On the Road Again!

And here we go again.. Cases on the up again.

The government is meeting soon to discuss whether we will join the Netherlands and impose a lockdown. Whether a "circuit breaker" will allow the virus to be defeated is unknown. Let's see what they decide.

Cancelled last year so tickets rolled over to this year.  I didn't bother cancelling and getting a refund as I was hoping that this year that covid would have been defeated.  Of course it hasn't and we have a new panic with the Omicron Variant. This year it is "Jack and the Beanstalk" - the tale of an everyday thicko that becomes a hero. So we have to hope that after being vaccinated three times and back under the Government's Plan B that sitting in a room with air blowing through and wearing our coats and hats and of course, masks, that it will still go ahead. Thursday is my birthday as well. So I am hoping to have a good day out at the matinee and maybe some non Slimming World approved food!

Arsenal vs Sunderland - Carabao Cup - Tuesday 21st December I have a £10 ticket to this game but given that so many games are being cancelled this weekend because of the rapid spread of Omicron variant of Covid, I have decided not to go. Okay, I'll lose my tenner but I'll save the exposure to covid that is getting worse in London by the day, plus I'll save the best part of £35 I would spend on trains, station parking and underground tickets. I don't like to cancel but it is for the best I think. I would rather be able to go with Claire to the panto in Canterbury on my birthday on Thursday 23rd instead. "Oh yes I would!"

Oldham Athletic vs Crawley Town - EFL League 2 My preferred crest!! The game has fallen foul of the Omicron spread and has been cancelled.  I emailed to say that I'd leave my ticket with them for the re-arranged date later in the season. I'll be retired by then and so driving, or if it is later in the season maybe riding the bike, over there won't be a problem! Keep the Faith!

So we are at that stage where planning has got about as far as it goes. It's now a case of wait and see what happens with Covid and the new variants that pop up every few weeks. Currently travel and return to the UK results in a whole raft of testing and possibly being stuck in a quarantine hotel for two weeks on return. So who actually knows that will happen in September 2022?  

Due to a combination of the two, Suzi, has not been out since I got back from Rye.  It's either been raining or wintery and they have been gritting the roads. Of course, it's not just grit but is a mixture of grit and salt.  Salt.  No friend of exposed metal. No friend of  polished alloy engine cases and nice new wheel rims and spokes! So as a result Suzuki is in the garage. If we get a dry day I need to get her out and give her a good going over with soap and water and dry her off. Then apply the ACF-50 I have just bought. Dry day?  Like we are going to get one soon with all these storms that are piling up in Atlantic.

With all my planning I tend to not add in fuel stops to my routes. Neill does as he usually tours with his friend Patrick. Patrick has a Honda Shadow with a smaller fuel tank range. I have been through my outward trip and added some fuel stops.  Vera is currently averaging 50mpg dead on the Fuelly app and this is mixed riding in town and on the motorways when I do tend to push the speed limit to it's outer envelope.   With Covid-19 being rife (and cases on the increase!) across the EU countries and Channel crossing fares being a complete and utter rip-off, I haven't been away to test what sort of mileage I can expect "over there"! With a 20.5 litre tank I am looking at around 170-180 miles between fill-ups to ensure a margin of error. So far I haven't done more that about 149 miles on a tank.  With a non-toll route in each direction there will be some fairly low speed limits, but there are sections of non-toll motorways that can be experienced, and speeds might ge...

A first post has to be the start of what's to come. This blog is meant to be for a single motorcycle trip that is at the planning stages in November 2021.  There is a 50% chance that it might not happen and maybe another 50% that it will. The bike to take the trip on will be Vera Strom, my 2018 Suzuki DL1000XT L8 V-Strom. Circumstances change. In November 2021 Covid-19 is still about.  It is still hospitalising people all across the world. It is still infecting people People are still dying. With all that in mind, this trip may just turn out to be a bit of fun working it out, and never take place. Thank you for joining the circus..............

Cases are going up locally and we are supposed to be "free". Looks like the Government made a complete boo-boo with that decision. The curve looked as though it was levelling a bit but has taken off again!

... if we get the chance to travel anywhere. The figures aren't looking promising.

Now that Awaycation Tulips has bitten the dust as it were, I can turn my attentions to planning another staycation.   Before then we have the Staycation 2021 - Norfolk to get through next month.  The possible fly in the ointment is that despite the UK Government saying that from July 19th we are "free" from all the restraints that have been imposed since March 2020, the number of Covid cases continues to rise day on day. We are just under a month away from the Norfolk trip and yet if this gets any worse we could be in lockdown?

This even was one of the targets I had set for getting the Kettle back on the road.  When I set it we were still under the first lockdown but we were hopeful that a year of being in this deep shit pandemic would be enough. I am currently working from home (I have blogged about this already) and the anniversary of my last working day in the office is only 9 days away. So back to the  T and GT Club Nederland 21st Anniversary Rally.  I last went with Claire as my pillion in 2004. We actually went for the day from UK. It was a long day in the saddle but was much nearer that the current site.  According to the MyRouteApp route I have planned for the TomTom it looks to be about four and a half hours in the saddle. I intend to use the Beeline as I don't have the kit to fit the TomTom to the Kettle. Importing the route from MyRouteApp as a .gpx file into Beeline Moto App on my phone should allow the chosen route that includes fuel stops as waypoints to appear and take m...

It's 8 days since we had the Astra-Zenica Covid jab. So far no further side effects. My brother Neill had his on Wednesday even though he is not 61 until next week. It shows how well the UK is getting on with inoculating the country. He had the same side effects that Claire and I had.  And just one day the same as us.

We had the Astra Zeneca jab on Thursday 11th February at around 1220. Although there are a lot of side effects listed on the sheet that we were given we had none immediately. Overnight and today though! Wow!  Firstly in the middle of Friday night about 2am I began to shivver like I was in a freezer!  I couldn't stop shivvering. Finally I fell asleep. I woke late and I had a headache.  A real skull crusher! Once up. My joints were a bit stiff.  Dosed up with paracetamol this lasted all day. These are all listed on the post jab sheet.... Claire was the same! Today got up and it had all passed and we were both fine! All we both have is a little tenderness in the upper arm around where the needle went in.   Let's hope that is the end of it! Second dose in April sometime!

Today had the first dose of the Astra Zeneca vaccine. In and out of the surgery in about 5 minutes. The second dose in about 10 to 12 weeks.

Claire and I both had an SMS from the surgery to invite us to book our first vaccinations.  Surprisingly it's this week and on Thursday. So we are off there at 1220! More on this development to follow.

With us still in lockdown in Kent and after what seems like forever banged up 23 hours a day in the house, I can't wait to get the bloody vaccine and be able to go out again on the bike. I doubt after so long in the garage that it will actually start!  I have the dbPower unit on charge to 100% to fire the big boy over.  And then we'll see.  The weather hasn't actuality enticed me out on the road either. At the moment it alternates between hissing rain and high winds or frost that brings out the gritters with their nasty sand and salt concoction that rots Triumph chrome away in minutes. The new Motobatt battery I bought and fitted a year ago, today as it would happen (!) will no doubt be as dead as the proverbial dodo.  All thanks to the bastard that created this virus in their little laboratory. When will it all end! In the end did what I should have done months ago but I suppose I thought it would all be over and normal life might start to come back. ...

With the country back in a third lockdown and the pessimistic news that we will be still cowering to the Covid-19 pandemic for another six months and some experts saying we may still not be out of the woods by Winter 2021, it looks as though a holiday/vacation this year might not happen. Vaccinations are going to be available.  Claire and I are in the 5th tier group and we are looking at March or April before we get the first jab or the two that are needed. Whether that will enable travel is not being explained very well as yet.  we are told that millions of people carry the bug and aren't otherwise infected or even know they have it.  So maybe vaccination and tests will be the future?

COVID-19 Motorcycle Riding Guidelines reviewed for  compliance with the ‘Rule of Six’. Review keeps the guidelines up to date with evolving legislation In light of the new ‘Rule of Six’ regulations, the Coalition of Motorcycling Organisations (CMO) has reviewed its COVID-19 Riding Guidelines.  Only minor amendments were necessary to ensure that the  guidelines meet not only the moral goal of staying safe, but also remain within legislation and the spirit and intended outcomes of the law. The Coalition has removed references to groups of 30, and now refers to groups of six in alignment with the new restrictions.  Richard Gladman (IAM) and Roger Bibbings (VMCC) have checked the changes to legislation  and advice issued by the Government over this recent period of announcements, and the Coalition is happy that the revised edition is fully compliant with the letter and intent of all laws and guidelines. Commenting on behalf of Coalition members, Mario Costa-Sa, Chai...