On the Road Again!

At 63 I have decided to slow down a little and have been looking at a change to my working hours. There aren't many options and nearer home there are even fewer job options and that means commuting into London.  So. I have decided to apply for a change from April 1st to term-time only working. I have been at Islington for over 21 years now. We already have to take the majority of our annual leave in school holidays as it is. Where that was flexible in that long weekends in term time was possible I will lose that.   That means that going to Assen in September won't happen. I do have a couple of days where I have already booked and paid for holiday trips away. We fly to Florida on a Friday, but the rest of the trip is in the Easter holidays. The problem might be the Le Mans GP weekend with the Devallboys.  I have three days annual leave left to use up before March 31st, and I am hoping a little negotiation will mean I can...

Pepé at work Ride to Work Week UK The idea behind this is to get people out of their cars and onto two-wheels,  It will reduce congestion, save on parking spaces and reduce pollution. As my commuting into London days were over a few years ago, once I came to terms with having to sell an organ to pay for the train fares every month,  it was a bit of a shock to see what the every day motorcycle commuter has to contend with.   Although saying that, the "ride" time is not much different to two years ago when I commuted on  Döra the Explörer . I made pretty good progress at first.   From home to the Darenth Interchange was just shy of 50 minutes. Google maps (below) has the time at 55 mins.  As this bit was pretty much free moving traffic that's no surprise. There was a little congestion where the cars were actually stationery on the M20 by Maidstone but I safely filtered through. Google maps is aimed at cars and not the more traffic slipping motorcycle. At leas...

North entrance to the Islington Tunnel Artistic Wreck? Barges A short walk along the Regent's Canal. There are lots of the barges that never move and also another group that are visiting from around the country.  It looks as though someone has been at work as the usual crap like McDonald's packaging and Coke cans seems to have been cleaned away! Some other pictures from my walk along the canal and then through Islington to the office. More boats on the canal. Another pub closed down and being developed.  The Albany pub on Thornhill Road. A little up itself but used to be a good pub where we had drinks after work for birthdays etc. One of the "dwellings" near work. There are lots of these trust buildings. Benefactors from the 19th and early 20th century that provided housing for the working classes. When I worked next door this was a wallpaper factory. All hand printed and very expensive. Now, named after the wallpaper factory!

It maybe a little premature releasing that I have been accepted for the volunteer training with "Arsenal in the Community< http://www.arsenal.com/the-club/community/about-arsenal-in-the-community >" scheme, as my first session isn't until tomorrow evening. As an employer Islington likes to have staff volunteer for things that improve the lives of local people, although there is a limit to the hours that they will pay you not to be at your desk, so if I am accepted I will have to fund the time from my own pocket and work extra hours in the office to build up flexitime to be spent on volunteering. Although my footballing days are over..... I am hoping that there are other things I can do on the educational side of things. Gulp.

Not exactly true for me as I work around the calendar, but today is the first day of the new school year. Traditionally, the students will not be back until Wednesday or even Thursday, but for many schools today is the first day back for staff and teachers. Despite what the government thinks, schools like hospitals, can't function without the non-teaching(medical) staff. Often much lower paid than teachers, and always less valued, these ladies and some men (in primary schools) are the backbone of the school. No admin, no cleaners, no support workers, just teachers, and chaos will ensue. There will loads to do and I expect the phones to be running hot all day as they come back and have forgotten their passwords or haven't set the new year up in their MIS. Still, it's what we get paid for........

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 ...

Rather than be a mere spectator, watching life pass me by through the window of a train I decided to ride-in today. I was hoping it wouldn't rain, and as luck would have it, the rain held off until I arrived at work. When I say I usually use the train, other riders/bikers guffaw at my lack of "real bikerness".  To be honest, I've been there and done it.  Also, most of them don't have 160 mile round trip every day. I do. First stop was Stop 24 to fill the tank with unleaded.  After a few years or decades of using my Shell card I had finally got lucky with a £3.50 voucher off the fuel!  Not to be sneezed at and as Stop 24 are the cheapest station in the area, a bit of a bonus.  When I set off from home the GS's fuel gauge was showing 5 bars lit.  After 3 miles as I peeled into the station there were 3 bars!  How does that work then?  In the end I squeezed 14.19 litres in the tank and dribbled in to make sure it was filled to the top. Afte...