Tango

Just needs a milkshake to go with it!

I came from the respectable side of the pool though, Pete!

Yeah, my mum lives not far from the crossing and it's regularly gridlocked around her place. I had a zoom call arranged with one of my mates last Friday evening, but I got a message to postpone it until the weekend as he was stuck trying to get back from Kent! It's a nightmare!

About 30 years ago I used to go over to Boston, MA to help the local engineer out. Nice guy and president of his local Harley chapter, but he had a really bad limp, which I assumed was the result of a bike accident. I was over one time and we got chatting about bikes and that and I asked if the limp was the result of a bike accident? He laughed and said no. He told me that he was on the gun boats that patrolled the rivers during the Vietnam War. One day they were out on patrol and came under fire from one bank. He was laid on the deck returning fire along with the bow gunner. They then came under fire from the other bank, so the bow gunner swung round to return fire, but didn't take his finger off the trigger, so he shot-up his own boat and the guy I knew had a big lump blasted out of his left leg by his own gunner! Still, that was the end of his war!

Originally from northwest Kent, Pete, but I moved to Cambridgeshire in the early 90's because of work. My mum used to ask when was I going to move back and I said never. She lives in Dartford and moans about it constantly.

I'm glad that the farm is still there and doing ok. It would have been a shame to see it close.

I'll go back through and have a read of them. Yes, the little I've seen of Portugal, Porto was different to Lisbon which is different to the Algarve. But that's what makes it so interesting. I don't have a favourite, because they were all interesting and enjoyable in their own way.

I love the little that I've seen of Portugal. The people I met there were all really friendly too. Maybe I'll get to go and explore there some more in the future, but, in the meantime, keep posting your photos of the country please.

Excellent. I used to drive more or less past that when I was going into the Royal London Hospital. I'd come down the M11 and then onto the Blackwall tunnel approach, but I turned off just past Bromley-by-Bow underground station and then head across to Stepney High Street and then the back roads through to the hospital. Some interesting places along the way. There used to be a small farm not far from Stepney High Street, but I think it was getting closed down the last time I saw it.

Sonofabitch!

There's another memorial that I know of a bit to the east of here. I'll have to make a trip over there and get a picture of that one too.

This morning. The memorial is for a group of French resistance fighters that were ambushed by the Nazis when they were heading to a sabotage mission just after D-Day. Most were either killed at the scene or executed in prison a few days later. There's a memorial service held here every year on the date of the massacre.

Definitely. I rode about 50 metres from my parking space in the supermarket to the petrol pump with no gloves this morning and I didn't like even that short distance! I was talking to a young lad in a bike shop a few years back and we got onto the subject of bike gear. He said that when he started riding he used to wear nylon tracksuit bottoms and an anorak and no gloves. All was well until one day, whilst showing off to his mates by pulling a wheelie, he binned it and slid up the road on his arse. Took the skin off both palms of his hands, but he said the friction melted the nylon tracksuit bottoms. He said the indignity of having his mum using tweezers to remove pellets of melted nylon from his arse prompted him to get proper bike gear from then on!

HOMERS! When I did my apprenticeship and afterwards whilst working in the factory I'd go to one of the shops to get something done. There were machine shops, fitting shops, carpentry shops, electrical wiring shops and even a perspex moulding shop. So, I'd go in and say that I needed something done: "Sorry son, we're flat out busy at the moment. It'll be at least a month before we can take a look at it" "Ah, ok lads. Just let me know when you can sort it for me please?" "No problems son. Anyway, what's it for?" "It's a bit on my motorbike that's broken" "What? Why didn't you say that it's a Homer? Come back in half an hour and we'll have it ready for ya" In the factory, homers were top priority!

I know people and even have relatives that have never been out of the country! One girl I worked with many years ago had never been outside the town she was born in! Yeah, some people don't want to travel and that's fine by me, but then they want to stop or make it difficult for those who do want to! I just don't get that mentality.

True, Pete. I'd only been abroad once by the time I was 22. It was only when I was in my 30's that I really started travelling a lot more and probably only in the last 10 years that I actually gave living abroad any thought at all!

I wish I still had my Speed Triple, but there was no way that I could get it registered here, so I had to sell it. TBH it probably wouldn't have liked the hot weather and would likely have got me into trouble with the gendarmes! Have any of you parted with a bike for any reason that you wished you hadn't?

I had a colleague at my last job who still lives in the house he was born in Finchley, he's 65 now. I once asked him if he'd ever move and he said probably not. I'm guessing that his house is worth a small fortune now!

From the stats here, it looks like unvaccinated are around 10 times more at risk of ending up in ICU than vaccinated. Likewise here, the number of deaths divided into vaccinated or not are not published.

When I did my apprenticeship and worked in the factory there were some real characters around, but where have they gone? I guess that some of the stuff we used to do or have done to us would get people sacked these days.