The Life and Times of this Old Git

Name:
Location: Teignmouth, Devon, United Kingdom

I'm married with two grown up children and four grandchildren, My wife of 47 years is Sue and we are the same age. My two children are Pamela (blogging occasionly under Pam-bigbustybikerbaby.blogspot.com and Roy,who was recently Paralysed from the waist down due to an Absys on his Spine. My 4 grandchildren are (oldest first) Gavin, Hayley, Thomas,and Zoe. Sue and I are both retired and we're disabled too, her with a badly Arthritic back and spine, me with lung (COPD) and Heart problems.I have always loved Fishing (all sorts) Sue started fishing with me about 8 years ago, now she really enjoys it too. We both love m'cycles and m'cycling, Sue owns and rides her own bike which is a Custom 1981 250 Honda.I own a 1979 Honda CX500. We are both members of this motorcycle club ( view or join our club on http://www.cx-gl.org.uk/) or see my blog post Dec 2007 blog "Getting old, never", of course we're badly resticted now due to our illness, only riding in really good weather.Just over three years ago we lost our best friend and Baby Mojo the border Collie, Gone but never forgotten. Please feel free to use any of our photo's but do let me know you have used them, thank you.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

COMBE MARTIN QUICKIE.

If any of you saw my last blog you will know we were at the Combe Martin Strawberry Fair on Sunday. While there we decided on a cuppa at one of the harbour side Cafe's, it was such a beautiful day we sat out on the sun balcony, we had only been there a few minutes when three bikers and a dog turned up and sat at the table next to ours. We all noticed them and were intrigued to know what they were going to do with the dog when they left. All sorts of scenarios were suggested, including, perhaps one person wasn't going even though they all had helmets etc. Another thought was perhaps they had a trike with a dual rear seat. Eventually we decided that when they left we would follow them, below is the answer



Yes thats right a special top box with a waterproof cover with a hole for his head, but check this out Goggles too !!!!.
Apparently the dog was 7 years old and has been a bike passenger for the last 4 or 5 years, his owners said as soon as they got out the coats and Helmets he was there waiting to go, he really loved it.
He sat dead still and quiet while they strapped him in and put his Goggles on, he disn't seem to mind at all. The cover had two pop studs each side and two strong elastic straps to make sure he couldn't fall or jump out.
His owners said he had never attempted to escape as far as they knew.
So there you are the mystery was solved, (shame about the Beemers).
Joke of the day.
A young couple wanted to join the church, the pastor told them, 'We have a special requirement for new member couples. You must abstain from sex for one whole month'.
The couple agreed, but after two-and-a-half weeks returned to the Church. When the Pastor ushered them into his office, the wife was crying and the husband was obviously very depressed.
'You are back so soon... Is there a problem?' the pastor inquired.
'We are terribly ashamed to admit that we did not manage to abstain from sex for the required month.' The young man replied sadly.
The pastor asked him what happened.
'Well, the first week was difficult... However, we managed to abstain through sheer willpower.
The second week was terrible, but with the use of prayer, we managed to abstain. However, the third week was unbearable. We tried cold showers, Prayer, reading from the Bible...anything to keep our minds off Carnal Thoughts.
One afternoon my wife reached for a can of paint and dropped it. When she bent over to pick it up, I was overcome with lust and I just had my way with her right then and there. It was lustful, loud, passionate sex.
It lasted for over an hour and when we were done we were both drenched in sweat,' admitted the man, shamefacedly.
The pastor lowered his head and said sternly, 'You understand this means you will not be welcome in our church.'
'We know.' said the young man, hanging his head, 'We're not welcome at Homebase either

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

SHAMMICK STRAWBERRY FAIR.

This lovely lady was born,bred and raised here in the village and certainly could remember all about this Fair. Click on her hat to enlarge it, it contains lots of flowers and Strawberries.

Today (Sunday) Sue and I went to the Shammick Strawberry Fair, Shammick is the old name for Combe Martin, we also went to this last year. I'm not exactly sure how long this Fair has been run but quite a number of years I believe. The main reason for this these days is to raise money for local charities, most of the stalls are here for just this.
A little off track but while we were there we bumped into Martin of Combe Martin Life blog fame, we stopped and had a chat with him and his lovely wife Jackie. Martin is seen here on the balcony of the Foc's'le Inn, I cant possibly imagine what he could be doing there? can you?.
Please click on any Picture to enlarge it.
The stall below showing just what this fair is all about Strawberries, Very sweet, juicy and tasty they were too. Large Punnets were just under £2.00 so I'm afraid we just had to take two (to boost charity money of course).
This short narrow side street (below) in the village is shut off for the duration of the Fair (4-5 hours).
The Fair seems to be aimed at all age groups with a quite a lot of stalls for Children, although this Stall (below) is attended by all local women who have cooked/baked all the goods on sale on it, these were delicious Cakes, Sponges, Biscuits and Pasties etc all the proceeds went to charity. The right hand side of this stall was a raffle again for charity.
This John Fowler (Holiday Camp owners) Pink Bunny and attendant were definitely aimed at the younger generation. Both Martin and I crept in the right hand corner of this picture.
Looking at "Freddy the Teddy" I think he was a freelance Bear, and the kids loved him.
This "Teddy Bear" Tombola was in aid of the Combe Martin Pre school children's Group, it had Bears of every style, shape and colour.
This pretty young stall holder seemed only too pleased to have her picture taken, her stall soldor Raffled all sorts from Father's day Gifts to wooden toys, plants and even England Banners.
This lady's stall was most definitely aimed at the younger market.
This Stall (below) was also aimed at the kids.
So we thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon spent among the villagers and their tasty strawberries, it was such a warm sunny day that we both rode our Motorbikes here and they too created a fair bit of interest.
Joke of the Day.
If you have sex with a prostitute against her will, is it considered
rape or shoplifting?
Can you cry under water?
How important does a person have to be before they are considered
assassinated instead of just murdered?
Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'... but it's only a 'penny for
your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?
Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were
buried in for eternity?
Why does a round pizza come in a square box?
What disease did cured ham actually have?
How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be
a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up
like every two hours?
If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?
Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in
binoculars to look at things on the ground?
Why do doctors leave the room while you change?
They're going to see you naked anyway.
Why is 'bra' singular and 'panties' plural?
Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible
crisp, which no decent human being would eat?
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about
him?
Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane ?<>
If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut,
why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours?
They're both dogs!
If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't
he just buy dinner?
If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from
vegetables, what is baby oil made from?
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same
tune?
Why did you just try singing the two songs above?
Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the hemisphere, but
call it a hemorrhoid when it's in your butt?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at
you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the
window?
Why are they called stairs indoors, but steps outside?
What do people in China call their good plates?
Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, 'I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink whatever comes out'
Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don't point to their crotch when they ask where the bathroom is?
If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
If a man is talking in the forest, and no woman is there to hear him,is he still wrong?
Why is it that when someone tells you that there are over a billion stars in the universe, you believe them, but if they tell you there is wet paint somewhere, you have to touch it to make sure?
Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
Why does mineral water that 'has trickled through mountains for centuries' have a 'use by' date?
Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?


Tuesday, June 03, 2008

OUR MOTORCYCLE RALLY.

Last week we attended our Honda V twin Motorcycle Rally.This was held this year in Norfolk. Now Ladies i don't expect you are going to exactly enthuse over this blog, so I apologise but please indulge me. This Rally was club members only plus invited guests. It was held in a Camping field attached to the "Lighthouse Inn" at Walcott.Walcott is just a quarter of a mile from the coast roughly midway between Cromer and Great Yarmouth.
The pub itself prides itself on its food and is extremely busy especially at week ends. It also has a very warm cosy Restaurant with a large open wood fire. It also serves a good selection of Wines, Spirits, Beers (inc Real Ales) and Lagers. In the large grounds there is a huge Marquee that they use for large Functions, Weddings, live music, etc.This is the area we used on the Saturday evening for our entertainment and the Clubs Annual General meeting. The one thing that stood out for me was the fact that they didn't close the kitchen until 10.45, last food order at 10.30 around Devon most food outlets have last food orders at 9.00 or at the latest 9.30. Our club organisers did absolutely brilliantly and thought of everything, we had a Bar-B-Q/Hog roast, cooked Breakfast every morning and Jacket spuds with various fillings, they did us proud.To cook in tents for 115-120 people was brilliant.
There were around 80 Honda V Engined CX 500s Motorcycles at the rally, most of them looked really good as these photo's show. Below the gate to the field with the international flags flying and to the left the life saver room "the Tea tent" !!! where Tea was served 16-17 hours a day.
Please Click on any Picture to enlarge it.
This picture of our Trailer Tent below was taken on the Thursday evening before most of the members arrived.
Friday lunch time (below) and around 1/2 of the members had turned up.The Cooking tent is the pale one on the right, the Dark two are the dining/sitting ones.
We were so lucky the first two days with breezy but dry weather. The over 60s rider of this lovely machine had come 275 miles to get here.
Below, this model is known as an E or Eurosport edition and a very tidy one to.
The Black one pictured here is a Variant called a C or Custom model.
This Club celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, so a very nice cake was commissioned especially.
Below is the Club Badge and advert.
Here in the UK Club we have around 450 members, who probably own about 630 complete roadworthy models of this bike.Clubs exist in most European Countries and even in the States and Australia.It would be very interesting to find out how many of these bikes are running worldwide.
Joke of the day.
Muldoon lived alone in the Irish countryside with only a pet dog for company.
One day the dog died, and Muldoon went to the parish priest and asked, "Father, my dog is dead.
Could ya' be saying' a mass for the poor creature?" Father Patrick replied, "I'm afraid not; we cannot have services for an animal in the church.
But there are some Baptists down the lane and there's no tellin' what they believe, Maybe they'll do something for the poor creature.
" Muldoon said, "I'll go right away Father. Do ya 'think £5,000 is enough to donate to them for the service?" Father Patrick exclaimed, "Sweet Mary, Mother of Jesus! Why didn't ya tell me the dog was Catholic?

Sunday, June 01, 2008

A HOLIDAY WITH A DIFFERENCE.

This blog is one that I never intended to write. As a few of you will know Sue and I spent most of last week in Norfolk, at a place called Walcott to be precise. Walcott is a village almost on the Norfolk coast between Great Yarmouth and Cromer.We had come to this part of the world to attend my Motorcycle Clubs Annual national Rally, this club is for enthusiasts of the Honda V engined CX and GL models. So, perhaps to start off i should say the rally was a great success. It was held in a Caravan/Camping field at the "Lighthouse Inn, Walcott. The organisers did us proud with, lge Marquees, Hog roast, Breakfast each morning, and wonderful organisation of events, ride outs etc, we thoroughly enjoyed it. (I intend doing a future blog on this).
Now we come to the main content of this blog, which, I must say is not normally me. After the three day Rally we stayed on a few days to check out the area, its nearly 350 miles from us in Devon so its not a place to nip up to for the day.We went into Norwich, Gt Yarmouth, Cromer,Mundersley, Wroxham and several other places, including several lighthouses. The nearest Lighthouse to us at Walcott was the one 1/2 a mile away at Happisburgh (below).On the Sunday because the weather was wet and windy and very dull, we decided to go to this lighthouse, when we arrived we were the only ones there so were told that if we wanted to climb to the top we could. Now if you have ever seen inside a lighthouse, you will know that to get to the top you have a spiral stone staircase winding around the wall, this has only a waist high open handrail (and I'm not great with heights). After a little deliberation we decided (with more than a little trepidation) to give it a go.As we were the only ones going up we figured that at least we wouldn't have to squeeze past others as they passed in the opposite direction.Only looking in an upward direction the whole way (around 300 steps) we eventually arrived at the top (i was cream crackered), our guide then pointed out a lot of the landmarks to us, he said he walked up an down up to 30 times a day, rather him than me. Now the journey back down was something else, talk about underwear problems, blimey, anyway we eventually did get down. Now back to our Guide, after pointing all the sights out to us he then informed us that the lighthouse although fully operational, would probably not be there in 35 to 40 years due to coastal erosion. Also pointing to an area of coast that 40 years ago was a hamlet of 15 or 16 houses, all of which have now been swallowed by the sea.During the last two winters alone they have lost over 25 metres of coast. The very small cliffs in the area are made of what looks like sandstone and erodes so very easily. The guide told us that not only rising water levels due to global warming but this erosion actually puts the whole of the popular Norfolk Broads system under threat.At this moment in time, as serious as the problem is, nothing at all is being done on the Defence of the coast in this 10 to 15 mile stretch.So if you like me hadn't realised these sort of problems existed, please read the links at the bottom of this blog and maybe sign the partition to get aid to fight against the loss of Broads,Coast and even property.

I found this article (below) on the web.

EDP: “Visitors lobbied over Broads threat”

Holidaymakers visiting a part of Norfolk Broads which could be left to the power of the North Sea were yesterday warned about contentious plans to give up sea defences in the area.

Hundreds of trippers in Potter Heigham were stunned to be told about a scheme to surrender 25 square miles of the broads and six villages to flooding.

Read the full story by Anthony Carroll on the EDP website

Filed under: North Norfolk, Press Article

Sorry about the quality of pictures but the rain made the windows mucky.
Please click on any picture to enlarge it.
The picture below shows how close the sea is to these houses, only 25 years ago they all had large seaside gardens.If you enlarge this picture, at the caravan you can see two or three people examining the edge of their garden where erosion is taking place in these wild sea's.
Our Guide told us that this area in the bay(picture below) was where only a few years ago a small hamlet stood.
Its just a pity these windows were so dirty, making the pictures hazy.In the distance is a caravan /Camping site I'm not sure i would want to be in during a storm.
I put this picture below in to show on the left the glass of the actual light.
The next few pictures show the very pebbly beaches all around this area, note the Crab and Lobster fishermens boats. These boats are pulled up and down to the sea each day by a caterpillar like tractor unit, the day we visited they had several baskets of Crabs/Lobsters.
This part of the Norfolk Coast is as you can see very quiet and peaceful.You can see the very small 20 to 30 ft high cliffs, also the colour of them which to me looks decidedly sandy and weak.
Again here this view of these cliffs look very soft and frail.
So please read these links, and go on to other sites linked again to this one, perhaps signing the petition too.

http://www.happisburgh.org.uk/gallery/mikepage/index_html?&start:int=84

http://www.happisburgh.org.uk/

Joke of the day.

Three women: one engaged, one married, and one a mistress, are chatting
about their relationships and decided to amaze their men. That night
all three will wear black leather bras, stiletto heels and a mask over their eyes.After a few days they meet up again for lunch.
The engaged woman: 'The other night when my boyfriend came over he found
me with a black leather bodice, tall stilettos and a mask. He saw me and said, 'You are the woman of my life. I love you.' Then we made love all night long.'
The mistress: 'Me too! The other night I met my lover at his office and
I was wearing the leather bodice, heels, mask over my eyes and a raincoat. When I opened the raincoat he didn't say a word, but we had wild sex all night.'
The married woman: 'I sent the kids to stay at my mother's house for
the night. When my husband came home I was wearing the leather bodice, black stockings, stilettos and a mask over my eyes. As soon as he came in he said,
'What's for dinner,
Batman?''