316 July to December 2019

I (Ray) was still working on Bobs new house during the week so not much on note happened for the next few months aside from Karen spending a lot of time up in Scotland helping her Mum, Margo, get over a knee operation.

10th October 2019

I decided that we need to make out old bike trailer smaller and lighter to make it easier to move in and out of the rear garden. So I took a grinder to it and managed to loose 20kg off the weight and remodeled it to take the boat and bikes as opposed to the motorcycle. I now have a choice of what toys to take away.

Pushbikes (Hah Ha - they are electric) and the boat loaded up.

....and back to a motorcycle trailer.

27th October 2019

On the 15th of August  (2 months ago) a Police officer, namely PC Andrew Harper took a late call to a burglary in progress at a farm where a quad bike was in the process of being stolen by 3 'travellers'. 

Whilst trying to deal with the problem, the 3 drove off at speed and the tow rope that they were using to steal the quad bike got tangled around the officers leg.

The burglars, drove for over a mile along country lanes dragging the officer behind them. By the time they stopped the officer was naked and deceaced.

Today, as a show of solidarity to his wife and all other officers throughout the country, a mass bike rideout was arranged near where he worked in Oxfordshire.

With the permission and assistance of the RAF, the thousands of bikes assembled at RAF Benson airfield where we were welcomed by his widow.

The turnout was something to behold.

There were so many bikes that they had to leave in batches to save upsetting the locals going their business. As it was this was not a problem as the streets were deserted and all the locals were lining the streets and cheering us on. It was very emotional.

This is Nick Wooller, my brother in law. He is also a police officer and he is a great guy and it was good to catch up after many years.

Yours truly in the grey jacket. Flying 'Thin Blue Line' union jacks.

25th October 2019

On Facebook, I managed to find a group of guys from my old Army, Sapper unit that I served in the Falklands war with. The have a reunion every year and I was invited to join in. I was introduced by a guy named Stuart Burnham, AKA 'Titch'. He is about 6 years younger than me and when the Falklands war started, he had just passed his motorcycle driving test and the pair of us were given bikes to take there and work as despatch riders. I was asked to teach him how to change tyres and do general maintenace.

This was one of the bikes we were given.

Titch....

And sadly, as is normal for me, I cannot remember these guys names.

29th October 2019

Recent photos of Meg at play and up to no good.

Bad photo but even badder dog !!!

Looking skinny after bog trotting.

Later in the pub. She cleans herself up so easily and quickly.

5th November 2019

We decided to take a week in Lanzarote at short notice. Sadly, Meg had to find new friends at the local kennels.

The hotel was pretty standard but adequate and we no complaints - we did however get out when the pool areobics started.

We managed to book a trip on a submarine - now I know we are real tourists - It was however facsinating. We are both divers so the scenery was nothing new but it was a great experience being able to see all the wildlife without getting wet or lugging all that diving gear about.

The sub went to quite a depth. 35 meters is  a long way down.

 

We cruised along the side of an old ship wreck now inhabited by fishes.

 

 We took another tourist trip up to the recent volcanic area.  It was a bit wierd having someone else in charge of your every move considering that we usually do our own thing but the advantage of being a sheep with a shepherd is that you do get to see the good bits, albeit along with coachloads of others.

The above is a chef cooking over an open volcanic hot spot. A look inside (along with a load of chicken fat) shows a semi glowing, dark red, volcanic mass. Eerie !!

 The landscape was raw, torchured and pretty barren. But as is my wierd side, I thought it was beautiful.

 

One area that they have modded for tourists is a volcanic tunnel where once molten lava flowed through. I has a sump that is flooded and contains tiny (about 1" long) white crabs. They are white as these is no light down there and hence no need for colour.

Fortunately, aside from the road through it, no-one is allowed in the area and consequently it remains undisturbed and is very haunting.

 

Little fat boy settling in to being a tourist.

Once back home it was back to working on Bob and Liz's house.

19th December 2019

Another day out at a nother concert. This time it was Rod Stewart. It was fantastic, even I was impressed which is rare for me (Ray) at anything musical.

Rod was real relaxed star talking about his family between records and he made you feel like you were in his living room having a chat.  

For christmas we had a quiet time at home after a quick trip down to Harlow to see my ankle biters.