MooN

i am officially "a bit miffed" this evening. I will admit to being a little overweight ( though I have been the same weight fro the last 10 years), so a couple of years ago I decided to reduce my sugar intake. I basically eliminated sugar form everything I could, tea and coffe, stopped eating stuff that I can't face without adding sugar ( yoghurt, cereal, etc) but changed little else. I had a blood test today and apparently my blood sugar levels are off the scale having skyrocketed since my last blood test a year ago... WTF! I think my wife says I can now only eat salad or raw carrots, with possibly some green beans, but steamed rather than properly cooked... there was a phrase that sprung immediatly to mind... "Fuck...That....Shit" I have now decided to transition, and from now on I identify as a slim healthy person and any one who says otherwise will find themselves in court with a lawsuit for refusing to aknowledge my right to identify as something other than what I was born as. You have been warned!

sorted

Well Bobo's pic is a bit arty farty for my liking ( I know, I'm a phillistine), I can't vote for Pete, just cos... Saul had it last month, Yen's photo has clearly been tampered with , " There's no excuse for Suziki ownership" so that's Busabeat and six out, t is interesting to see that Buck has finally figured out aht a Harley is for, not only has he parked it on the harbour wall, he's fited it with a convenient wee bollard at one end to tie boats to... it would be ungentlemanly and vulgar to vote for oneself so that leaves Skippy! Good man, Top Pic

see her posts often on fessbouc, still exploring the great white north I presume, lots of piccies anyway.

just like brexit Pedro, you wanted it, now live with it!

or just shorten them by a foot or two?

i'm intriged, how do you use a computer if you're all ears...?

it's a half scale replica. so the original is twice as big.

some do, they use it as a basis for other drinks, ratafia, fortified wines and the like. others drink it neat as a digestive treat after a meal. In my experience, most of it is fucking rank rot gut that would be better used as paint atripper or posssibly as an octane booster for scooters, but from time to time you come across one that is really good. the landlord of the bar we meet in has some that he brews with a load of herbs and spices and I can drink that till the cows come home... or I fall over, which is usually quite quickly cos it's bloody strong! I didn't get to taste, but would probably have refused it anyway, it was quite possible coming out of the still at a far higher proof than he was telling, the floaty thing was graduated with hieroglyphs rather than anything intelligible and I have desire to go suddenly blind...

the twins had organised their 16th birtday party for saturday afternoon at home so as soon as I could decently do so I ran away. I put 150km round trip into Kurviger.de hit the "small windy roads setting, uploaded it to the phone, hit GO and was off out of it for a couple of hours... The route took me out to in a loop to the northwest of auxerre along, as programmed little back roads and lanes avoiding towns ( there aren't any towns in that direction for over an hours ride anyway) so I just enjoyed bimbling along enjoying the countryside and dodging the few rain showers that appeared. Spring seems tohave only partly sprung here, some of the open places are green and springing, but otheres no more than a km or so away seem to be still in the grip of winter. Thes two pics were taken maybe a couple of km's apart a chateau in the background. the grass is lush and green, but the hawthorn hedge has not a single bud on it yet, let alone a flower I though we could do with @Sir Fallsalot down Here to get this track entrance cleared. Fred, you might need more than your wee hand saw on this one mate It didn't look like it had been down long but it's been pretty windy round here for the last few weeks so there's a lot of dead wood come down. As I rode through the village of Escamps there was a sweet smell in the air that I could't quite identify, till I saw this behind the recycling bins on the edge of the village; I then knew what that wonderful smell was. it's a mobile still! I haven't seen one for years and theyre nearly all gone in most parts o the country, burgundy being one of the few regions where there are a rew still working. The operater trundles his still into the village, usually with the permission of the mayor, the locals bring him their fruit and he turns it into alcahol for them. I asked the guy if he minded me taking a pic and he was fine with it, but the two old blokes come to collect their "Goute" ( pronounced "goote" and literally meaning either taste or drop as in a drop of liquid) though thoruoghly affable and willing to chat, definately did not want to be in a photo... here he is removing the cooked remains of grapes from the third kettle the smell had me drooling at the mouth, te old blokes were saying that I shouldn't stand downwind of the still if I was going to get back on the bike... the still itself is qbout 80 years old the bloke reckons, and, interestingly, was origibally made in... Escamps! the stuff dripping into the jug qt the bottom of the still is anywhere between 55 and 80% proof, depending on what the client asks for. This perticulay stuff is about 60% and from grapes, yesterday he made some from pears and tomorrow h's got a load of cherries to do... drip, drip, drip.... All above board and taxes paid of course he says, and I believe him.... honest... Got home to find the party over, just a couple of kids still around and that they'd saved me a LARGE slice of birthday cake, so all good.

you watching the delivery riders again?

being as you don't carry a pillion Pete, could you not do something to bring that box down and forward, nearer the back of the seat rather than being on fucking stilts behind the bike ( and quite possibly abouve your shoulder height?)

nice pcs, thanks Saul.

It's true!

ahhhh, Nope. that's the major drawback ( no there's a good pseudonym) with our house is that it's fucking tiny, so unless we come into some money and sort out the studio in the courtyard, anybody coming here will have to find accomodation. For those with a van, there's a pikey camp about a mile down the river....

lets just say I'm well out of it

you don't half choose some silly places to ride a bike through though!

nothing that looks remotely like spain... and a photo with an ooking great ape like me in it isn' going to help anybody's business...

well get your carcass down here and we'll go for a bimble. Now I have weekends off, and normal holidays and know in advance whet time i finish work, that sort of malarky should be easier to organise.

naaah, That's just me. I never seem to get to ride in on the sunny days. Saturday was lovely, but life got in the way. having said that, we do seem to be having a wet spring at the moment, one of the few regions not concerned by water shortages already.

the last but one time the french govt tried to bring in bike MOT's they wanted to make shear bolts and screws abligatory for everyting including fairings et so that only certified workshops could work on them. I seem to remember I joind the Paris demo for that one... One of the problems here now is that one of the largest mot empires, namely DEKRA, is owned by a prominent friend of the govt ( doesn't matter what govt) and is constantly lobbying for this to be made law, The govt are blamimg it on the EU but the french arent stoopid knowing full well ( as Tango rightly pointed out) that the Frech have been world champions at agreeing to, and then simply ignoring, EU rules for the last 2 decades. it was supposed to come into being end of last year but the govt said they'd shelved it as bien inapplicable but some cuntin the road safety organisation, backed by the DEKRA lobby took the question to the constitutional cout who decided that legally the govt couldn't do that so i t went back on the table and the govt keep trying to "forget" to do anything about it but the same bunch of cunts who are either financially interested or whos sole interest in life is fucking up everybody elses, keep bringing it up. The saga has been running for at least as long as I've been here.

I get it ( I didn't say I wanted to do it...). I have, in my misspent youth, ridden bikes and driven boats in apalling weather conditions and often found it exhilerating, sometimes frightening and nearly always uncomfortable. The sense of acheivement when overcoming the difficulty or risk is always a morale boost and confidence building, making a hardship, even if only a percieved or contrived hardship,worthwhile. This is why people climb mountains, swim rivers, sail single handed around the world, row the atlantic or whatever. Each man finding his own challenges to overcome. OR, he could just be a twat trying to get views on youtube.

I succumbed to the intercom thing 2 years ago, I was given a gift voucher from work and discovered it worked at the DAFY motorcycle shop in Dijon so that helped. I too got a sena 30 as being a much cheaper option than a cardo. I dont use it for music except maybe if I'm facing a long autoroute stint. I have the phone navigation fed through it if I'm using the nav, and the speed camera alerts from the coyote app on the phone. What it does do wonderfully is the phone. I dont phone whilst riding but when I worked on the boats, I was basically on call 7 days a week through 8 months of the year and when out on the bike if the phone rang I would have to find a place to stop, switch the bike off, remove gloves, remove helmet, remove at least one ear plug, take the phone out of it's holder and ring the person back ( cos they'd hung up or left a message by this time. Then they wouldn't asnwer so I had either to wait untill I could get hold of them or risk putting everting back on again to have them ring back in 10 minutes and havr to start all over again ( yes it's happenend). With the Sena I was able to answer, " don't hang up, gimmie a second..." al I had to do was pull over and I could talk freely with no palaver. It was an absolute Godsend for that.

weather was more than dodgy this sunday, but having missed the chance to get out on saturday due to No1 daughter being at home, I was determined to get out despite the weather. It wasn't cold (12 deg C) but heavy cloud cover and a number of fronts moving east or north east. As soon as I'd fed the animals kids, I headed for a tiny hamlet I know on the canal cos it's very pretty and gave me a turning point about 1h30 south of here, just in the northern limits of the Morvan and in a wee hidden curve of the canal at the top of a 16 lock flight and just before the deep cut leading to the 3 tunnels at the summit. I didn't know if I'd make it that far due to the weather, but that was the aim. I took the smaller back roads all the way there dodging the rain showers, I had a mooch round when I ot there, 9 houses, 1 bloke fishing. stunningly pretty, but the light really didn't do it justice. Great place to spend a quiet week end on a boat after slogging up the 16 locks though. as I started back, there was a black storm front coming at me from the south west so I took a faster route northwards, outrunning it to Clamecy where there's a coffee/ bakery run by an arab bloke who is open 364 days a year ( only place in the area that I knew would be open on a sunday). I sat and had a coffee and a pair of 2pain au chocolat" whilst the rain aquall went through, gave it a 15 minute headstart and set of behind it. all told, about 185km, in under 3 hours riding, quite a high moving average for me From the bridge at Port Brulé looking south towards the tunnels ( odd unintended effect in the photo that seem sto have distorted the rear wheel...) looking North towards the lock flight and you can see the WHOLE village. the route went something like this: