h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The drought is quite bad in parts of Oz but not in my pub thankfully.

Been very odd weather in Sydney though, 30+ one day and low 20s and raining the next. Not normal summer xmas weather thats for sure.

Ditto odd weather in Pretoria...! It's been too wet until yesterday to try out my Xmas present to myself - a Garmin Zumo GPS...(very nice!)

If your new toy is a 2-seater, I hope you're going to take Lady J out for a spin WR

We've not had any snow in NE England yet and that's not unusual, although it has been mild enough for bulbs in my garden to sprout shoots and some shrubs to sprout new growth. I just hope that a cold snap doesn't damage 'em all.

at least the rain might save you from getting beaten 5-0 in the cricket Gwennie

Gwennie, I'd to take Lady J with me, but she flatly refuses to ride a motorcycle at all! I tried once, but the moment I rode faster than 80km/h (50mph) on a dead straight freeway she shouted at me to slow down... (She's not known for her adventurous spirit - definitely NOT "biker chic" material)

So I ride solo with the club crowd. Many know Lady J socially, so they keep an eye on me to ensure I stay on the straight-'n-narrow and don't "pick up" any strange pillion persons.
(Not that I need watching!)

Of course Linus wants to talk about cricket...but no England supporter would currently engage him on the subject! SA is hosting India at the moment - with mixed results. We beat them in ODI, but then lost the first 5-day game! I'm watching the present game with baited breath...

I also recall a little game where Oz scored 435 runs against SA - the highest in One Day International - only to have their record broken in the same game when SA scored 438...but I won't dwell on that one!

With regard to the cricket, I'm of the opinion that England's abysmal performance is due to what is commonly known as 'sod's law', being as how I reluctantly purchased a £60 'cricket ticket' (an offer of a 6 month's subscription to Sky Sports) from Sky for John. For some strange reason, it hasn't made him very happy... So you see, Linus, Australia's winning situation is indirectly thanks to moi, although it could also have a wee something to do with those old selector fuddy-duddies!

I do sympathise with Lady J's predicament, as my ex-husband's riding terrified me and after the occasion where he dropped the bike and it landed on top of me, I refused to get on it with him anymore.

Nowadays, I'm not sure that I would ride with John (were he to eventually get one of his bikes on the road), as encroaching old age makes me view life pessimistically. Additionally, I now notice things like rusty nuts and bolts on fairground equipment and airplanes!

Just call me Mrs Careful!

Correction: Oz scored 434 - so the replay this evening said!
SA smacked the winner off the 2nd last ball.
Talk about a close finish...!

Lady J has a problem with the LEANING of a motorcycle...!

*mumbles incoherently about not turning without leaning and gyroscopic forces in balance and stability*

Can't do nuttin about that, now can I?
Oh well...riding solo means more space in the luggage panniers for MY "stuff"


WR

Gwennie, i would have thought that if someone dropped a bike on you it would be perfectly reasonable not to ride with them again

WR you must have quite a number of bikes by now. How do you choose which one to ride?

MR, I have only two bikes. I have an older "near-classic" that I ride with other "old f*rts on old bikes" (like me) - and I have a newer machine that I use for general touring around the country. How do I decide? Easy - what I feel like riding on the day is what I ride...!

The newer machine is faster and more powerful, but also safer with ABS etc. The older machine invokes memories for me. As a fellow club member once said: "It's much more fun to ride a slow bike FAST than to ride a fast bike SLOWLY!"

Something about riding on the edge, I believe...?

*Opens his jacket to show T-shirt with slogan:
If you aren't living on the edge, you're taking up too much SPACE!"*



WR

not to mention the danger of being run over by a truck...

When my ex dropped his m/c on me, I assumed that he was after the life insurance policy dosh - like the time he 'fixed' the steering rack on our car and I lost all the steering on the way home from work (less than a month after we took out a joint life insurance policy)! I joked about it at the time... Would that be similar to your version of living on the edge WR?

I assume that choosing which m/c to ride each day, depending on your mood, is similar to my daily mood-induced selection of which perfume to wear.

Do you think that Lady J doesn't lean when on a bike, because she's too terrified to do anything but sit bolt upright and keep her eyes firmly closed, which is something I can relate to as I often do that when I'm driving my car too fast. (In reality, I tend to close my eyes when John drives as a course of self defence. )

It's easy to understand why he became your ex.

Great tee slogan, WR!

you should get yourself some of those completely black glasses, gwennie

don't let john use them though

Not to bring Real Life into this, but I have a stinking cold atm. There should be no ing allowed on New Year's.

what? next you will forbid the priest to say 'amen' in the church

AMEN to that!

WR

and just how many people did you spread this cold to on NYE anyway Mari

it's prolly a good thing she is not too close to flint. she might spread avian flu

a double shot of op rum usually keeps a cold at bay for a few hours Mari.

I should be right until 2015