THE GOOD BUCK

The last month or two, since Wendy told me I was entitled to a lump sum army pension, and I should spend it on a nice bike, I’ve been on a journey. I was desperate for a modern sports tourer, like the Triumph Tiger Sport 660 or the Yamaha Tracer 900. But I looked into the stats and it’s marginal gains over an old Honda VFR750 and multiple times the price. Then my Triumph Bonneville started acting oddly in the wet and I knew it was time to move on. I saw a one owner, 12,000 miles, 1997 VFR750 for £2,250 and another with 20,000 miles but full stainless exhaust, and I’ve been flipping back and forth between them, as to which would be the perfect bike to have for the rest of my life. The catch was I didn’t have £2k. I’ve spent about 2 weeks fixated on getting my perfect VFR. Then suddenly, a few days ago, I thought that once I’d got it it would just be a boring, utilitarian, workhorse. The bubble of my obsession burst. I don’t know. I don’t make the rules. If I understood I’d be able to actually see which is the perfect bike for me, buy it once, and be happy for the rest of my life. Anyway, because I’m not a quitter, I soon found a new obsession bike. The Suzuki SV650s. It’s not that pretty and it’s only a 73bhp, but it’s a V twin so the power is instantly available, it has a fairing, they are renowned for being ridiculously agile through the bends, it’s 40 kilos (88 pounds, 6.29 stones!) lighter than the VFR. And it has fuel injection. Another biggie. And literally half the price. There’s one for sale now, 2004, 22k miles, for £1,100. For that kind of money I can definitely give it a go. The real kicker is the sound. Just listen to this. This was a guy who had just fitted the exhaust that’s on that particular bike. Oh wow, indeed. It’s not without it’s downsides. The engine and all the nuts and bolts are very exposed, so in the winter, with salt on the roads, it can quickly go furry or rusty. I’ll have to clean it and replace what I can with stainless. It’s only good for about 125 mph or so. And the suspension is budget. (The latter is a cheap fix with second hand bits from full-on sports bikes.) I’ve already done Sunday, Monday and Tuesday this week at work, if I get Friday and Saturday (the days I’m supposed to be available) that will be enough for me to buy the SV650s. I’ll also need to buy a rack and box and some heated grips. This could be the bike I learn to get my knee down on! It’s supposed to an absolute hoot to ride. MCN love it. Exciting times.

That job fiasco was a fiasco. £24.95 p/h, full time, permanent. None of that was true. I decided not to risk it and instead told my current job I was available Fri- Mon inclusive instead of Thur- Sun, as I don’t seem to be getting shifts on Thursdays. Also, until January, I can work other days, apart from Tuesday. I’m trying to get some cash together to buy a spiffy VFR750. I’ve decided the only thing wrong with the VFRs I’ve had in the past is they were old and worn out. The engines were still going strong, but electrics and such. I’ve seen some advertised almost as good as new. One is 100% original, 12,000 miles, always garaged, one owner from new. That’s barely out of the box for a VFR. The downside to 100% original is the standard exhaust system. They rot through, and they don’t make the stainless steel replacement exhaust system anymore. So I’d have to keep my eye out for a second hand system. And fit a double bubble windscreen and heated grips and a rack and box. I’ve had a VFR that was about 50,000 miles and still on the original exhaust, so if there’s life in it I’d have time to look. Then there are three others around 20,000 miles, stainless exhaust, with some other desirable goodies. One has a red screen! Ughh. And they’ve all got aftermarket endcans, which are noisier. And none of them have a rack and box. So there would be some investment whichever way I jumped. But the thing is, a £2,300 minter VFR would run until I’m too old to ride. Even if I got all four days that would only be about 35,000 miles until I retire. A 12 or 20k VFR would laugh at those miles. I was looking at the modern alternatives. The Yamaha Tracer 900 or the Triumph Tiger Sport 660, or the new Tiger 800 but they are starting at £4, 5, and 9k. The gains are marginal. They’ve got fuel injection (OK,that’s a biggie) some are a bit lighter or a bit more power but the first two are both criticised for wind noise and buffeting from screens that just don’t work. The third is brand new this year, so real-world feedback is sparse. What I’m saying is, I can get a nearly new VFR, fit it with the few extras I want, and it’s done. For a fraction of the cost of the other bikes. And it will run forever. I can use the Harley for pottering about and posing on, the VFR for all the serious bikey stuff. The Triumph is surprisingly capable, but it’s a naked twin retro. I think a lot more effort went into making it look right than handle right. I was doing *cough* motorway speeds *cough* last night and the bike was weaving. It has a steering damper fitted, which straight away is an admission of defeat, in my books. Several times I’ve thrown […]

I’ve not been getting many shifts at work. The last few weeks have been 2 shifts, 1 shift, 2 shifts. I think Wendy is getting worried about the money situation so I had a look for another job. I wasn’t expecting to find one, but I may have landed a beauty. The agency advertised it as £24.95 an hour, full time, permanent. Hmmm. Agencies. They said it was for a parcel distribution company and gave a postcode. I googled it, it’s a Yodel RDC, 2 stops away down the M62. I applied on Saturday, they rang me back today (Monday) and sent me an application pack email, which I’ve filled in and returned. They said they could get me an assessment for Wednesday, start work on Thursday. It’s 4 on, 4 off, 04.00 or 06.00 starts, doing a straight run to Glasgow and back. Around 12 hour shifts. Apart from the start times that’s about ideal. The driving involved with my current job is so tough, it feels like you are an inch from a crash at most drops. This is straight trunking. I’d know the route by the end of the first week, then just tootle up and back every day. I’ve just looked, Yodel, Glasgow looks to be less than a mile from junction 5 of the M74. So M62, on to the M6, carry on until it turns into the M74, come off at junction 5 and you’re there. Hard to make it easier. The email pack has already made it sound like dodgy agency stuff. The email says the hourly rate is £18.54 for days. For nights it’s £22.25. He said on the ‘phone that there was a seasonal uplift in operation, so perhaps that makes nights £24 odd. Another thing is it says there is a 13 week period before you hit pay parity, which is what the email wages are supposed to be showing. Dodgy, dodgy agency stuff. I’ve just emailed for clarification. As I was asking about it, it occurred to me I’d better check something else. There’s a growing tendency for agencies to advertise the job £p/h, then slip in later that that rate includes holiday pay. So this £24.95 job could be £18.54 (after 3 months) minus £2 p/h holiday pay. If it’s less than that for the 3 months, it could be a £14 or £15 per hour job, in real terms. And overtime rate only kicks in after the 3 months, then it will be £27 p/h for over 40 hours. Roughing up the figures to see if this would be worth it. A whole lot of ‘if’ coming off the workings out, but IF it is £18.54, PAYE, holidays separate, and IF it’s 12 hours a day, and IF I can get all the shifts I want, that would be 40k for 4 on 4 off. Or, if I was to do 5 on one week, 4 the next, around £56k. The latter would definitely be worth doing. […]

Well, what do you know? The Muay Thai guy didn’t want me training yesterday due to my tachycardia. He said I should see the doctor. I explained I’d already tried twice and got nowhere, the last one saying it was nothing to worry about. He wasn’t having it. I was a sad bunny. Not just because I’d started that club, but because I was worried all the clubs might react the same. In which case I can’t prepare for the fash. And I have to live in fear. Bad, bad, bad. I rang the doctors this morning. Our doctors is basically an overpriced triage centre now. I don’t think they have actual doctors there any more, just those fake ones. If you can get an appointment at all. I rang at dead on 08.00, when the ‘phone lines open and was third in the queue. I was quickly answered and they referred me to Guardian Street medical centre (in town) for 09.15, to see a real doctor! Unheard of! I was suspicious and waiting for the other shoe to drop. I got there and it was a young man who was indeed a real doctor. He took it all very seriously. He took my pulse (healthy slow) blood pressure (ideal) and listened to my heart (all good). I have recent bloods on record so he checked them and said they are all fine as well. He said he’s book me in with my surgery for a baseline ECG and write to Warrington hospital to have them fit me with a heart rate monitor for 24 hours. The ideal is to have a normal reading first, then try and catch an episode over the 24 hour period. That should be simple enough. Neck a cup of coffee then do a one mile, flat out, sprint. That should trigger it. An hour or so later I got a text, I’m booked in for the baseline ECG on Saturday! The doctor said it sounds like SVT (supraventricular tachycardia), the NHS website says they can control it with drugs, electric shocks or cure it completely by sticking a wire up your vein and burning out the faulty bit of the heart. I am going to be pushing hard for the latter. I had honestly resigned myself to enduring this for the rest of my life. Now I’m hoping they are going to fix me. It would be so great! It goes to show how far the NHS (GPs service) has been destroyed that this seems almost unbelievably good treatment. Anyway, if I can get properly fixed, the training is back on and I stand a much better chance at cracking sub 3 for the marathon if I don’t lose minutes to tachycardia every time I go out fast. I so hope this works out. And quickly.

I have really got my head around this Muay Thai thing. Book in advance, then you have to go, ready to go all in, first belt in December, black belt in 3 years. I have got over my resistance to going. I managed to talk myself around from real aversion to going, to nervous excitement tonight. It’s a brutal, real, martial art. I want it! I went tonight for my third lesson. I possibly went too hard in the pre-session warm-up, but 10 minutes into the class I had tachycardia. In retrospect, I think I freaked the guy out by going head down, arse up, on the mat. It probably looked like I was keeling over, but that seems to be the quickest way to settle the damn thing down. I got it to settle and wanted to carry on, but the guy wouldn’t let me. He refunded me the lesson and said to go an rest for 24 hours. I’ve got to ring the doctors in the morning and him at night. I think he’s not going to let me train until I get it sorted. That could take years. I’ll find out tomorrow, but that might be that for that club. I stupidly committed and bought the basic club kit package, which is £175 of (mostly) club-specific kit. So that’s lovely. There is another Muay Thai club in Warrington. If this one has binned me off I’ll ring them, explain the situation, and see if they’ll let me train. If not, maybe try some other martial art. If not, keep up the punching and kicking drills, the press-ups, sit-ups, and skipping. Owt’s better than nowt. The other thing is I’m going a bit mad obsessing over a Yamaha Tracer 900. I think I’m going to up my shifts and try and save up for one. Especially if I can’t do martial arts. Stupid heart sucks.