Skippy

Yep that seems the easiest option, going to have more time on Thursday plus an extra pair of hands/eyes so I’ll let you know how we get on.

Almost certainly mate, well that’s the only thing I can think of. It’s not like it’s a moving part that has snapped, I would have expected the hoses to split over time but not what’s happened. I’ve got a mate popping around tomorrow to have a look and see if he can come up with a fix. He’s pretty inventive so fingers crossed.

Yeah she’s always been a tight fit

My day today went a lot better than yesterday! Went to the hospital with the missus to have a consultation with the arrhythmia specialist. Proper swanky hospital, first class service and definitely worth the monthly fee. The cardiologist has said she needs a small operation to stop excess electrical signals being generated and sent to the heart muscles which is what causes the arrhythmia. The way he explained it is that most people have one circuit that sends signals to the heart muscles to beat according to whatever your doing (resting, exercise etc) but some people (the awkward ones ) have an additional circuit that chips in randomly and causes the heart to go mental……hers hit 212 bpm last time it happened. Anyway, he reckons the operation is pretty straightforward and should be done fairly soon, possibly in the next couple of weeks (can you imagine that on the NHS?) They basically seal the end of the extra circuit to prevent it sending electrical signals. It’s a case of dropping her off one morning and they look after her all day with the op usually in early evening. She can go home the next morning. Thank fuck we can get it sorted because it’s really scared her and me too. However yesterday was a complete twat of a day……… had a lovely ride out in the morning, all went well until I got home………… Pulled up outside the house and noticed coolant pissing out at the bottom of the bike. Traced it to where one of the hoses fits onto the rear of the cylinder head. I’ve noticed that where the hose clamps to the engine there’s no stud and that’s because it’s corroded and snapped off. It’s probably stuck inside the hose but until I can lift the tank and take a better look I won’t know for sure. If that’s the case I’m not sure if it can be welded back on or whether I need a new head cylinder! If that’s the case then I think I’ll have to sell it for spares and repairs because the cylinder heads seem to be quite pricey and you never know what you’re going to get second hand. So now I’ve no working bike and the mountain bike is sitting in the corner of the garage looking smug. Double fucking bollocks.

Thanks for all your support folks. So, the cardiologist couldn’t see any signs of arrhythmia in the ECG she had today but has seen the results of when she’s had an episode and it’s evident during those periods. He’s now referred her to an arrhythmia specialist so they can try and get to the bottom of the matter. At least it shouldn’t take long to get an appointment but in the meantime she’s to remain on beta blockers and avoid certain foodstuffs and drinks…….no alcohol

Thanks mate, much appreciated

Off to the hospital with the missus to speak to the cardiologist about her arrhythmia which has been so bad she’s had to have an ambulance to get her to the hospital on two occasions over the past month or so. I believe there’s an operation she can have which has a 98% success rate and it’s only day surgery. Stressful times.

Good point

Look at his droopy chops, fucking saliva everywhere I bet. The poor dog must have been embarrassed to be seen with him.

If it’s confession time I’ve been looking at maxi scooters like the Yamaha Tmax……..can’t afford one of those but plenty of Far Eastern options such as the Kymco 500 xciting…….daft name but pretty decent by all accounts. I wouldn’t dream of one in the UK but they make a lot of sense down here as a runaround and saves using the car as much. Just to be clear……….its in addition to a ‘proper’ bike.

That is one of the most hideous bikes I’ve seen for a long time. It may be efficient, it may be considered cool by some people but it looks like it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down! As Edmund Blackadder said “I'd rather spend an evening on top of a stepladder in No Man's Land smoking endless cigarettes through a luminous balaclava”

It all depends on what you’re doing at the time, mind you I’ve done some daft things with what could be considered an inappropriate bike. For example, I did a track day at Donnington Park on my bog standard Hayabusa, went touring on my XR650L across to the old East Germany, down through the Czech Republic, Italy (including wazzing it up and down the Stelvio Pass), Austria, Switzerland and France and also rode a naked muscle bike from Prague to Weston Super Mare in one hit covering about 1000 miles in the process. ……I’ve heard it said that you can’t beat the hit of a big in-line four but for me it has to be a single for off road and a big fuck-off twin for everything else.

Just been through my phone and realised I don’t have any photos of Pete. Made me feel quite sad actually.

Well spotted. It was a geography test and you passed. Keep up the good work.

Did you get on at Datchet?

Hot out there today, it’s already 42 Celsius in the shade so a quick blast up to the mountains was all I could manage.

Very tasty that Bob, I had the standard 990 with some Ackropovic cans etc and black panniers. Fantastic bit of kit but thirsty when ridden as intended Tried it off road a few times but it was waaaaaay too much so I bought a cheap WR250F to twat around the Peak District. Did loads of trips on the 990 including to Malta and back for a mate’s wedding. Sold it back in 2011 and only a few weeks ago the bloke I sold it to contacted me through Facebook and said he still had it and had not one bit of trouble either.

Gender fluid, gender neutral, non-binary…….they can call themselves a fucking teapot for all I care. I’m way past caring if someone is offended by the fact that I don’t agree with them, don’t share the same sense of humour or plain just don’t like them. Fuck it, I’m glad I’m a pirate

Yea we do have wingers and personally I’d be using them but they ain’t the same quality as the Spanish boys. They look unplayable.

Spain’s two wingers are proper match winners. On current form I can’t see anyone beating them……….unless we get lucky a few more times.

He’s still a cunt and even I could have scored from there the big fucking, window licking, tosser. It was made by Toney anyway

My Great Uncle Albert did his duty in the 3rd battalion Coldstream Guards. Paid the ultimate price on 1 November 1914 at Ypres.

It’s interesting that you mention the Blue Angels as they have a large presence locally here and a couple of them live on the same urbanisation as myself. There’s also a Hells Angels chapter and the Bandidos have a clubhouse close by but it’s fairly new and seems to be in the process of starting up? They’ve had ‘open days’ for anyone to pop along and I’ve been on my Himalayan much to their amusement! No problem though and a couple came over and asked me about the bike. When I first got down here I used to ride around with quite a decent sized group of friends and acquaintances, sometimes there would be 20 or so on a ride out. Anyway, a few of them said it would be nice to have a badge, something to identify us by. It didn’t take long before we were approached by one of the Blue Angels who made it clear that if we wanted to go down that route then we should seek approval from them, specifically in terms of the badge design and crucially the name to be used for our group. It was made clear we could not call ourselves an MC. We also had to have a constitution and people identified as a President, Vice President etc etc. we did all that and were ‘approved’. I ended up being Vice President much to my wife’s disgust. Anyway, it didn’t take long to see that our group/club or whatever we ended up being defined as were growing closer and closer to the Blue Angels and we’re officially designated as a support outfit. For me, it had turned from what used to be a great bunch of people riding out together with no rules etc into a very regimented and rather select group of people that wanted to move even closer to the BA. The final straw for me was that several of the people that used to ride out with us didn’t want to wear a badge and the decision was taken to tell them they were not welcome unless they wore one. I was the only one that voted against it and I made it clear these people were friends and there was no way I was going to tell them to fuck off. I resigned immediately but wished them well in moving the club forward. They are now an MCC.

Well, my day hit rock bottom when I was asked if I would like to join the walking football club. No I fucking wouldn’t, I know I’m 65 but I’m not a fat old twat.…….said I’d let them know because I may get called up for international duty.