Acropolis for sale

Recent Improvements

I promised recently to describe in tedious detail improvements made to my motorcycle over the winter lay-up. I thought that it be apt to hold fire until I had actually trialled these -  my recent  600 mile trip to the "continent" to eat waffles and visit war museums and monuments proved an adequate opportunity to provide valid test data, especially so as it rained at almost every opportunity.

The start of the Roaches walk .

This is the holder for the 2 litre reserve fuel cannister bolted to the badly shaped left hand side case - see below.

This is the Wunderlich leg shield that promises a "more than incredible effect.......even long tours become a pleasure......the GS is given the wind protection of a super-tourer...".  Bollocks - the slit between the base of the shield and the cylinder head served to channel filth directly at my lower legs.  Another ebay bargain.

The Wunderlich ergo screen "Marathon":  Provided that I ducked behind the screen it provided a reasonable relief from the turbulence and buffeting that a GS at speed normally treats its rider to.  This is the only aftermarket screen that has extra bracing struts that stop it wobbling around annoyingly.

HEL stainless steel braided brake lines - the old rubber jobbies were starting to perish and crack. The brakes seem less spongy now.

Cunning MV adjustable handlebar risers that allow a comfortable bent arms riding stance.

This is the holder with the 2 litre reserve fuel cannister in place - of note is the fact that the silencer sits just behind the side case into which this is mounted.  This cunning design feature ensures that the fuel is nice and toasty when required. May need to rethink this one as everything in that case now reeks of petrol.

Euphemisms, Euphemisms, they've all got it in for me.

Who remembers the  famous Kenneth Williams Carry On Cleo line?

Other one liners of note are:

 "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy."


 "Remember you're fighting for this woman's honour, which is probably more than she ever did."


 "Don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love."


"Do you have a licence for your minkey?"


Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the War Room."


I digress.

I am fortunate enough to live near Tatton Park , and frequently Classic Car shows are hosted there. Last weekend I hopped on my bicycle and queue jumped nicely past several miles of smoking Sunbeam Rapers and Ford Crapis with great anticipation especially as I was charged £7.50 for entry.

On arrival, the rear bumper of the Hillman Imp has fallen off as shocked spectators look on helplessly as the owner shoves it back on.

Euphemism No.1 Classic Car show = Autojumble

The nice couple of Minkey Bikes - original and Chinese copy.  The nice owner would not sell me the original, but rather he was trying to push the disc barked clinky copy for £650.

A Blitish Minkey Bike?

A quartet of Longbridge's finest

A friction damper

??

Never fails to draw a crowd - the corner dedicated to the species who like like to cause traffic jams of epic proportions whenever they can.

Another euphemism for people who like to dress up in uniforms - the word escapes me.

Twin Zodiacs

Allegro owners club tour de farce.

The dodgy Rolls dodgy Royce dodgy Owners dodgy club are out in force too leaking LHM hydraulic fluid everywhere.

 

WYSIWYG

Pratt & Whitney used a similar eagle logo on their Wasp engine.

It's the bean sprouts and a day on DB,

 Due in part to Mrs Nikos' work commitments and also to my long held philosophy that being in motion is  better than arriving, I had the recent pleasure of a long weekend of onward motion of multi-modal travel around Northern Europe involving,  variously but not exclusively limited to, motorcycling, flying, cycling and finally training on German railways  from Cloppenberg to Frankfurt Airport to find an aircarft emblazoned with the image of an alcoholic footballer, whilst dodging volcanic clouds and e-coli infection.  Here are the highlights:-

Before leaving home for the airport I check on the state of Northern European air traffic on this super website---->>> plane spotters are anoraks . com

I have found a super place to park at Manchester airport for free and close to the terminals - it's well lit and very close to the Police station.

This is a super treat after a balls aching cycle ride up the Taunus

This is my super XXL cycle  - just a pity that the saddle is not more comfortable.

This is where weetabix comes from - super!

Spotted on the streets of Wiesbaden this super pre- bricked inspection junction for the new town drainage system

This is the super grotto where Dick von Turpin lived in the woods near Wiesbaden

This super chair is made from bits of aluminium reclaimed from a downed Boeing B17 found in the woods near Wiesbaden

This is an American "sports" car - "super".

I never understood why the Germans are so against the super gift from God of that giant Atomic Fusion reactor in the sky a.k.a .the sun?

Now I'm visiting the super open air Museum where just before commencement of the Great Patriotic War , historic buildings in Holland were demolished, moved from their original location to Cloppenberg in Lower Saxony and then reconstructed to form the MuseumDorf.

This windmill drive is what inspired Max Friz to conceive the legendary shaft drive system for those super BMW motorcycles, much in the same away Reginald Mitchell was inspired by seagulls to design the Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire

After a brief morning at the open air musuem, I leave Cloppenberg by a super looking regional diesel multiple unit.  I find it strange that these German Diesel Flyers are direct drive with 6 speed gearboxes and are therefore quite noisy to travel in.  In England we would have diesel electric transmissions.

At Osnabruck HbF I transfer to an Inter City train that ultimately follows the Rhine with super views.

Why oh why does Jack Walker choose to spoil this super deHavilland -8 series 400 aircraft with a picture of George Best?

The approach to Manchester airport is from the north west and I get a super view of  runway 23R and super bright approach lights  as we turn onto finals.

Misc Fings

I seem to take too many photographs and then I can not remember what the reason was - obviously the subject matter may be a clue but like my own handwriting I cannot decipher most of it.

Doubtless you lot will be blowing this up to pixel level but this reflects to be us in bed on television.  I believe this to be the first photograph taken with my super new camera Canon IXUS 115 HS.

This is Mrs N giving some directive or other somewhere or other near the Rhein possibly in relation to the next ouzo.

This is the way I feel about the 4000 books that I inherited from my dear late Father and collector of everything that I don't have space for.

This is my new summer crash helmet with a curious chin bar and very comfortable and quiet lining.

This is the dome from a cathedral of some  ancient religion that I cannot for the life of me remember what it is called.

Christmas present request

The Trams of Kharkov

Trams, or street cars, hold a particular fascination to me. A city is not a city unless it has trams (exclude Wolverhampton as I don't like that place very much)

Trolley buses were prevalent in the USSR and some were exported to Athens (like this but painted yellow).

Here is a single car on a long thin route to a park outside Kharkov.

I like the over sized pantograph

The loading of walking cargo appears to take place in the middle of a busy street

This is probably the personal transport of the Mayor of Kharkov

The biggest samovar in the Ukraine