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."