My Princess

Prince William isn't the only chap with a new Princess, yesterday I met for the first time my new bride for this journey. Batty is everything a man could want in a companion; Not too fast but will always gets there, beautifully proportioned and built for comfort, loyal and reliable, and unlike Kate Middleton she will always obey (well that's my understanding anyway).

The first ride had a bit of an abortive start, in that the battery turned out to be duff and after 20 miles would not start having filled up with a gallon of vegetable oil. Back at Henry's garage he quickly resolved the problem and had me off again after an hour.

Henry had set the bike up with diesel oil, so my first few miles were on that forbidden fuel. However now she is full of vegetable oil and running very sweetly. Luckily for me I was able to purloin 20 L of oil from Galapagos, which is one of my favourite hostelries in Battersea High Street. Elaine and Steve, who run it, have been very supportive and were very generous in allowing me the oil at cost price,   about £1.10 p per litre.

Here is a video made by Peter Gray. He brilliantly drove me down to collect the bike. As you can hear got terribly excited about the bike and is threatening to get one himself.

Travel Safety Training

Had a very useful day, largely surrounded by late teen and early twenty year old lasses and a few chaps, learning how to travel safe, spot and avoid dangers, keep well and generally how to look after yourself.

It was run by Objective Travel Safety and Charlie and Eleanor where our excellent trainers

Whilst largely common sense, it was a day full of top tips and would recommend it to travelers of all ages.

First Pictures of Batty

Here's Batty.....

MOT'd and ready to be registered, which should be a matter of days now.

After that the top box and panniers need to be added and some crash bars.

Please note the rather generous and comfortable seat...for those who have mentioned piles and the like.

Carbon Offsetting

As a rough calculation it looks like the flights that I will need to take for both air freighting the bike and myself have a carbon footprint of 5 1/2 metric tons. Offsetting is a precarious business and the legitimacy, let alone accuracy, is a difficult thing to rely on. As it happens we have been sharing the same building at work with Jane Burston who has a company called Carbon Retirement.

By acquiring carbon credits from industries that are choosing not to use their carbon allowance, one is in effect encouraging industry to use less carbon, because it pays them not to use their allowence.

 Here is a film that explains it a little clearer.

 I am delighted that Jane has developed this great scheme and know it will be very successful for all concerned.

The Birth of Batty

 I don't know why this name has stuck with me, but I guess she had part of her conception in Battersea, which combined with her owners ambitions seem to rather gel together.

Anyway a couple of days ago I went to see Henry who is building her and found this beautiful thing on the cusp of life. All she needs is a couple of wheels, a seat or two and a fuel tank. Henry is looking forward to finishing her this week, and then it is a matter of registration and MOT.

Camera

On advice from my pal Bernard Yeoh, who seems to be right up to the minute with all things camera, I have plumped for this Olympus which I can drop from great heights, take underwater to 30 foot, not worry about dust and sand etc. It also takes video.

What is certain is that the camera is a lot better, and will hopefully cover up some rather elementary mistakes that this snapper will undoubtedly make.

Tomorrow, I am off to the Apple Store to see a demonstration and hope to learn a bit about the iMovie software, with probably over ambitions to make the odd video.