well its just around the corner, the scooter season. IOW , spain , Whitby< and lots more. i don't think i will be going to Spain. because of the cost. for the same sash i could spend a month riding about Spain and France, and that is what I'm going to do. ride down to the tunnel then through France. crossing down to Spain through Le'mans and coming out at Bordeaux across the border and it to Spain. ferry rares, tickets and the 20 for the LCGB makes Dejone out of my budget, so its a trip over the pyrenees. i had the scooter out today first time for 7 weeks, when i put it away i must have caught the petrol tap and it was on a bit, over time it flooded the engine, there was about 1/2 pint in the exhaust, so its just as well it did not fire up until i had stripped the top end down and dried it all out, it fired second kick after it was dried out, after setting the tyre pressures i went out for a ride, it was dry but very cold which made the engine run great, hitting 75 easy. the scooter needed that strip down to get it tightened up after the run. its done about 1000 miles now and is running so free and easy its great to be on it. speed cameras are a hassle though. having to keep an eye open all the time for them. i want a sat nave for the speed cameras. i'm going to look in to battery operated ones. or perhaps make a power take off that is hidden away discreetly that i can plug in to. the rubber mount for the windscreen should fix to the top of a GP head set as its nice and flat. me amte has got one for the car i think i will ask him if i can lend it off him to see if fitting one to the s type is a good idea or another no brainer. if it is dry tommorrow i'll get out on the scooter agai and have a run in the country i think, would be better if me mate was ready with his, but he is the slowest person in the world. what takes me a day takes him a month, plasanning, talking about it, then stopping half way through. when he was told about me top end strip down and on the road in hours he was like "what did you say-stripped down and going again in the same day ".he is in for some surprises this year on rally's, i have seen cranks replaced in motorway services during the night using the sodium lighting to illuminate the work in progress. bent crank to running 5-6 hours. running pistons in at 50-60 on motorways, "just chuck some more oil" in was the crack,, crazy from manchester once ran a piston in as we set off for London, by the time we got there he was riding flat out on the M25. he got the name crazy from when were at batings dam up hill sprint in 81 he bit the head of a crow off at the time ozzy was doing chickens LOL. that was some place in it day, the boozer next to the damm used to let us set up home in the beer garden with tents and 24/7 booze on draught, there was always bikers in the villages up that way and heading back home was always a hassle . that is the last time i rode with pete merchant the owner of soley scooters. he had a unit in a old mill back then and built me a great cut down frame with ss runners and a fantastic flake job on it, thig is he got the sing writing wrong, he spelt sons with a U .setting sons sc at the time,