scoots

:rofl: Ah me, 'peat. You get me every time! (snif! ahem!) YES, paulb (getting all po-faced, stuffed up and self-important, chin to chest and peering over me spectacles, in the best tradition of middle-aged tinpot politicians the country over) SHAME on you! In fact, cut your tongue out and HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME, man, lest ye sin against the Great Church of Toh-nee & Co again! Do me a favour, 'peat, pull the other one! Why SHOULD we forget? 'Cos lets face it, The Weasel has gone to beef up his suntan in the middle east, 'Stalin' has been shipped back off to his Fife gulag, no doubt to pen some "devastating" memoirs (yaaaaawn) - if he can find some young male aides to help - while Ed & Edd sit waiting for Eddy to join them. But nothing's changed. It's like they're action(!) figures, with interchangeable heads. Be they Red, Blue or Yellow (ah, Mr Clag... was ever a party colour so apt?) other than the duff ones that didn't get moulded quite right (Millipede and others) that nobody REALLY wants, but you've opened the wrapping now, so you're stuck with him -until you can save up enough to buy a new one, that is! - they're all the bloody same! And let's not forget, 'peat, that Ravy Davy Gravy Train and the Clag are only inflicted upon us because of... No! What am I THINKING?! Of course, in the best tradition of 'BlairSpeak' - also the language of weasels, rats, and other verminous creatures, y'know - let's all "draw a line under this and move on. Vital lessons have been learned...yaddah yaddah!". Dear Grud, how many times did we hear THAT when yet another scandal or sh*tstorm broke during 3 consecutive terms of office? (and at the end of that time, they were STILL blaming Maggie & co for all their problems and broken promises!!) So, let's try summat new 'peat. Let's NOT forget. Let's REMEMBER. Y'see, far from "distracting" us, memory HELPS us understand and is critical in making rational decisions. Otherwise you'd keep catching "little 'peat" in your fly, when you visit the men's room, y'see??? (Tell me, do you even believe your own spiel? Honestly? If so, you need a break from politics. Try a job with "Meals on Wheels". That way you're helping your community a damn sight more and not being rewarded for it, other than in the spiritual sense!) Let's all remember how Toh-nee and 'Stalin' sold off half our gold bullion reserves, for a massive loss, at a time when no one else was doing so (on the advice of...? Ed & Edd, of course!! ) Or throwing billions at the banks - "our" banks, of course - when a bubble of greed, not seen since the Yuppies, began to burst. Or shoehorning their old-school, university-educated, degree-wielding, Guardian-reading, otherwise unemployable chums into key strategic roles throughout the public sector, massively draining the public funds, the pension funds and ham-stringing every public sector agency with a layer of bureaucracy not seen since the fall of the Berlin Wall!! Bloody hell! At least when Robert Maxwell rooked his company pension funds, he went for a swim with water wings provided by the Mossad, old 'Stalin' just sat back and poured another brandy as he beggared countless people who'd spent all their lives working - many voting Labour and really believing that "things can only get better"! Ha! The problem with politics now - national or local - is that, I believe, in order to make any real sustainable change in the utterly corrupt and useless system we have at present (regardless of which of the pigs are at the trough) you would have to strip out and remove every one of them that is self-serving, or who doesn't vote with their conscience, or in the interests of the constituents for whom they're meant to speak; who accepts the doctrine pushed by their masters in the party, or their owners who pad out their "paltry" wages; those who sit on the board of private companies, or act in the interests of friends and relatives that do; who invite and accept lobbyists, who accept "donations" from those who have no more interest in politics than how it can be twisted to benefit them; those who court the media to serve their purpose through disinformation - whether it be the broadsheets, the tabloids, the lickspittle television hacks, or media moguls (Rupert & Toh-nee, up a tree, k.i.s.s.i.n.g!); those who develop an attack of middle-class snobbishness, suddenly dressing bespoke, rather than off the peg, attending the spa, developing a "love" of English classics and operatic arias, while looking down on the little people they have left so far behind - along with their roots, their morals, their identity - and chuckling over brandy and a cigar in the Commons bar, or the Lords, if they bend over enough times, or grease enough palms... And, if we get rid of all of them - as we so desperately need to, in my opinion - who have we left? You, 'peat? 'peat? 'PEEEEE-EEAT?! Anyone seen 'peat? He was here a minute ago. Y'know, about that height, so wide, looks a bit like a galley head? No? Damn! I'd best go looking for him, he'll only go upsetting someone. It's all that "forgetting" things, y'know. It's fried his memory! After that, I'm going to try and push my dystopian/utopian dream and found a fresh, new government, clean from corruption. (Which way to Forvik? ).

Well, ^that's^ most of the Pier crowd offended now!

US, mine was a 1974 1000cc (still with right foot shift) And that's exactly how my mate used to re-build the engine, but in his bedroom! It was the old Ironhead, without doubt probably the loudest most raucous twin-stroke Harley ever produced (then they calmed it right down into the "softer" Evo' engine later). But as for panheads, give me ANY Harley, in those per-marital days, and I'd have crawled across broken Sglass with GhostRider's dodgy couch strapped to my back, to get to one, if it was on offer!! The Sportster was the only thing I could afford at the time, as I was trying for 1st mortgage and I got it for a really good price, (which I always attribute to having a couple of mates with me, one the mechanic, the other a right evil looking b*st*rd!! The seller seemed to have a bit of history with the latter, who never would tell me the story behind it, but while I was checking the bike with my mechanic mate, I think he did some "negotiating" for me! But honestly, what he or someone else had done to that bike was a sin. Not an inch not caked or covered in rust, unable to start, barely able to move... yeeesh!! Still, I bought a heap of what looked like sh*t and by the time my mate was through with it, and it had a new paint job, I had a classic bike that sold in a wee bidding war! (sob!) Any Harley - and I mean ANY Harley - is a thing of joy and beauty to me, compared to the "knacker-yer-back" riceburner brigade. But me wife comes first, and a promise given is a promise kept... (sob!)

Ooooo-oooo-ooooh! Swiissssh in a retro 70s kinda way.

Still

Where is it?

Apologising to the wrong person! Losing it! It's your fault, 'peat!!

Peat, it was an old XLCH Sportster, bought as a heap of junk (really! I don't know what had happened to it, but no bike like that should ever endure wht this one obviously had!). Fortunately, a friend of mine is nothing short of a damned genius with bikes. He stripped her down to the last bolt, replaced as required, chromed all parts that needed it (most everything), and rebuilt her while a friend loaned me his garage (business as a vehicle repair/sprayer) and I did the new paint job (used to be a wee favour for friends, back in those days, and I've always loved getting my teeth into the custom stuff - you know Sword & Sorcery, dragons, etc). For a fraction (and a lot of called favours) I had a damned decent bike. Course she wasn't in the same league as all my friends, who ride DynaGlides, Softails and a couple Shovelheads, one chopped! But she was a dream, all the same. Once you get used to the weight (at least for me!) it was smoooooth. Course she wasnt as low, heavy or just downright fat as my friends', which helped. I only had her 5 months from completion, but what a profit I turned! Them days are faaaaar behind me now. But my head still turns and I can't help but smile when I hear (and feel) that glorious burbling deep "lubdubdubdub" sound. Words alone just can't describe it... Maybe when I retire, and the bairns are grown. Right before they plant me, knowing my luck!

Can you share?

Anyone else reckon that, at £1.48.9 now, where even Grantfield are £1.46.9, Sound are taking the mick?! Do they not realise that if they kept it down, even by a penny or two, lower than their competitors, they'd get more people coming to fill up? I just don't understand it. Unless they are planning on pushing it up again and really squeezing us all for a while, until they all "do us all a favour" and drop it to around the £1.50, at which point we will all say, "Thanks guys! Well done! Whew what a relief!" Or am I being too cynical...?

"It seems, and I have blame here as well that these threads can detract from the original path and can bring out some unwanted and unnecessary sentiments. And comments, 'peat. Don't forget the comments. As for mine, think of it as Newton's Third Law of fora.

I'll need some more details about how many virgins i'll receive on entry to heaven and assurances that they'll all be female, but apart from that count me in. Cant do Sundays though, clashes with the other fella i worship, gotta keep your options open you know. That's alright, my son, I am not a jealous god. I can share your soul with Gibber, the fallen one... (Sundays aren't that good for me, anyway. I've got the car to clean, all that water to turn into Coca-Cola, you get the picture...)

I don't drink. At all. Never have. It's all pish tae me!

You're having a laugh, right?

Y'see, to me, there's no better sound - one that gives me goosebumps and makes me smile - from a vehicular point of view, than a Harley. Keep the Hayabusas and all the other rice-burners. I've always loved Harleys, and every single one of my best mates has got one, except for me. That's what you get for getting married... Still, it's a better trade off, IMO. But I do miss those bikes...

Hear hear, paulb! Well said.

Yeah, they got the sunsets and rises off pretty amazingly, for a game. Watching the hawks and eagles circle above you as the sky changes colour. I've been to these places, and it's the closest thing I've seen to the real thing, especially in the "desert". I love RDR as well but never tried the Undead version. Any good? (and I sure as hell never tried floating a stagecoach downriver! Sounds like fun. Gues what I'll be trying to do tonight... ) I know what you mean about the "Wanted" aspect. It seems to easy to just outride the posse (useless gobsh**es! Clint wouldn't have just quit like they do!) and pay your bounty? I've never played that Freelancer game, but it sounds interesting and they could easily have included some features. Pity they don't make some DLC for "Ultimate bandito/desperado" or the like. No safe houses in every area you visit, every one on your tail & you, the most wanted man in the West. If you spent too long in one place, the posse come rolling in... THAT would spice it up. But it's still a glorious game. Probably the best long game I've ever played. But being Batman and getting to kick the crap out of and terrify scumbags in Arkham Asylum? LUUUUUUUUV it!

(pictures this^^ = )

The H&S mob would chase you with their butterfly nets, these days, mate!

Tsk! You two get a (chat)room! You're embarrassing the bairns!

But the problem with legislation is that the core of the laws in this country (and many others) COMES from religion, from a less secular time, when priests made kings, and all that went with it. You're not going to change that any time soon, short of a "Killing Fields"- style revolution. (as I'm sure you know, that's one of the reasons Pol Pot rounded up & slaughtered priests & monks and burned their scriptures, wherever he could, to divorce man from the man-made God/s, via the bullet and the bayonet). It's certainly an uphill struggle you've given yourself, particularly as the majority of our Parliament portray themselves as religious, wholesome god (of whatever faith)-fearing types. (and THAT is a laugh!)

Don't you start going all touchy-feely! Sorry US, I've been "to war" already today (and all that got me were a few appreciative posts, same for PMs, and a jolly good skelp off of BigLad!) So now all I'm saying is, give peace a chance! (Sing... erm - squawl it, Yoko ) (Fat chance o that here, mind )

Group hug?

Gibber, religion helps a lot if people. By that, I mean their own personally-held beliefs. It's their right to have those, despite your evident contempt of them for it. I don't see anything which says anyone APPROVES of this law, just tht it's there, like others, so work to change it, or get over it, is I believe the message. I understand that, at least. And you're twisting things a tad, in that Sikhs have holy writings going back to the foundation of their faith, detailing the wearing of the turban, and why. Wahhabi Muslim leaders, on the other hand, have writings, that go back to the foundation of their faith, that are pretty vague, but say nothing at all about covering the face (same as the "virgins"!) but these guys CHOOSE TO INTERPRET it that way, to their own ends, to control and subdue women. Big difference, if you ask me. You despise religion, we get it. But like been said, there's legislation covering religious expression - to a point. But in this country, the PC brigade won't allow any of the folk who abuse that, or use it to their own ends, to be challenged. THAT is the BIG problem here. And it's gonna gt bigger. And bigger. Watch this space...