A video, and some links to photos from the Easter Egg Run:
Ian Smart
Stewart Priest
Ian D (seems to have been close to St Mary's Cathedral)
Rosco B
Scott Hume
Zeezeephotography
The Committing Yak
Ian McF
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Easter Eggs and genuflecting Provosts
Well, according to the first official guesstimate there were about *8,000 motorcycles there yesterday, and the money collected (as of half an hour ago which was the time the site was last updated as at the time of writing this) was £21,300 raised. Apparently at this point last year £16,000 had been raised and last year's final total was over £30,000 so it looks good so far!The image on the right, taken by Stewart D. Macfarlane (thanks Stewart) shows me with RE riding pillion, next to the Provost of St Mary's Cathedral, the Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, who it has to be said is looking slightly dishevelled with his Cope at rather a jaunty angle. He must have had a bit of a rush of blood to the head, since he genuflected as we arrived in front of him outside St Mary's where he'd been standing waving at the passing bikers exactly as he did last year too. It's nice to know that a senior clergyman knows his place when it comes to BMW motorcycles and their riders/passengers!
I think he ended up with RSI of the arm too, because he was waving for a long time, which probably explains the Cope dishevellment.
The short trip across to the wrong side of the road was fun too, passing between moving cars on the way over, and moving buses and cars on the way back to join the other riders!
Last night we saw a few other photos of us on the run, so if and when I get any copies I'll post them here, with the gracious permission of the photographer(s) hopefully.
The verdict then on the Easter Egg Run? It was a lot of fun, and we'll be there next year for sure.
*update 4th April: I now believe the official police estimate was around 7,000 bikes.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Easter Eggs
It's looking good for the Easter Egg run tomorrow lunchtime. The snowy weather promised by the weather forecasters a few days ago is looking less likely and right now the BBC Website says it's going to be pretty reasonable.
So if you happen to be somewhere in the west end of Glasgow tomorrow, Easter Sunday, from 12.30pm, then look out for the 3000+ motorcyclists bringing all the traffic to a halt while delivering a huge number of Easter eggs, and a fair number of cash donations to Yorkhill Children's Hospital.
Obviously the number will be swelled this year by yours truly together with RE riding pillion. This year I will not be standing outside St Mary's Cathedral leaning on crutches and with a glass of sparkly stuff in my hand jealously watching the dirty filthy bikers go by, no sir, this year I will be one of said DF bikers!
So if you're trying to drive in a car in the west end tomorrow lunchtime I'd give it a miss if I were you!
The trip starts at the SECC car park and the route (see image) travels up Finnieston St, left into Argyle St, right into Radnor St, right onto Sauchiehall St, left into Rose St (past the Glasgow Film Theatre), right into Renfrew St, left into Cambridge St, left onto Cowcaddens Rd, bear left onto West Graham St which then takes you onto Great Western Road, past St Mary's Cathedral, left at Anniesland Cross onto Crow Rd (the eponymous road from the Iain Banks 1992 novel), left onto Dumbarton Rd, right into Bunhouse Rd (at the Kelvin Hall, the location of my Achilles Tendon injury just over 1 year ago which led to me being on crutches drinking sparkly stuff), left onto Old Dumbarton Rd, then right into Dalnair St to the hospital. Then a wee trip back to the SECC which is only a few hundred metres from the hospital by the direct route.
An estimated 40 minutes of slow riding at close quarters with lots of other riders. Lots of horn blowing and lots of waving to watching pedestrians, including those outside St Mary's. Should be fun. Report will doubtless follow.
One thing that strikes me as slightly strange however is that the IAM are not represented there. Yes, of course there will be riders who like me are members of the IAM, but the Institute itself is not officially represented as far as I can make out. I would have thought that the presence of thousands of bikers in one place at the same time might be seen as a God given opportunity to spread the word and, more importantly, capture the chequebooks of some new associate members. But apparently not. Outside the official season no doubt, so out of the question.
So if you happen to be somewhere in the west end of Glasgow tomorrow, Easter Sunday, from 12.30pm, then look out for the 3000+ motorcyclists bringing all the traffic to a halt while delivering a huge number of Easter eggs, and a fair number of cash donations to Yorkhill Children's Hospital.
Obviously the number will be swelled this year by yours truly together with RE riding pillion. This year I will not be standing outside St Mary's Cathedral leaning on crutches and with a glass of sparkly stuff in my hand jealously watching the dirty filthy bikers go by, no sir, this year I will be one of said DF bikers!
So if you're trying to drive in a car in the west end tomorrow lunchtime I'd give it a miss if I were you!
The trip starts at the SECC car park and the route (see image) travels up Finnieston St, left into Argyle St, right into Radnor St, right onto Sauchiehall St, left into Rose St (past the Glasgow Film Theatre), right into Renfrew St, left into Cambridge St, left onto Cowcaddens Rd, bear left onto West Graham St which then takes you onto Great Western Road, past St Mary's Cathedral, left at Anniesland Cross onto Crow Rd (the eponymous road from the Iain Banks 1992 novel), left onto Dumbarton Rd, right into Bunhouse Rd (at the Kelvin Hall, the location of my Achilles Tendon injury just over 1 year ago which led to me being on crutches drinking sparkly stuff), left onto Old Dumbarton Rd, then right into Dalnair St to the hospital. Then a wee trip back to the SECC which is only a few hundred metres from the hospital by the direct route.
An estimated 40 minutes of slow riding at close quarters with lots of other riders. Lots of horn blowing and lots of waving to watching pedestrians, including those outside St Mary's. Should be fun. Report will doubtless follow.
One thing that strikes me as slightly strange however is that the IAM are not represented there. Yes, of course there will be riders who like me are members of the IAM, but the Institute itself is not officially represented as far as I can make out. I would have thought that the presence of thousands of bikers in one place at the same time might be seen as a God given opportunity to spread the word and, more importantly, capture the chequebooks of some new associate members. But apparently not. Outside the official season no doubt, so out of the question.
Monday, March 17, 2008
A year later
It's pretty well a whole year since I completely snapped my Achilles Tendon while playing badminton, on Sunday 18th March 2007.
A couple of months of being in a non-weight-bearing plaster cast, 3 months off work, lots of months of physiotherapy, and a year down the line my left calf is still noticeably smaller than my right one due to muscle wastage when the cast was on, and I still have to concentrate on not limping.
Relatively recently I realised that the reason I keep getting cramp and aches in my left calf is because without having noticed it I now tend to walk with the muscles of my left leg tensed. When I manage to relax it I can walk a lot better and without limping, but I have to think about it as it doesn't come naturally yet. It'll come though, I hope.
So, since my previous post what has happened? I made a fairly rare purchase from Amazon. Rare these days anyway, although I used to buy a lot more from the site. A couple of posts ago I mentioned a few books which had been recommended to me, so that's me bought all three. Additionally I chucked both the Long Way Round and Long Way Down DVDs onto the order because although I've seen various individual episodes I haven't seen either series in its entirety. I really shouldn't place orders online after returning home from the pub, because I also added something off my Amazon Wish List, namely a digital photo frame.
In the flat I rented for a while before buying this house I had my PC in the living room, and quite enjoyed the experience of watching the screen saver of my photos randomly displayed (or rather, displayed in a random order). Since moving however, the PC is in a separate room and I've been missing seeing the photos. No one really ever looks through their photos and I found the screen saver to be a good way of looking at them with no effort involved. So anyway, I have been looking for a digital photo frame for a while, but haven't seen any, apart from pretty expensive ones, that I fancied.
So, I bought an expensive one. On the bright side I saved over £100 on the list price, but it was still well over £100! And it's a 10" one rather than the more usual 7"-8", so although size isn't everything (!) it means I can see it from the other side of the room quite easily.
And it's Wi-Fi enabled so I can just connect to my home network and display all the photos on my PC without having to transfer them to the frame. In theory anyway. I'm having a few teething problems and although I have connected it to the network, it keeps rebooting randomly every so often, so this week I'll have a proper look at it to see if there's something in the settings I need to change. Otherwise it'll go back to Amazon to be replaced.
On Saturday evening a friend, RE, and I were invited to a whisky tasting evening at G&G's house. Could have been messy, but it was actually damned civilised! When we were told about it, in the pub last week, there was some discussion about what the dress code would be, and "dress posh" seemed to be the order of the day, but in the event it didn't end up like that. However in the meanwhile I had decided that this was probably just the right time to splash out on some new accessories for my kilt.
I've had the kilt for a number of years, but generally when I wear it it's worn casually with a big jumper and some heavy boots, and when I need the formal look I've always hired the smart jacket and brogues etc.
As an aside, my kilt is the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) tartan which is rather nice I think (see image).
So I went to Slaters Menswear and bought an Argyll jacket in a lovely charcoal grey colour and with bone buttons rather than silver so it's kind of semi formal, ghillie brogues, black socks, black sock flashes, and a new kiltpin. All for the bargain price of about £200.
As I say, the whisky tasting turned out not to be a posh dress event, but I wore the kilt anyway, and I'm very pleased to have at last got round to buying the stuff I have spent a fortune hiring over the past years! And a good time was had by all while tasting the whisky.
Next weekend will see this year's Motorcycle Action Group Easter Egg Run from the SECC to Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Glasgow, with 3000+ bikers bearing donations and Easter Eggs, and RE has agreed to accompany me by riding pillion on the bike. This morning then was a small scale trial run when we made sure she was OK riding pillion and I was OK with her on the back. Went well, exceptionally well, and we both enjoyed the experience, made better by having a decent intercom so we could speak to each other as we went along. So next Sunday, Easter Day, should be fun. I will, of course, report on it in due course.
A couple of months of being in a non-weight-bearing plaster cast, 3 months off work, lots of months of physiotherapy, and a year down the line my left calf is still noticeably smaller than my right one due to muscle wastage when the cast was on, and I still have to concentrate on not limping.
Relatively recently I realised that the reason I keep getting cramp and aches in my left calf is because without having noticed it I now tend to walk with the muscles of my left leg tensed. When I manage to relax it I can walk a lot better and without limping, but I have to think about it as it doesn't come naturally yet. It'll come though, I hope.
So, since my previous post what has happened? I made a fairly rare purchase from Amazon. Rare these days anyway, although I used to buy a lot more from the site. A couple of posts ago I mentioned a few books which had been recommended to me, so that's me bought all three. Additionally I chucked both the Long Way Round and Long Way Down DVDs onto the order because although I've seen various individual episodes I haven't seen either series in its entirety. I really shouldn't place orders online after returning home from the pub, because I also added something off my Amazon Wish List, namely a digital photo frame.
In the flat I rented for a while before buying this house I had my PC in the living room, and quite enjoyed the experience of watching the screen saver of my photos randomly displayed (or rather, displayed in a random order). Since moving however, the PC is in a separate room and I've been missing seeing the photos. No one really ever looks through their photos and I found the screen saver to be a good way of looking at them with no effort involved. So anyway, I have been looking for a digital photo frame for a while, but haven't seen any, apart from pretty expensive ones, that I fancied.
So, I bought an expensive one. On the bright side I saved over £100 on the list price, but it was still well over £100! And it's a 10" one rather than the more usual 7"-8", so although size isn't everything (!) it means I can see it from the other side of the room quite easily.
And it's Wi-Fi enabled so I can just connect to my home network and display all the photos on my PC without having to transfer them to the frame. In theory anyway. I'm having a few teething problems and although I have connected it to the network, it keeps rebooting randomly every so often, so this week I'll have a proper look at it to see if there's something in the settings I need to change. Otherwise it'll go back to Amazon to be replaced.
On Saturday evening a friend, RE, and I were invited to a whisky tasting evening at G&G's house. Could have been messy, but it was actually damned civilised! When we were told about it, in the pub last week, there was some discussion about what the dress code would be, and "dress posh" seemed to be the order of the day, but in the event it didn't end up like that. However in the meanwhile I had decided that this was probably just the right time to splash out on some new accessories for my kilt.
I've had the kilt for a number of years, but generally when I wear it it's worn casually with a big jumper and some heavy boots, and when I need the formal look I've always hired the smart jacket and brogues etc.As an aside, my kilt is the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) tartan which is rather nice I think (see image).
So I went to Slaters Menswear and bought an Argyll jacket in a lovely charcoal grey colour and with bone buttons rather than silver so it's kind of semi formal, ghillie brogues, black socks, black sock flashes, and a new kiltpin. All for the bargain price of about £200.
As I say, the whisky tasting turned out not to be a posh dress event, but I wore the kilt anyway, and I'm very pleased to have at last got round to buying the stuff I have spent a fortune hiring over the past years! And a good time was had by all while tasting the whisky.
Next weekend will see this year's Motorcycle Action Group Easter Egg Run from the SECC to Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Glasgow, with 3000+ bikers bearing donations and Easter Eggs, and RE has agreed to accompany me by riding pillion on the bike. This morning then was a small scale trial run when we made sure she was OK riding pillion and I was OK with her on the back. Went well, exceptionally well, and we both enjoyed the experience, made better by having a decent intercom so we could speak to each other as we went along. So next Sunday, Easter Day, should be fun. I will, of course, report on it in due course.
Monday, March 10, 2008
A long time in politics
It's been almost a week since my last post. So much for my silent promise to myself to aim to get back to Blogging every day!
So what's new? I hear you ask. Not that much really. I'm still happy, for reasons which are perhaps now gradually becoming clearer to more and more friends, but which will remain unpublished here for the moment. All will be revealed in due course.
I finally got both my IAM car and motorcycle certificates framed this evening. The IAM were offering a "framing service" which cost, from memory, about £30 per A4 certificate, and all it was was a frame and mount into which you placed your own certificate. I visited an art shop in a local shopping mall (Braehead) and bought a large wooden frame and a mount which will take two certificates together side by side, and all for £22. It looks pretty good too.
Last week Glasgow Chamber Choir finally confirmed that our trip to Marseilles in the south of France is going ahead at the start of May. My flights are now booked and I'm looking forward to spending some time with close friends in a sunny place.
Yesterday, being the second Sunday
of the month, was the IAM Glasgow North Group bike ride. I turned up at the appointed place at the normal time, and including me the total number of motorcycles there was one!
Yep, on my own.
One of the regulars though turned up in his car, having come straight from work, to say he was sorry he couldn't make it. That was very nice of him.
So I set off on my own, and headed east along the M8 motorway to Edinburgh. A quick trip round the city centre and up to the view point at Calton Hill which is a high point at the eastern end of Princes Street where I took the photo on the right, which is the view looking north over Edinburgh and the river Forth with Fife in the distance.
I then headed out to North Berwick, a nice little seaside town on the North Sea. Returning via Edinburgh again I completed an enjoyable 5 hour ride, arriving home around 3pm.
Last week, I can't remember which evening, I had a short ride up to Loch Lomond, which is only a few miles north of my house.
The image on the right is of the bike stopped in a layby next to the loch. Not bad scenery isn't it!
And don't forget that this Friday, March 14th, is Steak and a Blowjob day. Mark it in your diary now!
So that's all for the moment. A short random stream of consciousness post. I really must get back to doing this more regularly!
So what's new? I hear you ask. Not that much really. I'm still happy, for reasons which are perhaps now gradually becoming clearer to more and more friends, but which will remain unpublished here for the moment. All will be revealed in due course.
I finally got both my IAM car and motorcycle certificates framed this evening. The IAM were offering a "framing service" which cost, from memory, about £30 per A4 certificate, and all it was was a frame and mount into which you placed your own certificate. I visited an art shop in a local shopping mall (Braehead) and bought a large wooden frame and a mount which will take two certificates together side by side, and all for £22. It looks pretty good too.
Last week Glasgow Chamber Choir finally confirmed that our trip to Marseilles in the south of France is going ahead at the start of May. My flights are now booked and I'm looking forward to spending some time with close friends in a sunny place.
Yesterday, being the second Sunday
of the month, was the IAM Glasgow North Group bike ride. I turned up at the appointed place at the normal time, and including me the total number of motorcycles there was one!Yep, on my own.
One of the regulars though turned up in his car, having come straight from work, to say he was sorry he couldn't make it. That was very nice of him.
So I set off on my own, and headed east along the M8 motorway to Edinburgh. A quick trip round the city centre and up to the view point at Calton Hill which is a high point at the eastern end of Princes Street where I took the photo on the right, which is the view looking north over Edinburgh and the river Forth with Fife in the distance.
I then headed out to North Berwick, a nice little seaside town on the North Sea. Returning via Edinburgh again I completed an enjoyable 5 hour ride, arriving home around 3pm.
Last week, I can't remember which evening, I had a short ride up to Loch Lomond, which is only a few miles north of my house.
The image on the right is of the bike stopped in a layby next to the loch. Not bad scenery isn't it!
And don't forget that this Friday, March 14th, is Steak and a Blowjob day. Mark it in your diary now!
So that's all for the moment. A short random stream of consciousness post. I really must get back to doing this more regularly!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Brrrrrrrrrr!
Holy crap, it's cold out there!
There I was sitting in a warm living room, when the thought entered my head that it's nice and dry looking outside, so it might be a spiffing idea to go for an hour's ride on the bike.
I lasted half an hour, and that was with full thermals and heated hand grips! It is indeed nice and dry, but there don't seem to be any visible clouds, so I guess it's going to get even colder overnight. I'll have the car with me at work tomorrow I think though, because I have an appointment with my GP in the morning before I go to work and it'll be easier on this occasion to do that in the car. So the temperature can do what it likes tomorrow, I'll have the heater on!
Yesterday evening I finished scanning 200+ old photographs from my late gran's house. The plan is that I'll burn copies onto discs so that family members can have them and if they want any prints I can do them too. But now that I've scanned them I see lots which need touching up and repairing (scratches, scrapes, tears and contamination on the originals), so it might be a few days or so yet before I'm ready to distribute them. In the meantime I'll be playing with Photoshop Elements, a very clever piece of photo editing software which I haven't used for a while.
There I was sitting in a warm living room, when the thought entered my head that it's nice and dry looking outside, so it might be a spiffing idea to go for an hour's ride on the bike.
I lasted half an hour, and that was with full thermals and heated hand grips! It is indeed nice and dry, but there don't seem to be any visible clouds, so I guess it's going to get even colder overnight. I'll have the car with me at work tomorrow I think though, because I have an appointment with my GP in the morning before I go to work and it'll be easier on this occasion to do that in the car. So the temperature can do what it likes tomorrow, I'll have the heater on!
Yesterday evening I finished scanning 200+ old photographs from my late gran's house. The plan is that I'll burn copies onto discs so that family members can have them and if they want any prints I can do them too. But now that I've scanned them I see lots which need touching up and repairing (scratches, scrapes, tears and contamination on the originals), so it might be a few days or so yet before I'm ready to distribute them. In the meantime I'll be playing with Photoshop Elements, a very clever piece of photo editing software which I haven't used for a while.
Monday, March 03, 2008
A fair weather friend
Woke this morning to hear the BBC Radio 4 weather forecaster telling me that there's going to be snow in Scotland. Looked at the BBC Website and the forecast there said it's going to be clear (albeit cold).
Decided to believe the Website (because t'InterWeb never lies dont'cha know) and take the bike to work this morning because I have a dental appointment first and by the time I reach work in the car I'll have a long walk from the remaining available parking spaces, whereas I can always park the bike within yards of the front door.
So there I was all leathered up and about to head out, when I noticed some funny little white things falling from the sky.
Bollocks.
I have officially become a fair weather biker! I remember the days when I had to dig the bike out of a snow drift just to get it to the main road to ride it 8+ hours a day as a motorcycle courier. But I was younger, hardier and indeed stupider in them days!
So I'm now de-leathered and wearing a thick pullover.
Now where's my woolly hat .....?
Decided to believe the Website (because t'InterWeb never lies dont'cha know) and take the bike to work this morning because I have a dental appointment first and by the time I reach work in the car I'll have a long walk from the remaining available parking spaces, whereas I can always park the bike within yards of the front door.
So there I was all leathered up and about to head out, when I noticed some funny little white things falling from the sky.
Bollocks.
I have officially become a fair weather biker! I remember the days when I had to dig the bike out of a snow drift just to get it to the main road to ride it 8+ hours a day as a motorcycle courier. But I was younger, hardier and indeed stupider in them days!
So I'm now de-leathered and wearing a thick pullover.
Now where's my woolly hat .....?
Sunday, March 02, 2008
The great whore of the east
I've had a very enjoyable weekend across the other side of the country in (mostly sunny) Edinburgh with a friend. Went to a concert of, amongst other things, Vivaldi's Gloria, visited two new pubs which have yet to be added to my Website, had too much beer, attended a Presbyterian (Church of Scotland) church service, visited two, yes two, art galleries, and met some very nice people. All in all a good trip.
One of the nice people I met, Mike, has recommended a couple of books related to a topic close to my heart, motorcycling. They are Way to Go: Two of the world's best motorcycling journeys, and The Road to Gobbler's Knob: From Chile to Alaska on a motorbike, both by a friend of his, Geoff Hill. I've located them on Amazon, and I'll order them in due course, but suffice to say they seem to be similar to the higher profile Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman Long Way Down and Long Way Round trips, only this guy apparently did it all first and without the backup and infrastructure surrounding McGregor and Boorman. And I'm not having a go at them for that, what they did was still pretty impressive.
Mike has also written a book, The Blue Cabin: Living by the Tides on Islandmore, and I'm going to order it as well, not just because I've met him, but because the Amazon reviews rate it highly, and I've also had a personal recommendation from a friend who has read it.
Life is good at the moment and I am generally very happy, and getting happier.
Oh, and the title for this post relates to the city of Edinburgh, not a person!
One of the nice people I met, Mike, has recommended a couple of books related to a topic close to my heart, motorcycling. They are Way to Go: Two of the world's best motorcycling journeys, and The Road to Gobbler's Knob: From Chile to Alaska on a motorbike, both by a friend of his, Geoff Hill. I've located them on Amazon, and I'll order them in due course, but suffice to say they seem to be similar to the higher profile Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman Long Way Down and Long Way Round trips, only this guy apparently did it all first and without the backup and infrastructure surrounding McGregor and Boorman. And I'm not having a go at them for that, what they did was still pretty impressive.
Mike has also written a book, The Blue Cabin: Living by the Tides on Islandmore, and I'm going to order it as well, not just because I've met him, but because the Amazon reviews rate it highly, and I've also had a personal recommendation from a friend who has read it.
Life is good at the moment and I am generally very happy, and getting happier.
Oh, and the title for this post relates to the city of Edinburgh, not a person!
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