MooN

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHRRRGGGG..... road lice!

having spent yesterday ( saturday) hibernating, i spent all morning failing miserably to unblock the bath outflow pipe AGAIN! we'll have to call a plumber monday cos my shoulders just aren't up working in the neccessary positions. I was pissed off about that so I pissed off... for a ride. only a couple of hours but I have managed to find the limit of comvort of my winter gloves with heated grips but without bar muffs. 3 degrees c, cos that's all it was and my fingers got bloody cold. no pics cos I would have droped the camera and I really didn't want to stop anyway, but the route went like this

thay offered to send fighter jets... no one mentioned anything about pilots...

IHaven't the UK just decided to NOT exploit the Orkney oil fields because they can buy all they need in gas from Russia? What do they think Russia will do if the UK gets involved in trying to keep Rssia out of Ukraine? "Shut the tap comrade pipeline technician"

or someone's donc a crap conversion, they've put the forks on upside down...

yeah but his age it wouldn't have an engine

get something yer own age it's got radial brakes too

so Buck was right! well I guess that telling everyone to fuck off, he was bound to be right sooner or later

have they flounced already, the "view member" link comes up wi nuttin!

from 2014 I think.

they're built in thailand Pete...

I like the multifacetedness of "carry on Motorcycling" but I also think that non brits won't get it.

Never doubt the courage of the French! it was they who discovered that snails are edible...

i know a few people here as would chase after him for an "explacation"...

just finished " The Yellow admiral" by Patrick O'Brian, the 17th in the Jack Aubry series popularised by the film "Master and Commander" based on the 1st of the series. just 2 more to go "The Hundred Days" and "Blue at the Mizzen". then I'll have finished the whole series for the 3rd or 4th time...

everyday occurence, nearly. Good job you were switched on, but I bet the air went blue under your lid . your missus nearly shat herself though

shit weather here forcast all weekend, not particularly cold ( though It snowed a little yeaterday) but wet and generally crappy. No plans really. got to go buy some socks... how exciting is THAT!?

old folk not having their flu vaccine does not endanger the entire country's economy or oblige the rest of the population to stay at home to avoid catching it. I used the money argument because the vast majority of political level decisions are based solely on this criteria, morality or ethics doesn't bear any weight today when there are millions in question. Untill the covid problem is resolved, most recreational activities are stopped or vastly restricted ( but I take your point though am not scholar enough to make a coherent or non hypocrital response) there are many obligatory vaccinations that are , or were, obligatory in order to eradicate a world wide desease ( polio, german measles etc) 5 million French over 14's are not vaccinated. that's about 8,percent of the population. if you remove the million or so who can't be vaccinated for medically justifiable reasons then it's even less. it just seems unjustifiable that the country is being destroyed in the name of freedom of choice for 8 % of the population. I do like the TNT suggestion though...

oooh, not heard that one, any sources cited ( other than " somebody told me he read it on facebook?) It's not on the news sources here yet the latest INFOX seems to be that "immigrants constitute 50% of covid deaths in France" and that tap water is covid positive... the only references I can find to a new variant in france are english, the only reference I can find in French relate to a varient back in november last year. The uk sites seem to report a variant imported from the Cameroons (?) even more infectious than Omicron, affecting 10 or 12 patients in the marseille area. I have no idea how reliable or not these sources might be.

"antivaxxers" is maybe not the right term as it evokes the rabid eejits who want to convert all and sundry to their cause, I mean those who refuse the vaccine on fallacious grounds. I understand the ethical problems linked to any limitation of freedom of choice but, it looks like ( from where I'm standing) that the freedom of choice of a small percentage of the populatoion is being valued more highly than the freedom of choice of a huge majority who want to be able to go to work, live without a mask, be able to see their family and travel freely. Please undesrtand I make no moral judgement here, I simply say that this is NOT how democracy is supposed to work. democracy in it's simplest form is "majority rule", though some would say that democracy is simply the tyranny of the majority over the wishes of the minority, Macron is not proposing compulsory vaccination ( he couldn't get away with that) but he is proposing that the covid pass becomes a vaccin pass, so those who are unvaccinated can no longer access bars, clubs, restaurants, cinemas, etc etc etc but those who have a full schema vaccinal can. Seems fair to me, with no vaccination these venues were closed to everybody anyway, with a vaccination they bagan to re open but are now closing again due, in majority, to people who refuse to get vaccinated, if that is their preference then fine but they mustn't impose their choice on the rest of us , they can remain unvaccinated whilst we get on with our lives. remember that in the UK the treatement of the unvaccinated is paid for out of your taxes. In many parts of the world (france for example) that is not the case ( or only partly) and we pay insurance for health care. Those insurance premiums are going to skyrocket in order to pay for the treatment of the unvaccinated and whilst I am happy to pay for people who are genuinely sick, I struggle to justify doing so for those who make a conscious decision to refuse a preventive treatement and subsequently fall ill as a direct result of that decision.

well Monsieur Macron has kicked up a fuckin storm here re covid, he said that he wanted to piss off the non vaccinated... I dunno what the fuss is about, he only dared to say what the majority are thinking, that's how democracy is supposed to work isn't it? the latest french figures ( which concur with my experience of friends and colleagues who have or have had the omicron variant despite being vaccinated) is that the vaccine doesn't stop you getting it but apart from about 1or 2 percent of cases, if your vaccines are up to date then it's o worse than a common cold or a mild dose of flu, doesn't stop you working or going about life as normal. which means that 90 odd% of the country are facing lockdown, restrictions, and even bankruptcy in order to protect the 10 ish% who refuse to be vaccinated. This is NOT how democracy is supposed to work. yes I'm pissed off with itand its about time someone uped and told the antivaccins that they can fuck off and die.

Amaury is out! had a good start this morning and was running in position 57 having made up more time on the leaders, riding hard he rode into the dust of the quad he was catching up to and thinks he hit a step or a lip which threw him in the air, came down hard and broke an ankle, he had to crawl some distance back to the bike ( that reminds me of someone, eh @Tym ) in order to activate his emergemcy beacon. A helico was there within 15 minutes so he's safe, if not sound, and of course bitterly dissapointed. Yer Welshman, Hewitt is currently 126th but he hasn't finished yet.

Amaury is now 64th, 45 minutes behind the leader and 77th overall, GO MOMO!

guy I know riding for 2nd time this year in the "Malle moto" category, Amaury Baratin, Bib N0 79. finished 87 of 144 on the first day despite a fuel pump problem, lost 2 hours or more on the 2nd stage due to same problem and getting very lost, finished 94th spent the night stripping fuel pumps and relays then gained 29 places and made up an hour today to finish 65th, ( 82nd overall) 1h08 behind the leader. having had no more fuel pump issues. long way to go yet. Simon Hewitt curently 135th. 3,5 hrs behind the leader

thanks Yen, great pics