The final curtain of the forth decade

So, really from 2010 onwards, I've become a taxi driving, non bike riding general manager. The Jagaur X-Type was replaced with the MINI One in September 2011, as my mother stated "the Jaguar is too big for you!" So, from one extreme to the other!

Out with the odl Jaaaaag, in with the new Dinky

Since then, it has been a MINI adventure. I joined the Surrey New MINI owners club, have done three London to Brighton Mini runs, and lots of other shows up and down the country. It's been great fun, but this year I have been a bit quiet on the car show scene.

Work is still going strong, I have a good team around me. Who somehow have stuck with me, even when we've had a lot of shit to put up with!

New friends have come, old friends have been on adventures and returned!

At times, I think my life is stuck, or just been placed on hold. My mum likes to point out that the only time she gets out of the flat is with me on a Saturday. I try to keep getting her out every weekend for her shopping trip to Marks & Spencer, somewhere in the country.

Just before Christmas 2014 we received the sad news that my aunt passed away from cancer, That was very upsetting, especially for my mum, as it was her youngest sister. 64 is too young. We now try and have a family gathering every month or so, just to get everyone together for a good old gossip over a meal. It's fun, and it gets us out for an adventure somewhere.

Now I'm half way through 2015. I started running just to lose some weight back in January, and after 11kgs, and now 11 parkruns, I'm still enjoying it!  Long may the running continue.

New plans for the rest of the year... Well, Sunday I pick up my new toy.

2005, my 30th birthday, I got an Aprilia 125cc, 2015, my 40th birthday, I've just bought a Kawasaki Ninja 250. I hope to be collecting it on Sunday! So, in ten years, I've managed to double the engine capacity of the bikes I buy near my birthday!!

To my friends I have meet over the last ten years, Malcolm, Kay,and the others, it's been a fun roller coaster, and long may it continue! The world of Loon is never quiet!! Especially if the Monster is working!!

Cars in a bike dealers forecourt?? It must be raining!

10 years in the making

So, 2007, the year of the Italian Nut! A Ducati Monster 900, and god I always wanted one. From the first time I saw the pictures back in 1992, I knew I had to have the Monster. I had always put off buying one, as being a Ducati and Italian, it would be temperamental and expensive. How right I was!!

The usual view of the Monster for at least the first five months of 2007

Or just waiting outside Rosso Corse for them to open!

It was good, just to go from my friends in Chelsea, across London, drop the bike off at the garage, and pick it up a few days later. Of course, after parting with a fair amount of my monthly salary.... So, what did I do, apart from having an Italian bike a wonderful Italian friend, I bought an Alfa Romeo at the end of 2007..... That buggered it up! If I thought the Ducati was expensive, well I was even more skint after getting the Alfa!

Ah, the Alfa GTV.

The photography was going quiet. The wasn't a lot of money coming from the motocross pictures. I was spending more on fuel to get there, and then on food! So, I decided to quit the early Sunday morning adventures, and decided the Monster was the way to go. It took a while to get there, but I did by June 2007! A few summer adventures, two up (the first time with a pillion since the mid 90's!), and it was fun!

This was also my final year of having a holiday! Even though I don't enjoy holidays, this was a good one. This was the reason for buying the Monster! Isle of Wight for two weeks. 1400 miles covered on the Monster, and it only broke the speedo cable! As for the old mans Peugeot, will that leaked water all the way round the island!! It was a fun two weeks, meeting the local 'mad' bikers (local knowledge is the key though), heading off into the unknown, and waking up all the island with the twin Viper cans! And not forgetting the rain, I think it rained for most of the two weeks! Soggy bike gear all the time. But the Monster worked through out.

Work was still much the same, same stuff, same hours, same people!

2008, now this was a game changer year! It started off crappy, it went down hill, and by the end, I was in a bad mood!

The Alfa is dead...

Nine month of Alfa ownership, and she died. The electrics went pop! A melted fuse box, caused by dodgy wiring to the rear heated screen and the radiator had a big hole  in it. I gave up with it. I was back in Walton, and everything was wonderful... Nearly. The Monster spent a year working.

Then on the 6th November 2008, the world was turned upside down. HMRC raided the office. The boss gone, and as the chief officer said to me "looks like you are in charge now!" Thanks....I was now the general manager of the freight company, after one interesting day! This happened the week before I was going to a filming session of Top Gear. Thanks.... We made it though!

So, the close of 2008, I became a hair dressing, biking, general manager! Enter the age of the Eunos Roadster, lots of goodies

The old Eunos at Brooklands Museum.

A nice year of turmoil for 2009. One sacking, a few idiot employees, a few repairs to the old car, the bike was put in storage due to a blown engine (the first one), But driving the Eunos, with the roof down, it was fun! The old man hated it! Well, being small and fun, he would! The roof had to be replaced, the electric window motors, the electric aerial, and I added some touches to the exterior. It was the first car I started to mod!

A year of planning things in the pub, working god knows how many hours, not riding the bike, heading to MX-5 owners club meetings, it was fun! But things change, and it did a big way at Christmas 2009. We didn't expect it, but the old man was getting more and more erratic in his behaviour.

Three weeks on...

Three weeks ago yesterday I was put in charge of a UK company, thanks to Customs & Revenue and the Metropolitan police. Actually, the police didn't do much but stand around and try and occupy the puppy, whilst the three of us left just sat in the warehouse wondering what was happening. Gibraltars quiet little corner of Hayes was raided by 6 Customs officers and after 30 minutes the boss was gone and so were all of the PCs and the fax machine (minus the phone, they left that on the filing cabinet!).

The owner of the company flew to the UK on the Monday, and some sanity was restored. By the end of the first week, my office (well I was now confirmed as the UK General Manager for the firm) was starting to function, albeit in a dysfunctional way. Slowly the systems started to come back online, the old customs entry system installed onto the new PCs, the fax being run from my 6 year old laptop, Windows Bu sines Vista crashing every time someone decided to breathe.. Nothing unusual then!

This week has now passed. I had a half day on Wednesday to be in the audience of Top Gear (four years on the waiting list and I wasn't going to miss that!) and all hell broke loose again....

I'm not happy about what happened at work on Wednesday afternoon, and it's an issue I need to get on top of. The ex boss turned up to collect his things, and as I wasn't in, decided to pick holes in the staff and start throwing files around the office.... Time for drastic measures. He appeared back on Thursday, and I was the only one left in the building. Now I know my job, and I know what to do (90% of the time), and after a quick and polite chat, things were sorted out. Fine, he hasn't been charged with anything by the authorities, but it's not his job anymore, it's MINE!!!

And finally today. Some normality has restored to the office. Friday being the worst day, and things started to fall into place. The accounting is starting to look easier. The trailers are getting loaded nice and easy, the new member of staff doesn't really know what he is doing but that will be addressed as soon as I can have a quiet 20 minutes to myself and work out where to start training him (apart from the usual "this is a phone, this is a pen, this a piece of paper, write what the person on the phone says down on the piece of paper")....

Gone are the days of finishing at 4:30pm for me. I can't remember the last early finish now (apart from Wednesday). Working weekends, working till 7 or 8 at night, but I know once everything is in place, the work will be easy and back to the old routine, but with me in charge!

Time for me to become a tough, unfriendly, company manager.... Time to show the others that the new boss is in the office, and get things done my way!