Gerontious

I ran out of patience with Halfords years ago, they break with almost alarming regularity. I donated them to a charity shop and switched to Bahco and nothing has broken since. They make some very nice boxed sets. I have the 1/2” S400 socket and Spanner set. For hex keys, I recommend Wera and also Wera for torque wrenches. Knipex for pliers and Facom for mole grips. Vessel for JIS screwdrivers which are essential for Japanese bikes if you didn’t get one with the bike. in every case it’s “buy once, cry once”

Banned from Germay. Ive never been banned from anything in my life, its interesting experience. Still, a lot can happen in the next 15 weeks. so I'm not completely disheartened. But.. i will start thinking rather more seriously about a "Plan B'

If a group of completely standard CG125s can do a charity ride from Gibraltar to Nordkapp. (I met them in France, several years ago) then you can do anything you want. Don’t overthink it and don’t underestimate your bike. (Or yourself)

I remember the very first mobile phone I ever saw, powered by two car batteries and the size of a pull along suitcase. old fashioned handset, curly wire and spinning dial. fast forward not a huge amount of time and I bought one that fitted in my pocket. And today I have one that has more power than any desktop computer I owned before 2011. I was on the fence for a very long time as far as mobile phones went.. and its the same today. The current price is the deal breaker for me. Any other consideration/caveat is, I believe real pointless to speculate about. I foresee massive changes over the next decade or less. But for the present.. these are about as much on my radar as that very first.. or even slightly more portable later 'brick' phones were back in the day. for much the same reasons. Price and utility. .

There is a reason why when you go on any estate agency website and look at houses for sale, they include internet speeds. its become that important.

Taking the job (and the house) that wasn’t a choice? there are laws against slavery.

choices.

Indeed. If you live in a city or town and have 5G or even decent 4G there is really no need to have a cable coming into your house or flat any more.

I am. because I value privacy and security. new battery for my phone is £69 fitted, once the warranty expires. which I don't think is bad at all, considering. Unless I make a bad, or ill considered decision, I tend to keep things until they become obsolete. So, if the battery does become an issue in a few years, I will more than likely have it replaced. what's the alternative? a phone that doesn't work has zero value.

I went with Three as they have the best internet service in my area, which has just doubled in speed here due to 5G. They have reduced the price to £20 and halved that for the first 6 months. I was expecting a price hike in April, but they told me it wasn’t going to happen this year and it’s capped to 2% I believe if it happens April next year. http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Plans_for_phones?data=Unlimited&contractLength=24&id=1299&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=CSIM_Brand_SIM-Data_Gen_Exact&utm_content=UNLIMITED_DATA:_HEAD_[E]&utm_term=three_unlimited_data_plan&gclid=CjwKCAjwy42FBhB2EiwAJY0yQjGkCmZfUVHrxpWAkKhsvNxfXxvQHGJ6zCoVNcEzENscEqPmv4we9BoCEdYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&aidset=1

I bought my first ever smart phone last June.. bottom of the current range. Kept it for 6 months and paid off the 0% loan. Over Xmas, what with overtime and the bonus for Xmas/NY hours I traded it for the flagship phone, which I still have. Its not only my primary phone. landline was disconnected. It also provides internet to my house for the laptop and desktop. It would probably be more than enough for TV too, if I had one. Bought this phone with a 24month credit scheme and paid that off in 3 months.. the joys of a decent wage and nothing to spend it on due to lockdown!! A good friend of mine asked why I spent so much on a phone.. My reply was to point at the watch on his wrist and tell him it cost less than the VAT he paid when he bought it. Silence. There was a time, not all that long ago when I thought anyone who spent more than £100 on a mobile was mad.. my mobile phones for years cost about £10 from Asda. but.. now, circumstances have changed, a smart phone became a necessity once covid arrived and its generally been my policy to buy the best I can afford. I seem to have upped the ante on that one. Anyway. phone is paid for and my unlimited everything contract is £22 a month.

MRA screens (or additional spoilers) are generally aimed at curing a specific fault, which is buffeting or turbulence. This might be what you want. or. it may not.

A little bit of positive news. Germany is getting on the ball as far as vaccination numbers go and they have recently passed a law that excludes anyone who is fully vaccinated and/or recovered from Covid from the lockdown measures. This can only improve as we head into summer and I think its only a matter of time until Germany is taken off the quarantine list. plenty of time for this to pan out. we're due to cross in 17 weeks. (119 days) Be patient. The Schloss awaits.

Knipex pliers.

only one of the 4 is what I would describe as a naked Retro. and thats the Kawasaki, which at least has some pretence of looking the part. the other 3. there is absolutely nothing retro about them at all.. its just meaningless. At least the Kawasaki takes at least some cues from the 1970s. The others have zero antecedents. except perhaps in name only, and even thats pushing it. This is a modern retro... with style cues that go way back 90 years, more or less. Tank shape is wrong so are the front forks.. but everything else pretty much could have come out of a 1930s catalogue. If i had the space (and wasn't so stupidly tall)... then one of these for me. .

I’ll have a set meal for four and a bottle of coke.

Unless they change the rules. Quarantine isn’t about where you go. It’s about where you stay. So, if Germany is on the naughty list, we will go to France. If France is in the list too then maybe Luxembourg. If it’s a clean sweep and quarantine is mandatory regardless, throughout the Benelux, France and Germany then we will be out of luck and will just have to look forward to 2022. When we will be going to Austria and the Dolomites. Via the Black Forest over the course of a fortnight.

If it turns out that quarantine is mandatory regardless of where you stay. Then the trip will be cancelled. But… I think that’s highly unlikely. It didn’t happen last year and this year we are in a very different situation. pay no attention to the doom and gloom merchants (who are having a field day) it will all become clear as we head into summer.

No, it’s alright. I will let the Schloss know the score nearer the time.

Sadly, try as I might I couldn’t convince eurotumnel to allow landing of my cute little private cargo plane at the top of the off ramp. bast*rds. So…. No smokies this year. Just waiting on a decision by bojo muppet-face on Germany. Though I’m not prepared to give up on that until at least mid august. and a lot can happen in the few months leading up to then. France looks very likely though and so I’m thinking the Vosges Mountains in Alsace. We were on the eastern edge of same when we went to the Black Forest 5/6 years ago and crossed the Rhine to visit Riquewihr for a macaroon binge. (As you do) Nice thing about that region is we can visit the southern Black Forest even if we are not allowed to “stay” there. The Vosges do tend to be wet on the western side, but… I would probably opt for staying on the eastern fringe, close to the Rhine, so we could easily spend the week in the Black Forest, even if we are prevented from staying there. Black Forest or Vosges depending on the weather. First choice is still the Eiffel though.

Just a very early heads-up. Although i remain optimistic about the Eifel in 125 days, it might be worthwhile checking out your camping gear as and when you have time as there is a small chance that we might have to go with plan B. I think its a vanishingly small chance, but be prepared. dib dib dib. (as they say) clue: .

850s are the sweet spot. Good first choice

nor mine... I stopped having to do that shit years ago. entire process should take 20 minutes. (or less)

Excited... about to retire my 11yr old desktop computer, new one ordered.. just a 3 week wait. Its like Christmas only Christmas Eve never ends!!