Slowlycatchymonkey

It’s alright Saul, you can get therapy to fix that

Well we are aren’t we and thats no bother for the majority, I’d even go as far to say differences are often enjoyed. The nasty and extreme minority are always loud and the media love clickbait. Although when applying fragmented to the haves and the have nots, the privileged out of touch twats who lord over us deciding how to stuff their pockets at our expense with no regard for people who can’t afford to turn the heating on is quite fragmenting.

I think thats a lovely way to do it but I don’t enjoy riding that way. Or road riding with other people generally. Constantly looking in the mirror slowing down or speeding up because of the person behind you is not my idea of a fun ride. A lot of the time we ride together but but if one of us fancies a blast or the other just wants to dawdle then thats no worries, ride at your own pace and meet there. Overtaking when riding with someone else is another reason I’d rather not strictly ride together. Say you’ve had multiple opportunities to overtake and the person behind hasn’t, you either have to sit there in traffic waiting for catch up (which ruins the flow), ignoring any further opportunities to overtake or simply enjoy the ride. Course that has its consequences if something happens but it’s no different to going out for a ride on your tod.

Site traffic slow this evening?

I don’t believe you don’t understand. You are not allowed to run around a carriageway endangering others regardless of what led you to do that. And with no witnesses it simply looked like and unsecured load which I would be responsible for shedding. Ask any lorry driver if you could get prosecuted for that.

Is that birthday gruel served in sunny holiday destinations?

Yer but have you ever actually done anything wrong to test out that decency? Or are you talking about minor interactions by a law a biding citizen?

ps I heartily recommend the Himalayan for it, it’s just not what anyone’s looking for and the panniers are huge, one trip can set you up for a year.

Says you moneybags

Really? Firstly they would have wanted an explanation and probably a statement (particularly if it involves what looks like the shedding of an unsecured load) and I wanted to get on a plane and go home not spend forever fucking about with the police. Secondly running around the carriageway with or without a Hi-Viz is an offence, here in the UK of endangering others, suspect its the similar in Spain. Thirdly unless you live in a cosy world where the police don’t get things wrong and only prosecute the guilty you are better off wising up and getting the fuck out of there. Being innocent doesn’t protect you. It was entirely possible me collecting stuff in busy motorway traffic was caught on camera. You give the police a lot of credit that experience means I do not. It wasn’t that long ago we were were broken down and while 3 of the 4 policemen were lovely, the 4th was looking to book us, examining the bikes, going through our documents, he was a nasty piece and thats all it takes. Hmm different planets I think.

Yer the majority of reasons stated were cost of living (and the poll was prior to the energy price hikes), pace of life/work life balance and fragmented society.

Cheers Saul I fear may have used up one of my nine lives

Over 50% of Brits in the poll said they’d rather live somewhere else!

Correct.

The last instalment of the Autovia hit n run carriageway dance. TLDR everything turned out fine. Both Mr Slowly and I were tired and weak from whatever that hideous coughing bug was so we’d agreed to lead half way each. I had only just waved Mr Slowly in front of me a few hundred metres back so I’d watched him disappear into the distance from the ground of the hard shoulder. Bugger, I’ve lost my muscle. Given the hearing aids are tiny bits of black plastic, the motorway is the same colour and everything is spread over such a large distance I’m surprised I have all the parts for both of them, my pannier key and both sets of house keys in my hands. In-spite of close shaves (that are occasionally still flashing before my eyes when I close them) it’s only then I realise how fucking stupid it is and go back to the hard shoulder. I’m pacing back to my bike as fast as I can but I’m fairly out of breath by now, I just need to get the bike back upright and get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. I wasn’t particularly concerned about picking the bike up, loaded it’s well over 200kg but armed with many oops experiences on the Himalayan and jacked with enough adrenaline to propel myself to the moon and back I set about trying to right it. It was having none of it. The hard shoulder had a distinct downward camber and the bars were in the barriers so the bike couldn’t be dragged back and there just wasn’t room for me to get my weight under the bike to use my legs to lever it up. I tried anyway (he who dares Rodders) and made it worse, as I pushed, the front of the bike lurched further into the barrier jolting me forward for a close up view of the abyss, I didn’t need to that see for a second time and stopped. I text Mr Slowly to say I’d dropped my bike on the hard shoulder (no need to panic him with the truth) and that I was fine but could he come back round and help pick up the bike ASAP As I stand there I contemplate how long I have before the police appear, if maybe someone might stop (that thought coincided with a fellow biker flying past my arse ) and briefly consider that Brexit could be my friend on this occasion as the traffic offences in Spain are no longer enforceable through the EU. This jogs my memory about my hi-viz which I discover is of course stuck in the pannier that’s wedged against the ground. I prize the pannier open a crack and slide my hi viz out, it’s stowed in the lid so I only have to open it an inch or so, at least that was a wise move. Miracle, a van pulls over and a woman jumps out, she speaks no English and I discover adrenaline wipes out any Spanish I have but I understand she’s repeatedly asking if I’m ok. I say si repeatedly back and using the internationally recognised language of charades ask if she can help pick up my bike. We try but it’s too wedged. She shouts to the van and I’m relieved to see someone who’s as wide as they are tall. Although what he added to the mix was surprisingly little, the three of us watched wing mirror glass explode over the hard shoulder as we pulled the bike from the barrier. Still no popo?!! There were camera warnings on the sat nav continually as I was riding but could it be I crashed in between surveillance cams Just as the lovely Spanish couple asked me for the 20th time if I was ok Mr Slowly pulls up and the couple look relieved their responsibilities are over. I manage my tenth Muchos Gracias mixed with some weird namaste type thankyou which I can only think must be hard wired from the last time I thought I was going to cark it and had to thank some Nepalese mountain man Mr Slowly is dubious about whether I’m ok but I insist the sweaty heavy breathing maniac he’s looking at is just my crash look “Did you see any debris on the carriageway?” “No.” “Good we need to get out of here fast.” I arrive at airport parking with the recent stupidity reeling around, dismount and have an overwhelming urge to vom but manage not to. The airport parking bitch of the “you pay ten euros for bike charge” fame is all over me repeatedly saying “you never pay” I didn’t know if she meant you didn’t pay last time or you don’t ever have to pay but I wasn’t in the mood for it. So I sent her away. Mr Slowly hadn’t received my text. The biker who passed me had seen the Enfield with a Brit plate and flagged him down onto the hard shoulder. The language barrier meant the message was a pointy fingered “AMIGO” and a slap on his side, looking like he fell and the word “GO” pointing back down the motorway implying I’d been hit, which of course put the wind up him. Good on the guy though ay. We got to the airport just in the nick of time after having eaten up the 3 hours leeway to pelt through security and passport control and find out the flight was slightly delayed, we arrived home on schedule like nothing had happened. I would never have considered stepping out onto the carriageway if it hadn’t been for my hearing aids. I think it was so deeply emotive to be given your hearing back and then the threat of having it taken away again, it bypasses the logical part of your brain which if it had had a look in would have said fuck no! I surprised myself, I’m well known for maintaining a psychopathic level of calm in stressful situations and don’t act before I think but I caught an eye opening glimpse of another world where not thinking see’s you finding a dumb way to die If you made it this far into a wall of text. Thanks for bothering to read it.

Nice pics. Shame the topbox brought my lunch back up Missing Spain so much. Did you know it recently placed 4th as most desired place to live, only Switzerland, Canada and somewhere else I can’t remember ranked higher. Britain ranked 27th

Maybe he was a bit too much of mirror for Adolf.

Oof That wasn’t the usual Sunday morning light read. I’m going to need several cups of tea now.

@XTreme what was that Franco thing you said I should have a look at? I can’t remember!

Just having a little read up on Cueta and Melilla. It’s mental that a country rucks up at another continent and says “this bit, this bit is ours” and hundreds of years later I can get a ferry from Spain to.. Spain in what’s really Morocco. But then that’s exactly what Gibraltar is.

I do not know, my assumption would be yes but the whole system is opaque and even when you know what you’re looking for the information is inconsistent. Even something supposedly straight forward like the applying for the NIE varies from region to region with a distinct flavour of make it up as you go along!

Oh and bonus apparently it then works anywhere in the Schengen area.

Happy Sunday @Six30 I’ve just read something about Spanish residency that might interest you. Residency is not entirely closed if your incomes considered high enough. Theres a thing called a Non-lucrative Visa where if you can show proof of income above a certain threshold you can apply for a residence visa. At the moment this is £23,225 for the main applicant and £5805 for your partner per annum. So you don’t have to go down the Golden visa route (which they are considering scrapping) or invest. Just prove you have an income and would not become a burden to the govt. https://www.healthplanspain.com/blog/expat-tips/1129-non-lucrative-visas-spain.html https://www.healthplanspain.com/blog/expat-tips/1129-non-lucrative-visas-spain.html