THE GOOD BUCK

After 3 weeks of no money, and me ringing the agency every few day to be told “You’re definitely not sacked, we are just waiting on a date for your retraining.” I got a text. I’m sacked. Well, I’m agency, they don’t want me back, same thing. Super. They did do a follow up text though, saying they only deal with Royal Mail, ring a different branch and see if they have any local jobs. They gave me the number so I rang it straight away. I asked if they do the contract for Sainsbury’s, he said they did, so he’s getting me in for assessment next week, he said. I’ve seen multiple adverts from different agencies for Sainsbury’s. I got the distinct impression it was back to the old bullshit. Them hammering you with shifts, at the time and pattern they choose. I asked what the shift pattern is and he said “It’s whatever you want, really.” I’ve got a good feeling about this. All the other agencies treat you like their property, ‘you are doing this shift, or else’. I thought the deal with this agency, where you tell them when you are available, at what sort or time slot, was just down to RM making them treat you fairly. If that’s the company-wide agency ethos, I am laughing. He asked what sort of start times I was after, I said days, preferably. He said they have a few, but they have loads of agency lads wanting them. The start time they were always looking to fill was 01.00 – 04.00. Which is what I was expecting when I asked about the gig. The only good thing about 01.00 starts is all the road closures will already be in place and the traffic will be minimal. I hate the 21.00 chaos as they try to close lanes on still fairly busy motorways. I’ve just found the actual job advert from my agency. £18- £30.60 p/h, 10 – 12 hours a day, single deck box trailers, maximum of three drops, full time availability, overtime after 48 hours, possible temp to perm. Wendy had a good idea. While I’m still agency, do 4 on 3 off. That way I can still do training and see a bit of Wendy and such. I’ll see if that’s acceptable, and what the money is like. It would mean I won’t be getting the overtime rate. The bottom fell out of my stomach when I got the text, but this could be really good. It’s good money, not too long shift, and possible temp to perm. I could end up on a winner. I’ll have to wait and see how it shakes out. Assuming I get the job. The best thing is, it’s a fresh start. The driver trainers at RM taught me some valuable lessons after my bumps, which I took onboard and which have made me a much better driver. Sadly, it was too late. I’d already blotted my copy book. The […]

Since I got the Bonneville I’ve been loving it more and more. It’s just a joy to ride. You don’t have to be going for stupid speeds or scary lean angles, just open the throttle and hear the roar, it’s gorgeous. I’m actually enjoying tootling around just for riding’s sake. I don’t have to have somewhere to go, I just want to be out on it. I took it to Lymm Dam the the other day for a picture. It says AI generated content because I used the amazing software on the ‘phone to remove some posters from the railings and the arse end of a car that was in shot. I should have then cropped it, but here we are. Random guy gets to stay in the shot because he’s echoing the blue of the bike. The Bonnie is not without faults. The seat is too thin and uncomfortable. I’ve ordered a second hand one off a different model of Bonnie. The handlebars feel too high. and the bike is too small. I’m hoping the bigger seat will lift the feel of the bike. I’ll see what acer bars would feel like when I’ve fitted the seat. The bars are only £62 and are a straight swap. Then, instead of a sit-up-and-beg position, you’d be leant forward over the tank. I think that would feel more natural, give a better feel for cornering, and it would allow you to lie over the tank, out of the wind, at motorway speeds. The only other thing is the cramped footrests. Again, I’m hoping a taller seat will cure that. If not, somewhere down the line, fit a set of rearsets to move my feet back. I read an article on improving the engine by de-restricting the factory fitted impediments. Take off the air induction system (already been done by previous owner) remove the air sensor from the exhaust (already done) take out the air restricter and snorkel and fit a free breathing air filter. That is something that I can’t see without a few hours of stripping the bike. The other two jobs have been done, so I’m hopeful, but if not I’ll have to take the bike off the road for a few days until the parts arrive. I’m not stripping it twice for the job, or buying bits I don’t need. Then, it’s just an engine remap. That will set the injection for the free-er flowing engine, and is supposed to iron out the snatchiness. So, fun times ahead for the Triumph. The Honda VFR750 sold, yay! On Saturday I got a missed call from the Harley garage, saying they had to talk to me about several issues. I rang them back but they’d closed. They have Sunday and Monday off, so I’ve spent all weekend dreading the call. “Several issues”, usually means untold amount of new jobs and money to be spent. Work still haven’t got back to me, so I was dreading massive bills. I rang them […]

It’s been an interesting fortnight. I took my Harley into the shop and I was all set. Money in the bank, Harley to be fixed, Honda to be my reliable bike. The Harley shop still haven’t got back to me. Then I clipped a road sign in my truck at work, so I’ve been off work, without any pay, for 12 days while I wait for them to put me in with the driver trainer for retraining. Then we had a beastly hot heatwave, so I wasn’t sleeping and I was tired and grumpy. I got bored and started perusing bikes again. I saw a (modern, -2010-) Triumph Bonneville for sale. Only 22 miles away. £2,650. Over a grand cheaper than similar bikes. I was up after 3 or 4 hours sleep on the longest day, reading bike reviews for models of Bonnie. Everything said this was the one to get. It was so cheap because it had done 54,000 miles, but everything I read said that as long as you changed the oil and checked the valve clearances on time, modern Triumphs are good for well over 100k. They are a well engineered bike, that is under very little (67bhp) stress, so they keep running. This one had a full service history, so it met the criteria. I was losing sleep obsessing, so I tried to convince myself my VFR750 was a superior bike. I was awake from before 03.00 so I got up at ungodly o’clock and rode to Keswick (230 mile round trip) for some pasties. The bike was awesome and the pasties were nice, but they didn’t remove the taste of Bonnie obsession from my mouth. Then the guy updated his advert. He said he’d just done a 200 mile run out to a Hairy Biker run thing, and he dropped the price to £2,390! Which means the bike is a good ‘un. Nobody sets out for a 200 mile ride on a bike they don’t trust entirely. And it was a steal. It will come as no surprise that I cracked and gave into my my obsession. So, no money, VFR750 that nobody is buying, no work to make more money, but BONNIE! Yay! Look at the attention to detail. They are trying to do a modern, fuel injected bike that’s also supposed to look like a 1970s classic. Just look at it. Air cooled engine (with a radiator for an oil cooler, presumably), with fuel injectors hidden inside fake carbs! On the other side their is a fake choke lever that is the enricher for start up (so basically it is a choke). I drove to the bike, in Bury, then rode back. Wendy followed me in the car. Which was awfully nice of her seeing as she’s so scared of motorways, and driving in general. It was raining most of the way home, and I was keeping it slow for Wendy’s sake. It seemed like a weird bike to ride. A very low […]

We’ve been having a bit of a nightmare with Wendy. She was off work for months after being diagnosed with a knackered heart valve or something. It was a bad time for her as she was bored witless, just sat on the sofa all day long, or scared by nasty chest pains every time she did anything to break the boredom. It was a long 3 months for her. She finally got the operation date, 14 weeks after the diagnosis. They said it was go in, 45 minute procedure to insert the stent, wait 4 hours to check everything had settled, go home. Should be over the operation in 3 days, don’t drive for a week. All good. We went in, they did her without any painkillers of consequence (just paracetamol) and it took them 2 hours. It seems like they were training up a new guy. So two hours of agony. At least they did it, so she just had to get over the severe bruising and pain. They said 3 days, which is what I’d booked off work, then I had my normal 2 days off, so 5 days. She was still in a bad way after 5 days and had to go to the doctor. He said the nausea and bad back pain was a kidney infection, so gave her antibiotics. “They will clear it up in 3 days”. I was back at work, doing long shifts, leaving her on her own. Less than ideal. A few days later she was still in such a state she had to go back to the doctors. This time it was a woman. She said Wendy definitely didn’t have a kidney infection. Super. She said her back was badly tensed up. She sent a urine sample to the hospital, they confirmed no infection, and arranged for a blood test and kidney function test. We did that today. As she said “we have to relax that back” to Wendy, I’ve been giving her massages morning and night, which is providing temporary relief and making it bearable. Hard to think what it could be. If it was a damaged kidney you wouldn’t think massaging it would ease it. If it’s muscular you’d think the massages would stick. But the pain and stiffness keep coming back. I don’t understand. It’s grim for Wendy and it’s inconvenient for me. It’s really hard to do training around looking after her, which obviously has priority. I managed to get my Harley into the specialist Harley garage today. It’s up by Birkenhead. They are going to fix it so it runs right and test my charging system. The battery seems to go flat really quickly, so if there’s a problem I want it diagnosed so I can fix it. If it’s the stator, it’s not too expensive (£100) and I’ve had it off before. I’ve also asked them to MOT is, so it will be all legal and on the road. I had thought I’d get a […]

I had a few days off training after the marathon then got back to it on Thursday. A 1k swim, followed by 30 minutes rowing, straight into an hour on the treadmill (7.3 miles). That is made really tough because you are already sweating from the rowing, then you have to run, in a barely cool gym, with no fan. Great heat conditioning, I suppose. But awful. The next day I just did an hour on the bike trainer, the day after I did an easy paced 8 mile run. Yesterday I did an hour on the bike then straight out for an 8 mile run. I was just trying to train my legs to the misery of running off the bike, but after a 3 miles aiming at sub 8.30 I was feeling fine so I upped the pace to 7.40s to bring it home under sub 8 average pace. I was surprised and happy with that. Last night I was thinking I need to do some long rides to get myself bike fit for the half tri and work towards LEJOG. I tried the Garmin feature where you ask for a distance and it plots you a safe bike course. It lead me along Cromwell Ave (busy main road) and over the motorway roundabout (a Highways Agency declared accident blackspot). That’s a no. How can I train and not get splattered? The cycle route stuff is good for LEJOG but it’s slow and mostly flat, not much use for training for speed. I went online and found ICTrainer, a cycling app. It’s a month free trial, then dirt cheap (£2.08 per month!) after that. Apparently it has tons of video of real world cycling routes, but most importantly, it allows you to upload gpx files. I got it this morning, uploaded the gpx of the cycle leg of the actual (half) triathlon I’m doing and gave it a go. The course is three 18.3 mile laps. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, but I was appreciating the system by the second lap. The gpx tells the app the route you are taking and the elevation, the app then increases the resistance of you trainer to realistically simulate the hills. By the second lap I realised that it tells you shortly before each change of incline what the next one is going to be. So you are on the flat (there doesn’t seem to be hardly any 0 elevation ‘flat’, it’s all at least some incline) then on to a hill so it goes to 1%, then, say 3%, over the crest and -1.5%. Once I learned to watch the prediction boxes I barely looked at anything else. It has bloody tough sections, even in first gear I was stood on the pedal on an 8% incline, grinding out 240 watts. The first lap was a hell of a shock to the system. The second was bad, but I was getting the hang […]