Post-recession Britain and the Egg Run

Well thats it; I've joined the ranks of the unemployed. Six good years at Arup but now put out to grass and maybe the last time for this view

View from Arup office window

Didn't leave under a cloud so may be back if the economy picks up but Manchester looking more likely than Liverpool.

Had a good night out in London and bumped into the big cheese himself, Robert Care, in a bar. Introduced myself to him and his female companion and he remembered me from a function in Liverpool Cathedral. He asked how things were going. A defininate OH S**T flashed across his face when I told him I'd just been made redundant but I didn't kick off with any unnecessaryness. We talked about bikes and stuff as he wants another and chatted to his companion, who heads a change consultancy company, she then gave me a signed copy of a motivational book she'd co-written. He talked about a trip his chum had done from Cape town to Cairo  which make my little trips look a little tame. We swapped links the next day and Eve complimented me on being restrained the night before, saying it can't have been easy and that she enjoyed my ramblings.

So then back up to Liverpool for another leaving do clutching an 18 yr old malt. Received a model Scammel truck towing a Guinness tanker and a hairy bikers cook book then out on the town in the Pool.

We started out in the Corn Market but it got packed so we went off to Palm Sugar, bit trendy for me. Then to the Bridewell and in a cell. Not been a real bridewell for years but is now a nice pub. Had Burger and chips plus real ale. Then to more trendiness but this one not too bad. Got the bus home and collapsed into my bed. Been a hard week but I feek ok this morning, Sat, not hungover at all.


Off to visit aged aunt as it is her 93rd b'day today although the poor soul will have forgotten that by the time we get there. Still, flowers, card,  chocs and a cake will brighten up her day no end.

Tomorrow's the egg run so lots more to follow.

Midget and Aged Aunt

Me and said Aged Aunt

She really is a lovely woman, so sad the dementia is setting in, but at least she is still happy..

She repeatedly asked us why she deserved cake and chocs and stuff so we said it's your birthday. "oh! How old am I? We replied 93 she then said "Bloody hell how did I get this old?" We told her she never smoked, drank much and lived a good life" "yes" she said, "no smoking, little drinking and a good life, or so you think". Bloody hilarious.

We go every week on a Sat and it is just so nice to see a smile on her face.

So! Sunday brings the Egg Run. Stan came up from Tamworth to stay the weekend here and then borrow a Triumph to go on the run. He said he hadn't bent his knees that far in years getting on the Sprint.
I've been having problems with the Sprint running on two and suchlike intermittently and Ponty had popped round on Sat to plug him into a laptop, nothing wrong, running on three, bugger! Then whilst we scratching heads and wondering what is wrong he goes down to two with no change in any of the electronisc on the PC. Hmmm! must be plug breaking down at higher temperatures. Much removal of bits and we arrived at the plugs and coils, pulled number one off and lo and behold full of water. This water would get hot turn to steam and screw up the electronics. Quick wipe down, note to self do not wash bike much and smear some greas round coils, and all is tickety boo. He ran perfectly on egg run so not a cracked head or anything expensive .

There was talk about nubers of around  12 - 18 thousand bikes. It was huge but I just don't know yet.  Note the bikes the other side of the green. from the time they started at the front it took us 3/4 of an hour to start.

 

 What a lovely day to boot, gone a bit chilly now.

Peo's Beezer left and Bob's Tiger centre

Paul

Chunky's Sprint

 A good day was had by all.

Some Micro-lights flying around.

Lovely day but tired now so off to bed.

Ta Ta

Oast House and Tax

Nothing much exciting this week, however an article in some trade journal or other mentioned Tower 12 in Spinningfields. It rang a bell then it went on to mention it used to be called Manchester House, CLANG! a building I'd been involved in the redesign of. It had been a tatty eyesore outside the Crown Court in Manchester and there had been lots of problems with the servicing due to the courts wanting to park illegaly as their court building prisoner reception was poorly designed so they didn't want extra vehicles in the area. All sorted with the planners and a pat on the back for yours truly. Well the bottom part is open and looks better, Waitrose esconced in the building and a shopping experience walk through arcade thingy.

 

 

Over the road, where my bike is parked, there is planning for another tower. They wished to put up some sort of temp catering until they got round to the tower and I think the temporary catering looks pretty cool. Well done Allied London, the pretentiously named, for the middle of Manchester, Oast House looks great. Lovely smells emanatiung from the outside kitchens and a relaxed atmosphere in the Manc sunshine. (is that an oxymoron).

 Finaly the loading bay, that looks one heck of a drop and there may be a few frazzled white van clutches coming out of there.

So now onto more taxing matters. The tyres on Tigger are looking and feeling a little ropey to say the least.

Front

Rear

Still legal but white lining and getting a bit twitchy.. Trumpy sat there with brand new tyres on so get him out for a wash and brush up and away we go. well, not quite, tax disc run out. damn I'd forgotten. Now the Griff finances are a little tight at the moment, it seems every thing wants taxing and mending and stuff. Garden wall being the latest expense. So leave tax until payday, it's the 15th so should get away with it just. Tax online on the 15th oh bugger! no MOT, damn damn damn cant get it in til Tues, threatening letters arrived from DVLA so SORN it is. Will tax it from 1st April the day of the Egg Run so saved a month and all should be fine.

Trumpy hiding in the corner MOT and Taxless

Right that all sorted out for now.

Midget been reading her paper and something in the horoscopes caught her eye. She never normally reads such tosh but she read this one out over the boiled eggs and soldiers. You will have 3 bits of good fortune it said. Well she is just about to get her profit share from Morrissons and they have had an excellent year according to the financial pundits Ker-ching! Apparently HMRC have been overtaxing her for years so another Ker-ching and we had a visitor this morning who owes us £1100, he said his poor nan has handed in her dinner pail and left him the lot. Ker-ching. Not holding breath on the last one though.

All this cash flooding into the Midget's sweaty palms has prompted he to say if the tax refund is as large as hoped she will pay for the powder coating of the Beeza

Beeza frame hanging on shed wall

Ancillary bits and bobs

The Rest

This has prompted me to try and source the missing parts. Peo is tracking down the bearings and I am looking for side panels, sump guard and head steady. Will probably make the latter myself. Search for parts led me to Burton Bike Bits  with whom I have done a little bit of trade in the past and BINGO! Side panels £36 each and sump guard £25, the guard I reckon is a real bargain.Had the wheels rebuilt the other year then ran out of energy a bit plus didn't have a spare £120 for the powder coating in Altami as there always seemed to be something else coming up, or falling down like the garden wall

So now I'm off to fix the puncture on the sack truck so we can load up the old washing machines and fly tip, as if I would, take them to the council tip along with other accumulated junk out back then visit the aging relative in her nursing home.

HMS Liverpool and the shed

Well I did say that I would not be out and about much this week end but I couldn't miss saying goodbye to HMS Liverpool.The rain stopped for a couple of hours on Saturday so off we pootled to Liverpool. Tunnel free for bikes another great MAG campaign success.

Difficult to get far enough away to get her all in.

 

Probably wont be many more visits as we don't seem to have many armed forces left, She is now off to be broken up. There is a rumour that Liverpool city has put in an offer for her to be kept in the city. That would be good I think but who knows.

I watched her go off this morning from the office window, couldn't find the camera this morning, the perils of putting stuff away properly, so the pics are from my phone and not very good quality.

Not sure why this building looks to be falling over

Sunday's chore was the sorting of the shed after the arrival of the shelves that Arup were going to chuck out. First had to pop to B&Q for some screws and brackets. Spotted a battery drill, 18v with 2 batteries hammer action and reverse for £60 so picked that up as well as my old one has handed in it's dinner pail.

 

Abley assisted by Jaxx for most of the day

And the delightful Barbara

Have to do something a little more exciting next week although a little more shed sorting will have to be done.

Another sunny Sunday

Poor old Barbara had to work butchering salads and pizza's in Morrisons so after a restorative plate of bacon and eggs washed down with a few coffees it was out and at em on Tigger. First stop was to photograph a treat for the erstwhile Richard Holt of the Bridge Club fame. Holt Bridge, could it have been named after our favourite Cornishman or was it the whole town the bridge leads to that was named after him.

Holt Bridge

Holt bridge spans the River Dee and crosses the boundary between Wales and England, at Farndon. It is a medieval road bridge of uncertain date. The bridge was built during the reign of Edward 111 in 1338-9. In 1368 a trail at the County Court at Chester refers to a bridge between Farndon and Holt, constructed by John, Earl of Warenne. However, the present structure is more likely to be 15th or 16th Century. The bridge featured prominently in the Civil War with both sides trying to take control of the crossing.

It is built of the local and distinctive red sandstone with 8 segmental arches crossing the river, separated on both sides by pointed cutwaters with refuges. An arch exists in the causeway on the Welsh side, which was the site of a former chapel.
Listed Grade 1 for its medieval origins and one of Wales most important bridges. It is located in Holt Conservation Area.
I am on the English side with the boundary being in the middle of the river. So the canoeist is in Wales

As is the fisherman.

The town over the River is Holt and Welsh, possibly the odd hangover from the rugby the day before, was a cracking game.
Then it was off to Wales and, to carry on the bridge theme, to Rhiwabon where the first Welsh pub to win the CAMRA pub of the year is located. The Bridge End

 

The Bridge isn't up to much  having been updated with concrete at some time but according to Geof and Helen who know about these things the pub is superb. Must improve my timing this was 10:30 on a Sunday and the place was closed.

 Then it was off into deepest wales to find some muddy lanes and the likes.

Seemed to get a bit fixated with bridges today, no bad thing some may say, 

 These on a little track by the Llangollen Canal. Just look at the weather this is in the end of February, lovely.

This is the old Horseshoe Pass. Must have been pretty tricky getting the slate wagons up and down here.

The views are simply stunning.

This was looking back the way I'd just come.

Quite fancy this little place. Not much problem with noisy neighbours.

Sort of turned for home now but wanted to go down the hard way..

This is the road that defeated Bob and I last week in the snow but this time I am going down not up.

Think when I get some more knobbley tyres I will turn left up here and see what it leads to.

I just love the way Sat-Nav does this, set it for shortest way home when out here and you are going to be in trouble with a caravan, it is just fine on a Triumph, most of the time. An artic got stuck on here last month. Numpty.

One of the little lanes George sends me down quite often in the one to Llanarmon-yn-Ial, where there is a lovely old pub called The Raven Inn. I had thought it was closed and was a victim of the death of rural life but as I passed today there was a chap putting out a new "OPEN" sign. So I popped in for a restoring pint, just the one mind as I was driving Tigger. So glad I did as I was made very welcome and the beer was excellent only sorry I could only sample one brew but I will be back.

It is a volunteer pub run by locals for no salary A company ‘limited by guarantee’ has been set up run the pub, Raven Mad Ltd. The Raven Inn is manned by volunteers and any profit can only be used to fund village community projects. The whole story was filmed as part of the Save Our Boozer series with the first showing on December 8th 2009 on the ‘Blighty’ satellite channel. I wish them all the luck in the world. I shall certainly go back as Barbara has taken a shine to their menu.

Well that's it until next time I think I'll be working sorting out the shed and the likes next week so may only be a short blog with pictures of my sheds and the contents.