Mississippi Bullfrog

No option. I was in Liverpool so had to get home.

Got on it this evening and it was covered in ice. I didn't feel cold on the 40 mile trip home, heated gloves are great. The only horrible bit was salt on the visor. But getting home our drive was like an ice rink. I had to waddle the bike backwards down the slope with my feet sliding all over the place just trying to keep it upright. Fortunately it is safely in the garage.

I wanted a power bank capable of recharging my laptop. Usually they are £70 upwards. I picked one up at Argos today, a Juice one and I've had their power banks before. 20,000ma and 100W. £34.99. It's a neat little thing. Very handy at that price.

Interesting. I've always wondered how durable those are. A guy round the corner from us had one for his classic car which seemed to last for years but it was a very sheltered site.

I've used a dishwasher and not had any problems. Apart from getting a good telling off of course.

Take care out there. It's been snowing heavily here which is rare. Our drive is quite a steep slope so there's no chance of getting the bikes out of the garage this morning. The CBF has to be pushed out backwards which when the slope is covered in snow is dicey.

Usually I avoid Black Friday for the reasons stated above. However, this year I needed to replace my laptop so I've been monitoring prices for the last 6 months. Most of the so called sales are precisely the case of being false claims or old stock being shifted. Fortunately I got lucky, the one laptop I wanted went on a genuine reduction saving me £250.

There is still free motorcycle parking near the Registry Office in Goss Street. It's a bit of a pain to find. Use the Registry Office postcode and the parking bay is right opposite.

I'm using the heated gloves for the first time of this winter.

I have a 3 month sabbatical July to September 2025. No plans as yet but I'm working on it. I've done LEJOG on a pedal bike. Round the coast of Britain seems the next obvious thought.

Sounds like the story of my life. I'm definitely in the latter upward curve.

The SGS one will do everything the Harris one will do other than have posing at the track credentials. Since your intended use is within the privacy of your own garage and is limited to consenting adults of sound mind I'd go for the SGS one.

I ride a quiet CBF and a less quiet Triumph Bobber. The Bobber has the stock pipes which have a lovely note and are quite loud enough. I notice a very considerable difference in how traffic is aware of my presence between the two bikes. So from my experience louder pipes are a massive boost to road safety.

I used slime in my wife's cycle tyres. She ran over a thorn which created a leak. I found the slime did nothing to fix the leak, which was a tiny hole, but it had completely wrecked the valve so I ended up fitting a new tube anyway. I've avoided it since.

The last time I used a pay at the pump it took £100 out of the account, I put about £45 of petrol in. It was a bank holiday and took 5 days for the balance to be credited back to my account. That was a few years ago and I've never used one since.

I am sat in our local hospital waiting to pick up my wife who is in for minor surgery. The nurse has just called in the next patient....guy by the name of Jack Daniels. Judging by the age of the old guy who got up I don't think his parents did it deliberately.

Ah, I had a cunning plan. My PIN is listed somewhere in my phone. I rarely use it so it was somewhat frustrating and embarrassing to be in Currys this afternoon buying a new laptop and discover that I had somehow wiped the entry out of my phone. Cue transferring money between accounts in order to pay on my debit card. And then discover that my banking app can remind me of the PIN anyway.

I got to ride the Bobber for a change so tested my DIY alterations to TEC's suspension spacers. The front end is much nicer.

I hope not. I always just fill the tank so I have no idea what the bill will be until I've finished. It would make topping up the Bobber impossible and since it only holds 2 gallons I need to fill it to the brim.

Tell them you're dead.

It's not unusual for bike temp gauges to read low in normal riding. I've had carb icing issues but normally it's more a case of very poor running rather just a drop in performance. I suspect that you'll find the improved performance will be more consistent than just when the carbs get hot. Don't be afraid the wring the neck out of bike engines. They are designed for it. Just ride for a couple of miles before going full loco to ensure everything is warmed up a lubricated properly.

I think you will find that is called "The Italian Tune Up". Old school mechanics would often get a car in that wasn't running very well, they would take it out and thrash the living daylights out of it, and the customer was very happy to have their car back running so much better.

Sunday being Remembrance Sunday I am leading events at our local war memorials - I say it in the plural as today will be the third and fourth services I am conducting for Remembrance. I shall be telling the story of Bob Daniels, a stoker on HMS Vanguard. Bob was engaged to Louie Treble and they had bought a terraced house in Liverpool backing onto the railway line. On 9th July 1917 Bob left Vanguard on summer leave and took the boat ashore. On reaching the mainland he realised he had left a gift he'd bought for Louie on board ship. He got the last boat back knowing he'd have to stay on board overnight and get the first morning boat ashore. At 11.20pm a flame was seen to erupt from Vanguard and moment later she blew up. It is believed the explosion was due to faulty ammunition on board. Of the 845 men on board only 2 survived. Bob was one of the casualities. His name is on the war memorial at Chatham. Louise never met anyone else and lived in the house they had bought until she died. She was my mother's aunt so I remember visiting her when I was young. The suffering of war was lived by Louise every day of her life. It is as much about those who are left behind, those who live with injuries seen and unseen, as those who give their lives.

I have a cheap Oxford Rainseal jacket. Not only is it 100% waterproof which was a surprise, it is also totally windproof. On very cold days I wear it over my usual jacket and the difference is amazing. The other trick is multiple thin layers underneath your jacket. Two thin sweaters are better than one thick one.

I'm a bit of a suckered for gizmos and gadgets so I looked at those. I tend to check my tyre pressures very frequently anyway. What put me off is was a comment that they work by holding your valve open so the pressure is able to register on the indicator. But if the seal in the indicator fails then you get instant deflation of the tyre. I've had valves fail but they have always been slow leaks. If one of these fails it's another story.