How is she 18 already?

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So, not so long ago it was my daughter’s 18th birthday. As promised to her last year I took her to Alton Towers for two days with the Gold Fast Track for both days.

I picked her up on the Saturday and we headed up to the hotel. When we arrived, I found out I made a huge mistake! I booked a double room and not a twin. Oh shit! I tried everything I could to get us changed, but I was told they had no spare rooms. It is what it is.

We unpacked and headed to the restaurant for dinner. You can usually tell how good a places food is by how good their burgers are, and that’s what I had. Burger and chips. It wasn’t too bad! Headed back to the room and chilled for the evening watching some TV.

Next morning arrives and I had barely any sleep. The room was horrendously hot. I set the air-con to the lowest temperature, no window to open, because why would you put an opening window in the room. It felt like we were in the middle of a heatwave in there!

Funnily enough when I complained about the room being baking hot, they suddenly found a vacant room to switch us into. We each had our own beds and a working air-con with windows that actually opened! We could get a decent nights sleep!

We got ready and headed to the theme park. Below is a mix of both days events.

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She finally got one too!

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So I’ve been badgering my sister to get a motorcycle for an age. She did her CBT back in December 2025 and picked the bike up 12th March.

My sister is now the proud owner of a Yamaha MT125 2022

Shes had the bike a little while now, so I have taken her out a good few times. We have done a run up to Peterborough, the May Day Run, and a general all day out riding day.

Shes picked it all up fairly quick. She just needs to learn to get up to speed quick now. Once she has managed to learn that, she shouldn’t really have any issues.

I’ve added a few photos I’ve taken. Enjoy.

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Suns out bikes out

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Yesterday was amazing. First time in a little while I’ve actually been out on my bike with no worries or issues. 179 miles in total!

Yesterday was the day that I decided that I need to get out and down to Broadoak Bakery. They do the most amazing Scotch Eggs and Sausage Rolls. Well worth going if you’re ever nearby, or not!

I picked up my munch and then headed up towards Tonbridge to grab me a Starbucks. As I pull up, I see in the distance a familiar face. In fact two familiar faces! My sister had gone out with her friend on their bikes, and a chap that I met while doing my day job. I said a quick hello to my sister and sat down to chat with the matey I met previously. He rides a gorgeous Harley Davidson Sportster S. I still need to figure this guys name out!

After sitting and chatting for a bit, I left everyone and headed over to Ashdown Forest. Annoyingly not really anywhere to park unless you want to pay! Wasn’t too keen on that if I’m honest, however I did manage to find myself a little lay-by. Parked up and just sat on the hillside overlooking the forest. Relishing in the sun. I sat probably around an hour. Taking it all in. Of course though, I had to grab a few photos.

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When things go wrong

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It’s one of a very few dry sunny days at the moment. So it’s time I went out on the bike for a little jolly!

Part of the route I was taking was to explore the roads I had not been on before. To try find a good road to ride. 140 miles and I found myself some nice views, but also some trouble!

I headed from mine down the A274 then working my way over to the A22. As I went along the A265 I noticed something strange. My bike wasnt handling as good as she normally does. I pull over and what do I discover? A puncture! No!!

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A day trip to Venice

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When flights are cheap, the world is your destination!

Both me and my son jumped at the chance to have a day trip over to Venice, Italy. £37.50 each return from Stanstead! Hell of a bargain, who could say no to that?

The day started at 7am. We headed up to Harlow. Had a breakfast, got some Euros and parked up at the train station. Jumped on the train and headed to Stanstead.

Of course after checking into the airport and going through all the security we headed to the nearest pub! Two pints later we nearly missed our flight, but thankfully made it just in time!

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Bucket List 2023

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My last post on my bucket list was back in 2020 with hopes and dreams that I would get some of the items ticked off of my list. Sadly due to the COVID-19 disaster everything had to be put on hold.

Even though we have had a pandemic and we are pretty much in a recession with prices sky rocketing through the roof for everything at the moment, I have managed to get a couple things ticked off of my list.

  1. Reach the summit of Scafell Pike. I managed to get this done on the 4th June 2021 with my sister. View the full story here.
  2. I got my tongue pierced again. This is officially the 4th time it has now been pierced. View the full story here.
  3. I stopped smoking in March 2020. I took the pandemic as the perfect sign to quit. I did however move onto a vape. I have now also finally as of 1st November 2022 quit vaping. I am officially nicotine free.
  4. I attained my motorcycle licence – AND
  5. I bought myself a motorcycle – view the full story here

The last 18 months in terms of goals have been quite good for me. Ticking 5 things off of my list is a good amount. 

Sadly in terms of health, things haven’t been so good. As of August 2021 I had a lung infection which ended up in 5 months off work. I also caught COVID-19 in February 2022, which appears to have given me permanent breathing issues. I have been to the hospital and had a multitude of tests done and everything is coming back fine. I’ve had a lung function test, angiogram, bone density tests, x-rays, cardiogram, echocardiogram, blood tests, various asthma inhaler testing and everything is coming back as fine. The doctors are now investigating the possibility of long-COVID.

Currently I am back at work, but very much on light duties. I am not allowed out on the road to perform inspections. I’m not allowed to drive a vehicle. I am to either work from the office or work from home. For the most part I have worked from home but this has proven to have other side effects. I have missed human contact and being around others, which has affected my general day to day mood. I have agreed with my manager that I now go into the office a couple times a week and work and or catch up with the other inspectors. I think once I am able to start interacting with others my mood will improve.

This year I am hoping to tick a few more things off my list. I am not sure, but there will be some travel around the UK which will give me the perfect opportunity to go visit some castles and possibly some camping. Everything is very much money dependant at the moment with the issues with the economy, so we shall see!

My two wheel journey starts here..

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As you may know attaining a motorcycle licence has been on my bucket list for quite some time now. I finally managed to achieve it this year.

I did the full thing. Something that’s know as a DAS course (Direct Access). For anyone over the age of 24 you are able to go from no licence to a full licence to be able to ride any size motorcycle you wish.

I have listed everything that must be done prior to undertaking this task.

If you have no prior experience with motorcycles I would highly recommend doing some lessons after your CBT in preparation for your MOD 1 and MOD 2 tests. I did 3 MOD 1 lessons and 1 MOD 2 lesson.

Prior to even taking the CBT I did what is known as a taster session. This was an hour with one of the instructors on a CB125, the very bike I would do my CBT on. I can pretty much say it’s not too dissimilar from riding a bicycle, which is why I feel it’s fairly easy to pick up.

After completing my CBT I learnt on a CB 650F. This is the bike I would be using to take my MOD 1 and 2 tests on. This is also surprisingly very similar to the bike I would go onto buy.

It’s a lovely bike and nice to ride. It’s also an inline 4 which means it screams as you rev it, which I much prefer over the triple or twins such as the SV650 or MT09 etc.

All in all I paid a total of £1289 for my theory, training and tests. I probably could of done it about £200 cheaper if I went with another school, however because the school is a “Honda approved” school, it meant I would get a £500 discount off a Honda bike so it made it worth it in the long run.

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4th time’s the charm?

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As a goal to fufill my quest to tick many things off of my bucket list, getting my tongue pierced again was on the adgenda.

It was my daughters birthday and I was heading to theirs for the weekend. I had been wanting to get my tongue pierced again for a while now and as I know where the shop is in Winchester, I thought that there was no better time!

We all headed into town and walked to the piercing shop. Funnily enough the lady who did it, did it the last 2 times as well. Lets hope this one stays in and becomes permanent.

Of course the whole thing was video recorded, so you may see it here –

Scafell Pike 2021

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I made it. I finally made it! I reached the top.

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Well I never!

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So as you know I have had an issue with water ingress into my mk3 Ford Focus and I thought I had fixed the issue. Turns out I was utterly wrong.

Water was still coming into my car. I started by checking some of the other rubber grommits under the rear of my bumper. Suddenly I was greeted with dripping water on my face and arm.

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