¡InvictaMoto!

Just taxed Vera for the next six months commencing 1st February.  Let's hope the next time I go to garage and turn the key she starts! Another £65 to the government so that I can enjoy riding on the UK's roads that are pretty much worse that anything in Europe.   We can't blame Brexit for that, although some dumb f***s will. " Thank you for using DVLA Vehicle Licensing Online. Your application for vehicle tax has been successful."

After last week's journey up to London for the North London Derby my next to the Emirates Stadium was for the visit of Croatian champions Dynamo Zagreb. A win was essential for Arsenal to ensure they finish in the top 8 of the new format. Finishing outside the 8 means two playoff games. Avoiding that is essential. After a high of beating the Vermin last week, the down of letting a 2-0 lead crumble to 2-2 with Villa, it needed a performance. We were on top from the first whistle. It was frustrating to end the first half at 1-0. Especially after 11 shots with only 2 on target.  The Zagreb fans were far more accurate with throwing bottles and other objects at our players taking corners in front of them. Zagreb came out better in the second half but we simply took what they could muster. More wasted opportunities with free headers before Havertz finally headed the second. The game was capped off at 3-0 with Ødegaard scoring in added time. Unless some of the teams from 9th d...

Since being diagnosed with prostate cancer back in November 2023 I have upped the level of events I do to raise money for the charities. In fact I have been taking part in Tacheback and Movember since 2006! This time I am doing the simple thing of walking a marathon in January 25.  Currently as far as last night, 15th January, I have 24.44 miles under my belt. Many of them done with Reggie but a lot of them done walking to and from events, like the football at Arsenal,  and my volunteer job at Kent Greyhound Rescue. I don't have many pictures and have yet to wear the t-shirt on the "journey", mostly because it has been freezing in Kent for the last few weeks!! So here's some pictures of greyhounds.... Tyrone - my favourite https://runthemonthme.prostatecanceruk.org/fundraising/my-walk-the-month-in-january-25

The North London Derby for me is one of the highlights of the season.   The North London Derby Not because of the excitement, nor the quality of the game, but that Tottenham aka Spurs aka Vermin, are the nearest neighbours haling from the former Middlessex borough and now the London Borough of Haringey. Until the expansion of London and the destruction of Middlesex as anything other than a postal county in 1965, Tottenham was in Middlesex. Not London.   Anyway.  The day game-day started for me at 1625 when I set off for the four mile journey to Folkestone West train station for the 1657 high speed train to London. I arrived just in time to park and rush across to the platform.  Why does it take 20 minutes to go four miles? You'd have to ask the clowns in front of me that go 24mph (indicated) through the fixed speed cameras that are set to 30mph! I got a seat and that can be a miracle some times. We arrived on time at 1754 and I met up with friend Helen and ...

Our annual Fred Hill memorial run will leave from the Ace Cafe as usual – please gather from 10:30am for an 11am start. This year marks 41 years since Fred died in prison! You will need a ULEZ compliant bike, or to pay for access on the day. Ride of about 30-40 minutes at normal London speeds into central London – meeting at main entrance for Pentonville Prison, where Fred died in ’82, while serving another sentence for fighting for bikers rights.

  VOLUNTEERS NEEDED To cover the MAG Stand either Saturday, Sunday or both.   We are looking for four people each day for the duration of the event which runs from the 8th to the 9th of March.   If anyone is interested in helping, please contact Steve Wykes –  edinburghmag@outlook.com   Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.  

Boy was it freezing!   Back in the 00's we were told that with global warming that the south-east of the United Kingdom, i.e. where I live in Kent, would have a "Mediterranean Climate". The Mediterranean at the closest point to my house is around 700 miles. Roughly about Marseille. Meteo France has today's average to be 16° Centigrade. In Kent it is 1°C. Might not seem much but when you think it's January 12th.... Overnight it's 9°C, and here it's -2°C!   Okay, in Canada it might be worse, but we don't have things in place to make this the "norm"! The farmers were told they needed to adapt to that massive temperature increase and grow Mediterranean crops!  Instead, we have solar farms and thousands of houses going on the land. The ice and frost on the roads meant that we didn't want to keep Reggie out too long. I guess we are lucky on our roads that we never see the gritter out putting down sand and salt to keep the roads free for traffic...

I have signed up again to do the charity run with the bears! Last year I was unable to use the bike as 8 had just got back from Assen and had a coolant leak. So I did my leg from Folkestone to St Leonard's in the car. It was in the middle of the night. I got back from Assen at 9pm. Went to bed and at 3.30am set off to meet the bears and the riders on the previous leg. The handover guy's bikes at St Leonards. Safe in the car!!! These are the bears that a relayed around the country to raise money for a different charity each year. In 2023 I ended up doing two legs that took me from the new McDonald's at Cheriton, near Folkestone, to Maidstone Fire Station and them upto Chatham. At the last minute the woman I was to handover in Maidstone dropped out.  It wasn't to hard work as it was a Sunday afternoon. But hanging about by the fire station for over an hour was a bit of a chore. I couldn't leave until the scheduled time. At least the...

Another change I have made is to put all the Malibu Molly blog posts into a blog of their own. For the time being posts that were here have been duplicated but from today they will only appear on Malibu Molly . I've been suffering with a bad case of man-flu and have had time to sit down with my MS Surface and duplicate posts.  Travel posts will still go to Travellerspoint and these will appear in the links from the drop down menu - top left on the home page. Malibu Molly

Why? "On the road again" doesn't really do the job any more.  Once it was all about trips and holidays on the bikes but evolved into many other things. Many of the bloggers I used to interact with seem to have stopped and that is a real shame. So. It was time for a re-brand. A new theme for the blog, a new layout and a new name. Stick with me!

Last year saw levels of concern for the interests of motorcyclists significantly decline under a new Government. The Government needs to prepare for MAG’s lobbying to be far louder and prouder in 2025. Despite glimmers of hope in the first half of 2024, the general election marked a change of trajectory for the fate of UK motorcycling. Riders saw early promise with motorcycle licensing reform on the agenda and a default motorcycle access in bus lanes consultation. But hopes were dashed after the general election with a shelving of licence reform and a shocking refusal to accept the overwhelming evidence in favour of consistent national policy on bus lane access. The bus lane access consultation outcome issued in November carried a comment that was heard loud and clear by all riders around the country.  “At present, the government has no policy to encourage greater use of motorcycles.” This statement has been repeated directly by the Roads Minister, Lilian Greenwood, in a written...

Another trip out over the holidays and once again the destination was the White Cliffs of Dover. Again no bluebirds. Over or otherwise. We did get to park in one of the six designated spaces for campers which was a miracle, but we shared the spaces with five cars.....  It was very cold with the temp gauge on the dash showing 2ºC with a wind chill off the sea that would have brought it even lower. We had our own coffee with us, three Colombian coffee pods from the Tassimo machine at home put in a flask.  As well as a walk we had a sit in the van to watch the ferries coming and going from the port below, Even though I took the Nikon with me I have taken only one photo today.... on my phone. Where next?  With "winter" due any day we may not be going out very soon.

Here's our best wishes to everyone for a prosperous and healthy 2025.