continue to robustly promote motorcycling.  We cannot emphasise enough that motorcycles are part of the solution being sought in respect to climate change and they are part of it right now! In addition to our vigorous campaigning sc...

This year the Vimy Memorial is on Easter Sunday and that might be a problem for many riders. I have booked the P&O ferry to go out at 0825 from Dover returning around ten hours later. I have shared this with my club mates in the Meldrews' MCC. Whether anyone will join me is doubtful. It's Easter after all. The offer is there. https://vimyfoundation.ca/learn/vimy-ridge For previous Vimy Memorial Trips please click on the links at the bottom of the article.

Madness I thought. Spending £9.50 on the National League TV on a game that puts Latics up against the club that battered us 4-1 last week. It's half time and 0-0. County have had more of the possession, but neither keeper had much to do. Full Time . The coverage is quite good. The problem for me is that the commentary was from BBC Nottingham. Not very neutral. Both County goals came from their right wing and the same player's low cross. Both practically tap-ins. Cut out the cross!!!!! Oldham goals came from a mistake by the County goalkeeper, way out of his goal and getting stranded. Sheron dispossessed him and stroked the ball into an almost empty goal. The second a penalty after Pete Clarke was wrestled to the ground. It happens pretty much every week, every game, and 90% go unpunished. So a good start to 2023.