Steve_M

Nice wellies...

Oh dear.

I saw Louden Wainwright lll at Birmingham Town Hall in the early 1970’s if memory serves me correct. He was supporting Soft Machine. I rediscovered him a few years back.

We’re lucky if the house reaches 17 degrees, and the bedrooms 15 degrees. Wood frame, single glazed windows, doors that don’t fit the door frames, and little insulation do not a warm house make.

I must look into that option for next winter. Thanks.

There’s a lavender scented version?

We had a few trees felled last year, two because they were dangerous, two because they were too close to the house (advised by surveyor) and an Ash suffering from Ash dieback. I had the tree surgeons cut them into lengths suitable for the burners. The trunk sections I attacked with an axe, the branches with a hydraulic log splitter. This year we’re having two birch trees taken down as they look like they’re about to fall over, and the canopy raised on some beech trees. I’ll also be pruning a couple of apple trees. Shortage?

What are these “log storage issues” of which you speak? We have three wood burners in the house. They’re “characterful” but given my choice, I’d rather have gas fires for the ability to better control the heat output. The cost of replacing them, though, would be prohibitive. Since we have, in the short term, our own supply of wood from managing the trees in our garden, we’ll stick with the wood burners.

Heating? Not a chance of heating place. It’s an old, two story, stone barn with a vaulted roof space. It’s bloody cold in that place. Luckily I don’t have time to work on the bike (though I do quite a lot of stuff to do with renovating the house in there).

Mine cost about a grand five or six years ago. I was lucky that the trousers were standard size, though.

I can recommend Hideout for made to measure.

I bought some at the NEC many, many years ago. I thought it was bloody expensive at the time, but it’s proven to be good value. I’m just coming to the last few dregs so it’s time to buy another.

Best of luck with the move.

Last minute shopping I took the opportunity to give the bike a run out, get the oil hot and around the engine before tucking it away for however long it is before I get another chance.

Salutations. Today has started well. I’ve just cleared the balance of the loan used to buy my GS, saving myself £119 in interest. Happy days.

I left Brum 32 yrs ago, so no Sainsbury’s there at the time. I know roughly where you mean, though. fingers crossed it all goes well.

Norfolk Nutters... that describes many of my friends over there. Mostly the Wymondham and Norwich Premier Judo bunch...

Fingers crossed all goes well. We’ve just successfully flogged a house - currently drinking something fizzy to celebrate. Which part of Brum (I assume it’s Brum)? I used to live near Kingstanding*, though we called it Great Barr ‘cos that sounded better, before moving to near Shirley** (it was actually Solihull but I did want to give the impression of being posh ). * Templeton Rd ** Kingslea Rd

“There’s no substitute for cubic inches”, I think was the American phrase. Some years ago I attended a course for work. Some of it covered decision making. The guy leading the course asked a bunch of senior managers (not me, I hasten to add) if their decisions were all based on sense and logic. Naturally they all said yes. Then he asked them about the cars they drove... at which point it was obvious that there was an emotional element to their decision making that defied logic. We are not entirely logical creatures. Sometimes ego / vanity / call it what you will determine what we buy and all sense goes out of the window. I’m sure any NLP practitioners would be able to explain it better.

Yes. Our 1st visit. ‘Tis lovely there.

No (thinking of resale value of mine. Must not let this idea go any further). On a serious note. Charlie Boorman was right. The KTM would have been a much better choice for their trip. KTM really f**ked up. I like the concept of a bike where I sit tall. It allows me to get better visibility, looking over hedges, not having to crane my neck to see stuff. It all started with my ST1100, I felt much more in control sitting upright. My Tiger 1050 confirmed this (less an adventure bike, more a sports tourer on stilts). I have yet to tour on the GS - house move and the pandemic has impacted my opportunities, I have, though done long days riding (eg. several Norfolk to Cumbria rides), and had a few days out two up. I rode it for my RoSPA test, had a day trying Motogymkhana and have used it for volunteer work carrying NHS scrubs where the luggage capacity was appreciated. It is the best all-round bike I have owned. Yes, I’m sure other bikes can do other things better but, as a package, it suits me better than any other bike I tried in my quest to replace my FJR.

This Friday has been a good one, mostly. We went for a walk to a viewpoint in lovely countryside. We hadn’t been there before so we were looking forward to the view. Despite the path being distinctly swamp-like in places it was a good walk. However, the view... Oh, and we finally completed on the sale of our house in Norwich. We can now pay off credit cards, the daughter we borrowed money off, restore some savings and avoid having to take out a mortgage for renovating our house up north.

Where did you find that info’ Too bloody right he should be in nick.

He’ll be 37 in a few weeks. Bloody 37. How did that happen (and he has an older sister, but a gentleman never reveals a lady’s age).

That sounds like my son’s playlist from his teens.