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Already put a picture of this from the same position a few weeks ago, but this I took yesterday and I like it more.

Not being able to ride at the moment as I have two bald tyres and the new ones haven't arrived yet I am relegated to just walking everywhere. About 18 months ago my wife bought me a drone to take with me on my motorbike travels but Covid hit so after flying it a couple of times its been in the cupboard, yesterday I found it charged the batteries up and took it out for a play while walking the dogs just to see if I could remember how it works...? I did manage to get some decent footage of the area behind our house.

My brother in law to one of my older sisters is a welder, worked offshore, loads of money. Helped me out with my fine repayments many times. He went a got himself an Audi 100 5E. I thought he was nuts. Sorry, best pic I could find. After driving him around to different pubs and taking him home it was mine for the night. I ragged the shit out of the thing, racing everything in sight, handbrake burnouts, you name it. It was a good pulling machine too. Hated the thing at first but what a refined bit of kit, I loved it in the end.

I cut back across a recreation ground. Every time I go that way I stop to look at this small tree. It always looks like it has hair to me. Today it was windy so the hair was blowing about like David Coverdale trying to do his sexy look whilst a fan is doing 400mph right into his face.

Trying to go for a walk or a pedal every day if I can, sick of keep having to go up a trouser size every few years. Today was riding into the bitter wind day, can't believe it was summer only last week. I ended up in the town centre where there were some poor people wandering about, saw this out of the corner of my eye. I don't think it was a real frog, but it might have been a real Yamaha.

I will answer in parts as sadly I have a very unique perspective of Morocco as a tourism destination. Ouarzazate is very well known as a location for the film industry, and lots of hollywood celebrities used to do holidays in Morocco, it's more of a secret that movies are shot there in the US and Europe than in Morocco Pastilla, a mix of sweet from sugar and cinnamon on the outside with sour like salty from the spices like turmeric and cumin, with a little bit of a kick sometimes. It's not my thing as I only like sweet in fruit or dessert. We did have a paper map, which we used on all four trips, I think it's the basic Michelin 742. It's now framed in my kitchen. A smartphone or proper gps is great for the dirt roads, though. Google maps is great and you'll have perfect data coverage in places where you would assume you didn't by looking at the pictures. Regarding your husband, being new or not to motorcycles has got nothing to do with it in my perspective. You will struggle the same on a dirt road in England or Spain as you do in one in Morocco, from a technical motorcycle riding perspective, it's the thrill of being somewhere so different that gets me, and that you can get if you catch a plane to Marrakesh and a local bus to the desert or go for a snack in the medina. It's the thrill of knowing you are somewhere where there is less of a safety net if something goes wrong that makes it special when riding a motorcycle. Don't be naive in thinking Morocco is like Europe, it's not. You will have no problems getting in or out, you will find the roads and trails wonderful and see amazing sights, but if anything goes wrong (proper wrong, not just a breakdown) you will be slapped in the face by the reality that you are not in Europe (or the UK ). We have had only a few moments in our trips when we were really not at ease with people, being a woman if you dress the wrong way in some places you will easily feel that. On my last trip, not on a bike, I sadly lost Maria for a sudden stroke in Tangier, and the town that I felt so much like already arriving somewhere familiar suddenly turned into Africa for the worst days of my life in a place that suddenly went from being a 1 hour ferry crossing away to being a whole continent away: I was arrested and questioned, the police treated me like they would any other man that had a non related dead woman in his hotel room dying from unclear causes, and there was a severe difficulty in communications. I was treated kindly and shown a lot of sympathy maybe in a way that wouldn't happen in europe, but there is a chasm of difference between the support you would get in western europe in a true emergency. Right now there are 2 or 3 thousand europeans trying to get back and finding a closed border, they didn't expect Covid to shut down traffic so quickly after it opened and have risked it. A bad case of Covid in rural Morocco? Now that's an experience. Don't let the friendliness of most people fool you into thinking it's not an adventure even if nothing goes wrong with your health. A few people have died over the years just enjoying their bikes on the desert, getting lost and dehydrated and they didn't last the day. It is the Sahara and the Atlas, there are flash floods, insane temperatures, and places where you are not welcomed and where the people will sometimes only speak berber or some form of arabic. Having said all that, I can't wait to go back, sadly on my own from now on.

On a brighter note i finally put my second foldup wheelchair together properly, only took more then a decade for me to figure this one out. ???????

You should be in a fucking asylum.

He had it back in April last year. He was hallucinating at one point due to a fever, frightened his missus at the time. It is still affecting him he says, gets breathless easily still etc. He owns a wood in Hertfordshire now, a roman road runs down one side of it and he has his own hives there and makes honey. There are two trees in the middle that have grown to embrace each other. The old owner used to let some 'witches' use it once a year for some ceremony and Dave let them carry on, he was worried about being turned into a frog I expect.

Something about one of Yen´s stories from today's posts reminded me of this friend I have from college called Lobato, he is like a real life Seinfeld mixed with The Three Stooges and Indiana Jones. Amongst several stories, he was on the subway heading to visit the World Trade Center while it was being flown into and collapsing, very much to his surprise as he and another friend emerged from the subway to a big frenzy and a very dusty NYC, before being questioned by the FBI for a few hours. Now, the story I recall is usually told by another friend who was also involved and goes something like: When The Rolling Stones visited Portugal in 2006 they arrived in Lisbon's airport and had a gig in Porto, to take place in FCPorto's stadium. One of my college friends got the job of taking care of the band, involving picking them up in Lisbon and bringing them up north in vans, including all their personal stuff and gear, get food or "other stuff" they needed and basically keep them happy. Now Lobato was in charge of driving one of the vans and fetching random stuff, which he did for a few days using his contacts in Porto. Prior to the first concert, he was just sitting down having a sandwich mid afternoon and this random older dude sits by him also having a snack and they strike a conversation that eventually goes like: "so, do you enjoy the Stones?" to which Lobato answers "not really, they are very impressive in their old age, you know, for old people ... to still be performing, but their music doesn't do anything for me, I'm more into reggae and that kind of stuff"... after a little the older dude walked off, to not be seen again, until a couple of hours later as they were watching the band walk on stage Lobato asks another the guy in charge of the gig: "hey, what's that guy doing on stage?", he promptly shut up when the old dude picked up his sticks and sat down behind the drums: Lobato's words after: "he was wearing fucking CORDUROY PANTS!!! ... and had such a small dressing room I thought he was the band's tailor" There you go @yen_powell, post your content where it won´t get lost amongst inane drivel.

They do motorcycle training as well. When I moved up this way I resigned from my part time instructor's job, telling the owners that I didn't think I would want to ride down on Saturday and Sunday and spend all day on a bike after doing 500 miles of commuting during the week. They said that was silly, they did it, coming in to Hornchurch from Maldon every day. I pointed out that that they got the profits, I got minimum wage. I did drop in on a training school near my new location and they offered me a job, but I couldn't stomach the thought of it any more. I also paid Benson's a visit. Their yard opened out onto an unfenced quay side in Colchester. All new riders would have gone straight into the drink if they forgot to turn right as the left the exit.

Its a dry cold. ?

There is a theme developing here, long term exposure to the fumes from your underkaks cause people to seek out a hermit like existence away from civilisation.

Can't remember, might have been something going on I wanted to be at. I didn't tell anyone at home I had no job for about 2 weeks, just went out on my bike in the morning and rode around for the day.

Perfecting my eggplant lasagna: No cooking, just a healthy lunch with some cheese for taste: Sofia's rib, spinach and dahl: Again, Sofia's amazing oven roasted aubergine and pepper dip, some cured ham, cherry tomatoes, and goat's cheese for lunch. An entree of cured black pig, some bread and local wine, simple flavours in my untamable garden My spicy onions and canned sardines dish with leftover dahl, a nice mix: Spaghetti and portobello mushrooms: Costa, watching me have some olives and white wine. Not looking too pleased but he had just finished his own dinner.

"... depois não te queixes que o arroz tem formigas" word by word translated to "then don't complain there are ants in your rice". You use it a situation where someone is talking like they are acting or going to act careless, and you reply that "ok, you can do that but then don't come back complaining about current circumstances"

Lasted longer than your hair then Fred?

The dealer she was taking it too didn't have a clue either they just kept changing parts hoping it would fix it none of them new what was actually wrong with it. We are entering our 6th year with the new Civic cant see us changing it until its broke but i'm like that with everything my old 4x4 i owned for 17 years and most of my bikes I've owned for over ten years.

All I can add is my experience of Peugeot.. aaaargh never again....... ?

Every year at MOT time I'd get a fail on my Fords for sills!

A friend of mine used to own a repair garage where he done MOT failure work like welding on new parts that had rusted off or patching rusty holes. He said if it wasn't for Ford, Vauxhall, Rover and Peugeot he'd be out of a job

The battery life is good for a drone Pete I got the drone with a triple charger and three batteries I get around 20 mins out of a battery

We have had the house here for nearly 6 years we moved over Christmas 2018 and yes not all Spain is burnt grass and brown LOL

Oh yeh.....and I had all the shit that was about! Marina, Allegro, Rover SDI, Mini, Metro, Austin 1100, Morris Minor etc.

The only people offended by British cars are those that had to maintain them...lol

you do come out with some crap... have a look at Portugal's history, its involvement in slave trade , treatment of women etc, every country has a past you cant change it and its not down to you to apologise for the past.

Good thinking @Tym.....this thread title could get us top spot in Google for "Fuck". This is an example to you all in marketing and promotional activity to widen our demographics!

I reckon it was the same thing. It was one step up from the YOP scheme in that I got £39 a week instead of £25. At the end of the year they gave me a permanent job, still on very low wages mind, but a bit more than they paid the labourers. After about 3 years working there (I was about 20) I got called in one Monday morning by the owner, a bloke called Reg Simmonds who always reminded me of Michael Caine, a very nice man. I had forgotten to lock up the petrol saws we used to cut samples of bigger stuff on the Friday and they had been stolen, so I thought I was in for a telling off. But in fact he asked me if I would be interested in taking voluntary redundancy. He was quite upset about it, it was a small firm and he had never made anyone redundant before. I asked if I could leave on Wednesday which took him aback a bit. He said okay, if that was what I wanted I could. As I was leaving I turned and asked why he had asked me? "You looked the unhappiest." he said. When I left I got a small amount of redundancy, plus all my holiday money, plus a £100 from Reg and a £100 from his wife Deirdre. I went back to visit occasionally and the Irish yard foreman kept giving me bank notes, telling me Deirdre had left it for me. Reg sold the firm and did other stuff, especially involving the arts. He did tell me once that when he grew up in the east end of London he wanted to be a writer, but had to go out and earn money to help his family instead. I googled and found a picture of him, see below. He passed away from cancer in about 2012 I heard. The lady with him is his daughter who sometimes worked in the office of the yard during her school holidays, she's a film producer now. Another time I will tell the story of me making my magnesium bomb and him nearly catching me with the thing flaring up like mad and how I covered it up.

I made my own out of marine grade plywood. Only the best for my Woody.

Recycling and repurposing is good, and important, so here is another use for a Metzler Racetec!! @docstrange.ericeira, a vet with a difference!

No!! They love him!

Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Dog and Godson of @Pedro! Which makes Pedro Obi-Wan in some far, far galaxy!

Do you have your very own Frank Spencer?

Russ has something of a reputation for disasters Caroline! @DangerRuss58......let's see that famous SuperTen shot!

You horror ?

There was so much wrong with them they probably didnt have a list of go to faults ?

Oh god they were absolute shite. So faulty and after I bought it I discovered the dealers were absolute aholes. Their reputation for being unpleasant and unhelpful was widespread but then again so were the Ford dealers. I cant stand car snobbery. By the time my car was 5 years old Id lost count of how many people asked me what my next car would be, like I needed to discard a used tissue or something?!

We bought a 6 month old Honda Civic about 21 years ago for the wife and at the same time her friend bought a new Peugeot 306cc convertible thing, she thought it was great and had great pleasure in telling us we had bought an old mans car. The first year she owned it she done more miles in a courtesy car then her own because it was in the garage being repaired so often. she got shot of it after the first year we traded in our civic for another 15 years later still a good car, I'll take an old mans car over the piece of shit she had any day

Good to know about the maps. Maybe I’ll try out Sofia’s throw a pen at the map style of planning ? The reason for choosing Morocco (after we’ve ridden England to Southern Spain together) is not to do with his skill level. He is new to motorbiking but he is also one of those people with a high level of sporting skill and a justifiable level of confidence in that ability. A year before he took his test he did an off road day with me not having ridden a motorbike before and flew through the lumpy mud like it was nothing, simply second nature- yes kinda annoying! Its a very different experience travelling by motorbike and doesn’t involve booking a nice hotel for a week and staying in the same spot. Its out of a lot of peoples comfort zone to go away not having all the accommodation booked and staying somewhere different every night. Just as you say Morocco is not in the comfort of Europe and thats why its I think the perfect step for thrills that once he’s experienced he’ll be smitten and further flung destinations will be on the cards ? ? I passed the point of no return on a Nepal/Tibet trip and broke my foot (I can confirm the RE Himalayan is a heavy bike ??). Its in the back of your mind this stuff can happen but when you’re quietly wedging your foot into a boot and riding on through mud because the only other option is spending days bust up in the back of a truck waiting to reach dubious medical attention it becomes painfully clear you‘re very far from home so I suppose I’m saying I dont enter into these things unwittingly and I know well from other experiences everything is not risk free sunshine and roses. Women in particular have to be careful not to cause offence (one of the reasons I won’t go to Iran) ? but I tend to do my homework on where I’m going ? Its terrible to hear of your dreadful experience losing Maria in Tangier. Not just the awfulness of being so far from home and the undoubted fear of what care she was receiving but the simple unadulterated horror of losing your partner that way so unexpectedly. She looks so young and vibrant in your pictures I almost can’t believe it, I’m sure you couldn’t. You have nothing but my admiration for having to make your way through that quagmire and clearly not giving up. So are you mixing it up when you go back with some known destinations and some new or sticking with your favourites? Is there a better time of year to go temperature wise and what are the expected temperature fluctuations over 24 hours? I want this to be successful so dont want to take my husband slogging through miles of mud, is there a rainy season? Looking forward to reading about your other trips ?

I hope not too damn expensive lOL

Just seen this on the Town Hall FB page! This is the start of the under 65's injections.....they'll be getting Astra Zeneca. But as I'm a 1954 model......I'm not included! I've got to wait for the Pfizer one.....whenever that will be. The wife is a 1962 model so she should be in the next bunch that get called in.

Of course, take a look at the other reports, there is mechanical failure in 2015 and a new bike in 2016 and 2017

I thought today was thursday. Im not getting my new tyres for spazz today, because its not thursday....i thought it was when i woke up. [Sad mode on] ?

+ he did the trip using his saturday night shoes, i will look forward to reading his book

Ah, "Bodgit and Scarper" I remember years ago replacing a through hull fitting on a boat in the water and when the company director asked how it went, my oppo replied point at himself and I, " Bodgit and Scarper" boatfitters to the gentry! I nearly wet myself, never having heard the phrase before... still makes me giggle now.