S-Westerly

Good luck.

Never pressure wash the bike, lives outside and gets cleaned with a bucket of water. Don't disbelieve Tim saying it was on its way out as he was the second bloke to raise it. The cost of changing it given the other work he was doing wouldn't be huge either. A standard SKF bearing is about 15 quid maybe less. Of course I have no idea as to what dealer in Bristol did to the bike.

Hmm, as my approach to motorcycle maintenance is limited to cleaning it a bit and cleaning / lubing chain plus tyres and oil this is a possibility. As my mechanic skills are rudimentary I rely on servicing to pick up on any issues. Unfortunately it looks as if my local dealer is crap and that's fairly well established on owner's forums hence my now using an independent with an excellent rep. An added advantage he's about half the price.

Took my bike in for an 18000 mile service at independent Motovation in Cheltenham. Told Tim that where I'd got it MOT'd in South London (so I could legally ride it home) they reckoned the rear wheel bearing was dodgy. Turns out they were right, it had virtually collapsed. A rather scary thought had it actually collapsed on the road. My question is - what could have caused this? My own theory is riding through the winter and then putting the bike away for months without ensuring all salty residues were gone. Any other ideas? Not sure if it's a known issue as I can find no references to it but my last dealer service in Bristol records it as having been checked but I think they were lying through their teeth as when I got my chain and sprocket set renewed by an independent a few weeks later they swore the rear hub set hadn't been touched since new.

Funnily enough I got an email yesyerday from a lady in Sweden saying she was dying but because I was such a nice chap and all round good egg she'd leave me $1,000,000 provided I prayed for her soul daily. Sadly I had to tell her that as I was actually an evil atheist I could not accept her kind donation.

And you a man of the cloth as well. I'm shocked!

Answered my own question - apparently German drivers get around 45,000 euros and French ones 40,000. Quite a bit less than ours so it may reflect in the fares although I don't think the number of drivers vs the number of ripped off passengers really adds up so I guess the companies are screwing us as well.

Don't know, don't read the Mail. Do know that UK rail fares are the most expensive in Europe. Just for interest anyone know what a French train driver earns by way of comparison?

In other words drivers need to be able to see well enough to read road signs.

Been in Barnard Castle and Morpeth for last few days and in Barney its pissed down every morning we've been here.

I've got 2 brothers who do care but one lives in Houston and the other in Munich. Add in me being away for months at a time and a disproportionate load gets put on my wife and daughter who live in the south of England rather than Northumberland.

TBH if you can't read a number plate at 22 or even 25 metres you should perhaps at least consider wearing glasses or contacts.

Ditto.

Turns out the nob of the day is actually my mother. When asked to confirm what she actually needed at the beginning of May told social services she was fine and she and dad were coping well. Aaaggghhh! Locally GP surgery and social services don't really connect as far as I can see but after emails exchanged this morning we are now back in the mix for care and mother has been quashed, at least for a bit.

Typical council jobsworths with inflated ideas of their own importance and total parasites on the rest of us.

Northumberland County Council social services. 6 months ago I started the process of trying to get some support for my very elderly, partially sighted and deaf parents. Come home and discover that my mother is now ill enough to be getting weekly home visits from her GP, can't sleep lying down and spends virtually 24 hours a day in a chair. My dad has a leg injury which requires regular dressing by the district nurse. They didn't tell me when I was away as they didn't want to cause me worry. However the social services have done sweet FA and none of the things promised in February have materialised. Not happy at all.

I've been a union member since 1977 and I've yet to actually see union official. Not anti Union but I am anti the concept that if you are a union member you MUST belong to a certain political tribe. Like it or not unions do on occasion cause more harm than good. There's a reason there is virtually no commercial ship building left in the UK- decades ago the unions fought tooth and nail against modernising practices and processes in British ship yards. The result was ship building largely moved to Japan and Korea and now China and British yards virtually disappeared removing a whole swathe of technological know how from our industrial base.

Yes, that would be illuminating. If your mate got it impounded for basically riding it illegally the police aren't going to just let him get it back.

My union is really effective - just ask the poor sods on the P&O Ferries. It's even more useless for deep sea people as how can you organise any kind of industrial action when members are spread across the world and usually on ships of many different nationalities? That said if I was offered 8% over 2 years I'd bite the owner's hands off. 2% in the last 4 years is more like it. Last years was a breathtaking £25.00 a month.

I know you need to create a body of work but how about advertising that you are doing custom bikes and try and get a punter in and work out a doable project? Sadly I don't want to customise my bike!

To be honest I can't think of a politician I'd want to have a pint with.

Took it to Motovation in Cheltenham for its 18k service.

Monumentally bad.

Not the Met in this case but Wiltshire Police. Nit picking I know.

I've wild camped in England, usually in forestry commission areas and well-off the beaten track. Didn't know it was illegal and never been pulled for it. Admittedly I was walking in to areas I camped and nowhere near roads and going fishing. Eg Kielder, Cow Green etc.