Saul

Didn't feel it but 213KGs so not lightweight. Upside down is the way the original was, I think I would like them more angled towards the rider but not worried about the way they sweep.

No mist so far.

I went to a RE owners club meeting last night and learnt that Thor Motorcycles at Lanivet had a Gold Star in stock so I popped up to have a look, twas only a 30 mile round trip but that was far enough in this cold. Thanks goodness for thermal underwear. Anyway had a good look at the BSA Gold Star and I thought it looked really good. No rough edges and pretty well finished to be honest. Only couple of things I was not so keen on was the stickers on the engine cases that detail left a bit to be desired, also no main stand. The motor sounded fantastic, it has the baffle out but even so it has a lovely sound. I was offered a test ride but declined as I knew I wasn't going to buy and would have felt guilty. Talking to the owner he tells me he has taken 22 deposits on his allocation of 25 bikes for the first quarter of next year. May have been a bit of sales spiel but sounded reasonable given the way the guys at the RE meeting were raving last night. If I were to choose I would have a green one or maybe black. i had a look at some of the 'Chinese Crap' he had in the showroom and to be perfectly honest it all looked pretty good. How long it would stay looking that good is another matter but even so it's easy to slam stuff from a distance up close I didn't see anything that looked nasty. I do like the look of that Fantic Cally thing, but if I was to buy a dirt bike I think I would go for one of the Betas he had in the showroom, I liked them. Not sure about the Indians he had, couldn't see myself on one of them just to bloody big. The Gold Star I would have or maybe an RE Interceptor both of those would suit me well. Or even a second had Bonnie. I know I will get slammed for that but we all ride what we want to and I like the retro stuff. I took a photo of the mist rolling up the Fowey river valley on the way home. Pretty

Well I went and saw for myself today as a local dealer has a Gold Star in stock. Its bloody lovely, sound awesome to. If I had the spare cash I would have one in a heartbeat.

Actually my bike looks like that right now

Cheers Bob, lucky to have this on my doorstep. I have no real love for Fowey town but I would miss the coast path if we ever moved.

Well out and about with my Ginger Bud today. Bloody cold 2.5C so definite nip in the air. I was surprised to see two warships out in the bay this morning. I say surprised because I haven't see any for weeks and they are normally a common site given my close proximity to Devonport Dockyard. I normally see a couple every week but haven't for months. Obviously something to do with events in the east. Lovely light and not many people around which I do prefer, I like to have the place to myself in a selfish way. I am sure the Dear Boy had a blast and even found a couple of squirrels to chase. Not as good at catching them as rats. Found a bit of boat down on the beach. Always entertains me to find a bit of plate. How does it get there, not as if it floated in.

No it's still all working mate. China clay industry still uses the goods Yard and that station is on the main line. The Round House is now industrial units and the turntable is filled in more the pity.

Wow haven't thought about UFO for years. Deffo blast from the past, love it.

Please tell me you watched it all. . I mean I grew up there and even I got bored shitless after the first couple of minutes

I sort of remember a chat with a few of you about the Round House engine house and turntable at Par goods yard and their link to the Thomas the Tank engine stories. Anyway I can across this video from the 1980's that shows them in the beginning of it. Thought it might interest some of you.

Its alright Stewart is on the case,

He doesn't like water for some reason, bit of a wuss most of the time.

First day back walking after a 10 day gout break. Managed 7.5 k with the Dear Boy. Bloody lovely out there. 7 degrees C but didn't feel cold at all, probably be different when the Sun goes down.

I can see that re reading it, wasn't my intent though. My Job and that of the Clinicians I work with starts at the triage list so that is what we focus on. There are several steps before anyone gets on that list to get a chance to talk to a medic and while I know that, it's not part of our working focus. I have the suspicion that the call center systems in place are often set up just to put people off so that they do just wait until the morning and try and get through to their own GP. I think that 111 is toted as the answer to everything, GP shortages, District Nurse shortages, MIU staff shortages, emergency dental care, OOH mental health care and the list goes on. It's not realistic to think our relatively small service can take up all that slack and to sell that idea to the public is misleading. Especially given that we are short staffed and have the same challenges of recruiting as the rest of the NHS. That is why our service is overwhelmed and people don't get the care from us they expect. The clinicians in our service prioritise the End of Life care, acute but not necessarily emergency pain (blocked catheters and such), the elderly although they do deal with many other cases as well. Now I have probably worded that clumsily as well but I just drive the cars, chaperone, stock the drugs and do the paperwork. I would say it is no wonder that NHS staff struggle and moral is rock bottom. A lot of the non clinical people I work with are looking for a different job, personally I love my job but I genuinely don't know how long I can afford to do it. I could earn more stacking shelves, don't want to but may not have the choice ultimately.

I certainly was not trying to be misleading. I think we may be talking at cross purposes, I was not talking about the call center staff who work as you say. The service is not fit for purpose as people perceive it, as it is not properly staffed or funded. But our service is run by Nurse Practitioners and Advanced Paramedics once the calls get through to the triage list. They also have to see TCs and work on the cars. I made the point that they are very committed and hard working people and I would never sully their name or what they do. I am in awe of their commitment and professionalism. They are exceptional people.

I wish I could say your experience was rare but its not. I am also sure people come away from using our service (Kernow Health CIC) with the same experience as you had. 111 is a patch work of OOH services around England with levels of contact often farmed out to different areas depending on call volume. Which is why you were bounced around. The service is run mostly by Nurse Practitioners and Advanced Paramedics, all very clever and hard working people but not GP's. On Sunday there were only 2 GP's working in our overnight service to cover a county of 450,000 which more than doubles in holiday periods. Hence why we use the term Clinician. Now with the experience you had, you can probably guess at the level of abuse our call centre staff get as people who are ill get frustrated, it is very hard to retain them given that they work out of hours for just above minimum wage. There is a lot of responsibility and a high turnover, and not surprisingly very low moral. We are recruiting all the time but can never catch up. I have seen many good people leave because the job is unbearable long term. I would not do it. None of that excuses the poor treatment you had and nobody in our service wants it to be that way but it is unfortunately all to common. The real reason things are the way they are is money or lack of it and a public with the attitude like the old biddy I described. Who thought that with a cold it was ok to use the 999 service and then later to tell the 111 service to fuck off rather than open the front door and have the care she asked for. Tis a bleak outlook on a NHS service that is failing and that makes me sad.

I would say that Out Of Hours part where I work is a service that is utterly swamped by the volume of work it is expected to deal with. Lots of good people working very hard but the triage lists are huge and we often fail people who are ill. I have to be careful what I say but I do know what happens in Cornwall and the resources are way too small to deal with the volume of work. Many people don't get the treatment they expect and that is a shame but the amount of dross our clinicians have to work through to get to those in need is staggering. I know our triage list (people waiting for a call back from a clinician) was way above 200 last night. Only 11 clinicians on duty in the whole county to deal with the triage list, visits and treatment centre appointments with seven of those being on the cars. Weekdays it is worse. The same is true across the whole of the NHS. I could tell story after story about it but nobody wants to hear it or really cares until it affects them. Now I am tired and am saying to much so time for bed. I am genuinely sorry things didn't work for you Bob.

True that. Jap Crap, Rich Burner, heard many variations of that. I remember one fecking great chap I knew who was in my age group but fanatically committed to brit stuff, from C15 upwards, he often didn't ride with us as he often didn't have functioning transport. He always made the pub to bore us shitless though with the same old tropes. Anyway he was very vociferous about slanty eyed shit, including the local Chinese takeaway which I always thought was odd, but in his eyes they were all the same. One night after the pub he goes in the chinese with us all and demands a pasty pulling his eyes to slits and making a fake chinese accent asking for a flucking plasty, when he didn't get what he wanted he leant over the counter and pulled the owners four or five hair beard out by the roots. Oh fuck was that the biggest mistake he ever made. The diminutive owner who we all knew as Stanley and was probably in his 50's at the time grabbed a broom cleared the counter and chased fuck nuts down the road. We all followed to see what was going to happen. Stanley caught him after about 300 yards and proceed to work him over with the broom. Using it like a long staff or even Kendo stick. We were very impressed. Mind you for all the clouts fuck nuts took there was hardly a mark on him the next day. We all grew up and knew Stanley, he had been in the village for years, none of us knew he was some sort of martial artist though. I knew his son at school who was called Way Wong, of course hilarious to us. He was a good guy though and very good at kicking light bulbs out of their ceiling holders. Imagine a little 5 foot chinese teenage ninja with a cornish accent, we all knew not to ever mess with him though. Obviously whatever he knew came from his Dad. Sorry I ramble on, time for bed I think .