Wow, a month is a long time!

Been a month since my last post here - time flies when you're having fun, or rather when you've not done anything worth saying lol

Just been the normal work and relax cycle, didn't go out on the bike for a couple of weeks due to some splits in the sidewall of the rear tyre, so had to wait until I had the money to buy a new pair - got them fitted yesterday, and have done about 130 miles on them now - much better grip and feeling of confidence, even if they are more off-road biased than the previous pair.

Not a lot else happening in my life at the moment, went out a couple times on the town for a few beers, then recovery the next day. Going to a friend's BBQ tomorrow night - seems that weather might be nicer than originally forecast so that should be good.

A quiet Easter

I had a very quiet Easter weekend, not doing much, I just wanted to try and recharge my batteries, so spent most of it chilling or doing some housework.

Went for a ride on Sunday on the small roads around the island - only 45 miles, but a nice route.



Stopped off at Harry's for a cuppa and a chat then came home.

Haven't really done anything today either :-D

April Fools

Some gorgeous weather this week, that has carried through to the weekend.

I didn't do much on Saturday, was a bit lethargic, so just chilled all day.

Woke up bright and early Sunday morning, and after a quick nosy online while eating breakfast, I decided to go for a spin on the bike. I was out the door by 10:15 into bright sunshine, albeit with a fresh breeze.

Rode from Douglas down to Port St Mary and the Sound looking out over the Calf of Man, where I took a pic of the bike.



Then back up to Port Erin, and along the coast road to Peel. From Peel, I continued on the coast road through the Devil's Elbow until I reached Kirk Michael. At the petrol station in Kirk Michael I just had a funny thought that I'd never checked the fuel tap on the AT, and as I'd reached 200 miles on the tank I thought that I'd better - lo and behold, it was set to 'RES' for reserve!

I changed it to 'ON' and continued on the road and hadn't even reached Ballaugh bridge (just 2 miles down the road) when my petrol ran out! lol

I switched to reserve and instead of turning off for Jurby and Sulby on the north-west coast, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and stayed on the TT course heading for Ramsey.

I filled up in Ramsey and then took the coast road back down to Douglas and home.

All in all, I was out for about 2.5 hours, did just over 70 miles and finally started to get into tune with the Africa Twin, more confident in the corners, trusting the tyres more and thus leaning over properly. The back end of the bike did feel a bit "squidgy" when accelerating leaning over, so may be something to look at there.

The sun has got his hat on - at last!

Another week finished at work, nothing much changed on that front.

Went to see Hot Fuzz at the cinema on Wednesday with some friends - great film, very funny bits (done by the same people who did Shaun of the Dead). Was out last night for a friend's leaving piss-up - he's going back to Scotland, so needed a send off in an appropriate Manx manner, with lots of ale :-D

Was a little delicate this morning, but not too bad as I was home by just after 11pm last night. Wandered into town around lunchtime for some bits and pieces, then after lunch I made use of the beautiful weather today, for probably the first time this year. Temp was up near 10C, with virtually no wind, and a lovely blue sky.

I took a ride up to the carpet shop and ordered the carpet for the stairs and landing, then took in a lap of the course, stopping off at Harry's on the way through for a cuppa and a chat.

Done nothing this evening, just chilling, watching some TV, reading some ride reports on ADVRider.com

Re-registered

Well, another week done at work, same-old same-old. Didn't do that much in the evenings either.

New camera arrived in the post on Tuesday - an Olympus SP-550 UZ with an 18x optical zoom. Haven't had much chance to play with it yet, but I will do :-) A delivery card from the postie arrived on Thursday, so off I trot to the sorting office. Out comes two packages - the rechargeable batteries and charger that I was expecting, plus 3 books from Amazon that apparently the postie tried to deliver on 7th March - couldn't as no-one was in, and couldn't be arsed leaving a notification grr!

My new insurance certificate for the bike arrived on Friday, so Saturday morning I was straight down the Post Office to get the new tax disc. Back home and fitted the tax disc into the holder and attached it to the bike, then took the old number plate off, held it to the new one and marked the holes. Drilled the holes, positioned the new number plate against the rear mudguard and they don't line up!! What!!!

Grr, drilled a new hole in the mudguard and fitted the number plate - yay, I'm Manx legal now!

Long weekend (part II)

Well, yesterday was a bit disappointing, weather-wise, being overcast, windy and spitting with rain off and on, so I just chilled at home apart from a quick trip to Tesco for some groceries.

Went to see Notes on a Scandal in the evening with Sara and her friend Kathryn - film was OK, nothing special, company was good though :-)

Today dawned a much better day, with sunshine and clear-ish skies. Got into my bike gear after my shower, and was out the door by just after 10am. Took the old Castletown Road south, joining the main road at the Blackboards, then down to Castletown itself, stopping at George's (S&S Motors) to have a gander at the new BMW G-series bikes. He had the Xcountry and the Xchallenge in, and both looked pretty damn good, so I entered the competition to win one lol

From there, I rode down into Port St Mary and then up to Ballagawne crossroads and straight over heading towards the Sloc and Peel. I stopped off at the ruined house that I like to take some more photos - quite a small house, being old, but still pretty cool:


More pics on my Smugmug gallery

After that, it was the climb up the Sloc, then down into Peel and on to St John's, joining the TT course at Ballacraine. Through the Glen Helen section, getting caught behind some slower moving traffic - well, until we got onto the Cronk Y Voddy straight, where I passed a couple cars at once - boy, the Africa Twin sounds good at about 90mph lol

Still beautiful weather going up the east side of the island and across the top, but as I started the climb up the Mountain out of Ramsey it started getting colder and windier. By the time I got to the Verandah series of corners it was clouding over and getting pretty blustery, so I took it careful until dropping down into Douglas again. Came home and been chilling since.

Long weekend

Well, after the joys of last weekend I've booked Monday off, so got a 3 day weekend to relax in.

Today I popped into town to get the new number plate for the bike, get some ear plugs and a tax disc holder, then came home to watch Moto GP from Qatar. Wow, that Ducati has some speed!

Rode up to Harry's afterwards and he fitted my new crash bars to the Africa Twin - they look cool

Shattered

Wow, what a weekend! Been working most of it, with one of our clients going live with new programs, so spent Friday night between 5pm and 12.35am on site releasing the new functionality. Back in on Saturday at 8.30am for the final live testing, and was there until 8pm - including the normal work hours, I worked 27 hours out of the 36 between 9am Friday and 9pm Saturday!

Back in again today at 12.30 until 3.30 for the final checks and fine tuning, and will be back in again tomorrow by 8.30am!

Had a friend's daughter's christening party to go to too, but missed the meal bit due to the working, so got there for a couple of hours to congratulate them. Now trying to chill out for the remains of the weekend - got 20 hours of overtime to claim for tomorrow, and hopefully I'll get time off in lieu (20 hours x 1.5 = 30hrs, 7 hrs a day = 4 days off plus a couple hours :-D )

Post again - favourite topic de jour, obviously

Well, sent the motorcycle seat off last night to the buyer in Wales, so that's one out of the way. Re-weighed the centre stand and as it weighs 3kg, with a maximum of 2kg for international letter packets, it still has to go parcel post to Norway at £32.95! If I send it to the UK it'll cost £8.10 again - how do they justify a nearly £25 increase for Norway, especially bearing in mind that if it weighed 2kg, it would only cost £16.26 to go to the same country, an extra £16.69 for an extra 1kg!

My Package

No, not that sort of package - this is what all the fuss was about



a nice big box from Motohaus in Hampshire. Got it home and did the 'pass the parcel' trick, gradually removing packaging stuff, to find these:



The new crash bars for my Africa Twin - at £130 a side for the fairing panels, this might give a bit of protection for my wallet!

As a bonus, the bubble-wrap bags that they came in have made perfect packing material for the centre stand and Dominator seat that I'm selling, so hopefully they'll get a sensible postage price tonight when I take them up to the sorting office.

Just need to find a nice weekend day to fit the bars now.

Next stop will probably be a tank bag and some more straps to hold my waterproof bag on the rack.

Post Office - grr

On a mini rant right now with the postal service - ordered new crash bars for the Africa Twin and they were despatched from Odiham in Hampshire on Tuesday 20th Feb, and they still haven't arrived in the IOM!

Also, got a buyer for the centre stand off my old bike who lives in Norway, and the initial quote for the postage is £35! I'm only asking £40 for the centre stand! I think the package prices are now taking the proverbial, especially as the same package would only cost £45 with FedEx, the courier company!

My spare seat for the Dominatrix has also found a buyer in Wales, and 2-day post for that is only £8 - much more acceptable! Just need to find a box big enough now lol

[Edit]What do you know, get home from work today and there's a card to say DHL tried to deliver something - DHL??? Went out and picked up the parcel, it's my crash bars! Bonus is that the bubble wrap bags that the bars were wrapped in is perfect for the seat and centre stand - both wrapped up and covered in brown paper and parcel tape ready to send :-)

The Raven

Another week done, just doing same-o at work, relaxing in the evenings.

Didn't do anything yesterday (Sat) really, just bimbled around at home, but today was a ride with the UKGSer lot with lunch at The Raven pub in Ballaugh. Rode down from Douglas to Port Erin in the morning, meeting the others at The Haven pub. Filled up the bike at the petrol station (206 miles, just under 19 litres, 50mpg!), then we rode up to Ballaugh via The Sloc hill (through the fog), turning off for Peel at Cross Fourways. Rode along the quay in Peel, then up via the coast road to Kirk Michael, re-joined the TT course at Douglas Road Corner and followed it to Ballaugh, where we had a table booked for lunch at The Raven.

Had a beef roast for lunch, much chatting and laughing, then we broke up to head our separate ways. I followed the TT course, with a stupid young lad driving a Fiesta with R plates first following me, then overtaking on blind bends and brows of hills, doing 70 in a 50 etc - I kept away from him! Rode over the Mountain in thick fog, then stopped at Harry's for a cuppa and a chat. Started raining hard, so had another cuppa :-)

Now home to do laundry, eat tea etc.

Music & Lyrics

Went to see the new Hugh Grant film tonight, co-starring Drew Barrymore. Hugh's character Alex is a 80s pop has-been, asked to write a new record for a modern starlet, and he's never been one for the lyrics. Enter Drew's character Sophie, who's only there to tend to Alex's house plants, but turns out to have a natural talent for song lyrics.

Not one of Hugh's better films, but still has some good bits (both cringe-worthy and laughing), and it was made all the better by the company - great to see you again, Sara :-)

Numb fingertips

Woke up this morning at about 9, looked out the window and saw a beautiful sunny day, so decided to go for a quick lap around the TT course (well quick in contrast - I do it in an hour, the top racers do it in 18 minutes :-D ). Geared up and went out to the bike by 10am.

Wheeled it onto the road and set off - hmmm, this is a bit nippy out. Joined the course at Quarterbridge and headed off towards Peel. Going fine, if a little chilly, and followed the course at Ballacraine - went over Ballig Bridge and glanced over at the field - eeek, it's white! Overnight frost so I took it careful all through Glen Helen until I climbed up out onto the Cronk-y-Voddy straight. I was able to open the throttle a bit more there, but I still took it carefully all the way to Ramsey, especially when under the trees and in shadow.

As I rode through Ramsey I saw the matrix sign at White Gates - Caution-Mountain Ice! Darn, no nice clean run today then. Continued on up over the Mountain, no ice around but I still took it carefully in the corners etc, overtaking the slower moving cars where possible. Came down the straight from Creg-ny-Baa heading towards Brandish and wow! They really have changed the corner from an almost 90-degree left corner to a smooth, sweeping left-hand bend - the racers are really going to carry some speed through here!

Stopped off at Harry's for a cuppa - my fingertips were numb with cold so needed the hot tea mug to warm them up :-) Had a chat then off home, for an afternoon of laundry etc :-(

Time to chill for the evening now

Covered in paint

Another week at work, struggling to get some database scripts to work. Didn't do much in the evenings, just groceries, and a TT Marshal's meeting on Thursday night in the Press Centre up at the Grandstand, talking about some possible plans for the Centenary TT this year.

Friday night my flatmate and I went to a store car park so that he could practice his driving techniques - he's only learning, and is having trouble with finding the clutch bite point, so a few stops and starts done to give him practice.

Today I was up at the Grandstand again all day, helping out with some furniture moving and re-painting the hospitality suite to turn it into the IOM TT Hall of Fame. We also put a coat of paint in the race office. Got a bit frustrated though as it was a gorgeous day, and wished I could've been out on the bike!

Stopped off at my mate Harry's on the way home to lend him my copy of the TT100 book, and a general chat. Had tea up there and then came home to have a shower to remove the paint splatters, and to put my splattered clothes through the laundry.

Just chilling now

Quick ride

Didn't go for a ride yesterday, I don't tend to when I'm tired, but a much better day today weather-wise, so I went out for a quick bimble. Down from Douglas to Castletown, then back up to Foxdale and home via the back roads - only 30 miles, but each mile ridden is giving me back more confidence after the accident, and more confidence in the bike.

I was going to ride around the island, but it was cold and the metacarpal that I dislocated in my left hand was aching a fair bit by about half-way round, so I called it quits.

I did stop to look at "my" house - or rather the decrepit farmhouse that I'd buy if I had the money, to re-build.

Blahs

Another week over at work, and since coming back from my parents' I've had a big case of the blahs - don't know why, maybe it's just the time of year etc *shrugs* Hopefully the weather will improve soon, bringing the delights of the sun and warmer days

Long weekend in Yeovil

Just got back from a long weekend back at the parent's - my last grandparent died last week, so it was the funeral at the crematorium on Friday.

Heck of a journey - flight to Liverpool, train to Bristol Temple Meads changing at Crewe, then picked up there by my brother and parents for the last 40-odd miles to home.

The funeral went as well as can be expected, and I saw members of the family that I haven't seen for a number of months. The internment of the ashes is set for the 17th February.

On Saturday, my brother's friend had sponsors tickets for the Yeovil Town football game, so I went along to watch, with a few beers in the bar before, during and after the game - I decided not to stay out with them though as I travelled home today (Sunday). Rather tipsy when I got back to my parent's house!

Travelled home today using the same route reversed - slight delay on the flight back to the island as the island had been fogged in, but got in finally about 45 minutes late

The weekend

Went to see Apocalypto last night in the Broadway cinema - was pretty cool, and didn't miss not having any dialogue, the action was superb!

Off to Sunday lunch at The Mitre pub in Kirk Michael today, lovely ride on the bike, even if it's only 11 miles or so lol, met 9 other people from the UKGSer.com website. Good meal (roast beef) and a good chin-wag.

Home now, chilling for the rest of the day, listening to Arsenal v Bolton on Radio 5.

Start at the beginning

Hmm, where to start, most of the way through the first month of a new year, how's life treating me?

Been a reasonable start to the year, got a new motorbike that I bought in Belfast, and rode back to the island via the Larne to Cairnryan and Heysham to Douglas ferries. It was a bit chilly riding in the evening from Cairnryan to Dumfries in Scotland though - 2C (36F) Brr.

I took my Incident Management Course with the St John's Ambulance service back in December, so I'm now ready to take my place on the Mountain Mile for marshalling at TT. Booked the whole of the fortnight off,
so should be fun.

Fair number of bike trips planned this year - weekend in April in Wales, week somewhere in Europe with my mate Pete, long weekend in the Yorkshire Dales, maybe ride down to my parents in Somerset for a week too.

Bit of bad news this week though - my paternal gran passed away She was the last of my grandparents, and would've been 92 in April. Going back to my home town on Thursday for the funeral on Friday