Monday, August 31
Sunday, August 30
Tuesday, August 18
Not a model
I found this brilliant tool to use in photoshop which makes scenes in photographs look like teeny little models. How cool is that!
Saturday, August 15
Friday, August 14
Motorcycle history
The bike I'm zipping around the Fylde on at the mo is my 2nd CG125 (though sadly not the retro looking Japanese built one). When I started on the buses last year I needed something reliable and cheap to commute on so it was a no brainer that I chose the worlds biggest seller.
Below is a potted history of my motorcycle ownership since 1980.
Bargain!
A brand new 500cc Kawasaki ER5 for £1999? I'll take one! I traded it in for a van before we left London to move to Lancashire. Miss it like mad now.
The biggest selling bike in the whole wide world
Is the Honda CG125 and in 2001 I bought one. I managed to get my hands on one of the last remaining versions to be built in Japan before the bike had a re-model and manufacturing was moved to Brazil. It appealed to my 1970's sensibilities as it hadn't changed since 1976. I loved it but it was stolen from outside our house after just one year.
This is not me
But it is a picture of a Honda XL200cc which was the next bike I bought once the insurance money came in from the Vespa accident. This was such a nippy bike for commuting on and the dirtier it got the better it looked. I bought it used and it was already 10 years old when it came to live with me. Servicing and maintainence became expensive as Honda no longer made the the machine so I sold it to a French student in Tooting.
Going back to my roots
After the fugly EN450 I decided that style and good looks were very important to the urban homosexual so my next bike was a brand new black Vespa PX200. I had speakers and a stereo fitted into the glove box and would ride around soho blasting out Screamadelica by Primal Scream. After a few years with this beauty a car ploughed through a red light and hit me side on and sent me tumbling and wrote the Vespa off completely.
What was I thinking!
The XBR was traded in for a EN450 by Kawasaki. I'm at a loss to explain just why I would buy a monstrosity like this. I remember it had a belt drive instead of a chain but surely this wouldn't have been enough to make me get my cheque book out. Horrid.
Big boys bike
I passed my motorcycle test in 1989 (still no car licence though) and my first purchase after that was a Honda XBR 500. I loved its clunky looks back then and it had a kick start (I know! A kick start on a 500cc single!). It backfired to buggery while changing down gears and I'm sure caused dozens of heart attacks to elderly residents of East London. I loved it but the backfiring issue meant our love affair was quite short lived.
The first powered transport what I did own...
...was a Vespa 50s like this one. A friends Dad had kept it in his coal house since the 1960's and I bought it from him in 1980 for £50. I sprayed it gold and had it serviced and joined Wansbeck Scooter Club. During the longer runs to scooter rallies I was always at the back trying to keep up but at least it never broke down (unlike the Lambrettas in the club which were always konking out). When I first started dating fellas and going out to bars in Newcastle this little machine was a lifesaver as I had little money, no car and no driving licence. Good times.
Thursday, August 13
Big Dipper, Little Dipper
Here's a gorgeous pic (not mine) showing two hills of the Big Dipper against a backdrop of the Big One. There was a crash on the Big Dipper this week; two cars slammed into each other causing over thirty injuries (none serious though). Expect the ride to be extremely popular when it reopens as all the news coverage has now created a 'notorious' ride. In fact, the year the Big One opened, two cars smashed into each other and caused a nationwide news flurry and when the ride reopened it hadn't dampened the ardour of any riders (do Blackpool Pleasure Beach create these 'accidents'?).
When this scenario happens in the video game 'Roller Coaster Tycoon' it has the opposite effect (riders refuse to ride) so maybe Hasbro need to look at fixing this glitch in future editions.
Wednesday, August 12
Thunder Dolphin Roller Coaster
I can't wait to ride this roller coaster in Tokyo in December. It was built in the centre of the city and leaps from sky scraper to sky scraper while dropping and rising inbetween buildings where salarymen eat their lunches from bento boxes.
