Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[booder]

Really enjoyed those posts and photos, Tom, thank you. Sounds like you guys had a ball.

[The_nun]

Really enjoyed those posts and photos, Tom, thank you. Sounds like you guys had a ball.

[Karabiner]

I'm schvitzing like a chazer here.

[RED-DOG]

I'm schvitzing like a chazer here.

Lol.

That's become a stock phrase for us when it's hot Ralph. We've said it about 50 times over the last few days.

[RED-DOG]

I do it best though, shoulders hunched, arms bent at the elbows, palms raised...

Oy!

It's schvitzing I am...  Schvitzing like a chazer.

[bobAlike]

Hi Tom, great photos as always. I would love to do something like that when I grow up.

On another note I just spent the best part of 9 months setting this up in Germany.

[RED-DOG]

Hi Tom, great photos as always. I would love to do something like that when I grow up.

On another note I just spent the best part of 9 months setting this up in Germany.

Great video.

That must have been interesting/lucrative. Did you have to stay away from home a lot?

[bobAlike]

Hi Tom, great photos as always. I would love to do something like that when I grow up.

On another note I just spent the best part of 9 months setting this up in Germany.

Great video.

That must have been interesting/lucrative. Did you have to stay away from home a lot?

Morning Tom. It was great on all counts especially watching a big empty building become this assembly line. I generally flew out on a Monday afternoon and flew back on a Friday morning. I wasn't the most popular husband. And now I have to do it all again as I've just picked up the next phase of the project.

[RED-DOG]

Hi Tom, great photos as always. I would love to do something like that when I grow up.

On another note I just spent the best part of 9 months setting this up in Germany.

Great video.

That must have been interesting/lucrative. Did you have to stay away from home a lot?

Morning Tom. It was great on all counts especially watching a big empty building become this assembly line. I generally flew out on a Monday afternoon and flew back on a Friday morning. I wasn't the most popular husband. And now I have to do it all again as I've just picked up the next phase of the project.

That's great. You must have done a good job.
Tell your Mrs you will stay home and be poor if she likes.

Or you could be like me, I didn't stay home and I'm still poor.

[atdc21]

Hi Tom,
It looked like you had a great time on your travels, and went to some beautiful places.
That was a fantastic trip, esp as you are a relative 'new' biker, many people riding for years have prob not gone that far .
Its good to have plenty of interests as you get older , to keep the zest for life going.
I have started banger racing again after a twenty odd year break away from it, had first meeting end of May and it was brilliant fun.
Didn't even have too many aches and pains after 
Are you planning another adventure yet?
Cheers.....Adrian

[RED-DOG]

Hi Tom,
It looked like you had a great time on your travels, and went to some beautiful places.
That was a fantastic trip, esp as you are a relative 'new' biker, many people riding for years have prob not gone that far .
Its good to have plenty of interests as you get older , to keep the zest for life going.
I have started banger racing again after a twenty odd year break away from it, had first meeting end of May and it was brilliant fun.
Didn't even have too many aches and pains after 
Are you planning another adventure yet?
Cheers.....Adrian

Hi Ade.

Yes, it was a great trip, will post some more pics soon. I'm currently fitting new variator bearings so I'm off the road for a couple of days.

Strangely enough, I went to a banger race meet last Sunday. 'Brampton Bombers' nr Thurcroft. I used to transport race cars to there in return for the scrappers but I hadn't been back for ~ 35 years.

[atdc21]

That looked an interesting track, I normally race on tarmac tracks, as opposed to the dirt/shale ones . The tractor tyres look ready to 'grab' hold of the cars . I had always raced a rear wheel drive car with the diff welded, now i have front wheel drive and the characteristics for cornering are hugely different, no blipping the throttle and getting the arse end out to go round corners, this approach tends to take you straight on into the wall  Big difference in the safety now as well, as should be.

[RED-DOG]

More on the motorcycle tour.

After being spoilt by a succession of excellent air B&Bs, we finally dropped on a bad one somewhere near Turin.

As always seems to be the case with bad accommodation, we rocked up at ours at the end of a grueling day. We were hot, sweaty, hungry and exhausted. We desperately needed a shower, food and  sleep.

The house was a rundown tatty affair with dirty curtains and peeling paintwork. It had a small yard which contained a big dog. I went to open the gate and saw the dog's hackles rise. It didn't bark or even growl, but it did curl its lip and gather its legs beneath it in preparation for the attack.

Most aggressive dogs are just protecting their territory and want you to go away, this one wanted us to come closer.

I gathered my legs beneath me in preparation for the retreat and opened the gate, the dog waited patiently for me to step inside but I didn't. I just stood there holding the gate open until he cracked and flung himself at me.

Of course I had bags of time to step back and close the gate, but the fury with which he hit the other side still made me wince.

Eventually a boy of about 10, accompanied by a girl of about 6 came out to see what the commotion was about. I asked through the gate if mummy was around and he told us that she wasn't but he was expecting us. Then he put a heavy leather muzzle on the dog, opened the gate and let us in.

Once muzzled, the dog knew it was beaten and refused to even look at us.

As it turned out we never did see any adults. What kind of parents leave two small children alone overnight with three strangers?


The boy showed us to our 'room', which was a small space under the eaves. Like most attics, it was filled with several generations worth of junk, amongst all this were our beds. One double under the higher part of the roof and one single under the low part.

I opted for the single in the hope of avoiding the worst of the snoring and farting, the downside was, my eyelids kept scraping the ceiling every time I opened my eyes.

Click to see full-size image.

[sonour]

Morning Tom,

We're there no reviews of the airbnb by previous guests ?

[RED-DOG]

Morning Tom,

We're there no reviews of the airbnb by previous guests ?

Yes there was, but it was a new listing and only had two reviews which I now suspect were were done by friends or family members.

BTW- it has another review now, and this time it isn't very complimentary.

It was our own fault. we usually take the time to check places out properly and the good places have dozens of good reviews, but this time the place we had booked had to cancel at short notice and we needed to book somewhere else quick

The usual process is to book the day before giving the host time to accept and approve your booking, but now we needed to use one if the 'instant book' type of listings. We've done it before and it's always been OK, but this time it went pear shaped.

We laughed about it afterwards though. You have to remember, the stuff that goes wrong is just as important as the stuff that goes right when it comes to making an an adventure memorable. Which is a good thing really, because that was just the start of stuff going wrong.

Click to see full-size image.