Rumbles before the grave

[sapaul]

There is one thing about riding a motorcycle that you don't get with a car, and that is a sense of companionship and fellowship from a complete and utter stranger.

Today was a case in point.

There are those odd times when two motorcyclist meet up on the road travelling in the same direction and a connection is made. You notice the other rider, his or her riding gear has the right amount of wear, tear and road grime on it, the bike make or style doesn't matter, it just fits in with your riding style of the day, no words are exchanged, but a connection is made.

You ride down the road together, dancing together, strangers of the road. Traffic seems to move out of your way, at first you are leading then the other riders spotting opening, overtakes, you tuck in behind, weaving to their lead. The engines of you Connie and their Duck sing in harmony, gears are changed in snicking syncroncity. Sweeping bends flow fast and light. Yes, you are dancing with a stranger on the highways, gender and age are mere concepts for lessor mortals, the cagers and mean nothing to you, only the ride and your new companion matter.

As the miles fly past, you know they must soon come to an end. Your turn off approaches and your companion is going straight on, you decide that you can take the long way home and follow for a few more stop lights till finally, at an intersection you part way, you going left and they going right. You salute each other and ride off, knowing that for a short while you made a special connection with a fellow rider and you also know in your heart the odds are you will not run into them again.

This is the special joy that we as riders share and something those locked up in their cages will never know. I feel somewhat sad for them to be honest.

You musing author,
ceemes

With you on this one, could not have put it better

other than sometimes, once in a while, the same thing happens here on this forum

[ceemes]

Fraud in Ottawa.

In regards to Canada's parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page saying that it appears the Conservative government kept two sets of books when it came to the costs of replacing Canada's ageing fleet of CF-18s with 65 F-35 stealth fighter jets. Page told the host the CBC's “The House” radio programme Evan Solomon what bothered his office was that one set of books was available inside DND, while another "for communication purposes" was presented publicly, in which he said the government was "low-balling" the numbers.

Now, I am neither a professional accountant nor a professional purchaser. I am however a professional logistician specializing in transportation and distribution and have more then a passing knowledge of both the aforementioned fields. I understand both the G.A.A.P. rules that govern the accounting professional along with the procurement process, that if push comes to shove I can cost out a major capital investment or acquisition with a fair degree of confidence and certainty. I can also communicate with members of those two professions in a professional and knowledgeable manner. I can even balance a cheque book.

From what I have been reading and hearing about this issue in regards to its costing and procurement practises, I can only come to the conclusion that our so-called Government has taken the basic accounting and procurement rules and regulations and thrown them out onto a bonfire and expects us the taxpayer to meekly and quietly accept it, even though it is our hard-earned tax dollars they are playing with.

There is only one logical reason to keep and present two sets of books, and that is to deceive and to defraud. If I or anyone in my industry, or the accounting and procurement professions got caught trying to pull what the Harper Government is trying pull off, we would be crucified. At best, we would be stripped of our professional designations in disgrace and fired, at worse we would be facing major jail time for fraud.

There can be no excuse for this and there is absolutely no possible defence for it. Saying that we haven't spent a dime does not mitigate the crime, for the crime was committed once you started planning for it, its called a conspiracy. The Government is by the look of it, is guilty at least of committing the crime of conspiracy of fraud against both the people of Canada and Parliament, and as such no longer has any legitimate authority to govern.

It is now long past time for Canadians of all political stripes, including Conservatives such as myself to stand up and tell the Harper Government enough is enough. We have had enough of the lies, we have had enough of the endless weekly scandals, we have had enough of vilification and character assassination of honest Government employees such as Mr. Kevin Page, we have had enough of the gutting of various watchdog agencies tasked with keeping the Government honest, and we have had enough of them playing fast and loose with the public purse.

It is now time to take it to the street, for we cannot afford to wait 3 and a half year for the next election. We need to demand immediate change and those responsible to be brought to account. Everyone who is worried, concerned and angry needs to start acting now. Flood the editorial pages of your local and national papers with letters of out-rage, write to or email your Member of Parliament demanding they put aside party loyalty and act as your representative, after all you are their boss. Write to or email the Governor-General of Canada demanding he step in and using the Crowns Reserved powers, put a stop to this travesty. Sitting back and doing nothing but moaning only empowers those in Government who are acting against your best interests. We have the power to bring this Government to heel and to make them accountable for there actions, but only if we act.

One last thought, as for the car buying analogies that various Government talking heads and their supporters have used to whitewash and excuse this issue, I can only say that only a fool would purchase a car without first considering how much it will cost them to operate it throughout its life cycle.

CM Stephens
A concerned Conservative

[blues2cruise]

The only cooked books of which I approved...were the cooked books in The Shawshank Redemption. Other than that...that is why companies get audited. Harper is an evil man.

[ceemes]

What do you get when you mix German musicians with professional British Choral Singers mix in with the best of modern rock? The Gregorian Band. You would never see anything like this coming out of either the US or Canada. Apart from Pentatonix, North American music has been a total wasteland since the turn of the century if not before that. Whinny emo bands, "pee" poor poets rapping to a monotonous never changing beat, hip-hop which is nothing more then a crappier version of the horror of the 70's, disco, and worst of all the plastic cookie cutter fakes.

Enjoy something different:

[blues2cruise]

Very nice.

[ceemes]

Last Sunday I did my first ride out with the British Motorcycle Owners Club (BMOC) and had a blast. Arrived at the Big 6 Restaurant in Burnaby around 8:45, about half an hour late and ordered my breakfast and settled down to what I thought was the first of a few cup of coffee. Got half way through that cup when I notice everyone else is either getting geared up or going up to the till to pay, bugger, they really mean it when they say they are departing at 9AM. Go up to the till, pay and ask them to box up my omelet and hash browns. Pop on my new Scorpion modular helmet, which I am not overly fond of, it is comfortable, and the drop down sun visor is nice, but it fogs up way to easily and is noisy as hell at speed. First helmet I have ever owned where I cannot hear the music coming from the MP3 player into the ear buds. Way too much wind noise and if you have the sun visor down it along with the main visor, it rattles. Not impressed, but I digress.

Got my gear on except for my overpants, my old pair are finished and need replacing, so doing a rather squiddly thing, riding with just a thin pair of jeans on. On the 26 the Classic Bike and Swap meet is being held in Cloverdale and I am hoping the people I bought my last two pairs of over pant are there like last time. As I was saying I geared up, got my breakfast in hand and headed to the Trophy, popped breakfast into the top box to have at the end of the ride. We milled about for a bit, admiring some of the older bikes that were there, then headed out with our final destination in Langley.

Somewhere between a dozen or so bikes headed out, a mixed bag of classic brit iron and more modern offering from around the world, the only cruiser type was a massive Rocket III. We rode across the old Pattullo Bridge, a very narrow four lane bridge crossing the Fraser River between New Westminster and Surrey.





Thing was designed and built back in the 1930 and is arguably the scariest and oldest bridge in the the area. The bridge is up for replacement in the near future which is a good thing as there are two ways to commit suicide on it, one is to jump off it into the River, the other is to drive on the damned thing during rush hour. The downside of replacing it will tolls. Each new crossing or replacement crossing built lately have been tolled, forcing those who don't wish to pay to seek out other routes. Both the Deas Island Tunnel and the Pattullo Bridge are slated to be replaced and once done, only the Alex Fraser Bridge will be left untolled.

After crossing the Pattullo, we headed up the newish South Surrey Perimeter Road going towards Port Kells (Langley BC) and rode straight into vicious rain and hail storm. At this time I really started missing my leather over pants and cursed my lack of a rain suit. Not only was I getting soaked, but those frozen pellets of hail stung like hell as they struck my denim clad legs, and I wasn't even going that fast. And to add insult to injury, I was fast going blind as my visor fogged up, another strike against the Scorpion. Had to ride with it crack open a goodly amount which allowed the odd bit of hail to strike my face.

A number of the riders pulled over and took shelter under an overpass, but I and five others continued on, braving the hail and rain till we got to Port Kells and took shelter under the Gold Ears Bridge although one of them left as soon as the rain eased up and headed home. Of the other remaining bikes left with me, one was a massive Triumph Speed Triple and the others were a late sixies era BSA, a mid to late 70's Triumph Bonneville and 1937 Rudge Sport Special 500 CC Twin. Here are a few pictures.


Very pretty, but way to big for my liking.


Rider of this bike lead the group for the most part, me being new hung back and played blocker.


When the BSA wasn't leading, the Bonnie took over.


My Trophy, really should do something about all those scuff mark on the plastic.


A finally the Rudge, a pre-war example and it is road worthy. Can you imagine not just riding a bike like this on some special occasion or parade, but taking it on a run and riding it in the rain and hail? I was following behind this bike and rider and am kicking myself for not bring my Go-Pro. The exhaust note is something to hear. And take a look at that suspension, or lack of suspension in the rear, just a sprung seat to iron out the bumps.

Anyways, we spent a good 45 minutes under the bridge waiting to the storm to blow over and to allow those behind us to catch up. None did, seems they had more sense and head towards the sun and the final destination. We then head out again planning of finishing the run, but quickly road back into the hail and rain. The ride leader said bugger this, and we gave up and headed to Langley Township and the sunshine.

The ride terminated at a private residence belonging to a couple who turned their garage into a motorcycle workshop where many miracle apparently happen. Here are some of the bike that arrived, note they were all ridden in and not trailered.











Our hosts also put on a nice little spread for us, meat or veggie chilli with buns. Plus lots of hot coffee which was very welcomed after battling the hail.

But the highlight of the day was the starting for the first time in 40 years of a 1950 Ariel. I got a video of it running using my phone, but missed the actual starting. Here is it running.

[Hanson]

Great post... thanks for the picks and clips.

Safe Travels,
Richard