Slowlycatchymonkey

Hope its under control, not too close to where you live and theres rain on the forecast soon

Whats the smoke then? Have you had any rain yet? Edit- just saw your comment on another thread saying you need rain.

Great pics and report, enjoyed that. Six pack Jesus bet he was popular. Glad you were only “a little hungry” because that lunch was tiny

Well now everyone’s caught between the devil and the deep blue sea aren’t they?! Cos no-one would wish Covid on anyone and yet he we sit fearing the consequences if you don’t

I say its all Bucksters doing, most things are

Bloody hell, have you been having photography lessons or are you making passers by take them? Some great bike shots on this trip.

Ultracrepidarians (a collection of Beemer riders)

A snollygoster of mopeds.

Variable per m2 depending on depth. Its been a busy month. I could tell but then Id have to kill you.

Concrete. We build a new unit every year.

Yer that was the damning conclusion from a prison governor who followed up the outcomes of his inmates. They leave without employable skills or a pathway back into society and a few new undesirable skills learnt from each other.

Actually thats a crappy thing about the Livewire- no manual, apparently its all online.

Oh god theres nothing more vicious than a group of women ganging up to bring the competition down... sigh.

Theres a pair included with the user manual along with some galoshes.

Hypocrites. Good on ya for saying something.

TBH Marcel Ive read nothing about the bike. Mr Slowly fancied it, it was a superb deal so we agreed we'd get it and share it. I resisted reading anything about it (that was hard for me) because I didn't want my thoughts on it skewed by the anti electric bike brigade so decided I'd just get it, ride it for a while and wait n see how I found it.

Only on the other side of the Mendips so not a lot of hassle if you want to go one day The lack of humanity is felt throughout. Dodgy topic but the way we currently treat prisoners in the UK isn’t much better, it leads to an over 50% reoffending rate. In Norway it’s 20%. Our desire “to make people pay” means every does, the tax payer and everyone around them they impact as they repeat offend. A judge in Norway 2019 refused to extradite a man due to our prisons being “inhumane” Last year they were reporting 3/4s of prisoners were locked in for 23hrs a day- a recipe for madness if there ever was one. There are many great examples of better ways to do it in other countries but being seen to be “tough on crime” is such a political football we stick with the same broken system.

I’m probably going to regret asking this but who’s little John? Names familiar but I can dredge nothing from the memory banks.

A Chucky eyed lost toy this time.. run run as fast as you can

Oh and I asked someone who works there to take this one Pete styley

Sounds a bit hairy but managed like pros Glad there were no obvious injuries. Bike of the month pic in there for sure.

Like @boboneleg before me the £14 entry fee made me think no thanks. But this place has been slap bang in the centre of Shepton Mallet since the 1600’s and having watched some amazing history destroyed by developers (particularly in Bristol and Guildford) it felt like- see it now while you can. I coughed up the £14 expecting to do a half an hour march around the place and get out before the heat hit. There was a party being guided around by a very competent and entertaining person but other than that I had the place to myself, I wandered around an empty decaying prison for over two hours and thats something given the heat and the no flex mobike boots I couldnt walk in The place only closed to prisoners 2013. This is main yard, in a more humane time you were allowed out for an hour a day. In Victorian times that was single file anti-clockwise walk in silence for an hour. Standing in three tiers of prison cells totally on your tod is an experience. You're free to wander where you want and open any door you like, very little is shut to off to you, youre just trusted to wander around this large complex at your own pace. The cells were (unsurprisingly) small, a board informs you that prison numbers meant at one time many of these tiny cells had four beds in them Theres something weirdly appealing about decay, peeling paint has its own thing going on and this place is peeeeling! There are no cells against the outer wall, this is to stop tunnelling out. There are many information boards throughout about the different stages of the prison and life inside the walls. Not wanting to get caught up for too long I photographed them with the intention of reading them later but most were so interesting I stopped and read the whole thing. Gaol fever, the execution room and the executioners, the military prison, segregation of men and women (that was a more modern thing than you’d think), the hard larbour (a treadmill, rock breaking, the hideous sounding ‘Oakham breaking’) force feeding suffragettes, the separate wing for snitches, peadophiles and policemen and the poltergeist of a woman who died in her wedding dress all well explained on boards. The 1600’s part is buried under the current building. It was literally built on top. But some tiny parts are still accessible. Undeterred by the current health and safety rules you’re still allowed to go up the stairs (“warning these are narrow, steep, uneven and have no hand rail”) and see where the look out lived. You can climb through a “hole in the wall” to see the 1600’s cells. Such tiny dark pits, theres no way anyones coming out alive. It was dark in there and when the flash illuminated the joining cells, seeing the hand on the bars did make me jump! A very low ceiling not for the taller folk! I’ll be going back for a second look, possibly on a guided tour so I can ask the questions that today thew up but if you like old shite this is for you. I certainly won’t be booking “an over night stay” or “in the dark night time paranormal tour” A surprising number of Caroline’s were transported Going to uni and doing nurse training in the 90’s meant spending a lot of time in ageing institutional settings. Brookwood (the step down from Broadmoor) St Peters at Chertsey, St Lukes in Guildford where we received lectures in the workhouse that still had the stone breaking cells underneath, the BRIs ‘Old Building’ and the Bristol General Hospital (conceived in the Georgian era and finished in the Victorian, only closing in 2012). The surprise today was they smell the same. It must be the type of stone used the type of paint the disinfectants, I dont know what but it smells like only those places do, even now after a decade of disuse Im transported back!

Most folk only see ‘ooh look its a womany thing on a bike’ and dont see the bike at all! Had a bit of fun with some MANLY bikers on the way back.. oh no beaten by a girl boohoo I dont stop to mention Im a middling rider on a superior bike .. oh no I just bathe in the temporary glory