singo

In reply to the question being asked, I would say yes. Reluctantly. I say this as both a motorist and a cyclist. It's not always easy to spot cyclists while driving due to road layout, parked vehicles, lots of pedestrians, trees etc so when cycling, I am quite willing to wear something that will make it easier for another Road user to spot me. And in wearing high-viz, I don't use it as an excuse to ride less cautiously assuming that I will be seen by everyone in plenty of time. I ride assuming that I'm invisible to everyone.

The Air Ambulance may have had a doctor on board with their extra skills and also the drugs they can give such as ketamine. As for flying the patient in, it's possible that the road closure caused major congestion so it was better to go over it than battle through it.

I like bees. It's those pesky wasps I hate. They're the White Lightning fuelled Chavs of the insect world.

A lorry was on fire on the Sheffield bound side of the Parkway between the M1 and Catcliffe exit. I could see it from an upstairs window and I was amazed how quickly the whole thing went up..

That was what I was thinking. I'm sure diesel was much less then petrol (2 or 4 star) when I was a kid and when diesels were noisy, smelly things and you could taste them after they had gone past. Then when they became economical, the prices went skywards.

So you actually saw the collision take place and can describe the colour and possibly make of the car as well as the name of the driving school?

How much was diesel back then?

When I started driving, it was about 45p per litre.

Agree with Shane above. Get an Optimiser that is basically a trickle charger for bikes that keeps the battery topped up so when you need to fire her up, she's ready to go. I'm not sure of the why's and wherefore's but apparently a car charger would bugger a bikes electrics up. Whether its true or not I don't know but when an ECU costs nearly £500, I'll buy a bike specific charger.

To answer the OP... No I don't. That said, I wouldn't like to think a shop was shut because people were using any excuse to not turn in, but if things become that bad that they should be getting home to where they'll be safe, then fair enough. Having milk in my tea isn't life or death and I've always got some bread in the freezer, more for when I can't be arsed to go shopping rather than shortages due to bad weather/panic buying.

I was mugged several years ago by three lads who decided that I was in for it. Luckily for me, I am capable of looking after myself and without bragging, kicked seven bells out of two of them as the third ran off but I still didn't get off lightly. My nose was broken and I was covered from head to toe in bruises and was very sore for several days after. My arms were heavily bruised from fending off blows with some kind of stick or something that I managed to grab hold of and shamefully for me, use it against its owner. That said, I was genuinely fearing for my life and part of me thinks that as he drew the weapon on an outnumbered and unarmed victim, he damn well deserved it. Having said all of this, it still haunts me to this day. I consider myself lucky because they didn't appear to have any knives on them. Anyway, I hope that the lad and lass concerned in this thread can get over what will have been a terrifying experience for them. Even now, I still get jumpy when alone and a group of lads is coming towards me or suddenly cross the road to be on the same side as me. Nobody should have go through this and I hope these scumbags pick on the wrong person and get what they deserve.

Whether a bike or car would do best on the Isle of Man, I'd rather watch John McGuinness doing his thing on the TT course than watch Alonso at Monaco. No disrespect to the F1 drivers & engineers because they're bloody good at what they do. But for me, the Isle of Man TT is in a different league to Bernie Ecclestones travelling circus.

Good point.

To answer the OP, I'd say it depends on whether you want to ride now or not. OK, you'll be restricted for 2 years from passing the test unless you pass a test on a larger capacity machine after your 21st birthday but at least you'll be able to ride something bigger than 125cc producing more than 12bhp (not sure of the figures so correct me if I'm wrong). You can get a lot of bikes restricted to 33bhp. As it happens, I was at SMC today and someone was there getting a Suzuki GSX-R 600 restricted which surprised me. Personally, if I was you I'd get the test out of the way then at least its done and assuming you keep riding, you'll build up some experience before you can ride owt you like.

No doubting that Lorenzo is a fantastic rider but I too can't warm to him. He's a mardy arse who cried to the team manager because Rossi duffed him up at Motegi and today, he ignored Ben Spies who wanted to congratulate him. As for next year, I think it could be very interesting with Rossi on the Ducati and Stoner at Honda. That said, I think Spies on the factory Yamaha could be one to watch next year. Mind you, I think Crutchlow could ruffle a few feathers because he's a feisty little sod and some of those primadonnas in MotoGP don't like it up 'em...