Dunlop - loss and a win

I don't know much about motorcycle racing. I don't know much about motorcycles. I know that they fall over more easily that something on 4 wheels. I know that they afford little or no protection for their riders in the event of a crash - be it accidental or avoidable. I know they can give the most amazing thrills to those who spend time on board. Even the best riders fall off or come a-cropper in some way. Some walk away, some limp away, some are conveyed to hospitals in ambulances (by land or air) and some will never know what happened or will not live to remember what happened.
For those, even like me, who know little about the sport of motorbike racing the name of Dunlop has been synonymous with motorbike racing for a long time. It's not just about tyres it's about a family of biking enthusiats who take the sport to the extreme.
Joey Dunlop is probably the most well-known of the family. Born in 1952 in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland he was a great exponent of road racing. I say was as, sadly, Joey died whilst racing 125s in Tallinn, Estonia in 2000.
His younger brother, Robert, carried on the family tradition as did their sons.
The latest tragedy to hit the Dunlop family is the recent death of Robert Dunlop who died during a practise session in Northern Ireland readying for the Northwest 200. The engine seized throwing Robert off the bike at approximately 137mph. His two sons (of 3 ) were also there and competing. William's bike had similar problems so, come the race on 17th May 2008 (2 days later) it was down to Michael to uphold the family honour and ride in memory of father on board a Honda 250.
With the most amazing and gutsiest performance ever, Michael came home winner of the 250 class.
It is no mean feat to win at the NW200 but to do so after such tragic circumstances says alot for the character of Michael.

My thoughts go to everyone who knew Robert.

Move Over, darling

Here's a lesson on what to do if you meet an ambulance.
GET OUT OF THE WAY! oh and you think i'm talking about when it's running with bright lights and an array of loud noises blaring from it's vox-box?
Put it this way, an emergency ambulance, whether it is running with all the paraphenalia
going or not is always going somewhere. Is trying to be in the right place. It doesn't have to have a patient on board. It doesn't even have to be a patient who is seriously ill but it is always going somewhere. An ambulance, when out and about on the mean streets of the UK, always has a place to go.
What about the Police? no. Cos they cruise around showing their faces trying to keep those mean streets crime-free. Fire bobbies? not quite but closer to the emergency ambulance service.
So, an ambulance conveys an ill pateint to hospital. This person is not gonna die but does require treatement somewhere down the line. The ambulance is not in a hurry. It does not play tunes or turn on the disco lights. However, the sooner it is released from that duty with that patient it may be required instantaneously to something that is life threatening. And, because no other ambulance is available that detail could've come in 5 - 15 minutes earlier; but this ambulance that is sitting behind you doing 40mph on an out-of-town A road can not pass you due to the nature of the bends, hillcrests etc etc. It can legally do 50mph (60 on dual carriageways and motorways) but you don't care. No blue lights. No sirens. No bother. However, you are holding up this ambulance from clearing sooner. The ambulance, without you on the road, may clear only 3 minutes sooner but that can be the difference between life and death. A human being may be starved of oxygen for up to 4 minutes without any noteable detrimental effect. That person having a heart attack may not have stopped breathing for a while but the instant that attack began a friend or relative has put in that 999 call. So, clock ticking. Patient still breathing and ambulance is on it's way. Crew do the do. Happiness all round.
Same scenario. Crew are returning to their general area of cover when the call comes in. They are 10 miles away. But if man-in-a-cap had not held up the flow of traffic 40 minutes earlier that ambulance could've been 5 miles away... maybe less.
An ambulance is always going somewhere.
If one is obviously wishing to travel a little bit faster than you wish then pull over. Get off the way. No one is asking you to speed up just move over, let 'em go and then carry on.
Check your Highway Code. If two or vehicles, regardless of status, wish to travel quicker than you then you should pull over anyway! that is, of course, assuming you're doing less that the top speed limit and driving conditions are conducive for the maximum speed limit.


If in doubt...........>>>>> they look like or are similar to this one -----------------------

Part 2... attempt 2 - Faceless Corps... or - Do what??

I was unceremoniously dumped offline as i was mid part 2 so decided to give it up as a bad job... for a while.
Last year, not long after switching from BT to XX my ISP offered an upgrade. Upon discovering i was not with BT they said they couldn't do the upgrade. I asked why since the company i had switched to was also part of my ISPs company? it had to be BT and that was that. I have been with my current ISP for getting on for 9 years. I am not wholly sure that i shall be with them going in to double figures!
Likewise, i was tempted by British Gas to take over my gas and electricity. More fool me.
Shortly before saying yes they announced their profits for the year.
571million squid!!!!!! do what?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7256096.stm... ty the beeb.
So, having asked them if they would send me a new access key to my electricity meter which requires a different triangular key from that required to access my gas meter the girl at BG informed me that they no longer send out keys to people and that people were to buy them from their local hardware stores. Do what???
This company has just announced an almost obscene profit margin and they won't buy a key for the households who request them so that they can make sure their GESTIMATES for some bills are somewhere close to the correct figures.
Not everyone has a hardware store/builders merchants/blah blah on their doorstep and the cost to go out and buy one far exceeds the cost to the almighty Gas (no not Bristol Rovers) company. So much for customer relations. Well BG, ya stitched me for the year but i'm s*dding off to someone else next year so put that in your ferking pipeline and smoke it!
May karma recitify this at some later date! :D

Faceless Corporations

For approximately 3 weeks I have had problems being dumped unceremoniously off-line.
In fact, as i write this i am aware that this could happen after i write a wonderous piece shortly before i am able to save it. Can you hear my teeth grinding in negative anticipation?
I went through the various fix it click doings for my isp. Reset my router. turned my pc off and back on. Kicked the chest of drawers in. Yelled at the cat and eaten chocolate in some effort not to do serious to anyting or anyone.
A few days ago i finally rang my ISP membership tech helpline on 0844 blah de blah etc etc.
The indian chap at the end of the line worked me thro a few things and i returned online. Thing is, i could probably have managed to get myself on without his assistance. And a couple of days later my pc was still dropping me but even more often. I rang again and an indian lass talked me thro some stuff. It seems that having Sky and your PC routed through broadband do not mix very well. Sky, apparently, causes connectivity problems with broadband users.
::scratches head... don't Sky do broadband as well::: Anyhow, it loks like i shoudl chat with the peeps on level 2 tech but i need to ring back as they won't talk to me if i am still connected to Sky via my telephone system. Anyone who has Sky knows that part of your contract means having to keep your boxes attached. So, i now need to ring back having queued for goodness how long and start all over again. In an effort to calm myself i decide not to do it there and then. So, i speak to someone the next day having done as they have asked. Sorry Sky but come on this is ludicrous!
This indian chap is clearer down the tele line and he organises with BT (british untelecommunications) to do line checks and see what the issue is. You should know that my phone is now supplied by another company so i amke sure they know this and ask if the issue is outside my house? it is... probably. Well, my isp are making the calls they can make any extra payments as my contract is not with BT if needed.
I am given a fault reference number. And i make a point of asking for the ISPs' address so i can give serious consideration to writing a snail-mail of complaint. The chap passes it over. I have to ring the next day to ensure that things are going ahead.
Yesterday, my phone has completely lost connectivity and i am trying to retain a form of dignity even in only my own company.
I chase the fault issue. My ISP say they'll ring me back after 30minutes to confirm the final arrangements with BT. That was mid to late morning. At 3 hours (ish) later i try to ring back only for them to cut me off. Communication is the answer to our problems (thanks 10CC).
I wanna cry but a friend has asked me for help. They have my mobile number so i'm going out S7d it!
They ring whilst i am out but i miss to hear my mobile. thankfully, the nice indian chap has left me a message on my home system saying BT will check things out at the exchange tomorrow (today now) so PHEW!
I give up on my PC and have a sky+ fest. I pay the feckers enough dosh - attached or not attached to my phoneline!
Today, BT never called to confirm what was happening so spoke with my ISP after waiting for over half an hour but this time to a chap in Eire. Great! he sounded irish to me but i thought he was from the Netherlands. Well, he's South African originally so pretty close, eh? He confirms what the indian chap said before and suggests i call back late this avo if things are still unresolved.
Well, as you see i am online. However, i have already been dropped so have things ben resolved? do i want to put myself through the whole fiasco again? I'll see what mood i am in in the next couple of hours.
For fear of this being lost i am going to publish but i sense a part 2 brewing

Old Festival

Beltane is a festival that marks the return of summer with the lighting of fires; where people could burn their winter bedding and floor coverings, ready to be replaced afresh. Referred to as a Gaelic ceremony, it has been celebrated for thousands of years throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. In fact in Ireland, it supposedly marks the arrival of the Gaels on to Irish shores.

I've whipped the above from another site so thanks to Mysteriousbritain.co.uk

So, here's wishing my wiccan/pagan pals a Happy Beltane. The only thing i've set fire to today are a few jossticks of the frankincense & myrrh and Yland Yland flavours.

I wish i could linger longer but i have connection issues. No, this is not my cry for therapy. This is my cry for a multi-billion pound compnay to pull their finger out and give us rurals a decent frigging service.

Bar stewards! the ot of them.

I don't know whether to rant about AOL or BT the most.

Thank goodness for double-barrell shotguns eh?

A bag of Wind

I wrote such a long and provocative thought about the wonders of wine and then the internet ate it and never regurgitated for me. [as you see i've found it so don't mind that pissed off piece ]

So sod that. Here's a piece about football instead. And the happy tale about 22 men on approximately 120x100yards of turf kicking a bag of wind for extortionate sums of money.
I am watching, sorta, the semi final of the Champions League match between Manchester 'scum' United and Barce' you cheated in the final the other year' lona being played at the latter's Nou Camp.
Now, i like football (the Yankeedoodles have a problem with that reference so call it soccer... sommat to do with the term Association ::shoulder shrug::) but it frustrates me on so very many levels.
Where do i begin?
1. the wages
2. the facial expressions if someone dares look at them the right way
3. the faux innocence
4. the writhing on the floor in agony.
Anyone who knows anything about a genuinely bad injury is that the last thing you'll do is make any unnecessary movemnets (watch a video of Eduardo da Silva's horrendous injury when playing for Arsenal vs Brum earlier this year - he hardly moved once he hit the deck)
5. the tripping over a blade of grass that the ground staff have failed to cut to the required centimetreage

That'll do.
This, after all, is a game. Yes it's great to support a team (or two or three) but let's not get our underwear in a twist.
Whilst i may refer to Man U in less than endearing terms i do not loathe them.
Whilst i may support Arsenal i do not love them. And whilst it's sad when they lose and throw away a whole season right at the end it is ONLY a game.
These people have no direct bearing on the health and well-being of the world around them.
Yes seeing your number one player visiting your ward when you're suffering from some horrible disease is great and famous faces bring in money to hospitals and hospices, blah blah blah but they don't save lives. And, when they have so much money given to them for kicking around a bag of wind then, quite honestly, so they bloody should hand over significant wads of dosh.
Earlier this evening, the talented Mr Cristiano Ronaldo screwed up a penalty. The goalmouth was gaping wide and he missed.
Now, despite the sarcasm, he is a talented player but he gets paid a fortune to fk up that which he is paid to do.
If i fk up what i am paid to do then a few things can happen.
1. i get away with it
2. i get fired
3. someone dies
4. i go to prison
5. i fall on my gerbers

I know the world will never be a fair place but come on this is getting out of hand.
The money and all the rest that footballers receive is, to put it simply, obscene.

I don't say that high pay to any sportsman is justified. It isn't but footballers just seem to go nowhere near earning it.
Cricketers don't get anywhere near what footballers have yet they can play cricket for 5 days back to back.
Rugby players (union and league) crash into each other for roughly 80 minutes and then buy each other drinks in the bar afterwards. If someone hurts them they shrug it off, shake their heads and get on ( and wreak revenge... but anyway -)

What price 22 men (+ subs) and three officials running around a field for 90 minutes for X thousands of quid... against an AMI (Acute Myocardial Infarction) sufferer being attended to by two people earning roughly £11 - 15 an hour (gross)?
there's unfair and then, there's unfair and, more to point, NOT RIGHT!

Result?... Barcelona 0 Manchester United 0.
FFS!

Wine

Alco-pops... no thank you.

White Lightning... even bigger no thank you.

John Smiths Bitter... ychafy!

Glass of red?

Ribena when driving.

Wine if i'm not - preferably of the New World.

Now Anton Dvorak wrote a great piece (his New World Symphony). Think how much better it might've been if he'd been around to sample the delights of the Napa valley et al.

I have drunk some lovely french and italian and spanish reds but my heart lies with that produced from the USA and Australia. Now and again i venture into the territory of South African or South American. Chilean vineyards have a good rep. And i sampled a very tasty Argentinian rose last night.

I was at a dinner last night. Hence my considering what moves my tastebuds.

It was a BYO evening and, of the 6 adults at the table, five brought new world(4 red, 1 rose) wines.

Oxford Landing (merlot), Wolfblass Yellow Label (Cab Sauv), E & J Gallo x 2 (grapes not spotted) and the Argentinian (Mendoza).

A friend from another table entreated me to sample his french. "It's quite dry," he said as i sipped. Yikes!

It reinforced my lack of faith in the old world wines. Maybe i need to get some of that Cuvee from Citie Europe. Too drinkable really ;0)

It's not that i don't drink white it's that i prefer red. Europe seems to have a better choice of white than red. A nice Orvieto goes down very well with some tasty chicken. Having said that I am not one of those officiandos ( i'm not an officiando at all!) who believes that white meat and fish should be complimented with white. And red for red meat. Whatever works for your palette is the way to be.

Quite honestly, i believe there is no room for snobbery in alcohol.

You can the most expensive bubbly or the cheapest vino and it'll do the same thing to you if you imbibe too much. And the result could leave you with your head staring into a space that another part of your anatomy will see more often!

Alcohol. No respector of who or what you are. You abuse it and it will be the winner!

Cheers

[i dug this out 3 weeks after the event and i, subsequently, have a nice Orvieto lined up for drinking in my kitchen right now]