MooN

"Driving" I said! It was firkin cold out, despite the bright sunshine, only 4 or 5 deg c so I dug out the bar muffs which I bought for the Mille Vaches winter rally 2 years ago and fitted them to the bike thinking @boboneleg is gonna love this, for once I leave the top box behind, but fit these monstrosities instead lovely toasty warm hands though, even when the temp dropped with the declining sun around 3:30pm. Just a quick jaunt into the western reaches of the Morvan to give Tigrou a run and test the muffs. They might look odd but they're verry effective, coupled with heated grips and winter gloves. I reckon I can ride right down into stupid cold now Took the back roads up to Corbigny, and the main road west of the river back. about 150km in all. The Muffs Chitry Les Mines ( pronounced "shitty latrines" )

I'm on holiday till 3rd january now. problem is, the animals, sorry, children are too. Anyone want a Christmas present? they're covid free...

We are no longer allowed to travel to the UK other then for urgent and essential reasons ( death in the family, visit to a terminally ill family member who's life is in imminent danger etc) which must be justified by all means possible. In France, the "pass sanitaire" allowing entrance to public places, restaurants, bars, cinema's etc becomes, from tonight I believe A "pass vaccinale" which means that you can no longer get away with have a lateral flow (antigenique) test les then 48 hrs old to enter, you now need to have been vaccinated.

tht's just cos the French keep telling them about all the party's eveyone's having over on the dark side ( of the channel). That and supplying free copies of the UK gutter press where the "Journalists" ( intentional inverted comma's) rant on about how the uk just welcome everybody in with handouts and jobs and benefits... nothing encourages them more. Ironic really. similar to moronic but funnier

yup, their particulr brand of moronic idiocy just doesn't translate. I just don't think it would be accepted anywhere else, c'ept maybe in the US as they have proved with Monsieur Trump.

they have simply banned people from outside the EU. You wanted out, you got out. "leave means leave" now fuck off .

you sure that's the 650 and not the 600, it just looks a bit slim for the 650 and I can't make out from this angle if it's a shaftie or just the rear bake drum we can see from this angle... I had a 650 as my first big bike and first french bike too, did all over the place on it, france, italy, switzerland, alps etc etc much of it " up with wifey on the back. Mine was an 86 model I think, ( though I'm sure it didn't have double piston fron brakes, but it dis have a disck on the rear) bought it with 60,000km on the clock, wound it up to 120,000km, ran it on ciesel engine oil, split and rewelded the frame, had the rear shock strip it's lower mountig threads out of the shaft drive housing and limped home with it hammered bsack in with a bit of self amalgamating tape round it... happy days. Sold it on, and about 2 years later spotted it parked outside a bar in town, repainted and with only 80,000km's on the clock...

well if not you'll be capable of putting the kettle on and we'll drive over. oh yeah, buy some biscuits too, there's 5 of us

Thanks Bob, ... when you coming back this way then? actually planning a trip to the UK in feb, covid allowing. In the car with the herd...sorry, family though, but Bristols not that far from Witney is it?

the GP bikes run an upside down gearbox, never did understand why

Titter ye not, I once rode a 1930 something ( I think) Sunbeam, with the rearbrake on the left and gearchenge on the right. Still had front brake lever on the right bar and clutch on the left though and that was ...erm... complicated

I mentioned no names...!

not her fault. there is a clearly defined priority, the car pulling out has failed to give way on a clearly marked junction, your daughter has taken appropriate evasive action ( the road ahead was clear so she's moved into the oncoming lane to avoid collision, the vehicle failing to give way has continued across and hit her. it's the front of his car that has impacted her car aft of the front wheel arch and not her car that has run into him, otherwise her car would be damaged on the front and his on the right side. I know sod all about the rad law in the UK, but that seems fairly clear cut to me.

I would nominate Buck, just to annoy him, but I think @Slowlycatchymonkey deserves a nomination for the gravel trap episode. I don't think she could possibly win it, due to the quality of the competition, but she does deserve to be a nominee! What!? well just getting nominated is a big thing in the oscars...

I was going to nominate Grasshopper too but that would be pointless as she's already been nominated so I'm going to nominate @yen_powell Not neccessarily the most prolific contributer but his posts are always either interesting or hilarious and definately always worth reading. He also uses his bike properly, ie: all the time, and does huge mileage on them which is what proper bikers do, none of this namby pamby "don't ride in the rain" crap!

I'd love a go on Bob's T7 and wouldd look so ridiculous on a scooter that it would be out of the question. ( i'd like a try on Pedro's GS too but I prefer the T7)

aha! I knew it looked odd but couldn't figure out exactly what it was. I'm obviously far too young to have been into the rock scene in the 80's...

nice Job Art! Is thet guitar a left hander? Oh, and I'm suffering shelving envy, is that bad?

rarely go to pubs / Bars. once a month for bike club evenings pre covid, and only once since. As there was not the slightest pretence of checking covod passes or wearing masks, we shan't be returning in the near future.

You want to complain to one of those eejits that design the road and junction layouts you do! OH... wait a minut...

sameish here, we'd originally planned to visit my parents in the UK cos mum is slowly sinking into dementia (she is 90) but we too are loath to face all the travel palaver, plus i understand that to go 5 days we'd need 3 covid tests... each ( there's five of us) at 25£ a go that's £375 just for the neccessary tests IF you can get them that cheap which is far from certain and some cost as much as £80 each... not going to happen! So it'll be Christmas at home, and the first since we lost mother in law too. On the Up side Mrs Moon starts a new job next week so she won't have any holiday to spend moping around the house. I have 2 weeks off and so will be on here spouting mindless drivel at you lot.

A handheld VHF is alomost useless for you Tym. 3 feet is about the range you'll get I reckon. VHF is basically "Line of sight" communication, which is why its used at sea but not on land cos a tree or a house or a rise in the ground blocks the signal... or a wave crest. which is why boats and ships always have the antenna as high up as possible. I guess it's a 4w set too? a waterproof childs walkie talkie would be just as useful for less cash mate.

OOh I had a client , boat owner, a Texan, who said that to me once a few years back. I told him that that was a particularly stupid thing to say and that if he really believed that then he'd be better off keeping it to himself. He left about a week later, never to be seen again...

on the Brexit theme... British nationals resident in France without a valid residency permit are being refused entry and are considered, and treated as, illegal immigrannts I only know this because my boss went back to the UK for a lightning visit to his family and on his return he answered the question " place of residence" with his address here. Upon being asked to show his " titre de séjour" ( residence permit) he realised he'd left it behind and was refused entry into france as an illegal immigrant, having declared residency with no papers to prove it. Obviously he explained and they were able to verify his residency status on their systems, but if an "ex pat" with no residency paperwork goes back to the UK for a visit, they won't let him ( or her) back in. I would love to be a fly on the wall when some of the older and richer "Ex pats" who have "no truck with the French burocracy you kmow..." get deported back to dover as an illegal immigrant! On another note, my colleague who runs our base down near where Tango is at has just recieved a letter from M.Macron and his cronies congratulating him on his accession to French nationality. It has taken him 5 days short of 4 years...