humbucker

Merry Christmas, God bless us each and every one. http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s291/Jayeman/misc/Santa.jpg

My three year old grandaughter loves mine now. She had a sit on it, no I didnt mispell that, and a quick glide down the roadd with her mum holding her, in the summer. Now all she wants to do is go on the back of Grandad's bike. What age is considered appropriate for children on the bike please?

I loved it, haven't been for a long time but diving here in Spain is just fantabadoosie. Most resorts will have a PADI school and take you through the basics. I did my training in Estartit, the diving off that coast is some of the best I have experienced. Do it, you will love it!

The mooolars can be a hell of a thing to go wrong, thanks for the advice, especially since olives are the staple diet here. On a side note, there are loads of Scandanavian dentists here and when I asked one why, he told me that the cost of dental care in countries such as Norway was just above 'Whaaa how much????' So it is cheaper for those Vikings to fly out to Spain, have their teeth seen to while on holiday and get drunk every night. I am halfway there, just need the teeth bit.

If you have spiders that could live for a year in that, you need to think about moving!

My daughter loves me again for showing her this!

I try and see the more local picture. Who is your local M.P.? What have they done recently for their consitituency? Are they in the local news very often, campaigning for solutions to local problems? You will get a prime minister whatever way you vote, you are not voting for them. There have been excellent local M.P.'s not of the party I would vote for if the leader was the only criteria but they work hard for my little world and that is what counts. National policy tends to be so generalised that by the time it filters down, none of it benefits us very much, no matter who lives in No10 so look a little closer to home and see what the candidate with the rosette on, trying to grab your vote, has done for you and your community. Ironically, some of the best M.P.'s on that rule have been Lib Dems, they are pretty good at local and local council level but would I vote for a party lead by Nick Clegg? Now that is stretching it a bit.

How heartless you all are laughing at my predicament. I think Fozzie is on to me though...

Posting yesterday on the topic of avoiding Chinese bikes, I got to thinking about the time of a certain mishap that could never happen at a good time but happened at a pretty bad time. I was enjoying a ride through the hills and pine forests nearby, on a main road when I opened the trottle after a bend and felt it twist all the way round as the engine started to die. Oh well what a freaking suprrise, my Daelim is broken. This time it was the throttle cable snapping. There was a stone bridge up ahead with a pull in and I coasted in neutral into this refuge, thanking my luck that it had happened at a safe place. Until the girl with practically nothing on emerged from her plastic chair by the roadside and approached. These women are commonplace in these parts, it is a sad indictment of human traffiking which is left relatively ignored by the powers that be. 'Oh shit' I thought and proceeded to examine my bike in urgent detail vainly attempting to ignore her. She asked me if I was 'ok' and I explained what had happened. She just smiled and said 'Dont worry, you are not the first to be embarassed'. Frantic twisting of the throttle handle did nothing to convince her that I was there for reasons other than servicing her trade (is that the right expression?) And wouldn't you know it, a car passes with a neighbour giving me the wait till your wife hears about this look. I fished my phone out of the pocket which it seemed to have become glued to and rang the m/c garage for a recovery. I then rang my wife and told her what had happened and if the neighbour called round, explain what I was doing. Now, my wife has a wicked sense of humour. 'So you want me to believe that you just happened to break down, right next to a prostitute and you are calling because you have been seen by a neighbour. Do you think I'm stupid?' Of course I don't, she married me. Hasty denials in my frantic state merely fuelled her to berate me for why I actually bought the bike, ignoring the fact that she bought it for me as that is not the point... The longest twenty minute wait of my life ensued, trying to stand apart from a now intrigued prostitute who is convinced that I am playing some sort of game. After two cars slowed down and saw her with a trick and so drove on, she began to think I was sent by a rival to spoil her trade and matters were not imporved when the van pulled up and two grinning employees jumped out. The poor woman now thought it was Christmas and that a x3 rate for one session was what I had been waiting for. When she saw the men rolling my bike into the back of the van and me already sat in the middle seat she finally grasped what was happening. Being a keen student of languages, I learned several new words and phrases about my parenthood, the size of my you know what, several different versions of the see you next tuesday word and with a sigh of relief, we finally went on our way. No one in the van said a word for a minute or so until the driver asked, 'So, how much does she charge?' An hour later my wife arrives at the shop where the lads assure her that the cable really was broken but by then I know she never doubted me. Until one of the lads from the van shouted, 'How come she knew your name?' Surely I am not the only one to have been a victim of wrong place, wrong time?

I agree with the suggestions that you tell your wife but not your daughter. Her face when you turn up will make up for any doubts you have and your wife will appreciate the notice so that she can make the necessary arrangements and enhance the surprise. Wicked idea though, good luck with it.

Oi! Leave Skeggy alone! Plenty of bikers go there but they leave as well. Preppers videos on Youtube are 'interesting'. I get the impression that some of them are not just preparing but actually hoping for Armageddon. Either way, each to their own.

This, this is just....epic! There actually is one? That is awesomesauce mate. You have to build this thing and you have to post piccies. Your son will remember this forever and it may even make him choose a decent retirement home to dump you in when you can no longer build Daleks. We obey!

Horses for courses but after some forty years of playing, I have always preferred the Strat. The Les Paul is an awesome guitar but after half an hour round your neck it feels like you are being dragged down. My oppo in the last band I played in loved Ibanez and they do have one hell of a good range. Then again, you can take something like a Jackson, stick some EMG pick ups in it and watch it fly. 2k will buy you a lot of guitar and the Les Paul copies, like Strat copies are getting better. Best bet, go to a show and try as many as you can. Just like bikes really. If money was no object I would have a Mk1 Pensa Suhr...dribble dribble....

What are these thermals you speak of? Har har...

I did not know that these jackets existed until I read this thread and my first impression, the one you react to, was that it is trying to be 'Police'. It just seems ironic that tempers and teddies are thrown over the use of the word 'Polite'. Obviously, it is open to misuse and there is the worry that people could be duped into being stopped by criminals, as Phil has successfully demonstrated this is quite possible. Not having a go here Phil, just saying how easy it is to do this without treading any legal toes. That more than anything would concern me, I imagine a scenario where my daughter, a nervous driver at the best of times, is driving on her own and she is flagged down by a pseudo cop on a bike, with a crash helmet on and you do not need to know where that is going. Will it take a tragedy such as this before someone wakes up to the the fact these vests with a word that is passively implying Police officer, intentional or not, are removed? Let's prevent rather than cure.

The way most people drive, 'IMPOLITE' would be more accurate. It could start a trend. 'WRONG WEEK, DONT F*CK WITH ME' 'BABY ON BOARD. NAH JUST KIDDING' 'MY OTHER HI VIS JACKET IS A PORSCHE' 'CAUTION, SUDDEN COUNTER STEERING' To name but a few.

Is the new Hercules film worse than the one released earlier...sorry I will rephrase that. Could the new Hercules film be any worse than the one released earlier this year? I thought only buses turned up in twos, not turds on the screen as well.

You young 'uns.... There is nothing wrong with a good comb over! http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s291/Jayeman/combover_zps10b45f98.jpg

Don't worry about that. There is very little doubt about who wears the trousers in a marriage! All the very best to both of you for the wedding and your life together. BTW, Flasheart is awesome. Do that. 'That's enough about you, let's talk about me! Hey is that canoe in your pants or are you just pleased to see me. Hurrah!'

"Sorry Mate I Didn't See You" What did you come up with out of interest? The one that made her walk into the computer room with that 'Have you been looking at porn again?' look on her face was ' Sado masochistic intercourse develops superb yelling'. I apologise to the OP for even thinking that was what he was engaged in before the incident. Hang on, my wife looked at me with a look that said 'have you been looking at pron AGAIN?' Again? What the....

Get well soon Mr Fozzie. By the way, I have been trying to work out what SMIDSY stands for, can someone enlighten me please. My outloud attemtps to make a sentence have made my wife look at me very worriedly.

Holy sh*t! What have I been doing with my life? And how have I come so far without ever having encountered LIQUID NITROGEN (best if you add a deep voice with lots of reverb for that bit). When I read the title and then saw the topic I thought 'err...' but it seems I have missed a whole chunk of living. Where do you get this stuff? B&Q? W H Smiths? Mothercare?

I still have two Sony minidisc players which I used for backing track use when I played guitar and sang. They were popular because they were editable and you could join/split tracks with ease and the sound was superior to CD, well IMHO. I still use them on the odd occaision that I break out my Strat and give it some!

My dad would have gone round the world in one of these without needing to stop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUKolh8Q9hA

When I was younger, it was always going to happen to someone else, not me. I was special, the world had plans for me and I had plans for the world. Then, as the Pink Floyd song goes, ' And then one day you find, ten years have got behind behind you.' I realised I was not going to set the world on fire but it could very easily set me on fire. Children arrived, I started looking at the speedometer more, I became 'risk aware' for the sake of those I was now responsible for. That was the turning point, not just having myself to think about anymore. Now, in my mid fifties, a Grandparent, I have decided to return to motorcycling because it is one of the few things in my life that I am solely in control of, with no one else to tell me where I can go, how fast I can go and yet I still find myself sizing up every danger. It becomes instilled through a life of responsibilty and accountability and yes, the knowledge that I have a lot more life behind me than ahead of me therefore making sure I don't do the grim reaper's work for him sooner than it has to be. I am also aware that whereas in my twenties, falling over was hilarious, I felt a twinge and I got back up, brushed the dust away and went on being bullet proof. Now, falling over requires the services of a crane, a team of doctors and about three weeks of repairing the damage. Coupled with that ' I told you so' look, She Who Must be Obeyed uses to such effect. It all counts towards your approach to the road, or anything else for that matter.