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Speaking as someone who had a mother who hated the sight of him from the day he was born......she didn't want children and didn't have a maternal bone in her body....I know where you're coming from. I won't go through the whole saga from 1954 to 1999 but to say things were traumatic were an understatement. Her grandkids didn't want to be with her, and even our dogs wouldn't go anywhere near here. And dogs can always tell. She did everything she could to cause problems for me throughout my life and for some strange reason never wanted to see me happy. Looking back she had serious issues, no friends, and went out of her way to cause as much grief as she could. She got married again in 1982 without telling me as well. However, I felt I had an obligation (to my father who died in 1959 from TB due to the conditions he endured in in POW camps) to do my duty so throughout her life I tried to do my best for her. And I did! She made sure that my father's side of the family ostracised me (because I was her son) and consequently I was left nothing in their wills while my two other cousins were included. Then when she died I was excluded from her will as well......that was her final kick in the teeth for me (and my family) from beyond the grave. But I would do the exact same thing again.....I wouldn't change a thing. Because I know that I did my duty for my father.

Abso-fucking-lutely………you’ll fucking hate the shite weather, crowded roads and boring, flat countryside. Why do you think all the Dutch (and Belgians come to that) are moving down to Spain? ………..and fer fucks sake I was only joking about moving to your village, I didn’t realise you were so sensitive?

Hurry up and move so instead of ride reports on abandoned shit we can have them on dirty shit

I’m glad you have the satisfaction of knowing you did things the way you wanted to. If your old mans looking down from the ether then I’m sure he’d be proud of the loyalty and resilience you displayed. If someone constantly makes you feel bad it’s bad, whatever their excuses or baggage, if they keep deliberately hurting you, they should get the heaveho regardless of what rights they think they have over you. I don’t feel the same obligation you do, I (almost) completely emotionally detached from her, which is very liberating and when she noticed her hooks didn’t land she surprisingly wasn’t bothered, I just became irrelevant- until decades later when she wants to secure care for herself. I’m not up for being used and manipulated, again. I think we stick in shit situations for too long. We’re all taught endurance and toughness are key traits for survival but it means people forget most of the time they can simply walk away from a shit job, shit relationships or a shit place to much nicer times. As for your Ma’s final kick from beyond the grave, that’s just plain cold calculated nasty.

We don't bother with gifts/flowers anymore, sometimes go out for a drink n food. Bunch of roses going for £275 in London, she'd smack me about the head if I spent that.

That's okay, I'm shallow too.

Not always your heart they're after.

Couldn't give two shits about that, to be honest, it's not exactly the lost city of Atlanta. Would rather it filled up properly again and that Spain aren't dicks with holding all the water their side, but they are.

What did everyone get their bikes for Valentine's Day? I bought bike wash and a new oil filter, lucky girls. I also bought myself roses (because who else is going to) and was genuinely pleased with my ability to get them home safely inside my jacket despite hitting some high velocities on the super highway. Small delights.

Yeh.....I've no doubt I will Ray. But the wife is intent on going to live near our boy there......he's a Mammy Boy! He's done very well for himself though, and it's apparently because of the wife's influence. The Daddy Boy is the one in Poland married to The Psycho.......and that trainwreck is apparently all my fault for over-indulging and giving in to him.

On the other hand, @XTreme, you’ll be less than an afternoon riding away from the Eiffel in Germany. Assuming the wife is in good company and you get a couple of days away there are some amazing roads to see there, Germany’s motorcycling Mecca. The coolest bike dealership I ever visited was in the Netherlands too, Ten Kate Honda, next to a small town where I got drunk and forgot the name, it was really nice though.

He’s gone for lie down after watching that

This would definitely void his warranty. https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2022/02/15/8466404119318672604/1024x576_MP4_8466404119318672604.mp4

I wish student loans worked like that too...

statute of limitations is usually only 2 or 3 years... a little longer for the felonies

It's okay, the clever ones have figured out that the way to my heart is motorcycle parts.

No guy to give you roses Grace? What's the world coming to? Real men are a dying breed these days!

He's not going anywhere near that Tym, too much water ................

That’s about as miserable as the Peak District in the height of summer.

Good thing is its all flat not a hill to climb anywhere

Not really Bob, I sometimes put images up on stock websites but not enough to make any reasonable money I may push the boat out more starting this spring

Ah, who said that romance is dead!

Unfortunately there's also a big market of people who scam others out of large sums of money with all sorts of promises of helping them negotiate the "system". We're on a few brits in France Facebook groups and there's regular tales of woe from people who've been fleeced by "hand holders"! There are good ones too, and we used a couple to help with a few administrative tasks when we first got here, before we got our heads around the bureaucracy.

Big dosh though! I want to find individuals with facilities and I can arrange transport this end!

I've put out feelers on horsey groups, but nothing yet. It seems the Family Reunification gig isn't going to fly because we're not dependant on him in any way, there's no record of him sending us money to live, and we're not going to be living with him when we go there. So I've mailed Dutch Immigration to get a clear definer on what criteria we have to meet as a third country national.

Thankfully I didn't inherit very many traits from my mother! I've got my father's brain that's for sure (my old girl was like a fucking plank). And when I saw my cousin Malcolm (who's about 15 years older than me, he hadn't seen me since I was a kid) at an aunt's funeral about 20 years ago, he just kept looking at me in a confused way. I asked him is everything OK.......and he just said....."Apart from your eye colour and your build, you're Tom (my father) in every way. The likeness is incredible". I was quite happy with that!

Not a lot of love between her own mother and her then Folk are weird. You turned it all around though Pete, your own boy’s prepared to jack in a good job and move to Spain! I know he’s not going to need to but he said he would!

This was a woman who when my grandmother (her mother) was living with us and she became ill (around the same time my father died in the late 50's), said to a woman who was at the house,......"When you walk past my mother's room just check now and again to see if she's dead yet. Once she is, let me know and I'll phone the undertaker to come and get her". My grandmother died, got carted away, and my old girl never even went to the funeral. And this is her own mother we're talking about here!

good god, and I'd agree with her. That's KTM parts prices!! My roses cost me about 2 pounds

I have my standards, i wont put out unless i get dinner and a movie first.

Education has gotton to expensive, my dad worked his way through dental school while taking care of a newborn child, no loans, just hard work. Its still hard work, now you have to take out a mortgage too, that cant be disposed off in bankrupsy courts...ok. Dont sign me up for that, i just went part time for ten years got a degree then dropped out, income tax? Slavery!

Do they stop looking for you after 5 years? Some States do here.

Even better than valentine's day is today - the day after - it's my anniversary of departure. 5 years exactly.

Interestingly, the last time I saw them was Summer 2004.....in Bristol. Rode there from Llandod on my black XT600. From what I can remember they were staying somewhere near the centre......there was a roundabout (I think) and a large pavement area in front of their place where I parked the bike

The lost City of Atlanta, perfect really, a special place of pecan pies, revival staurday nights under a hot tent fearing Jesus! Loving women with southern bodies and southern thoughts, on hot days and hotter nights, lost, in the City of Atlanta.

Autocorrect messed with my post

I’m surprised you didn’t say “tasty”.

Before you go you need to ride here. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/spanish-sunken-village

They do annual inspections on bikes that are more than 5 years old. So I've got 5 years before I have to start bolting this stuff back on for the annual inspections! Yeah, they require things like horn, indicators, correct sized number plate; most annoying though, is that the colour of the bike has to match the original registered colour, so if you've stickered it or painted it, that's always a headache. Anyway, that's a headache for 5 years down the track

not with these ...

Beauty's in the eye of,,,,, Not sure any of the blondes are true blondes but yes she's a looker.

Loving it! Such a blast to get out on the trails (every time, it never gets old) and a strange feeling not to be totally shattered after as well!

little guy?? you getting Australian discount by the midget dago

Like I did with Bruce and Shania Twain's drummer on here! There's always one who walks into it!