Peter The Ipswich Monkey

Different times, different world, back in the early 70,s life was simpler in some ways as not so much choice, you enjoyed the things you had and no "PC" in any sense to worry about. Things just were, not the multitude of grey there is these days.

Not sure where dad got him from but Peter was a Sabaeus, or  

Green, monkey and most definitely not as cute as the little fellow on the right.

He was kept in the conservatory, much to my mother's dismay, and I thought it was brilliant as he seemed to love me. Peter would sit happily on my shoulder and groom my hair but if anyone came near me, especially my mother, he would stand and spit and try to swipe anyone who came to close....

My brother thought it was a great game to tease Peter until he got just a bit to close one day.... made me smile....

And then there was the incident with Robert, my school friend, from next door who walked in behind me one afternoon and Peter spun round and.... well all I can say is that Rob has very quick reactions..

Big argument between the parents again and Dad had to find somewhere else for Peter.....

Now at the same time we had this very nice Avery with loads of little finch size birds..... and Dad thought it would be an good idea to lock the birds in the back of the Avery and put Peter in the front. It seemed a logical plan for one night......

But in the morning I came down to mother storming back into the house. So I stroll outside to find Peter sitting there biting the head off one of the little birds and then calmly grabbed another and pulling its wing off and all around him were bits of bird and feather......

It would seem that Peter had torn a hole in the netting letting out the panicking birds and although I don't know how they are in the wild, watching him, it was more like he just wanted to see how they were put together rather than killing them for food.

Dad did clean up the mess this time because Mum told him he had to. I was glad about this as I cleaned out the rabbits... another story for another day.

But this is not the end of Peters story as he escaped from his next home and ended up in the local newspaper as he had gotten into the rafters of the Cobham Road bus depot, now a transport museum, where it took staff and reporters a couple of days to catch him..

Don't know where Peter ended up but my father told me that he had escaped again and was found climbing on a ship in the port of Felixstowe that was heading back to Africa but I don't know if that's the truth or he was just being kind. So I do think of him sometimes.... mostly in the mornings when my hair is a mess....

Never really felt the need for a pet... maybe this was because of all the animals we had or because of my fathers, sometimes, illogical viewpoint on what a pet was... As he liked to have things but, apart from the horses, get someone else to look after them or maybe its because of when he thought he would toughen us up by cooking my sisters pet turkey for us for Christmas.

My father was not in any way a bad man he was just from an old farming family and values were as different in his day to mine as mine are to today.

Keis Chicane Heated Grips Review Update 25/3/15 - Update 10/09/2016

The original heated grips on my Buell Ulysses are getting to smooth to hold but after 5+ years and 36,000 miles.... I'm impressed they still even work...

Have been looking at Oxford and other makes of grip for a few months now but I was over at the Adventure Bike Shop in Acton (nr Sudbury) the other day and came across the Keis (AME) Chicane heated grips and immediately thought "that's a good idea"....

The good idea is that all the electronics are in the grip itself and that means individual heating control (think about it). Now this might not sound much to you but my left hand is always colder than the right and as they have 6 heat settings its 3 on the right and 4 or 5 on the left..... Toasty finger tips all round....

First off - in the box are.... the grips (which have a soft and slightly tacky feel), the lead that connects them to the battery.... and that's all folks.... No bulky controller taking up handlebar space, or hanging off the mirror mount etc....

Each grip has a little button and a tiny, but bright, blue light. Press once... One flash.... First heat... Press twice.... Two flashes etc up to the top setting of six.
The led also slowly varies in brightness to show its warming up.

The grips themselves are slightly barrel shaped and, to me, fit better in the hand than "normal" grips  and with light summer gloves there is no problem pressing the little button on the go but with thicker or winter gloves its difficult... but not impossible. If you wire these straight to the battery then this could be a pain in turning down the heat if you find them to hot.

The grips are designed to auto shut off when the voltage drops to 12 point something so in theory when you turn the engine off and the grips should go off by themselves so you do not get a flat battery  but I would suggest having an off switch somewhere..... just to be safe.... not stranded....

As the Uly has its heated grips controlled but the right hand switchgear  I just spliced into the wiring and he presto I can either use the little button or turn off and on by the switch, same as the originals.... Cool..... or should that be hot....

The throttle side grip is also the throttle tube and has six different cam ends for the cables so its just a case of unhook the cables of your old throttle tube.... match up the cam end piece and snap it on (simple) hook on the cables and that's it..... No damage or need to cut off/ destroy your grip etc.... and if you don't like the new grip just put your old one back on.... simples....

The clutch side also has an inner sleeve (which is a nice tight fit to the bars) with an aluminium band that secures the grip to the bar by means of an Allen bolt. This does work really well but I did not like the extra distance this meant between grip and switchgear.... So I removed the band, cut off the excess tube, and used a dab of glue so I now have a flush fit and no problem reaching the switchgear (big palms and short fingers so don't get me started on getting gloves to fit properly). In case your thinking... Glue... I have a set of Acerbis dual road guards fitted so the grip cannot slide off...

So far I have only done a few short trips, and its not been that cold here this winter so I will update (and add photos) as time, and the miles, go on...

But my initial thoughts are - love the soft tacky feel that requires almost no effort to hold - less vibration getting through, compared to the original Buell grips and, for me, money well spent, as they are not the cheapest grips out there.

Update.... 07/03/2014

Just covered 200 odd miles today and must say these grip are com.....for........table........ No effort to hold and definitely smooth out the vibes... Have taken a couple of photos with the nexus 7 but cannot seem to get them on here so it may have to wait another couple of days to when I'm back home.

Had a play with changing the heat settings on the go - no problems using midwieght gloves but might rotate the throttle side grip to see the led better at (cough) cruising speed's....

The grips feel very much like the "Gel" ProGrips I have used in the past and I hope they are just as long lived.... time will tell....

Update....25/03/2015

Well folks its a year and almost 10,000 miles later
and the grips are getting a shine in places but with little
lose of the original "tacky" feel; there still soft, comfortable and needing very little effort to hold.

Winter was not to bad in this neck of the woods but as the wind was bl**dy freezing most of the time the grips got a lot of use and gave no problems.

In fact the only time I had a problem setting the temperature, with gloves, was when I was trying to show someone how easy it was.... typical......

Anyway.... final thought..... these are not the cheapest option but are very well made and I do not regret fitting them one little bit.

Update 10th Sept 2016
18 months and several thousand more miles on the Uly...

As with my Knight Design pegs review. I could put a couple of photos on here but they would not show any difference...

I would say that the "grey" is getting darker, maybe its a little UV damage or a natural over time thing... more likely is from greasy fingerprints when working on the bike... But either way it does not really seem to affect or degrade the grip...

I would say they are less "sticky" but not in any way that affects how easy these are to hold...

And even after all the miles there is very little rub off of material... ie no "bits" on your hands if you ride without gloves....

And overall they are still a thousand times better than the originals, which felt like smooth plastic at the mileage these have now done...

Would I buy another pair if these packed up/split... Yes...

Love the fact that these have no extra box on the handlebars and, highly. suggest that you keep all the supplied bits, and your original throttle tube n grip...

As if you have these and change your bike... you might just want to refit them...

Happy Riding All
P

Cars and Shopping Trollies.....

Had a theory for a while now that supermarkets are a big factor in the dumbing down of peoples driving abilities....

As they have gotten bigger, and more plentiful, is seems that the conection between the trolley and the car has gotten closer as peoples ability to know, or even care, where there trolley is in relation to anyone or anything else is getting transfered to the road....

In the supermarkets people blindly swing trollies about behind them blocking off isle while, supossibly, looking at an item...... or they blindly charge our of an isle with no consideration for cross traffic...... or just simply stop and natter right across the end of an isle...

And finally in the car park, although most people do put them back in the racks, some just leave them scattered wherever or, even worse, just let them roll away into another car, lamp post or person.....

So that's NO spacial awareness......  NO lateral thinking and NO care or consideration for anyone or anything around them....

Yesterday was an perfect example of this...... (and easily the hundredth time I've seen this happen and the second time involving a police car.......)

The Norwich Rd in Ipswich is quite simple one long queue of traffic, in both directions, for most of the day.....

So I am heading into town..... at 10 miles an hour.... slipping the clutch, as usual, on the Buell....

Spot this Volvo, hundred yards away, coming out of town wanting to turn right and, as usual, no body letting him turn...... 

When the car that's two in front of me simply stops and puts on his right indicator.... just a he,s passed the, already, stopped Volvo.......

Speechless........ where can we go..... where can he go.... who can anyone go..... 

As the driver had had no thought about letting the Volvo turn first and he simply just sat there expecting a gap to suddenly materialise so he could drive on unhindered......

Speechless.....

What the idiot had done though was to pull up alongside a police car........

So..... the nice policeman wound down his window...... Reached across to the other car and tapped on its window........ Which was duly wound down.....

Nice policemans repeatable comment.....        Are you a complete idiot.......

Silence…........

Nice policeman's unrepeatable, and correct, explanation of events …........ (Insert own comments here...) followed by MOVE IT...... NOW....

Silence..,...

The blue lights did a quick spin......

Then he stalled it......

Then the wipers went on..... front and rear....

Then he kangeroed off.....

Laughed..... Nearly fell off the bike........

The nice policeman was still laughing to, when I passed him....

So, guys n gals, don't queue across a junction and please think....

IF I LET SOMEONE OUT MAYBE THEY WILL LET ME OUT..... 
                        (not the other way round)

France with Friends Part Two

After many worried expressions and repeated questions about campsites we arrive in Calais and its warmer..... a lot warmer than the Dover we just left..... Nice....

Me I had switched from my gortex to a mesh jacket, on the ship, with Ric and Neil commenting as usual about my lack of "proper gear" but at the first stop...... off came the heavy, and now hot, leathers.........

Quick Note... Always wear the correct gear when motorcycling but when its hot dehydration can, all to easily, easily catch you out.... Been there and its not funny......

So fuel and water and go over a few rules before we set off again..

One...

You  WILL pull out on the wrong side of the road and its not a case of "if" but always a case of "when"....
You have to be aware that its when you pull out after a stop, petrol station, cafe or nature break......that you are most likely to do it.....

Even after all these years on a clear road I still pull out wrong side occasionally, scary...

Two.....

If you make a wrong turn or miss a roundabout exit wait there as when I realize your gone I will, after a cup of tea....., come back for you.

And most importantly......... Three.......

NEVER EVER ARGUE WITH A FRENCH POLICEMAN.....that just get more expensive the more you say........

Be humble...... Doff your cap... If you are in the wrong ( is speeding) DO NOT MAKE EXCUSES.... Just say, and look, sorry....  Lots cheaper in the long run.... Being marched into jail for the night or to a cash point with the gendarmerie saying  "Money.... Now"  just spoils a holiday.

So we head on into France. The autoroute,s are a great way to get where your going but if you have the time.... take the A roads/ route nationals you see so much more but as we only had a week the autoroute it was... or should have been....

Made a mistake at the double exit for Charles de Gaulle airport which ended up with us flying up this ramp with a sharp left, knee down, turn at the top and we are suddenly......  right alongside the runway..... I mean you could see the faces of people in the windows...... Looking at us....... as there taking off...... You could feel the vibration through the handle bars....... Bit to close for comfort.......

And then we come to this taxi rank/ drop off area but the bit I most remember was that it was one lane in.... Two lane taxi rank with central columns and one lane out.....
I remember it because on the first column were two signs.... Marseilles left and Bordeaux  right..... But..... But.... its single lane out....

My fault for the wrong turn so onto Paris...... Not a problem...... But I had not realized how much Ric, really, did not want to hit Paris...

We were getting nearer and nearer when Ric suddenly cuts across in front of me and heads down an off ramp... Trouble was there was no on ramp at this junction and I had no idea where we  were in relation to anything... We could see the raised autoroute above us but not how to get to it.... And my French is..... Not good.... So asking the way was not going to help

We do a couple of laps, on the cobbles, and then spot a sign for Disneyland so head out..... Nice straight road not so nice traffic lights.... every 10 yards.... Neils GS started sending up smoke signals and had to stop..... so with the bike and Neil both happily smoking away..... and, luckily, my "all France" map had the junction up ahead on it.... in another 5 minutes and we were clear of Paris... Yea....

Heading south again but on a route national the day was passing quickly and thoughts turned to where to stop when, after riding through a very run down grey little village we turned the corner and there was this beautiful bridge over the Lorie..... And the Château Sully Sur Lorie.. Simply stunning....

The campsite ran from the château wall to the river.... Beautiful grassy camping area with a few trees and a sandy shore line....

The shower block was a bit WW2 concrete though.... Functional, but basic.... Very basic.

So...10ft wall.... Big grassy area with 20 tents or so already there, and a couple of landrovers with tents on the roof...

I look up to see where the sun is and work out where to it might rise from in the morning while the other two simply started to pitch their tents out in the middle..... away from anything..... people...... shade..... O...K.....

"You want to camp there" I said and a combined yes came back.... O....K......

All pitched, showered and sorted we walked through the château grounds to the village and found a pizzarea...... Well rural France does shut early....  Bit of food and a couple of 1664,s went down well and its back to the campsite at the end of a very very long day....

Me... I get up nice and early.... sort myself out and sit there in my chair.... with my coffee and brioche/ ham sandwich.....  and waited for the sun to pop up over the château wall..... on this even hotter morning....

Up it pops..... 30 seconds..... and out they both pop...... SO funny.....  and they called ME names........ Dark coloured tents and decent sun shine... not a good mix for a lay in....

Mind you if you are moving on every day it saves you setting the alarm clock..

Perhaps a more mellow day today..... We'll see in part three...

France with Friends..... Part One

Part one of many in this saga methinks.....

Holidays to me usually mean only one thing..... Motorcycle touring in France....
Anywhere below Orleans is good as the north, to me, is still a bit Agincourt....

Been doing it for three decades now and usually go by myself but around the millennium I con.... er.... convinced two friends Ric and Neil to accompany me........ Oh the fools....

Neither of them had been abroad on a bike before and they were both looking to me for advice..... Nah..... Not gonna happen..... I,m was  just gonna watch them make the same mistakes I did.......  And that was pretty much how it went...... And it turned out to be, possibly, the best ever holiday I've had

My usual habit on holiday is to find a little "municipal" campsite well out of the way of anything remotely touristy and simply enjoy the roads 'n' scenery and if I spot something worth looking at I may stop for a gander but never ever plan anything and for the evening meal I would try to find a, simple, out of the way, backstreet, place where the local eat........ So nothing like what most people get up to then........

In truth I used to simply hide away..... Not think about problems, life or work....

So it was a total change for me..... I had to actually think.......  Carlsberg........

My bike was a Honda VFR750FJ, owned this for 14 years in total, 5" CBR rear wheel, Ohlin's rear shock, outback seat, and yes that is not a Honda front end its a Yamaha Thundercat. The complete front end is a  straight swap. took me an hour and a half to fit and boy what a difference in handling, not to mention the extra breaking power.....

Neil had a very odd Suzuki GS650GT

Nice little bike with strange handling and very frugal fueling. The bike was an American import and was a chain drive whereas the UK GT models were all shaft drive and, as we found out later, had not had the emissions plumming removed properly.

He did burn less fuel than Ric or myself but ended up with burnt out valves, cylinder head etc

Ric rode a Yamaha TDM850. Which I wish i could say that he put so many miles on it the results are shown on the left but the mini bikes are just a later hobby, The TDM's are amazing machines, could not believe the engine braking they have. Ric was also the only one of us who had breakdown cover...... More on that later........

Anyway plans were made..... Ric and Neil - Where are we going..... Me - South..... Ric 'n' Neil - Do we book campsites..... Me.... No..... That's the plan done then.....

Ferry,s booked and a meeting time arranged for 6am at Tesco's Copdock Mill and at 6 Ric and I duly arrive........ We wait.... No Neil...... Phone Neil.....  errr hmmmm... yes... who..... Neil its 6.15 and were Tesco's...... What!!... Bugger.... Crash..... Be there in 20..... and he was, which was quick as he lives over 12 miles away......

So off we trot to Dover getting faster and faster as we went and arrived at the port just in time to be loaded straight onto the boat.... Literally down the ramp and into the parking lane behind the other, now moving, bikes and straight up onto the boat, don't think we even stopped...

Natural break point here I think folks as Part two starts in Calais....

Snakes and Sleeping Bags....

Among my many and varied friends is Ali Treeman, who is definitely the most "varied" of them all, and he used to carry round this very nice
little python called Smeagle.

Now Smeagle was a really friendly snake and he even had a friendly little face, seriously.... made a good anti theft device to as Ali often wrapped Smeagle around the handle bars on his bike... or in his crash helmet.....

Now I was camping for the weekend over at the Edwardstone White Horse for its spring bank holiday beer festival and was, steadily, working my way through the beer list when Ali arrived and proceeded to catch me up.....

Problem was, though, that Ali had brought Smeagle, in his pillow case, but not a tent.....
So I suggested that he share with me, as I had a 4 man tent and only me in it.

It was a really good evening, as usual, but then again cant think of a bad evening at the Horse as Cliff and Penny ran an amazing little, out in the sticks, place with bar billiards, shove ha'pny and no electronic games...

So when Cliff finally kicks us all out we stagger back to the tent and crash........

Now Smeagle had been in his pillow case all evening but when I was startled awake at 2 o'clock in the morning I realized that this was no longer the case as the "thing" I had hold of, by my neck was in fact he...

Can only be glad that I used to wake up alert, in those days, and I immediately let go.... And Smeagle just, calmly, carried on down inside my sleeping bag........ a mummy style bag..........  not a big roomy square one.....

Guess he thought my sleeping bag was warmer than his pillow case...

But I now had, more than, a slight problem as Smeagle was wrapping himself around my thighs.....

Actually had two BIG problems as.........
One.... I had no idea which way his head was facing, or where it was....
Two... I move about A LOT in my sleep....

So I am there punching Ali and calling him, just, a few things.... but would he wake up.... NO... not on your life... or on the life of important parts of my anatomy.....

Longest night of my life...... Not that I did not trust the snake but if I went to sleep and started rolling over then something was going to get bitten or crushed.....

And to cap it all when he did, finally, wake up, and I informed him of events, he simply shrugged he shoulders, smiled, and said " Well I guess your warmer than me"

Thanks Ali......

Snooker Memories - The one and only Alex Higgins

From 1979 to 1984 I was the cellar-man at the Corn Exchange entertainment complex in Ipswich. A superb job that had me, as well as all the in house events, running all over town setting up mobile bars for everything from concerts, council meetings, parties, weddings, shows and big "in the park" events..... crap wages but brilliant job....

While I was there the Tolly Cobbold Classic (also 1979 - 1984 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolly_Cobbold_Classic ) snooker tournament was happening I would just like to impart the one, out of many, memory of that event.

Alex Higgins had won the first "Classic" event in 79  and he was late for the start of the second..... quite a bit late.... in fact he was still in a helicopter, with Kirk Stevens, when the first match started and he was meant to be playing in the second....

If I remember correctly the two Taylor's, Dennis and Graham, were playing the first game and they did make the game last allot longer than it needed to, as they had been told that Higgins was late.

I was in the technicians office at the side of the stage when up the back stairs, literally, staggered, Alex and Kirk. the were swaying away, holding each other up, and everyone was looking at each other thinking....

hows he going to play... what do we do....

when......

Alex Higgins was a star, a true showman and a brilliant, if eccentric, player.... The man just stood upright, shook himself and said "give me my cue" and went from drunk to sober in the seconds it took him to assemble it.

And then he simply strolled out the door to a crescendo of applause and even went on to win the classic for a second year.

Meanwhile Mr Stevens  was slumped in a chair, holding a basket..... he was playing to....

I have many memories of Alex but watching him transform and then perform that day is the one that truly stands out.

ttfn