MooN

'course it's f'kin wet Tym, most of the country is under water... or would be if they weren't pumping it out all the time. freaking cold winters too, I know some guys who worked a coule of seasons in Lemmer on the hire fleets and they had really really cold winters.

I was then adopted at the age of 2 months so have no biological history at all, hence the reference to "bloodlines" in my earlier post. I could tell you the history of my adopted family back 3 or 4 generations but is that relevent? ( there's a philosophical question in there somewhere about biological and physiological history and a discussion on whether blood is really thicker than water, and what makes a perseon who they are, but this is probably not the ideal time or place )

Despite the first flights of cranes already heading back north, it' still defininately winter here. The sun was out yesterday afternoon and the temps were nearly up to double figures ( but not quite) so I donned all the thermal gear and went for a ride. I didn't get moving unill nearly 3pm so the sun was well past it's already low winter zenith and as I hate riding with the sun in my eyes I rode NW for a while keepin the sun on my left cheek, the idea being that as it sank lower I would turn NE to have it behind me and then ride South as it dropped below the tree line and so end up back at my departure point... "ish" As the sun was low there was very low the pics are all taken facing NW-ish and with looong shadows. by the time I got home at around 5,30pm the temperature had dropped to around 3c and I'd had the heated grips on for an hour already. still very bare trees I did manage to find an abandoned house for @XTreme, No I didn't go and explore it cos I couldn't be arsed. there were also one or two little lanes that lured me away from the chosen direction, mostly ending in a field or farm yard but otherwise I just follow them through and pick up my original heading at the next opportunity.

yeah, that and the French didn't want you. . you'll find the dutch very different from the spanish Pete, mostly very nice and open but they have some wierd relationships with money...

If by ancestry you mean "bloodlines"; I was born in the London bourough of Merton. That's all I've got.

Last minuit changes! Due to the risk of not being able to get back into france and the complications that would involve for the family ( not to mention to my wallet) we had decided that I would be going to the UK alone on the 21st, We decided to wait till the 11th before booking a crossing and cancelling the cottage reservatoion as this was the date the UK announced it was dropping the need for a covid test within 48 hrs of arrival and I wanted to see if France would reciprocate and drop the need for a negative test 48hrs before comig home. no announcement was made during the day yesterday so wifey cancelled here holiday time with work ( nice of them to allow that) and in the evening I sat down to make my travel plans, cancel the holiday cottage and reserve a crossing for just me. I was an the ferry booking page when Mrs MooN told me they'd just announced that France is dropping the requirement for fully vaccinated voyagers from an "orange" country to show proof of a negative test on arrival. So, back to "plan A" for us too ( insofar as we actually had a plan at all...) and it now looks like we will be travelling " En Famille" after all. @boboneleg you're going to need a bigger tin of biscuits mate.... Seriously though, it'd be great to say hi if you're around at all that week, I guess you're about an hour and a half from Witney, something like that. If you want to meet up somewhere for a beer / tea/ coffee, whatever. I'll drop you a PM from here soon as I know exactly what our plans are.

Oh we can judge them all we like Pete, you're just not allowed to SAY it.

yeah I heard about it a lot too when I had the transalp, that and anodised wheels rotting from the inside out. I never had any problem with it though and it was 26 years old when I sold it, though to be fair I never made a point of looking for problems...

@Grasshopper's Ride I think we just discovered what you would need in order to be deleted from the site...

funny that, I think I was doing about 140km/h by the time I had to brake for that first righ hander...

I don't have a garage Pete and the temperatures all week have been steadily below freezing, the car washes all shut down and there's no point washing it in the dark at home. The only reason thee was an empty spot is coz the car drivers are thick as pigshit and from the end of the queue you can4t see if there's someone in the end bay or not, I hapenned to notice that rotary arm of the pressure washer that you can see above the walls wasn't moving... the gendarmes came past that end before turning in so obviously saw it was empty. They are TDM's. 900's i believe but the back end is adapted specifically to accomodate the Gendarme's equipement ( radio antenna, lights, pole light, fire extinguisher etc.

Mate of mine in Norwich sill navigates by cafes and pubs he was banned from in the late 70's cos he was a biker troublemaker

Sun is out, temps are 5deg c + and the bike is filthy from last weeks foray onto the cruddy winter roads. So, To the car wash we go. It only took me about an hour and a half to ride the 10 minute trip to the wash, but In my defence I took the scenic route I reversed this route Ok I didn't reverse the bike round this route, but the map shows the start and finish the wrong way round and gives it a clockwise direction. I rode it anticlockwise. Clear? to te north of Auxerre the countryside is more open than I normally ride, but that way the surfaces were pretty much dried by sun and wind whereas in the woods where I usually hide it would still be cold and damp. When I eventually got to the jetwash thingy it was bloody heaving, the continually sub zero temperatures we've had for the last few weeks have prevented any car washing activities so I guess I had just had the same idea as everybody else. There was an 8 carr queue for the 4 pressure washer bays and another 6 waiting for the 2 roller wash porticos. after about 2 minutes sat in line I realised that the 4th and farthest was bay had no one in it but that none of the cars could get past the first in line who was so close to bay n03 that he could no longer manouvre for bay 4...whilst I was deciding whether I could jump the queue or not, 2 police bikes came in, rode up alongside the line and straight into bay 4. Beat me to it the bastards was the phrase forming in my mind when I saw one of them walk out of the bay, point at me and wave me on around the queue of cars. As I pulled up behind them ( both their bikes in the bay side by side, the gendarme said to me, " if they're all fucking stupid enough to not work that out then they deserve to wait" A pair of blue liveried TDM's of the Gendarmerie, and a happy Tigrou. 100 od km's and 2 hours by the time I'd mucked about fuelling, taking photo's and hobnobbing with the poilce.

There used to be a Templar "commanderie" in Auxerre and legend has it that one of their mythical treasures is hidden somewhere in the area, there's often some nutter or other trying to find it.

well i you've got a nail gun as well I think Gymwitch has the names of a couple of people she'd like you to "have a word" with...

you really shouldn't be thinking at 3am Tym. it's not good for you.

Sun's just come out here and it's almost 4 degc.

I seem to be having an existential crisis in my reading habits and in some odd spirit of escapism am re reading the books I read as a child which all seem to be pre war or inter war adventure stories. All a little bit "Jeeves and Wooster" but mostly very well written. I haven't got desperate enough to re read my old copies of " Jennings" or " Biggles" but I just finished John Buchan's "The thirty nine steps" and have now started "The riddle of the sands" by Erskine Childers.

mil spec NBC kit. I seem to remember they used to call it " NBC = No Bloody Chance"

maybe manage to get out for a spin on saturday afternoon. The Mrs is workimg all weekend so Im on animal feeding duties...

That's shitty, I hope he's insured, but whatever happens your holidays fucked.

fair comment

the numbers of cases and new cases isn't falling yet here though it has , allegedly, in the UK. When it starts falling here then I'm sure they will follow suit, it's just the timing of everything is fucked up in our particular case.

by car and chunnel if with wife and kids. Car & ferry if I'm on my own. The problem for the wife is that she's recently chenged jobs and is still on her "trial period" when either party can stop the contract with no notice or or specific "fault". Another month and that wouldn't be a problem, but then the kids wouldn't be on holiday...