I’m sorry to hear there’s sickness in the your house Fruity, I pray it’s not serious and passes quickly.
Don’t forget to record your project as you go along, I always enjoy the great pictures and your explanation of the process.
Talking about bikes.
I can tell you I was practically born on a bike, my Dad fixed all the neighbours bikes in his spare time, cranks, pedals, chains, saddles, tyres and tubes all over the place, in fact my baby pillow was made up of sections of rubber tubes stuffed into an oily flour bag.
I used to take links from a bicycle chain and fix it back together again, I could and was fixing punctures when I was two, and don’t mention those bloody cotter pins, the devil of a job hammering them out.
Then as soon as I reached 14 I had my first messenger bike provided by the Home and Colonial Stores.
Every morning the nearly three foot high basket was stacked up to the rim with groceries, then after a skilful manoeuvring through heavy city traffic it was on to the North Coast Road and the steep climb up Howth Head to drag the huge basket up 30 steps to the hotel entrance there, and that was all before the 10am break we got in the shop, talk about cruelty to children! and all for fifteen bob a week!
Jaysus if ever a boy suffered, the Hovis kid was only in the ha’penny place compared to what I had to do on that bike, he has a small basket, the one I had I could barely see over the top, none of yer health and safety back then, when I think back at the risks I took, messenger boys in heavy traffic, we probably were the front line of dispensable kids of the 1950’s, but we never knew it at the time.
don’t ya think the car and lorry drivers were more considerate in those times and slower? now it is faster and no consideration especially with those Sur ons - did I ever mention that the first bike I ever had was a dot scrambler - never scrambled it was a sorta status symbol. worst starter I ever came across - me mate had a francis barnett - he looked like a lady riding it ; another mate up the antis with a bsa 250 cc 4 stroke - looked like a hearse! but it had some guts for sure. What I had to put up with cos I was workin class!! then I became professionally mobile and got a japanese scooter/bike probably 2 stroke in the late 60’s what would that have been spittie? and then became super professional and got a second hand morris minor 5 seater and lots of horse power!
Its only a question of time, before that Hovis Lads apron ends up in the spokes and why the heck does he not start work at the top of the hill with a full basket, and work downwards? sorry, no management potential there. Gummy, late 60s Japanese scooter/bike, sounds like a “Chicken Chaser” [citation needed] if it was, you’d wish you had it now, values have shot up for 60s variants.
Early 70s I had (as well as an original) a custom made Chopper Bike, it had two sets of forks welded together, a real easy rider jobby, trouble was, the center of gravity was so far back, every time you turned the peddles, the front wheel came off the ground , did I care, I was king of the road.
“London (CNN Business) A car that can transform into a small aircraft has passed flights tests with flying colors in Slovakia, developers say.
The “AirCar” was awarded an official Certificate of Airworthiness by the Slovak Transport Authority after completing 70 hours of “rigorous flight testing,” according to Klein Vision, the company behind the “dual-mode car-aircraft vehicle.”
The test flights — which included more than 200 takeoffs and landings — were compatible with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards, the company said in a press release on Monday. “
I was reading about this new ‘flying car’ today, jaysus it not bad enough having having mad motorists on the road without having them flying over us as well?, not a bit of consideration for the pedestrians at all. But thankfully one will require a pilots licence to drive it.
I had a brainwave, what if Spitty was to invent a ‘flying bike’, he has the technology and the determination, could be a nice little earner for himself.
A Sur-face to air bike, put Priti Patel on it and it would become a sour-face to air bike.
Phyllis and me are off to the daughters house shortly, we’ll be staying overnight as she’s having a 55th birthday party, as far as I know we’re all in the same bubble, not that it matters now with most of the restrictions gone over here. So it’ll probably be Friday before I recover enough to be back here.
have fun you know you will!! - flying cars always reminds me of blade runner - they seemed to manage ok ? yes spits that nippon bike was always reliable and it did 40kms every day for 18mths for me not a hitch from it but from the iced roads sometimes - they were selling like hot cakes then must have been 1968 to be precise - it would have been 2 stroke had built in leg coverings plastic ? and might have had a plastic visor not sure?
Phyllis and me were just talking about the time a Brazilian Fan Dancer featured on the cabaret bill in one of our local pubs back in the 70’s, she was gorgeous and had all the fellas eyes in the pub glued to her, much to the annoyance of their partners/wives.
The occasion was made more memorable by the fact that the show was closed after the second night due to the intervention of the “Legion of Decency”, a very powerful group back then, yeh crossed the road when you saw that lot coming, it was like having 100 Mary Whitehouse’s on yer back at the same time.
I remarked to the wife that I thought fan dancers must be very brave to stand out there on their own and do their act. It reminded me of when I was a schoolboy and had to read to the class standing on a chair at the top of the classroom, I was petrified then.
I turned to Phyllis and said “I know how she feels”.
Like a flash she retorts: “How would you know how a fan dancer feels!?, have you ever felt one?”
Christ, the way they can twist an innocent remark into grounds for adultery.
@spitfire what we gonna do what we gonna do what we gonna do ? - does he need his shed tidying or grass cutting or house transporting to another suburb we do a lot of that in oz ? he does a lot of goin away heh - isn’t he happy at home anymore down the backshed??
there was an old geezer called Jem
messing about with nothing to do in his den
he would be bothering Phyllis - wanted to keep wetting his whistle
and visit family for weekends - lookin for craic now and then
he would bid one and all at the scribbles
tell em to amuse themselves not do too much of the tiddles
just a wee glass or three and a chat round the knee
till he got back and played them his fiddle!
Well what did we make of that one and three
his gawn and done it again buzzed off and not back till tea
ah well he’s a great socialite even though full of s…shine
and when he gets back we’ll be sublime
God bless ya Gummy, yer like myself, easily amused.
At the butt of the Indian Ocean
Lives a fella full of emotion
After a days toil, he rubs his belly with oil
And his legs with calamine lotion.
Yes indeed I love to socialise with real live human beings, especially since this covid thing, you never miss the water till the well runs dry.
So much is missed in conversation and craic with the absence of body language.
Take last night in the local for example.
Local Hairdresser girl Molly McDonnell got up on the small stage to do her Marilyn Monroe impersonation, Molly is in her forties but has the body of a twenty year old Marilyn, now could you imagine how that act would go down without body language?, and Molly just oozes body language.
@ Jem - pity ya didn’t have ya movie camera with ya heh - wouldn’t mind seein that lady in action never mind Marilyn - can ya go back next w/end and get us one - film that is - God I’d be buying her guinesses all evening!
@Lucylulu well welcome young cobber jest across the water heh nay zealand heh - we have young ladies drop in from time to time and you are certainly most welcome - there used to be more women once but they jest disappeared so the floors yours lady - lucylulu lovely name there. you’ve met the other lads have ya now or wanna intro and warning? post what ya like darlin as long as it’s nearly decent!
@Lucylulu - what ya say ya wanna know what’s on offer? - well let me see there - Gems goin quite cheap; the occasional fruitcake that is willingly shared around [usually] and and someone called spitfire who specializes in bikes that go put ;put; put sputter sputter - he may giz ya a go if ya ask he very nicely? need fuel nah they’ze lectric!
Welcome Lucy, what a lovely surprise to find a lady in the scribbles thread, seldom is wonderful so let’s try to keep the wonderful and do away with the seldom, stick around, you seem to have installed a bit of vigour into Gummy and Spitty, not an easy task that, so well done, you’ll have them writin’ sloppy mushy love poems next.
The name Lucy always reminds me of one of the kindest ladies I ever knew, thanks for unintentionally reminding me of her.
We’ve had Lucy in the sky with Diamonds
And Lucy next door, who married Mick Fitzsimons
But never before, had a girl next door
Had so many maternity confinements.
Yes that was our old neighbour Lucy Ryan, she married at 18 and they had 12 children, all survived to become fine healthy adults, they all emigrated and became good citizens of Canada, USA, and Australia, poor Lucy was left all alone when her beloved Mick died.
The house was sold in 2001 when she died and now it’s owned by one of the meanest men in the area, he owns 15 houses here now and lets them out at astronomical rents, he also has a reputation of screwing his tenants out of their large deposits by using the filmiest of excuses, he works in a solicitor’s office and knows all the legal tricks, an aloof git and not a nice person at all.
So take yer shoes off Lucy and move up to the fire.
and why the heck does he not start work at the top of the hill with a full basket, and work downwards? sorry, no management potential there. Gummy, late 60s Japanese scooter/bike, sounds like a “Chicken Chaser” [citation needed] if it was, you’d wish you had it now, values have shot up for 60s variants.
…flattery will get you everywhere 
