29 May 2020 - White Van Man

Another day driving PPE to Ambulance Station around the south coast for South Central Ambulance Service. I didn't get the extremely comfortable Ford Galaxy, so today was a large Ford Van with only 3500 miles on the clock.


So off we go to Havant, Fareham, Portsmouth, Gosport, Dorking and Eastbourne...  I am so glad that the weather was good and the traffic fairly light.

It was so good to being doing something and feeling needed....  The guys at the Ambulance Stations are so friendly and cheerful.

So, I have no volunteering plans for this weekend, just a little gardening, ironing and a little time in my “man cave” aka the garage.

Thursday - a comfortable cruise

Today was different - instead of the bike I was driving around in a Ford Galaxy delivering lots of boxes full of PPE to Ambulance Stations around the South of England.. Portsmouth, Havant, Southsea and Eastbourne.....  all found through the volunteer site of HireHand....

It was certainly less tiring than the bike, but with a/c, radio and a soft seat....  I'm not complaining ; in fact I'm doing it again tomorrow !!!

I must get a photo tomorrow ....

GOPHR Food Run - Weymouth 27 May 2020 and more ...

Dear reader,

Today a group of us from the Bike Shed Community Motorcycle Volunteers did a food drop for a Young Carers charity in Weymouth. We collected to food at 1100 and then all set off for our designated addresses.. all was delivered by 12:30 then back home. Arrived home and sorted the bike and settled down with a cup of tea when .... ping ping ping the messages started.. it's was an urgent job required to be collected from Salisbury and delivered to Warsash near Southampton. So it was back on the bike and another ride out....

Arrived back home at 6pm. And what do you know .... another message.... this time for another volunteer group.... so I am off to Southampton in the car tomorrow to run PPE to hospitals and ambulance stations (all day)... I promise to be at home on Friday ...

The Bike Shed Motorcycle Community Volunteers

I have done two long runs with PPE over the last week;  Bodmin and Ledbury.

It was great to get out and about but knackering as I am just not used to riding over 300 miles at a go.

I have another trip out tomorrow, delivering shopping to locked down families in Weymouth/Poole area.

Interesting to see if these .png screen shots work...

19 May 2020 - COVID-19

Dear Reader,

What can I say, everything is cancelled, lock down has been in place for weeks, and I am getting a little bit pissed off with it.

I am close to running out of things I want to do, have to do, don't want to do..... I have signed up for various and assorted volunteer groups and with Debs help I have done a few medicine collections and deliveries in the area over the past 4 weeks.

Today was I first run out with the Bike Shed Community Volunteer Motorcyclists. I picked up 3 tasks today - collected all 3 packages of PPE masks from a pickup point in Ilminster - then the plan was to delivered two in the Bodmin area and one in Truro... fortunately I know of another rider in that part of the world and so he rode up to Bodmin and collected the last packet to deliver to Truro. I then rode home along the coast road. I would like to point out that once past Exeter on the way down it got very overcast and cold, so I had to stop and put on my waterproof jacket to cut down the windchill.

I left home at 7:20am and arrived back home at 16:30pm, and that included 2 pee/fuel stops, one handover/coffee break and a further coffee stop at Abbotsbury overlooking Chisel Beach. This side of Exeter the sun came out and it was a glorious ride for the rest of the way home. It has been a long while since I rode over 400 miles in a day...

So back to the planning table for the USA trip.... I have moved my ticket from Overland Expo West in Flagstaff Arizona to Overland Expo East which takes place in Arrington Virginia on 9-11 Oct 2020. If the gods are with me I could fly the bike to LA in September then ride across to Florida and up the coast to the Event and then continue North to Toronto and ship the bike home. Almost the same as before but changing the event from the start of the trip to the end of the trip... just a thought to keep me going.

The only alternative would be to do the whole the same but in 2021 instead of 2020..... or say bollocks to it and ride down to Motocamp Bulgaria when Europe opens up again next year.

The only other thing on my mind at present is that while I was sitting here at Easter, waiting to go - some sneaky bastard has, somehow, used my card details and has stolen over $1400 of my travel money..... the card issuer has been informed and a new card issued but I will have to wait to see if I get my money back ....

Ahh well - life goes on - sort of ......