Basically this means that I could theoretically hop onto pretty much any motorcycle in the world and ride it legally. Doesn’t mean I know how to ride yet! I plan to get several hundred miles under my belt before I sign up for an advanced training course.

The course went perfectly well yesterday, I started the day by getting to Ridesure Motorcycle Training, in Dunsfold Park Aerodrome (The location of the Top Gear Circuit, for those who watch Clarkson, May and Hammond’s antics every Sunday night on the BBC) - I grabbed my trusty loaned learner-bike (A Kawasaki ER-500) and shot down to the end of the runway while my instructor for the day got suited and booted. 

Did some controlled-stops (30-0mph Without skidding or losing control of the bike) and some U-Turns (Feet-up, slow speed turn through 180 degrees within a road’s width). Did some more slow speed bits, then my instructor, Roy, turned up. We then set off for Worthing (on the lovely southern coast) in the rain. I wasn’t too worried as all 3 of my training days were in the rain, so I figured if anything I’d be better prepared.

Got halfway, stopped, grabbed coffee, grabbed sausage roll, consumed said-items, then continued the journey south.

It was at this time that the test centre called Roy and asked if I wanted to take my test at 1:45 instead of 2:45. Very generous of them! This meant I wouldn’t have to drive back in the dark, so I agreed and we picked up the pace to get to the test centre in time…

…45-minutes early, we arrived in Worthing. So Roy and I practiced a typical test-route, and we were both happy I was able to take the test without any worry. So we parked up and walked into the test centre (through a very secure-looking metal back-door, creepy!

Not a very long wait in a waiting room (Clever, eh?) which was about as interesting as the inside of a cardboard box, with BBC Radio 2 being piped-in at such a ridiculously low volume that one could struggle to hear anything - then my examiner for the next 40 minutes walks in - so Roy (who had fallen asleep almost) and myself went ito his office/cave and filled out some info so everything was all legal. Roy had to step out and let me go at this point, nothing more he could do to help me now!

On with the radio so my examiner could give me directions - a huge great brick strapped to my side! -did my jacket up and we both went downstairs, back out through the creepy door and into the car park. He gave me my radio-check as I was doing my helmet up… all good….

Off we went. Ducking and diving into little back-roads, jumping onto a dual carriageway or two - I performed my manuvers correctly (Though there was a very steep camber on both sides of the road on my U-Turn, and I locked the front brake on my Controlled (Read:Emergency) Stop - but I let the brake go and reapplied - all was well. Hardest parts were over, examiner seemed happy… “Hmm, that was okay” - so on to a more high-speed setup. Back onto the dual-carriageway, I blipped up to 70 and held it there. Naturally you’re supposed to ‘get up to speed’ and stay there, unless traffic dictates otherwise. This meant I had to overtake a few cars and a lorry. Just as I was overtaking a lorry I received the direction that I was to take the next turnoff… it couldn’t be done, unless I braked and slipped behind the lorry and in front of the car behind it, or broke the speed limit and got in front of the lorry so I could slow down to take the exit. Both would mean the vehicle behind would need to brake sharply to avoid crashing into me. This would mean a fail on both counts, so I continued on. My examiner told me “you just missed your turn” - I had a little pang of anxiety, but I remembered you can’t be failed for going the wrong way, so long as you’re safe. So I remained calm and drove on.

Naturally the instructor wanted to get me into that road I missed, so he instructed me to come off at the next junction, go over the bridge and come back, which went just fine - then came the instruction to come off at the junction that I missed the first time around. Got that just fine, but took one exit too-early on the roundabout, meaning I went back onto the dual carriageway again! I felt like a complete idiot at this point, as I didn’t want to piss off my examiner - who at this point took me back into Worthing via the dual carriageway. We pretty much drove straight back to the test centre - the whole test felt like it took 20 minutes.

Parked the bike up, dismounted, too my helmet off, just as my examiner came to congratulate me for passing… just. 

I apologised for being an idiot with directions, be he gave me the impression he enjoyed going a different route for a change! So we went inside where Roy was fast asleep - so woke him up so he could sit-in on the debrief.

I got ONE minor fault for canceling my indicator too early while exiting a roundabout, the rest was just perfect, apparently! I felt so great after that. So Roy took me back outside and shook my hand. We’d be riding back to Ridesure without radios, and all I had to do was ‘Keep up’ with him.

It was more difficult than I thought…

It felt like real advanced training! We were blipping to high speeds in no time at all, rather than the slow acceleration I’d been used to - we even broke the speed limit a few times, I’m sure! (Naughty naughty hehe)

Still. Got back in one piece and felt thoroughly drained. I slept well last night.

So, forget the Virago. I can’t quite remember why I wanted one, because I realised that to buy a Really Nice(tm) Virago 750, you’re looking to spend between £1500 and £3000. For the same money you can buy a perfectly serviceable Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster which will never lose money.

Simple choice really. Though I quite like Triumphs as well… argh! Decisions!

I have plenty of time to think about it.

Okay, I really shouldn’t be getting excited about this…

ZOMG! IT ARRIVED TODAY!!!!!!

*Composes Self*

So yes, I shall be installing that this afternoon and eagerly anticipate the stroke of midnight when the servers go live. Do I continue levelling my Holy Priest from L70 to L80? Or do I start a new class character, the Death Knight? 

Decisions, decisions… such things were designed purely to tempt me, as there are so many better things I could be doing than liaising with 35Million+ people on a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG - or just MMOG - to the initiated folks) .

Either way, today I got just a little bit more sad, didn’t I? Still, I’m not standing at the end of a train station platform in an anorak with a notebook, am I? (There’s bound to be digital train stations in WoW one day, I’m sure…). I mean, sure those guys get out a lot more than the World of Warcraft folks probably do, but I have a full time job, I visit friends and family on weekends (okay, admittedly that entails arsing around with games quite a lot) - but I think I deserve this one little thing… don’t I?

Anyway. WoW. Awesome.

I’m not going to talk about how thrilled I am that the best man won in the 2008 Presidential Election, nor am I going to wax lyrical about the guy and his past.

What I will say is Mr. Obama appears to be a nice chap.

In my book that is high praise!

And no, I’m not using pop culture references to boost my Google rankings! (They’re pretty good as it is!)

Those crazy Turks Got to love them.

Perhaps I should go on a counter-offensive, it’s amazing what you can do to pinpoint folks behind a proxy…

But I’m not like that. I’ll just ramp-up security. *Sigh*

I am fairly sure that word is made up.

A friend of mine gave me a birthday card with the phrase in it, and I couldn’t forget about it, so potato-tastic it is.

As it turns out, my birthday was a decent event after all, after years of failures organising parties, and days of depression afterwards, I resigned myself to a quiet-night in. Turns out that a couple of guys from work invited me to have a meal in the evening at The Windmill bar/restaurant in Ewhurst. I’m a huge fan of that place, so I couldn’t turn it down. I’d highly recommend making a special trip to visit the place. The beer isn’t spectacular, but if you’re a wineo then it’ll be right up your vineyard.

Food was stunning as always - had a bit of a posh curry - and you can certainly tell the difference! This is the sort of curry where the main ingredient isn’t ‘curry powder’ - thoroughly enjoyed it, so helped myself to plenty of it. Chocolate tart for dessert, only a tiny slice, but it was more than enough, it was so decadant, and even had a scoop of their home made Hazelnut / Praline ice cream, which was simply to die for. Even though I’m not a huge ice cream fan, I’d go back there just for another taste of that!

Once I’d had my fill, I was ready to settle down and digest a bit with a coffee. No chance, I was brought out *another* slice of chocolate tart and ice cream, with candles in. After the whole pub joined in with a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday to you’ (A lyrical masterpiece) - out the candles went, and everyone helped me devour the Second dessert that evening.

2 Irish coffees later (cream float - absolutely stunning), and I was ready to roll out of the pub. Got dropped off home.

Overall, a hugely spectacular evening with people I enjoy being with. For once I actually enjoyed my birthday, and will look back on it in days to come and smile… rather than cringe.

I’ll eventually make my way back to Verwood and see some friends - naturally as I’ve not been home for awhile I’ve not received any of my presents yet (My boss bought me a day of advanced motorcycle training for this Friday - will report on that event afterwards!) - so looking forward to that too!

I tell a lie, I did receive one present thus far - a Ukulele from my younger brother, Julian. I’d always wanted one - and now I can practice my strumming on a bright-Yellow Spongebob-Squarepants themed instrument. Fantastic stuff.

Also, it snowed today, and I had to use my whole bodyweight to get the car door open this morning. Nice.

One week on, and the Caterham Levante video has had over 42,000 hits! Such a viral piece of film if ever one existed.

The next video will be sent to me shortly. More details about when it will be on YouTube soon.

Wow.

Less than a week since I posted the Caterham Levante Edit on YouTube and already it has found its way onto a feature on BBC’s Top Gear website. I don’t get any credit for the vid, of course, the hard work was done by the guys who built the car - but I can’t help but feel hugely smug about the whole thing.

One of MY edits, on Top Gear. Bloody Marvelous!

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/caterham-levante 

…and what could I possibly ask for? I always get a bit stumped for ideas when people ask me what I want. I like to think I have everything I need! Well, who am I to refuse the notion of free gifts and celebration, all because I managed to survive another year on this planet. I guess that makes it World 0-23 Justin!

In other news, I recently edited and posted this video on behalf of RS Performance.co.uk - the guys who build the Caterham Levante:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zxdc1JsBgY

 

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Another of my fabulous Google-Enhanced titles. I do so love this content management system.

Head Gasket problem was sorted yesterday - water ended up getting into the engine both ways so mayonnaise ended up clogging pretty much everything. So after having every valve replaced, a new Land-Rover multi-layered gasket and having the cylinder head skimmed (as well as having everything flushed to clear the white gunk) the car is back up and running, with a bill of only £886. Not too shabby really, considering it would be about double-that if I had to replace the cylinder head. Some might say this is a waste of time, but I really do love my Blue MG, and nothing short of a complete engine collapse would make me consider buying another car.

In other news, I have been offered an opportunity to own a Husqvarna 650 (model currently unknown) - all I have to do is pass my Motorcycle test and do some extra work - fantastic! Can’t wait to get back out on the road.

I figure seeing as I am really the only one who reads these I ought to remind myself of a couple of things:

- Buy some milk on the way home
- Call Mum

Well, that explains why my MG was behaving so badly over the last week. Currently seeking someone with the know-how to help me sort this out. Does mean however that I have the opportunity do do all the bits needed while the head is off - will replace thermostat and water pump and so on, as well as a few other fiddly bits you can’t normally reach. Also gives me the opportunity to use an uprated multi-layered gasket rather than the poor effort that Rover provided. Will replace all of the seals while I’m at it. I do love that car! I don’t like watching it sitting there, unused. It’s almost due for its 90,000 mile service, and hasn’t let me down once since I got the car, over 20,000 miles ago. Kudos to MG-Rover!

Right now am working from home - can’t really go anywhere as I live out in the sticks, will have to find food soon. Thank gods for Tesco direct.