On the Road Again!

Phew! Am I glad that's over. Won 2-1. Coasting then hanging on after Forest pulled a goal back.

With a few strikes on the railways and possible engineering works I decided to ride Vera up to London for the Arsenal match against Brighton and Hove Albion. The best part of the day was the ride home!  Arsenal decided that maybe with only three games left in the season, and this being the third from last, that maybe the beach beckoned and they would go through the motions.  To say losing 0-3 at home was a disgrace is an understatement! Anyway, enough of that. The ride up went well enough. Most of the road works on the northbound M20 had been dispensed with except for a small bit at east end where the movable barrier is being parked in time for the bank holiday this weekend!   There was an accident or something before the Blackwall Tunnel and we had to go through under the Thames at walking pace. After that Hackey was awful. The smell of marijuana in the air overwhelmed the smell od fumes from the buses and cars..... Not that the anti-motorised transport Mayor, Sadiq Khan, would know a...

Update on: Honda, BMW, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Harley Davidson, KTM, Lexmoto, Aprilia, Husqvarna, Moto Guzzi, Piaggio, Royal Enfield, Triumph, Norton, Gilera, Vespa. The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) has been working to exempt as many motorcycles as possible from the high Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) charges being introduced in London in April 2019. In a series of releases, MAG is outlining the progressmade with manufacturers in helping you to avoid charges, by proving your motorcycle is compliant with the emissions levels that have been set. Following a productive meeting with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, regarding motorcycles in the Capital, MAG is engaged in seeking information from manufacturers which will help you secure an exemption for your motorcycle.  MAG’s Director of Communications & Public Affairs, Lembit Öpik, explains: ‘we have agreed with the Mayor that those motorcycles which achieve the emissions standards set for the ULEZ charge should be exempt....

We were on the 1002 HS1 train from Folkestone West.  A coffee to sustain us on the 58 minute journey and it seemed that we were arriving. A few minutes on the Northern Line and we were at London Bridge Station. The Shard View is signposted from in the station and we were there quickly. Once checked in and through airline style  security we were in the first lift and whisked to the 33rd floor. Then across the hall and upto the 69 floor for the first viewing level.  Another coffee and a base at a table and chairs. Then we could take in the views. And take some pictures. The difficulty is getting photos without too much glare from the windows. The views are stunning over London but the weather wasn't good enough to see some of the landmarks they said you could. From the Upper View there's not much difference except you can look up and see the top of the tower itself. From here we decided it was lunch time. So down we went again. ...

A while back I was sent a free train ticket by Southeastern Trains. Maybe as a reward for their poor service over many years. It covers two people on their services. Anyway it has to be used by the end of the month and so I thought a day trip to London would be good. Since we have had Reggie we've not been able to have a day trip anywhere without taking him. We have tailored trips to include him. London isn't one of those places.  So we have arranged for a local dog walker to come and collect him. Gulp. He has been for a visit for Reggie to meet him. But hopefully with us not there Reggie won't attack him. One of Reggie's problems is that he can't be allowed to be at the front door when it is answered to visitors.  If he is out back and the visitors are in the lounge he runs in and wants then to play with him. Fingers crossed. Looking for things to do and Claire saw the Shard was open. A search for tickets revealed many ticket agencies selling d...

We had a day trip up to London today. Our first stop was the Field of Remenbrance in the grounds of Westminster Abbey.  We were looking for the regimental badges of our war dead relatives and Claire's Dad, Victor, who served with 5 Commando in Burma. We found the Royal Irish Fusiliers (Charles Devall) and the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry (William Devall) but not the Royal Irish Rifles of Claire's Grand-Uncle Timothy O'Leary. I'll have to check to see what happened to the RIR*** It was very moving and although I didn't expect to see a cross with Devall on it, I had to check. There wasn't. I texted my train buddy Mo and he took us into the Abbey and sorted out the audio guide equipment. I've never been and it's a shame there is no photography allowed. The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is worth the tribute.      From the Abbey we had a walk up Whitehall to look at the Cenotaph and the tributes from last week. The w...

  Castle's Camden NW1  I was at a school doing to work and when it came to lunch I thought I'd try Castle's in Royal College Street in Camden. I've been here before but it would have been twenty five or more years ago when there was a bike dealer nearby called Maitland's. It's a more modern shop than the other local shops in Islington, no tiles and no old fashioned wooden benches but the pies are nice and it is cheaper than Manze's in Chapel Market. All in all a good excursion and nice to find a street or restaurant/cafe not filled with yuppy pillocks like most areas where banks have located their new offices!   Double Pie & Mash and Liquer

For a while I have been playing with an app in the iPhone called mpgcalc. There are two versions, free and the full one that stores more entries and also gives a wider choice of stats. mpgcalc data The export data file is a txt file but comma separated and it goes into excel pretty easily and here is the resulting graph.   It shows 19 entries.  The 1st is actually the sum of the fuel put in and the miles ridden from a whole load of entries I would have lost as data isn't transferable if you pay the 69p and upgrade to the pay app.  Shows a pretty consistent pattern with a wide difference between the highest and the lowest mpg.  This is for the UK gallon. When I fill up tonight the graph is liable to take a dip as I was quite "spirited" on the way home after I was blocked on my favourite curve by a muppet in a BMW 5-series.  Outside the Emirates Stadium The ride in this morning was pretty easy. The same holdup as yesterday, so there must ...

Collecting the tickets wasn't as painful as I had expected. The signposting is pretty clear from the International station across to the Olympic Park. The 2012 box office! I arrived a little early as the box office doesn't open until 10am. At 9.50am I was in a queue of 1. By the time the windows opened I was suddenly at the front of a small group. Paperwork and photo id checked and by 10.10am I was in Caffè Nero checking the tickets and the free (inclusive) day travelcards that are included in the £15 ticket. After a coffee I followed the clear signposts to the Overground and at my desk in Islington at about 10.50am. Now looking forward to getting inside the park to check out the marvellous looking buildings they have put up especially for the Games. Must make sure I take the Canon and not rely on the iPhone. #greattobebritish @mayoroflondon @invictamoto Tickets for the football

Day Five..... Now I am into my rhythm. Up at 0730, ablute, then make my sandwiches. Kiss SWMBO, tickle Hilly's ears, and head for the door. I leave home at a fraction before 0830 so I can hear the legend that is Moira Stewart read the news on Radio 2, before Chris Evans continues his breakfast show. The drive to Westenhanger is relatively easy, although if you get a truck or bus on London Road then the clock seems to speed up... It can get hairy! A few minutes to calm down then we are into the three train shuffle that gets me, with some walking between each leg, to the Office. "Silver Medal latté" Today, we joke I win gold in Pumpkin. The red haired tattooed lady barista gives me a medium instead of small latté, no extra charge. In hindsight, more like silver rather than gold; there's also a large. Pumpkin does good coffee. It doesn't bother with all that fake "grande" or "venti" crap you get in the Starbuck's empire. Pumpkin is more o...

After last week's brush with the Torch and holding the 1948 Torch I was a bit more enthused. Then the opening ceremony and the theatrics showed that in GB we can match the world. I'd like to have a look around the Olympic Park but on the website all the £10 admission tickets are either not on sale yet or are sold out. I shifted my search to the Paralympics. The only tickets for the 1st or 2nd September are for the 7-aside football. At £15 they are a snip. So I bought two. A chance to see the Paralympians do their stuff and a trip around the park itself. I can put this on the back burner now until after we get back from France. http://www.london2012.com/

As it was raining hard I decided to use the train. The slow train was on time and due to the Olympic timetable the Javelin was already on platform 6 at Ashford. As for the duration of the games it doesn't go any further I guess it is easier to have it there. The front carriage is usually full even at 0913. Today there were 5 of us. One got off at Olympic Park. Sadly, to accommodate the tourists and games visitors the regular commuters have been sold a bum deal. The last train back to Ashford on this route in 21st Century Britain is 2139. That's 9.39pm in real money. Disgraceful.

I got up at 5am and rode up to London to beat the road closures that we were told were going to happen. They didn't actually!!  Traffic was heavy to the lights at Falconwood on the A2, but once some of us with the ability to read had seen the sign to say the Olympic Lane was open to all, we used that to go to the Blackwall Tunnel. Bikes no cars!  Traffic was heavier than I had expected for that time of the day though. On the north side the lane was being enforced but only had five empty buses crawling along in it. "Our Team" plus Robert on the right! Once in the office at 6.45am I answered a few work emails, yes, work emails and then went outside about 7.30am to meet some work colleagues, Gina, Julie and Mel with her boys Ronnie and Max that had come in early to see the torch go right by our front gate. We were later joined by Anne from our office too. Robert was the 5th person on the street after Mel and her boys and me. He joined our throng! We had a wait of about...

I have no idea if other countries have done this, but in the UK we have had the Olympic Torch doing a relay around the country. It has brought out the people of the areas it has passed through to support the idea. I missed it in Hythe last week as I have to work and can't be hanging about the street for a few hours on a weekday. So when it comes to a street right outside where I work I thought "Hell yes" I'd be there.   Today we have been told of the road closures in the area.  The parking at the back of our building will be closed as the road will be closed from about 7am.  So I checked about the other building that we moved from a few weeks back.  The torch will pass right in front of there. All front facing offices and meeting rooms are booked well in advance! But, if I arrive way before it is due the road will be open as the police have a rolling roadblock approach that is about ten minutes ahead of the torch.  Or rather ahead of the procession...

Today was the first offical day that many of the Stalinist "Olympics Only" routes opened and will be enforced.   I did as Mayor Bojo has suggested and varied my travelling time and if today is going to be the norm, it will be a doddle.  But why do I think that this is a one off? The ride home was a doddle too. Twenty minutes of light traffic to the petrol stop by the Dome in Greenwich. Fuel up and away again. Fifty minutes to home. If only every day was like this.

One of the irritations in this area has always been the crap provision of secure motorcycle parking around the country, and especially in Folkestone and Hythe where I live. Until Sainsbury's opened their new store,  provision in Hythe amounts to two small crappy spaces in Aldi car-park, one small space in the Waitrose car-park where you have to clear the trolleys out of the way. Where else? Shepway was grasping for cash a year or so ago and so the bike space in the car-park by the Imperial at the end of Marine Parade was replaced with the pay and display machine. Mind you, it always had some muppet in a car parked in it. I have had a few confrontations with errant motorists when sarcastically (not in the John Terry meaning of sarcasm) asking what make their four wheeled motorcycle was as mine only had two wheels. The picture is of one of the many secure parking places in Islington where I work. This one is a ten bike space with five upside down U-shaped metal bars to lock ...

Goonersaurus meets some of his fans... Have no idea who they are!!

Nich Brown, General Secretary of the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG), will deliver a keynote speech tomorrow to the People's Pledge Congress in the Westminster Methodist Central Hall, London, ahead of the Parliamentary debate tabled for Monday.Other speakers at the cross-Party event include Kate Hoey MP, David Davis MP, Zac Goldsmith MP, Mark Seddon, Bob Crow. MAG is pleased that the motorcyclists' voice will be heard at the event; an opportunity to demonstrate how the current structure of the EU is anathema to representative democracy and to illustrate the disassociation so many feel attempting to be heard when proposed legislation is to directly impact upon them. In essence the People's Pledge is : The EU is now planning to give itself new wide-ranging powers in the form of yet another treaty in relation to the crisis in the eurozone. The choice concerning our relationship with the EU is now clear: either we accept being primarily and increasingly...

It seemed like a great leap forward. Years of pressuring local government to allow motorcycles to use the lanes, then Boris the London Mayor said as part of it campaign that he'd do it. And then from January the bus lanes were opened in London to motorcyclists.  Not all bus lanes though. Make sure you check the sign as the lanes that are open are on "Red Routes" only. So the reality. For me at least it has taken the some of the attention away from looking for the coppers that might see you illegally riding in the lane.  That said, it seems that there are more loonies in the bus lanes, not just the bikers, but it seems pedestrians and cyclists are magnetised to the red tarmac. To get to where you hope to be in the future means spending more time on the look out for the car (9/10's of the time) that will poke its nose out on the left, and of course, the curse of everyone, the wanker turning right across your path.  Safer? I can't say, but in the last two days...

For Claire’s birthday we had a night in a hotel in London and wandered about like tourists all day Saturday. It was nice to get out in a good day and walk around the city of my birth and see it as a tourist sees it. The hotel we chose was the Hilton Docklands. We booked it on the 50% January sales and it came out at a tad over £60 with tax, inc breakfast. We arrived around 11am and parked the car in the car-park outside reception and booked in. Then as rooms weren’t available we set off for the day in London. With the Jubilee Line out of action (or so we were told) we made use of the local buses to get into town. I had bought Claire and Oyster as I have a travelcard for the Tubes and buses. It worked pretty well apart from charging it with £5 wasn’t enough as the travelcard equivalent on Oyster was more than that! On the way up we sussed the C10 and then into London. Our first port of call was Hays Wharf and then along to Tower Bridge and a circuit back to Monument via the...