old-timer

And what are the other Clapton other songs you sing, [mention]rennie[/mention] ? Eric Clapton - Layla https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_L-0Ryhmic My daughter wanted to call her girl Lola And she did... The Kinks - Lola https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LemG0cvc4oU

You know I'm not very good at proverbs in English so I was wondering, that has the same meaning as: "a nail in someone's coffin", hasn't it ?

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - (Are You)The One That I've Been Waiting For You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXcuX01ycB8

It happened some years ago already but I still dream about it. So to me it is not about 'nob of the day', but more 'nob of the century'. During rush hours, some originally 2 lane highways are converted into 3 lanes by allowing traffic to use the 'emergency lane' or 'escape lane' as they are called in NL (I think in the UK they would be called 'hard shoulders') to drive on. It allows traffic to flow a lot faster in busy hours. Drawback however is that in case of an emergency or break-down, you have nowhere to escape to... Well, except for the occasional extra 'escape lay-by's', but they are miles apart. So, one morning at about 7 I was riding to work in the fast(est) lane of this highway at about 100 kmh (local speed limit). Ahead of the car in front of me something was thrown high up in the air, that looked to me like a piece of material like cloth or canvas or so. I was anxiously watching it to see which way it would flutter, only it did not flutter at all, instead it flew over (!) the car in front, hit the floor and bounced right at me... I tried to steer clear to the left of it, but it all went too fast, and with a hard blow it caught my right foot and foot peg and stayed there. And before I knew I was riding with 'something' attached to the bike that was partially dragging along the tarmac, and literally producing a fountain of sparks where it touched the ground. I still had no idea what the hell it was, but it contained metal. So much was clear. I slowed down of course and managed to get to the slow lane, where I just could not stop really, because there was no lay-by at that point. Besides I was at the start of a bridge. The slow lane is 'lorry territory' of course, so there I was, rolling along with my 'sparking sidecar' with those giants behind me. And if you think that they would slow down and kind of 'cover your back' till you reached a lay-by... think again. Though it must have been clear to them that I was in serious trouble, especially the first one who must have seen what happened, they never slowed down a bit but just overtook me at full speed, thus making a new monster appear in my mirrors. Call me a Whimpey, but I found it very scary After the bridge there was a lay-by fortunately, where I stopped. The 'thing' appeared to be a container, made of canvas an iron, for professional grass mowers (brand: Kubota). It got stuck behind my brake pedal, bending it outward, but fortunately not activating my rear brake... And it ,also fortunately, did not free itself to fly in my rear wheel or chain or so. So I nominate as nobs (yes plural !) of that day: 1- The stupid f...ing gardener who was too lazy and too careless to bother to secure the grass container in his pick-up truck or trailer. 2- The stupid f...ing lorry driver who saw what happened and still did not 'help me out' by staying behind me and 'sheltering' me from traffic behind. As I surely would do if I drove a car, or even a bike, and saw a biker (or whoever) getting in trouble right in front of me. 3- Every other lorry driver who passed me at full speed, thus scaring me as well as surprising his colleague behind him without caring if he/she would have the scare of the ‘obstacle’. 4- Our minister of transport who so wisely decided that at rush hours, emergency/escape lanes can easily be used for traffic to drive on, because what in the world could possibly go wrong ???

Neil Young - The Old Laughing Lady + Mr. Soul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R-ioccTrKk

If you don't mind, I'll just go on posting music. I like this topic, it's nice to see/hear what music others like and one might 'discover' something new... Bob Geldof - A Rose at Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTgK2KqoovE

This what you mean ? If you had given the link I wouldn't have to search for it... Thanks anyway... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r11CwxVVLDU&list=PLEFstet9TkuKumQ7p7ahxbXh1KOFsf01X/

Mick Jagger & the Chieftains - Long Black Veil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F-4rY4g4Do

But the real difference is that a bonus does not do the thinking for you...

One of my greatest 'heroes', master on slide guitar and dobro. Ry Cooder - How can a poor man stand such times and live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8mOF332uwQ

Loreena McKennit - The Dark Night of the Soul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzHeT-Go4Zg

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Look at Little Sister https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3woPVQExDsQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4egb2gpIg4

Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade out) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCJblaUkkfc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd3oqvnDKQk

I know that sometimes ambulances have to slow down when a patient is getting worse and/or needs special care/treatment from the (para)medics. Which is very hard to do at high speed. They will still use their blue lights, in order to claim priority from other traffic they meet. I would say, there is no reason not to overtake when you are not hindering/bothering the ambulance. It seems to me you were not doing anything wrong as you were going the same direction.

You may think that NL is completely flat, but that is not really true! We do have some bumps and humps in the landscape. They are the river dikes, some of which an be up to 15 meters above sea level... We refer to these as the Dutch Mountains. A dutch group called 'the Nits' had a hit in the 80's called "In the Dutch Mountains". Highly recommended... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPyiZI_WrXw

In answer to your original question, advanced driving and riding.... I need to thank you still for your extensive reply including the link to your epistle of 28-12-2016. A bit late, sorry, but I haven't been on-line lately. I am aware that training/examining for driving/riding licences are very different in almost all countries of Europe, let alone the rest of the world. Systems even differ in the 'sister countries' of the low lands; NL and Belgium. In NL you cannot, as a learner driver, drive independently in traffic. A learner must alway be accompanied by an official certified instructor. In Belgium for instance, as in other countries, this can be anyone (family member) that has a licence... In some counties (like Finland) this 'anyone' must have followed a special course to be allowed to accompany a learner. I think that the greatest difference between the UK and NL lies in the participation of the police in the UK. In NL police is not at all involved in training/examining of candidates. Other than individual police officers having their certification to educate citizens, but they need to pass the same exams as I did to become an instructor. The NL police does have of course police instructors to give their own advanced and specialized trainings to police officers. But none of this is available for normal citizens. As far as advanced trainings are concerned in NL, they are all done by private institutions and an 'advanced' certificate does not have an official status. Although many insurance companies will give you a discounts for few years, if you have one. Your system seems very thourough and serious to me. Nice to have a bit of an 'insde view' on how the UK does things... Thanks again!

Love the story, it made me grin too. Just wondering, what is this advanced driving test for ? Do people who are tested have a licence already? And if so, is it a voluntary thing or do drivers periodically have to have this test ? As a hobby I got my certification as a driving/riding instructor and I have been a 'spare' car-motorbike-moped instructor for a local driving school for over 20 years. So I know what funny and sometimes crazy, candidates come by every now and then. But I never had anything like your 'smoker'. Especially the rolling of the cigarette must have stunned you for a sec... When I retired from my 'normal' job I did not renew my certification (a 5 years obligation) so I also stopped as an instructor. As we don't have anything like an advanced test for drivers in NL, I'm wondering if you can enlighten me on this advanced test in the UK. Like I said, just interested...

So I haven't checked this tread for some days now, and look at all the 'new' music that has been posted. Great for a sunday morning to listen to all of it and see if there are any 'new discoveries'... Some of them I just skipped through, but others I enjoyed listening too a lot and there are great video's that I never saw before as well . Like TC1474, Tankbag and JRH mentioned, I am running around in the circle of the familiar music of my own 'youth', and hardly get to hear anything else. Threads like these give you the opportunity to listen to something else, and even if there's nothing that appeals to you, you at least know it's there... Apart from all the obvious music that comes with my generation, I do like a Norwegian lady singer of tradditional folk music of Lappland; Marie Boine. Listen to a song that is called (translated in English): I Come From The Other Side. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD15yirwhW4

Nice ! A music thread... Great to share musical interest, but why does not everyone give an example of his/her favourite music in a (youtube) link ? I would like to hear your 'taste' of music, and maybe 'discover' some new artists/songs/genres... Some time ago I came across this Australien Folk/blues singer: Ash Grunwald. Playes slite guitar and has a great voice. Ash Grunwald with CRossroads. ">

Have a nice day Tango !

Yep, Rant is right. I scanned the Dutch GS-forum, and all the F650 GS 'specialists' (those who maintain, built/rebuilt or modified their bikes) mentioned this USA-feature too. In my manual there is no mention of this though. I saw that mine has this cable too, I never noticed it before. Learning all the time...