Last day of the month....

It's just after 5pm and as usual it is pitch black out the window at work...I hate this time of year, I guess it's that winter depression thingy...don't want to say too much in public but life feels a right struggle at the moment, and I feel quite depressed.

Boss at work Barry has just invited me to my annual appraisal next Friday 7th, so I need to be out of my pre-winter funk by then. maybe a good weekend (although there is nothing planned) will sort me out. But then maybe not.

Been using the car last couple of days, too cold for the bike, might get to take it for a spin at the weekend. Would really like to go on a long(ish) trip and go camping, but not at this time of year. Next May (2009) Tiny Tim is planning to attend a French RE meeting (in Belgium!), would be a challenge, not sure Julie would go all that way on the back, though!

Must make some plans for next year soon, big year for us, not sure it will be a big year financially! Make myself a promise, CHEER UP!

All about Castledown Radio.....104.7FM

Pretty quiet here so I thought I would update you all with some info on Castledown Radio, which is a community radio station based in Castledown School, which is half way between Ludgershall and Tidworth, in Wiltshire.

We cover the area called "Tidworth Community Area", TCA for short. This was "invented" when it was realised that the local area lacked the community spirit, not helped by the fact that a large number of Tidworth residents are military, and tend not to stay too long!

Castledown Radio is run by the Station Manger, Baz Reilly (on the left, interviewing local resident John McConnell), Rick Young does the weekday morning show and lot's of other things, Xina Hart works mostly behind the scenes with "Pulse", a bi-monthly local newsletter, she also goes out and interviews people and helps run the local skatepark project. Mike Winterbourne does a lot of the admin and works hard with meetings etc, and it is all overseen by Steve Lawton, the big boss of Tidworth Development Trust (TDT).

There are a handful of volunteers that do live and pre-recorded shows, plus interviewing, editing, events etc etc. One regular event is the Bluez and Zuz, every second Tuesday of the month, held at a school in Tidworth for the kid's. It's great fun, most of the time!

I present the Saturday Morning Show for two hour's each Saturday morning, with a mix of music, local events, things to do etc. etc. I also manage the Voice of Shipton Bellinger, well I go see her every month and record the local events in her area and edit the audio before we use it on the radio.

The "station" is in a portacabin, installed by the army, we have two studios, Red (normally live) and Blue, an office, and a computer suite. As well as the radio and Pulse, we do training, events with the Really Red Radio Roadshow, and many other community based things. All "not for personal profit", mostly as volunteers. We do take adverts and sponsorship, in fact we need funding right now, if you want to offer anything!

If you happen to be within the 5 km radius of us we are on 104.7FM, or you can listen live anywhere in the world courtesy of the www, at http://www.castledownradio.info/. Give us a listen sometime, you can email us from the website with your comments (nice ones only please) and with your requests.

Lovely mornings we are having....

Brought the bike in this morning, despite the frost, and the wrong type of leaves on the road. The bike ran well, after a good few kicks to start. It was pitch black last night when I went home, at 5.30pm, but the roads were dry.

Looked at the VMCC website, was thinking of going out with the local group (Stonehenge), but you have to join (28.00 pounds) before you can go on their runs. Might suggest that the local RE group do something, if I go next Tuesday. http://www.vmcc.net/

Been updating brother Chris's 1300E Owners Club site, it's written using Mr Site, the idea was we can both update it (he lives 100 miles away in Essex), and it's worked out OK. Pretty soon we will have to pay a monthly bill to keep it going, but it's not too expensive. Last night we talked about the updates, and, in general, he thinks it's been good for the club, with some new members joining because of the website. Take a look at http://www.1300eownersclub.org/, it's a small site but we hope interesting to those with a love of the 1300E (which is a Mk1 Ford Escort, for those that don't know).

Nice and sunny at the moment, although cold, max 8 degrees C, maybe rain later, 2 degrees C tonite. Might have to take a wheel off the bike to stop me using it!

UPDATE: Yes it rained really REALLY hard, about 4.45pm, and it's pitch black. Looking forward to going home and getting wet!

Bye for now....

I'm back....after a week away....

Been away for a week in Dubai at a trade show, sounds great but basically all I saw was airport-hotel-exhibition-hotel-airport. Anyway, came back Friday and spent the weekend recovering.

Sunday finally got round to looking at the bike, and decided to change the oil. Found all the drain plugs, and removed the filter, made a right mess (my draining tray sprung a leak!), but it worked out OK in the end. Put in 1.5 ltrs of 20w/50, cheap stuff, will change it again in a few miles. Also put in a new filter.

Since it had been standing for a week I had trickle charged the battery, and it showed full charge. I took the plug out and cleaned it, and checked for a spark, which was small but OK, I guess. Checked fuel to carb, OK. Tried to start and it took a while. Took the plug out again and could not smell any fuel. Kept trying and eventually it started.

So I took a quick ride around the block, and put it away for the night. Brought it in this morning, although it was cold. Started after half a dozen kicks, not too bad, could be better, ran well all the way in. Would like to find out why it is a poor starter....

Yesterday I found a couple of links to people that had made trips on Bullets, worth reading if you have time:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/gregfrazier/news/2001-03-20.shtml

http://the-enfield-strikes-back.blogspot.com/

Half term this week, so Dan's at home, nothing to do. Julies trying to rest, Tash is looking forward to her holidays!

That's all for now...

Interesting and busy weekend and week so far...

Been a busy but interesting weekend and week so far, so here's a quick catchup. Saturday went to Essex to see my brother Chris and sister Helen, visited Ikea at Lakeside on the way, got a little hungry so had KFC. Sunday we went to Canvey Island to the Castle Point vehicle show, Chris was showing his 1300E Mk1 Escort, and there were loads of buses and other vehicles to see as well. The RE Bullet was in the bike's section, it seemed to be a bit of a "bitsa", with lots of added extras. The T reg suffix makes it a 1999, but it had bits that looked old and bits that looked newer. Anyway, it was very interesting, no owner to talk to, and then it disappeared.

Pic show brother Chris with his new Sony alpha 200 DSLR


We walked around looking at all the classic cars etc. took an open top bus to the seafront (actually the mouth of the River Thames), sat on the beach, and had a great day.

It took us a while to get home, the M25 was terrible, jams in two places, but there is little you can do except sit in it and wait it out.

Monday we found out what was wrong with Wife Julies leg's, she has stress fractures, and has been signed off sick for a month. By the end of the evening she had resigned from her job as well, so that's a change of circumstances for us all. Hopefully complete rest for a month will sort out the leg problem, further doctors appointment later this week.

Tuesday night we (Dan and I) did the B & Z kids disco, at a school in Tidworth. It was Halloween fancy dress night, we had a big crowd of 80 plus kids, and Dan did an excellent job of playing music, with the help of Olly and Issac. By the end of the night we had interviews and photographs and happy punters, so a great outcome all round. We packed and then emptied the RRRR (Really Red Radio Roadshow) trailer back at base, so that the aerial can be fitted on Wednesday.

That's it really, off to Dubai with work this coming Friday to next Friday, so, depending on Internet access and time, blogging may well have to wait!

Interesting trip to work this morning...and Doug's "new" bike..

Had a really weird trip in this morning on the 'bike, it was misty/fog, and the visor steamed up and was covered both inside and out with wet, then my glasses went the same way! So I stopped and took my glasses off so I could see, of course the bike stopped as well. Then it would not start. Went eventually and got here in one piece. Been a reasonably sunny day since.

Doug at work has bought the Moto Guzzi as a "winter" bike, it's a V Twin 500cc V50 Mk2. Or at least that's what I think it is! Bit of a beast, electric start only, two carbs, three disk brakes, quite a complex looking set of dials and indicators to look at. Broke on the way here (charging problems), he's gone off to MOT it now. Best of luck to him!

Out tonite (works Chinese in Ludgershall), car tomorrow.

Twice in one day!....new Bullet Classic launched in Germany...

....but I just could not resist sharing these pics and the new Bullet Classic website with you!

http://www.bulletclassic.com/ Not only is the bike good looking but the website is pretty sophisticated but fast as well.

I had missed all the excitement of this launch until I looked at David Blasco's blog http://www.royalenfields.com/

Unveiled yesterday (7th October) in Cologne, the new bike looks just terrific, I just can't wait to see on in the flesh, as they say.

From David's site:

"According to Sunday's press release, Enfield's newest model celebrates the early Bullets."The new 'Bullet 500 Classic' harks back to the 'G2' Bullet of the early 1950s, retaining the quintessential classic British style that is inextricably linked to the Royal Enfield name. The new 'Bullet 500 Classic' is powered by the new 500cc 'Unit Construction Engine' (UCE) and is homologated for Euro III norms."This new model is expected to be in the Europe Distributors showrooms by January 2009," the press release concludes."

Wessex REOC mtg....and riding in the dark!

Well the bike's battery took enough charge to take me (in the dark!) to last nights REOC meet, it was an interesting ride, my first time in the pitch black, at least the day's rain had stopped, and the road was a little drier. Riding in the dark reminded me of Dan's video games, like riding in a tunnel. Dipped headlight on the bike is good, main even better, if you can put up with the bright red indicator light that you get on main beam. The speedo is lit by two tiny chink's of light from the two lights either side of the headlight, but you cannot really see it.

By the way, the bike's battery was charged by a £4.99 charger from Lidl's, it's a trickle charger that you can use all the time, so I put it on again today, to try and top up the battery. Yesterday it did not quite go to a full charge, but it may not get there, due to the age of the battery. We will see.

Picture shows the bike with our "fleet" of cars, the Mondeo is officially Julies car, and we use it for longer journeys, the Focus is officially mine, although we often swop around. The Mondy drives a bit like a boat, you sit in it rather than on it, and it is great on motorways and long journeys. The Focus is the opposite, you sit on the seats, rather than in them, it feels lighter to drive and actually does quite well on long run's as well. Engine wise they are both exactly the same 1.8 litre Zetec engine, and both have over 100K miles. Daughter has a 1.3 litre Luxury KA, another Ford.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is the staff meeting at work, we record it visually and audible for internal consumption, and tomorrow night we are going to the Ludgershall chinese for a Sports and Social dinner.

I could go on but lot's to do so bye!!!

Great RE video........

Been busy on the bike tonite....but it's not running.....!!

Some really "greasy" pics tonite, actually been doing something to the bike for a change! Rewinding a bit.......Saturday we all went to Salisbury, OK in the morning but wet in the afternoon. Dan went to a party and stayed overnight, so Julie and I just wandered around...sold Dan's old 24" mountain bike via Andover Advertiser when we got back...spoke to mum and Helen on Sunday, planning a trip to Essex next weekend to see them all (although mum wont be over until Christmas, will see Chris and Tracey, Helen and family). Heard that Chris has bought a Sony Alpha 200 DSLR, will hopefully see it Sunday (most of my pic's are taken with my Nikon D40 DSLR or my 2 MP Nokia camera phone. Bet you can't tell the difference!).

This morning I was going to take the bike but realised the battery was flat before I tried to kick it. I think I had left the ignition on (the key falls out, so I take it out! Needs a new switch). Put it on charge...but tonite it was still flat, is it the charger or is it the battery? Will try charging at work tomorrow.

On the way home went to Bourne Valley Bikes and bought some Buffalo trousers with CE armour etc etc to go with my jacket and two Tuzo necktubes to keep my neck warm. Tried it all on when I got home and got very hot and sweaty! My new centre stand (14.95), foot rest rubbers (3.50) and kick start and gear change rubbers (1.75, all plus post) had arrived from India, via Ashwin Royal Enfield Spares, on Ebay. I had bought them on the 26th Oct, paid on the 28th, and the arrived today, on the 6th Nov. Not bad. Fitted everything except one spring on the centre stand. Used Fairy Liquid to help fit the rubbers, took the footrests off and the kick start, which was the hardest to fit (needed a bit of hammering!). The old gear change rubber has now replaced the split side stand rubber, since it was the same size. Looks nice now (simple things please simple minds).

Tomorrow is the REOC Wessex meet, but, looks like no bike again, unless I can charge it at work! Will let you know how I get on.....

Some pretty pic's of RE's...

Been busy all week and now it's October already, so decided to find some RE pic's on the web and publish them here. They come from this guy's blog, which seems to be dead, last posted 2005. www.motorcycleblog.org/bulletblog/

Anyway, been busy testing kit to go to the next exhibition we are involved with, in Dubai. Also last Saturday was Day In Radio at Castledown, we had 17 people to train aged 10 years to old, and it was an exhausting day!

Been a mix of sun and rain, and I have needed the car to lug stuff to-from home, but today I brought the bike. Damp out, and windy, but no rain (so far!).

Anyway, I've ordered a new centre stand and some rubber bit's for the bike, should be making there way from India as we speak. Was tempted by a Suzuki GS400 in a magazine, but now that I have used the RE again I think I will stick with it. Also taxed it so want to use it when I can, and also plan to service and improve it a bit.

Quiet at home, Tash has booked a holiday in Egypt, Dan is getting into college life and girls, and Julie still has bad feet, and can't quite decide what to do about work.

Anyway, nearly time to don the boots, overtrousers, helmet, gloves and jacket that we bikers have to wear and go home!