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Enough spares to keep a Ducati running for months there.

Head is fine, the rest I don’t know… Waiting on the ferry now

Thanks mate that is a kind thing to say and I appreciate it, but we didn't adopt for any sort of altruistic reasons. We couldn't have kids the normal way so we went the adoption route, as a family was very important to us. To be fair the older two are now 17 and 19 so pretty grown up, Well my 17 year daughter is, the boy, well you know about boys of that age.

Fantastic that you've adopted those children Saul!

Yes...the FUCKING FOOTBALL and every other "sport" means there is no literally no rugby being shown on the box except for on amazon prime its taking the fucking piss

Thanks, Yep, it's the big 50 today. It sure has been quite the year. I am happy to be where I am at 50 and look forward to the next chapter in life. But to be honest I have shed more tears than normal. It is my first birthday without my Mom. She would always call and sing Happy Birthday to me and be all silly. I feel like I have lost her all over again. I don't want to be sad today, so I will try to get outside for a walk and maybe find some cake for a treat.

Yeh.....I think it's a wonderful thing to do......giving those children a chance in life. I'd have done the same if I couldn't have had kids!

I'm shy about the simple nature of the home, but here is a pic of the land. I love how it is surrounded by trees even beyond the property boarders. ....and here is the backyard view from the house. Looking forward to getting some of my own pics of the place.

I’ll tell you what fucks me off…….people that refuse to put their dogs on a lead but clearly haven’t taught them any recall whatsoever. I came across one tonight when his two hounds came bounding over and choose to ignore my request to call his dogs back. He was horrified when my dog went mental at them because he clearly saw them as a threat. Mine was on the lead. He was horrified when I told him that next time I’d let mine off. Cunt.

Unlike Marcel who looks about 80 due to excessive masturbation.

I am going to try to get into the birthday spirit today. I saw a new bakery/bistro opened up in town so perhaps some cake and coffee would help. Then perhaps a hike in the forest, always good medicine for me. I want to get out for a paddle in the next few days too. Now that I have come to my senses and have decided to not cross Canada with the canoe I only have a few more chances before we depart. I'm already looking forward to going back west for her (the canoe) in the summer.

Had a walk around Luxulyan Valley this morning with the Dear Boy. Only 6K but stunning up there. No people either the way I like it. We had a look at the remains of the old winding engine and at Treffrey Viaduct.

Sounds like you're doing your very best to give your daughter the environment that she needs right now. Keep up the sterling work mate. Yeah, schools! My OH's son had a torrid time at school for much the same reasons. He has a few mental health problems, but his school refused to take them into account. He used to get put into isolation for minor misdemeanours, like forgetting his PE kit etc, but on more than one occasion had panic attacks during the isolation and had to get out of there. The school decided that they needed to escalate his punishment, without any thought on the effect this would have on him! My OH went up the school multiple times, only to be met with a stone wall! Since her son left school his mental health has improved immensely! Anyway, vent as often as you want. As @MooN says, most here will be glad to offer whatever encouragement and support they can.

I couldn’t agree more, speaking from experience. I miss my Honda and would get another. On the other hand I still have bad twitches from my Himalayan.....lol

@Sir Fallsalot , @Catteeclan If this was a bit nearer I think I’d be buying it https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134336462226?hash=item1f4713bd92:g:jHEAAOSw0CFi92CH&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoEtmzReDjz5X4mNvPOZhbHGlt1fmva3PqBZ1VRaLy2Bo89VJXiHNFgdY45z5n4ssDZf6TEL2oKkZbW82HrmoyxYnXMUfNN5eXOpVwbS22mU5PFjXfSoI8D6Jvgb4lLrXhTwesMKb4EwDzFtiuVOKyt0gqsDmJqzviWn5U9hr%2BGfw%2F0FtRtu4B6zQxYBDlU%2FFgX3qYu%2FdE8NVqRQ%2BvWFkyV8%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR76o84CWYQ

It was my 50th birthday recently too, I was (and still am) pretty chuffed to have made it this far without cocking things up - pat on the back time

The world cup.... constantly going on about rainbow armbands and rainbow hats and the lgbt community.... fuck off with it... for fuck sake ,!!

Just told Mandi it's your first birthday with out you mum. She said, "no, not going there, I'm tearing up already". Think of the happy times and shed a tear, why not.

I was meant to be watching Rod Stewart last night but the tickets never happened so I did a pub quiz instead and this morning I had a day off so went to look at a fort at the end of the world.

Sounds like you have been lucky with that Xsara Picasso, we had the completely opposite experience. We sold our trusty old Volvo 850 2.5 petrol with 220,000 miles on still going strong because the Mrs wanted something a bit more modern where she could sit up high, like all the other silly bints around town. I gave in and we got a nice pinkish one with 90K miles on the clock, a week after the 3 month guarantee ran out the head gasket went. £1200 later all was good for six months then one night we heard a loud twang from outside. The bloody rear axle had collapsed as the torsion bar had snapped. Another £800 down the drain. Another 11 months along it started using water again at 116K miles. I got shot of it quick smart and we agreed that I would choose the cars from then on. We then had a CRV which was a beauty, but someone had to have 7 seats, so then we went back to a Volvo V70 2.5 petrol. Now a few years later Mrs wanted to sit up high again, she went to look at a Nissan Qashqai, but came home with a BMW X3, another bastard money pit that we still have. I hate to think how much it has cost. Oil leaks, cam chain, clutch and dual mass flywheel. Now it is leaking oil again, what boils my piss is that she traded a lovely 7 seat Volvo, that took me ages to find and is still going strong, for it. All so she can sit up high with the other horsey Mummies. I have just noticed how grumpy I am getting. Need a beer tonight and reset I think.

Did you leave the Harley there ?

From my experience I think the quality of teaching has fallen in schools, they got rid of many of the senior more experience staff and replaced them with cheaper newly qualified teachers. Many of them are all at sea, and still learning their trade. One of the things with my kids, as they are all adopted, the school receives a 2K a year pupil premium as they are classed as 'looked after kids'. So we do have some leverage plus as experienced adopters we know where to look for support from external agencies. We have a very similar experience with my son when he was in Junior school.

Cheers mate. It's very different to what I had in the UK, but it's not really the place for hooligan bikes here, so I went for something a bit more sedate! and, given a lot of the roads here, minor off road capabilities are definitely needed! It's not perfect, but it does what I want most of the time.

I can understand your point of view especially in the context of modern Japanese reliability, real quality products, but at a price. I did a lot of biking in the late 1970's to mid 1980's and believe me the Japanese motorcycle industry piled em high and sold em cheap then. Yes the reliability was superior to most of the alternatives but that is not saying much really, they made plenty of unreliable dogs too. Also into the mix came the associated bodgery that occured by the time these cheap bikes got to their second or third owners. Now from my point of view and in that context I find my RE a pleasant well made bike, I have replaced the relays as a precautionary measure and am having to sort the fogging issue but really tis just a bit of tinkering on what was a £4000 bike, I really don't mind doing it. I still have 2.5 years of guarantee if anying major goes wrong and roadside assistance if it were to break down. But I do trust it and would take it anywhere here. Of course there is better and we all make different choices for different reasons and the "Your Bike is shit" stuff is just banter to me. I like what I like and buy what I like for my reasons, as I am sure all people do. Perhaps the world has moved on and I am still in the old headspace I remember, but I like it there I do like Hondas for many reasons but to me, admittedly an old fart, I think most of them along with many modern bikes look awful. I can also appreciate that Canada is a very different place and breaking down miles from help is much more of a thing for you than it ever would be for me. In your position I would probably aspire to and stump up the extra for a premium brand like a Honda. Mind you to be totally honest I would probably go for a BMW if I was spending a large chunk.

The RE Himalayan's main problem came from releasing a bike that wasn't fit for a 1st world market. Initially it was only intended for the Indian market where it's expected things will break. People started importing them (mostly into America) and discovered the quality wasn't up to 1st world standards. RE then had to do a redo to produce something considered good enough for this market (ie fix the stuff that commonly went wrong). It took them quite some time. A lot of the earlier Enfield's came with built in problems. I haven't had any trouble with mine, other than notchy head bearing.. the rest of the issues have all been mechanic induced

I love this old stump outside my window. It has become the base for two new trees, you can see how they have grown around it.

I don't doubt that for a moment my good man, from the short time you've been on here I get the impression they're barking up the wrong tree if they think playing the old placing the blame on the parent/child game is going to give them a free pass to do nothing land.

Don't worry I have a feeling it is going to hit the fan once the Educational Psychologist gets involved. I won't roll over, they will be held to account.

Turns out Marcel is Swedish and prone to bouts of gratrunka.

In terms of weather it's pretty decent for this time of year. So I'm hoping to get out for a while.......but I know I've got some work coming in so I'll just have to see how it plays out. What about you lot?

I know I have said a little about it on here, but long story short my youngest 15 year old is having some mental health issues. Without going into to much detail for her sake, if you google a thing called attachment disorder, much would become clear. Anyway as an adopted child who came from a horribly chaotic background my youngest has all the classical symptoms of it. Her problems came to a head when she ran away from home, although she is much loved and happy normally. Long story short again it has all been triggered by a string of bullying from kids in school and harsh treatment by staff in school. Anyway I have been keeping her home from school to get her head straight and just take some emotional pressure from her shoulders. Been trips to doctors, youth workers Cams contact and in the new year she will be seeing an educational psychologist. Following this the school is finally coming around to the point that she is not just a naughty child that needs punishment but one who needs help and a bit of care. So today we take her back, on the proviso that we talk to the head of year before she goes in. What a total cock he was, I have never wanted to deck someone so much in my life and not actually done it. The first sentence out of his mouth was that on this one occasion he was not going to send her to the reset they had given her before I kept her home. Just to be clear Reset, in that school, is when the kids are sent to a classroom and have to sit silent facing the wall working, they are not allowed to speak even to ask the supervising member of staff for help with the work or use the toilet. He is sitting behind them. WTF sort of way is that to treat kids. I said that perhaps we should not be talking about punishment as my daughter, after much support and encouragement has found the courage to come back to school. And her mental health is far more important than some petty punishment. From this point on my Mrs took over as she saw they way it was going. I am not angry or violent person but like, anyone would be, you hurt my kids and you will see a different side to me. Anyway for the third time long story short my Mrs wiped the floor with him in the nicest possible way. More meetings to come. Picked the youngest up this afternoon and she did have a good day so small steps in the right direction. There are some good staff at the school but but there are some petty fuckers than need dragging around by their hair. Now I feel much better getting that off my chest. Sorry for the rant but it had to come out somewhere.

Yeh.....these sorts of occasions can bring a lot of sadness when you think back to the past Michelle! But if it's any consolation you look great for 50!

I am out singing down at the Ship Inn Pentewan tonight, tomorrow I am tempted to have a trip down to St Ives to see Kimbers Men, a group I quite like. Haven't decided about Sunday yet, a Bimble may be on the cards.

Never mind, they won the singing

Dog walking this morning, out for a bimble this afternoon if it stays dry.

Round two trying to fix the condensation. This time I did exactly what Wee Jaunt did and used the exact same gasket type material as he recommended. I dried the speedo overnight on the radiator, put in the extra gasket stuff and added more silica gel. The keyword for the morning was 'Carefuling' channeling my inner AvE. Now que a few more day of torrential rain to see if it worked.

Well almost bed time on the altantic coast...it might be a warm night... The blankets might fly tonight.. Goodnight... Be safe.

You don't need to be shy, there's nothing at all wrong with simple. The more you have the more complicated things get, simple is good. I love how you have all that space around you, that's far more important to feeling good in a place. I also like that you're set back from the road a bit. Looks great

That is what I have heard and one of the reasons we picked that location in general. Very similar to the weather we have on the Sunshine Coast here in BC. I think we are tucked in far enough, so hopefully the storms will leave our roof be.

Don't be... I didn't come from a rich family.. What we had wasn't big but it was ares.... 4 acre that's nice.. There's hundred of lacs in that area.. You'll be busy for a wyll... That's for sure...

Too cute....just say'n

Goodonya Saul. Takes a lot of doing adopting a child and giving the love and care you're giving, takes even more to get them the input they should have. She's lucky to have you and your wife. Just grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Makes me angry just reading it. 'Reset' what do they think they're doing? Did they study at all during their teacher training? Sounds like the head of year needs to sit facing a wall and not speak to anyone until he's read a few books about child behaviour

@Saul get it off your chest mate, nobody here is likely to judge, well not the ones worth listening to anyway. Ive used this place ( its predecessor actually) as something of a crutch from time to time re the kids too in the early days. For what it's worth, it sounds to me like you're handling it pretty well so keep up the good work and I hope it works itself out for you and for her. PS, Horses are good for damaged people

Fuckmine, that is like going back to the 19th century