Tango

Wow, that is weird.

For the connoisseurs on here!

Back in the early 90's the company I worked for had a small blood test Analyser that was used mainly in vet surgeries. The company decided that, for a small Analyser, it tied up too much of our engineering resources, so they decided to bring in a guy as a subcontractor to look after these analysers and I was tasked with training him up. He was a Yorkshire chap named Rodney, very affable and capable. The plan worked out pretty well and Rodney did a good job. The company eventually sold all their medical business off and I was made redundant. Fast forward to a few years ago and my last company brought in a new UK service manager from outside. In the bar, after one of the first service engineer meetings with the new service manager, I was chatting with him and discovered that he knew Rodney. It then transpired that Rodney had trained him on some medical diagnostic analysers when he first got into this field. So, in a roundabout way, I was responsible for him being where he was to a certain extent! He actually said that Rodney had told him about an engineer called Bob teaching him about the analysers and the theory behind how they worked, but, until that conversation he didn't know that it was me.

That looked pretty challenging in parts there. How far do you reckon it was?

28th September. https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/gb-car-sticker-to-be-replaced-by-new-uk-version/

In France motorcycle gloves must be CE marked and worn at all times on the bike. UK sticker I think is mandatory from 1st September? I'll have to check that one.

Always choose your tattooist carefully!

Seeing Tony's photos in this thread, I know when I'm beaten!

I'll not be bothering to enter Bike of the Month this month!

I won the meat raffle down the pub once, having to ride home with a frozen leg of lamb and pork joint stuffed down the front my bike jacket wasn't too much fun though!

Although, posting pictures of you actually out on your bike probably didn't help your cause either!

Sounds plausible, Pete!

There's no need to use language like that, Pete!

I went on holiday there a few years back. Had a few days in Santiago de Compostella and then went to the coast. Very few brits there and hardly anyone speaks English, but that's why we chose it. Weather wasn't too bad while we were there.

Probably not, @MooN. Apart from the handling issues I'm finding that it's just a bit underpowered. I think that something like the upcoming Tiger 660 or a Tracer 700 would be more suited to me.

I think you could be right, mate. I think that if I were intending to keep the bike I'd change them, but I guess I'll just have to put up with the tramlining for a bit longer.

@boboneleg mentioning the Rover P6 that I had in the very early 80's reminded me of a strange coincidence. I still lived in northwest Kent when I had that car. Occasionally I used to go to a pub on a Sunday lunchtime with one of my mates and his girlfriend. The car had a full length Webasto sunroof, which my mates girlfriend used to like standing up in the car looking out of it when it was open on a nice day. I eventually sold the car to finance my XS1100 and my mate split up with his girlfriend. My missus and I used to go to the bike night on a Tuesday evening at a pub not too far from where we lived near Cambridge if we got back from work on time. The pub often had a bbq going on the patio doing burgers or hot-dogs and the bike night was pretty popular, with the carpark rammed with bikes on nice evenings. We were there one bike night a couple of years back, having a look around and a chat with some people we knew when I saw a woman that I thought I recognised. She had a very distinctive limp that looked the same as my mates girlfriend from 30 years ago, caused by a bad bike accident. Eventually I had to go up to her and took a chance of looking a complete fool and said to her "do you remember standing up with your head out of the sunroof of my car many years back?" She looked at me as if I was mad and then laughed "Bob?". She introduced me to her husband and we met up a good few times after that. We went over to their place, which was only about 20 minutes from where we lived a number of times. They had a fair sized garage, where her husband had pretty much every bike he'd ever owned in there. Sadly we lost touch with them a couple of years ago when they moved. It was just such a strange coincidence meeting at a pub miles from where we used to live 30+ years later. Has anything like that happened to anyone else?

Yes, Bob. My brief dabble with cars before returning to the fold (until later, when I got a job with a company car).

Hotter there than here! Mid 20's forecast for the next 2 weeks according to AccuWeather, with some potentially heavy rain too.

I've got some Hood motorcycle jeans that I've had for years and use them most days when I'm out on the bike here. I guess that one day I'll have to replace them, but no idea with what.

Cheers MooN, good advice. I'm actually getting better the more I get out on the bike. I guess I'm getting used to the pogo-ing and the tramlining. I think that it's more to do with the bike than me. I went for a short spin on my OH's Bonneville and felt fairly comfortable on it, apart from adjusting to the larger front wheel.