InvictaMoto's On The Road Again!

The £2 nose arrived. Maybe it's made for a smaller nose than mine. Donation made. Now I can get on with my weekend fresh is the knowledge that my money will be going to a "good cause"......  :)

For the Tassimo I bought this recyclable pod a few months ago called MyReusable. I have been using it regularly. It's a bit of a faff emptying the used coffee but at least you can use ground coffee of your choice. It takes about six measures to fill it. Tamped down after four and then again after six.  This is the 220ml size. I like stronger coffee so look for coffee with a rating of 5. 

Tuesday Finally I have bitten the bullet and bought a Bluetti power pack. Basically a lithium car battery in a pretty box. It's due on Saturday.  More then when we get it and charge it up. https://bluettipower.co.uk/products/ac70-portable-power-station Update - Wednesday I ordered it yesterday from Amazon as they had two different vouchers that brought the price down.  It with arrived DPD today at 2pm.  I didn't order it Prime either.  First thoughts that it is heavy. Plugged it in to the mains and it showed 57% charge. Leaving it to see how long it takes to get to 100%. Then test it by using it to power a few things we take in the van. Maybe I should read the instructions.

It seems to come around with some stunning regularity. Is it really that long since the BBC was asking us for money with "Children in Need".  It can't be a year since the last Red Nose Day? Despite being a "white saviour" I will make my usual donation. It will be less than I have recently made to other charities as sometimes you can only do so much at a time. This is where the "white saviours" comment came from. Mr Lammy is a Labour MP and also a member of the Shadow Cabinet. Donation done. Another red nose bought. Another one for the recycling in a few weeks.

One of Claire's cousins is having a 60th birthday party later in the year at a hotel in Meriden in the Midlands. The overnight cost would be a special rate of £80 a night B&B. Tempting. On booking dot com their cheapest room is £115. But as we have Reggie to consider, going in the car doesn't make sense, so we will go in Molly. The hotel doesn't look dog friendly. There's a campsite not far from the hotel. It's 3 minutes driving and 27 walking according to Google Maps.  I have booked us in there for 2 nights at £33 a night at Somers Wood Caravan Park . Obviously we'll have to cook our own breakfast both mornings.... So far just £20 deposit paid. I emailed to see whether we can park for the party and not had a reply. Claire called and got through. We can park but not stay overnight. That's okay with us.  The party doesn't start until 7.30pm and so we have to get there reasonably on-time to park. Reggie can stay in Molly and I can pop out every so ofte...

Just a short walk to West Hythe this afternoon with Reggie.  I wanted to see the devastation apparently caused by the canal flooding.  Don't laugh.

After weeks of rain the canal through Hythe is steadily filling up. There are plenty of sluices along its length but they exit into the sea, and so they can only be opened when the tide is at the right level. It's been a while since it got this high. No one will be sitting on the benches for a while.

What a start on Friday. After a week of pretty much Noah style rain across the south it was looking like a totally shite weekend weatherwise. Friday was raining all day. All morning. We managed to load the van between showers.  We set off around 11am. The satnav said a little over two hours. In reality it was more like 3.5 hours! Flooded roads. Crap roads through Hastings and Bexhill. Roadworks that were around 20 yards in length but two mile queues each side.... We eventually arrived at the Caravan Club site and checked in. We were blue pegs this time - hardstand no awning - we headed up to the quieter section and pitch 108. It seems many of the pitches need ramps. Backing in meant to get level that even the third level wasn't enough. Most Elddis vans are nose down anyway. Going in forwards and we are level, no ramps needed. We had a short walk between rain storms and booked our pitch with the site managers. The onsite caterer was closed and the site manager said that the guy was ...

As we are away for a few nights for Claire's birthday from Friday I wanted to top up the water and check that the heating and water heating was working on gas.  For the first time, I used the left bottle. Previously I have always used the right one. So this one has gas that we filled up with in April last year. Does LPG/GPL have an expiry date like cheese???  I filled the clean water only watering can three times to put some in the freshwater tank. Remembering to turn the water heater drain to closed before starting the water pump... This is where I had to move fast as I heard the tap in the bathroom coughing and spurting seconds before the kitchen. The bathroom is okay but the kitchen tap wasn't over the sink. Luckily Claire's new drainer was there ... Flooding avoided. Next to put the heating to gas. A few seconds and the electric fan started followed by the "which" of the gas. I gave it a few seconds before turning on the water heater. The same satisfying ...

I finally got around to spending my birthday money.  I had been waiting for something I wanted rather than wasting the money and I decided on a new smart watch. Not wanting to be fleeced by Apple or Samsung, nor by Garmin, I liked the cut of Ben Sherman's jib. At £50 it seemed around what I wanted to pay out. Less £30 in birthday cash. It connected easily to my phone which suited me. It's a shame I no longer have a single Ben Sherman shirt that I used to wear every day to work before they got us branded polo shirts. I chose the Ben Sherman roudrel from a limited number of alternative faces. So far. So good.

These gift cards are on sale at many if not most supermarkets across the UK.  Actually spending them has been a nightmare for years. According to the internet: You'll be able to use a One4All gift card online but only to pay for your order in full. At Checkout select the option to add a new card and follow the steps provided. If you need to check the balance before placing the order you can do so one the One4all website . Most places will only accept the card for full payment. If you have a card that someone bought in good faith for £10, you can buy anything upto and including £10. If the item you want is £10.01 then bad luck. You can't use the card to part pay! The instructions above from the internet are wrong. With the One4All card just click to pay with a debit/credit card, enter the number and date on the front and the CVV off the back. Job done. Rather than waste this one I went through Argos and found a torch for the van at £15. With £15 to spend I bought it. Probably ch...

The original plan was to give the V-Strom a trip out but after finding that Maidenhead doesn't have any bike parking, and then it was lashing down rain when I got up, I went by car! Google Maps reckoned 105 miles from home to the club ground. It rained the whole way.  The trip was 98% motorway with about the same distance from home to the M20 and it is from the A308M to the ground. In the end after a few attempts to find parking that would allow more than 3 hours I rocked up at one that was almost empty. Maybe because it was expensive. The walk to the ground wasn't too far. I had left home at 1135 and it was 1359 when I got through the turnstile. Time for the loo and then a burger and a coffee. Then find a seat. We were allocated then end block of the stand.  In a contrast to earlier in the month at Ebbsfleet Latics were in complete control. Playing the best I have seen for over a decade. To only go in 1-0 at half time was a little frustrating. Joe Garner the scorer. A bit of ...

Just an update. My return trip on July 1st will be on Irish Ferries. I have never used them before. I have enquired and mostly have stuck with what I know in the short crossing from Dover to Calais or even Dunkerque. So that's P&O or DFDS. For this trip I did the usual visit to all three ferry companies and Le Shuttle. Irish came out way cheaper at £32.63.  Why ferry and not the faster crossing with Le Shuttle? On this trip I will have ridden about 360 miles and the chance to have somewhere to have a rest and a coffee would be great. The Le Shuttle option is sitting on the deck or the ground waiting to board.  I have been using Le Shuttle for the best part of 25 years. I would estimate that something like 10% have been delayed at one end or the other. Once for 5 hours in Calais in the winter. Luckily in the car. Plus have sat in the dark in the tunnel on two occasions, with no information from train staff. Another reason for the shortness of the trip is due to "Grimm Up No...

Back to this trip. I had already cancelled the return visit on the way back from the Yorkshire Dales at Clumber Park and was looking for a replacement. I wanted somewhere within striking distance of the A1 and A1M for the return journey. So looking on Search4Sites and saw a Caravan Club site near Peterborough. It's not that far from the A1 so it meets that criteria. That night will be at Ferry Meadows club campsite. https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/east-anglia/cambridgeshire/ferry-meadows-club-campsite/

Back in February 2016, another leap year, I ordered two pairs of designer label glasses. A Ray-Ban pair in Wayfarer style that I had sunglass prescription lenses and a pair of Oakley's that were clear prescription lenses. These were Oakley OX8026 and Ray-Ban RB5814.  I wrote about it on this blog -  https://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2016/02/new-specs.html Since then I have had cataract surgery and no longer need prescription lenses. I had both pairs reglazed as sunglasses in 2021. Neither of the companies could supply original sunglass lenses for these frames. Some years ago I bought Claire a pair of Ray-Ban RB4004 sunglasses. They developed a pit in one lens.  Once again Ray-Ban were unable to supply genuine replacement lenses! So they were reglazed with non genuine lenses. They have been in a drawer for years. As Claire no longer uses them as she has prescription sunglasses I have put them back into use. I do like them. A little tightening of the arms and they are good ...

Claire invested in this recently to use in the Moho. It's only two-litres and 900 watts. It should be okay to use on EHU on sites. It will draw about 3.9 amps. We have a larger one from the same company in the house and we use it all the time.

I hope this is the end of it! Apart from looking a complete and utter dick wired up to the electronics it was quite hard to sleep.  The box is strapped to your chest with the pipes up to the nose and the plastic thing hanging down it to catch mouth breathe.  It's hard to lie on your back as the excess strapping digs in and when you try and lie on your side the bloody box flips over or slides down. No matter how tight the straps are! I hope I managed the four hours they need to run through the data. Wouldn't want to do this again!

After the trip last weekend to Ebbsfleet United to watch one of the most inept performances since I started going to Oldham games around 20 years ago, I have succumbed to a possible mental incapacity and have booked another ticket! Yes. Another away game in the South-East. This time at Maidenhead.  According to Google Maps it is about 105 miles door to door.  I plan to tog up and go by bike. If the weather is as crap and as cold as it has been recently, I will go by car. There are many car-parks in easy walking distance of the ground.  Hopefully, I will find a space in one of them! If I take the car, it will need leaving earlier. It's mostly motorway from home to the town centre of Maidenhead. So depending on the traffic it looks like about two hours.  It's a 3pm kick off so I need to be away at noon! It was a draw earlier in the season at Boundary Park.

Today, another Friday drive out.  We were up early as I had to return the sleep apnea gubbins back to the Buckland Hospital for 9am.  Once home we decided to get the van sorted and go out for a few hours to make sure the engine battery was in tip top condition. As usual (tough wood!) she started first turn of the key and we were away. Only to Dungeness to park up by the station cafe and have a walk across the shingle to give Reggie and us some exercise. I took very few photos on the walk. Once again the Sony Cybershot DSC-P200 got the nod as it fits in the pocket. Claire managed to forget to take her newly returned to service Sony A300 DSLR. The Battle of Britain Polish Pilots Memorial Dungeness Nuclear Power Station being decommissioned now. We toyed with having a tea in the van, takeaway from the End of the Line Cafe at the station, but instead sat in as they have a dog friendly section. It was very nice looking out of the window across the Dungeness Estate.  There wer...