Doug's Check in time.

For the last few weeks I have been busying myself with revision for my goal of getting my full motorcycle licence, you see when I where a lad....

 (yup I am starting the story that way)

Between the ages of 16-18 I had a motorbike, (granted it was only a 50cc) there was an overlap because as soon as I was old enough I took driving lessons and passed my car test in July 1991 just before my 18th birthday, so I bought a car and enjoyed the freedom of the open road, as most of you know Shaz and I got together in March 1992 (34 weeks later).

Shaz loved the look and sound of a motorcycle but she flat refused to ride pillion on one, She was fine on a quad, although I had once managed to get her on the back of a scooter in Greece.

Fast forward a lot, as Shaz and I where inseparable, we went everywhere together, even work, so with me being sensible I could not justify the cost a motorcycle that would just sit there and look pretty. 

This brings us to the present, I am doing this for me, call it a mid life crisis (I think I have earned that right), with the exception of my kid sister my siblings all ride motorcycles so it will be nice to get on the road and do road trips with them and visit friends and family without the concerns of traffic. 

So where am I in this?

• 29th June -  I passed my Theory test
• 23 July -  took my CBT (you cant fail this, but they can insist you need more training if they don't think you are safe) I was perfectly ok with it.
• 29th July - full day on a 125cc
• 31st July - Full day on a 650cc when we got back my instructor was like, I want put you in for your Module 1 test, he was obviously happy with how I was with it.

A motorcycle licence  needs 4 things CBT, Theory, Mod 1 and Mod 2

So what next?

 22nd August (next Sunday) I will be practicing manoeuvres ahead of the test 

 25th August (the morning off) I will be having a go of my Mod 1

Then it will be training for Mod 2 (no dates as yet for this) kind off depends on what happens on the 25th.

So what else have I been up to?

Well the back garden is on hold at the moment, my focus is shifting to the front one, there is a reason for that, in the short term I will need a secure location to store the motorbike as we do not have garage, so the front garden it is securely anchored down until I can sort out the back.  

Work begins on that next week.

But on a more personal note. 

This month has been particularly hard for me, as it has also it has also been for our family too, as most of you know Shaz and I shared our birthday (which is/would be today) so the last few weeks has been really (insert naughty word here) tough.

The reason is not just that it would have been our birthday today (yes I know it is still mine, but I wont be celebrating that for a while) but it also marks 6 months since we lost Shaz.

How the (insert naughty word here) has it been 6 months already?

So this weekend we will be toasting to our beloved Shaz, consuming lots of Gin in the process, I can feel the hangover already 😬.

 I had considered maybe organising a wake, but I will be honest with you, on reflection I would not be able to cope with a wake after this amount of time, I don't think family could either.

Instead when we get on top of this (insert a fresh new naughty word here) human malware that is Covid 19 (or what even number we get up to), we will when it is safe to do so organise a crop or two instead, we can eat lots and lots of cake.


A gratuitous snap taken back in 2014  I give you Bird-ception,  a bird, on the bird, while holding a bird :)

And finally