Your Day Today!

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

5 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Why are you making those Himalayan badges then?

It’s not a badge it’s for fabric printing on neck tubes/gators/buffs/skuffs whatever you want to call them. 

I’m using it because I wanted a generic motorcycle print. I already had the Himalayan outline to hand from something else and as these women all rode Himalayans through the Himalayas the connection seemed appropriate, plus the tip of the mountain the front wheel is resting on is the outline of Everest so it just fitted in with that group.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

My son was complaining about being a poor student and how much of his money goes on food so I wrote a cheap eats menu for him that gives two weeks worth of main meals for £22 (£11 a week) but it involves a small amount of effort (chopping and cooking etc) so I didn’t hold out much hope for it. 

He just facetimed for the third day in a row to show me what he’s made and tell me how tasty it is. I’m very very happy  

[boboneleg]

3 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Over 95 quid for a poxy little wire and handle bar mount for the Garmin Zumo XT, have to pay it but what a rip off.

Should have asked me first, it might be the same as the Montana and I have a spare 

[boboneleg]

1 hour ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

The Port du Soleil End of April for a dap about the Alps and a toe dip into Switzerland with a bunch of women (who rode Himalayans in the Himalayas but are wise enough to buy something else ) so there are no dicks on this trip

The Alps at the end of April, that’s going to be interesting on a bike

 

 

[boboneleg]

6 hours ago, XTreme said:

The shop can do it!

There are not many certainty’s in life but one thing is for sure, 

you’re never ever ever going to see a thread started by @XTreme in the motorcycle workshop section 

 

 

 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

9 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

The Alps at the end of April, that’s going to be interesting on a bike

 

 

Where we are going is fine end April beginning of May. One of the women lives there and know the good roads. Tbh the roads were ridiculously clear end of January

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

21 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

Should have asked me first, it might be the same as the Montana and I have a spare 

Thanks Bob but annoyingly the Zumo XT only fits Zumo XT stuff. Supposedly cos they fixed peoples niggles with the other iterations not because they want you locked in to fleece you.. oh no no no

[Sir Fallsalot]

32 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

My son was complaining about being a poor student and how much of his money goes on food so I wrote a cheap eats menu for him that gives two weeks worth of main meals for £22 (£11 a week) but it involves a small amount of effort (chopping and cooking etc) so I didn’t hold out much hope for it. 

He just facetimed for the third day in a row to show me what he’s made and tell me how tasty it is. I’m very very happy  

Same with my boy said he had to go when the wife was on the phone to him because he was cooking meals for the week and the washing machine had just finished a load, couldn't get him to swill his breakfast bowl when he was home

[XTreme]

18 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

you’re never ever ever going to see a thread started by @XTreme in the motorcycle workshop section 

[Sir Fallsalot]

19 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

There are not many certainty’s in life but one thing is for sure, 

you’re never ever ever going to see a thread started by @XTreme in the motorcycle workshop section 

 

 

 

more chance of getting a photo of skyrider's bike then that happening 

[MooN]

19 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Paging all Francophile’s @Tango @MooN and any knowledgeable Euro travel trash.

Someone told me in France if you use a UK debit card at a prepay pump they take the full preauthorised amount (generally 100-130 euros) and refund it at a later date, sometimes much later (as much as 7-10 days later) but if you use a credit card the refund is instant. 

I looked this up and is appears to be true, is it?

If it is and I refuel 4 times over the course of the day using my bank card I could potentially have 400-520 euros taken from my card in one day and have to wait for its return? 

Could do with knowing cos if this is correct as I would defo need put that down as a warning for the others to pay at the kiosk etc.

 

I haven't had an English card for over 25 years, so I'm not going to be much help on this one, I really don't know, sorry.  worth noting that there are fewer and fewer pumps available where you can pay cash. On the autoroutes sure, but elsewhere... not easy, doubly so if you're travelling on a weekend. I have previously come across a number of foreign drivers stuck at a pump cos their card won't work and there's no way to pay in cash.  

have you a planned route yet? 

[MooN]

8 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

We will be using some motorway and from what I’ve read the ferry ports and autoroutes is where taking the full preauthorised amount happens. 

Good to hear you use a debit card and it’s not a problem. Thanks. 

autoroutes you'll be able to pay in cash, at least till 21h00, after that you may need to pay up front, but should still be able to do cash. Fuel will be 10 (ish) percent more expensive than elsewhere. 

[MooN]

3 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

@Tango sorry I know this is open to all kind of humour but you have reflective stickers on your helmet?

I don’t fancy sticking ugly 18cm squared reflective sticker on my beloved Shoei!

This is an ongoinggrey legal grey area so us it to your advantage. In france, you are required to have a certain area of reflective surface on your helmet ie the stickers, BUT some helmet manufacturers have incorporated reflective panels on their lids so no stickers... AND your according to european law, your vehicle must conform to the regulations stipulated in it's country of registration ( otherwise, for example, I couldn't ride in the UK cos my numberplate is too small and my helmet doesnt have a kitemark and you're all going to have to buy new gloves with the euro norm label in them...) SO, the argument is that your veihicule and equipement complies to the legislation within its country of registration and your country of residence. The cops know that it's a legislative nightmareand will steer clear of it unless you give them reason to throw the book at you.    

 I don't have stickers on my lid ( though everything else in in compliance) and in 30 years of riding here i've never had then checked despite having papers and insurance spot checks a couple or 3 times.  

[Tango]

3 hours ago, yen_powell said:

New town hall induction this morning.

At 8am I pulled into our contractor's main yard and parked my bike in the cycle racks. The security bloke was new so demanded to know why I was there (there is a motorcycle workshop next door, so lots of bikes go in there by mistake). I patiently explained who I was, he didn't seem to grasp it, but when a big hairy Irishman walked past and shouted 'Hello Ian...Begorah Potato' to me, he cheered up and asked me to sign in.

I was all set to walk to Bow Road station and go a few stops to Whitechapel Station, but then I spotted someone who is building the new footway outside and he was heading there in 10 minutes, so I cadged a lift.

I got to Whitechapel, helped the bloke who gave me a lift to carry a load of barriers down the road then walked into the temporary entrance of what looks like a building site from the outside.

At 9:15 a load of us trooped into the Council Chamber and we got a brief talk about the building works, some of which we missed as the speakers were playing up. Then got told there is no parking, but 2 bays for disabled residents to use if prebooked in advance for an appointment. We were supposed to be given new ID cards/key fobs, but these hadn't arrived, so all doors are unlocked for the next week. I managed to leave without any sort of key stopping me, so the general public could do the same in reverse. As the general public there has a large percentage of drug addicts and prostitutes, this does not bode well.

With a final word that the Elephant Man's part of the building has been kept we then spent 10 minutes waiting for lifts to take us up to the 4th floor. With paper print outs of desk allocation not having any north point or road names on, confusion reigned for a while. I managed to log my lap top in and there was a request for me to print a plan for my boss when he came in. I sent it then found the single printer that the floor has as we are saving the planet. It didn't work, so it was a wander down to the 3rd floor to try and find their one. That worked but the print was not the best, so it was all the way back up and try again. From now on, the lap top travels with me to the printer!

We had been told we had to unpack our crates asap, but on arrival no storage had been allocated to us, so they said to wait a few days. We just stuck a label on the nearest cupboards, whilst Environmental Health ran about shouting, this is mine, this is mine, this and this is mine etc.

We had a suicide at work last year, someone jumped from a high floor into a public area, so I was shocked to see desks next to a low wall above a long drop in this new building (see pics)

Upon leaving to head home I only walked into the same bloke who had given me a lift, jammy or what?. Unfortunately, he got nabbed to drive a large forklift around the block a few times to move pallets of setts to the main workers before we finally set off back to the yard to collect my bike.

The general area, described as vibrant. This is where the drug addicts stand all day. They had all left for dinner in a local charity when I took this.

Waiting to be inducted with no lube

The Council Chamber before it filled up.

One of the old hospital stair wells spruced up.

The long drop next to the third floor desks.

Looking out some of the windows whilst searching for a working printer.

 

 

When I first went to the Royal London Hospital, around 1990, it was in that old building. The pathology lab was on the first floor, directly above the old main entrance. I used to blag a parking spot on the ramp to the entrance. The medical school was spread across several old buildings in the surrounding roads. Most of that has now gone. Pathology moved to the new building a couple of streets back from the Whitechapel Road a good few years ago.  Spent many an hour in there installing and repairing their chemistry analysers!

Parking was always an issue around there!

[MooN]

3 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Yer I have all that stuff on the list

Having experienced the plod looking for something bookable while Mr Slowly was broken down I think it best (especially as a group of women on uk plates stands out a little more than the usual) that everyone is as up together as possible. 

Further... you DO NOT NEED f'in breathalysers, the rule was never ever applied to motorcycles and was rapidly "abrogée" ( rendered nul) for all vehicles as inapplicable)  

You are supposed to have a UK sticker ( no Longer GB) and you must effectively have a hi vis vest on the bike which must be worn in an emergency situation ( break down on the road, accident etc)

The speed limit Outside a town or village is now 80km/h and NOT 90... EXCEPT for certain main roads in and out of a departement which have gone back up to 90... read the sign posts! ( this has been left to the discretion of the prefects so there are no hard and fast rules about this)

I've never heard of being required to carry a 2nd pair of glasses in the vehicle and I have one daughter with glasses who passed her test a couple of years ago and 2 others who both passed their theory test last month.

You are NOT required to carry spare bulbs FFS!  again this was never applicable to motorcycles and is ignored for cars now as most modern cars need to have the front bumper removed to replace a bulb. 

If someone at the ferry port tries to sell you beam benders, or breathalysers ( and they will) tell then to fuck off, they're NOT a legal requirement despite what the AA would have you believe and beam benders are not valid for motorcucle headlight beams  ( they tried this on me last time I took the ferry) 

The french police are not morons ( mostly) and if a group of ladies on bikes might draw more attention, the Frenchs are still a little old fashioned in their attitude towards ladies, which I guess has it's upsides as well as its downs... 

That second updated link to "drive France is much better and up to date. 

 

I just read that you are planning on dipping into switzerland. Just a word of warning, whilst in France radar detectors are illegal and radar site warnings based on coordonates or cooperative signalling ( waze, coyote, etc) via sat nav or phone app, these apps are very illegal in switzerland, to the point that the "Coyote" app ( a community based app) issued an advisory warning to actually uninstall the app form your phone before entering switzerland as their uses and even possession is illegal. 

[XTreme]

14 minutes ago, MooN said:

Further... you DO NOT NEED f'in breathalysers, the rule was never ever applied to motorcycles and was rapidly "abrogée" ( rendered nul) for all vehicles as inapplicable)  

You are supposed to have a UK sticker ( no Longer GB) and you must effectively have a hi vis vest on the bike which must be worn in an emergency situation ( break down on the road, accident etc)

The speed limit Outside a town or village is now 80km/h and NOT 90... EXCEPT for certain main roads in and out of a departement which have gone back up to 90... read the sign posts! ( this has been left to the discretion of the prefects so there are no hard and fast rules about this)

I've never heard of being required to carry a 2nd pair of glasses in the vehicle and I have one daughter with glasses who passed her test a couple of years ago and 2 others who both passed their theory test last month.

You are NOT required to carry spare bulbs FFS!  again this was never applicable to motorcycles and is ignored for cars now as most modern cars need to have the front bumper removed to replace a bulb. 

If someone at the ferry port tries to sell you beam benders, or breathalysers ( and they will) tell then to fuck off, they're NOT a legal requirement despite what the AA would have you believe and beam benders are not valid for motorcucle headlight beams  ( they tried this on me last time I took the ferry) 

The french police are not morons ( mostly) and if a group of ladies on bikes might draw more attention, the Frenchs are still a little old fashioned in their attitude towards ladies, which I guess has it's upsides as well as its downs... 

 

Meanwhile in Spain they couldn't give a fuck! 

And I saw a news report that, unlike the northern European countries, no Brit has ever been deported from Spain for over-staying the 90 days. Seems they couldn't give a fuck about that either! 

I even know somebody who had residency, left in 2016 and stayed outside Spain for six and a half years. Thereby invalidating his residency.

Spain didn't even know that he ever left, his residency was still valid, and I suppose even if they did know they wouldn't give a fuck! 

Spain is truly the epicentre of not giving a fuck!

[Sir Fallsalot]

3 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Meanwhile in Spain they couldn't give a fuck! 

And I saw a news report that, unlike the northern European countries, no Brit has ever been deported from Spain for over-staying the 90 days. Seems they couldn't give a fuck about that either! 

I even know somebody who had residency, left in 2016 and stayed outside Spain for six and a half years. Thereby invalidating his residency.

Spain didn't even know that he ever left, and I suppose even if they did they wouldn't give a fuck! 

Spain is truly the epicentre of not giving a fuck!

Well that's obvious because they let you in and even let you stay 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

42 minutes ago, MooN said:

Further... you DO NOT NEED f'in breathalysers, the rule was never ever applied to motorcycles and was rapidly "abrogée" ( rendered nul) for all vehicles as inapplicable)  

You are supposed to have a UK sticker ( no Longer GB) and you must effectively have a hi vis vest on the bike which must be worn in an emergency situation ( break down on the road, accident etc)

The speed limit Outside a town or village is now 80km/h and NOT 90... EXCEPT for certain main roads in and out of a departement which have gone back up to 90... read the sign posts! ( this has been left to the discretion of the prefects so there are no hard and fast rules about this)

I've never heard of being required to carry a 2nd pair of glasses in the vehicle and I have one daughter with glasses who passed her test a couple of years ago and 2 others who both passed their theory test last month.

You are NOT required to carry spare bulbs FFS!  again this was never applicable to motorcycles and is ignored for cars now as most modern cars need to have the front bumper removed to replace a bulb. 

If someone at the ferry port tries to sell you beam benders, or breathalysers ( and they will) tell then to fuck off, they're NOT a legal requirement despite what the AA would have you believe and beam benders are not valid for motorcucle headlight beams  ( they tried this on me last time I took the ferry) 

The french police are not morons ( mostly) and if a group of ladies on bikes might draw more attention, the Frenchs are still a little old fashioned in their attitude towards ladies, which I guess has it's upsides as well as its downs... 

That second updated link to "drive France is much better and up to date. 

 

I just read that you are planning on dipping into switzerland. Just a word of warning, whilst in France radar detectors are illegal and radar site warnings based on coordonates or cooperative signalling ( waze, coyote, etc) via sat nav or phone app, these apps are very illegal in switzerland, to the point that the "Coyote" app ( a community based app) issued an advisory warning to actually uninstall the app form your phone before entering switzerland as their uses and even possession is illegal. 

Thanks for all the info @MooN it’s appreciated.

I have read many articles and what surprises most is the lack decent information from sources you’d normally consider reliable touting out of date or untrue crap.

Nobody bothering with certain laws is dependant on if they want to find something to fine you for, my experience of the plod is they are often ill informed themselves in the vagaries of law and in a foreign country you are in no position to tell them they are wrong. As you point out a group of women on UK plates isn’t exactly flying under the radar so whatever keeps their tiny minds content is fine by me. 

Interesting to read even having the app is illegal in Switzerland.

I haven’t planned the route yet as one of the group was all for a long mile eating day on the first day and a shorter scenic ride through a gorge on the second, unfortunately another is isn’t really capable of that so I’m manoeuvring an agreement to split the mileage from Ouisteham to Chatel into two equal(ish) days. I imagine I’ll have a happy accord within the next couple of days. 

@XTreme no they don’t fuss about stuff and that’s why I love them!

 

 

[XTreme]

1 minute ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

@XTreme no they don’t fuss about stuff and that’s why I love them!

Doing as little as possible is in their DNA Caroline!

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

ps @MooN breathalysers and helmet stickers are on the list of things to tell them they dont need to bother with, not a list of things to take

[Six30]

9 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

ps @MooN breathalysers and helmet stickers are on the list of things to tell them they dont need to bother with, not a list of things to take

beware of this , mainly in villages....  Priorité a droite

[Skippy]

In the UK sorting out admin for my dad. It’s cold, grey and definitely miserable………and that’s not only the weather.

On the plus side the pub breakfast was the bollocks!

[Skippy]

10 hours ago, XTreme said:

Meanwhile in Spain they couldn't give a fuck! 

And I saw a news report that, unlike the northern European countries, no Brit has ever been deported from Spain for over-staying the 90 days. Seems they couldn't give a fuck about that either! 

I even know somebody who had residency, left in 2016 and stayed outside Spain for six and a half years. Thereby invalidating his residency.

Spain didn't even know that he ever left, his residency was still valid, and I suppose even if they did know they wouldn't give a fuck! 

Spain is truly the epicentre of not giving a fuck!

………..and that’s why you and me fit right in Pete. I honestly don’t give a fuck about most things and it keeps me sane.

[Saul]

Emailed my Boss today telling him I want to give up overnight working, and asked if I can work evenings and days.  Gonna be an interesting week I think.  

[Clive]

8 minutes ago, Saul said:

Emailed my Boss today telling him I want to give up overnight working, and asked if I can work evenings and days.  Gonna be an interesting week I think.  

When I worked in the pit I did not mind day & night shifts, but afternoon shift I hated, could not do much in the morning before work, and too late to do most things after the shift, it just seemed to be bed & work.