I remember summer

Yes it was not long ago and it was warm and sunny, and now it reaches 5c in the day and -5c at night and I am ready to go somewhere warm. So not week it is the off. I have been in touch with Alan in New Milton where the bike resides (picture) in air conditioned comfort on a drip (electrical)...but no doubt Alan will be as keen for me to go riding as I am. Two or more emails a day poor bloke. Can you find my gloves, where is the GPS, has the engine been run, and on it goes. On the matter of GPS I have used Garmin for many years. Once you start a bad habit it is hard to break. Garmin would be the most useless hostile greedy self serving enterprise I have ever dealt with and that says a lot. The GPS works after a fashion but try to do anything more than plug it in and listen to it, forget it. Do not attempt to use any of the extras like upgrade the map, even chart a trip, it will lead to serious anger management issues. But back to the bike storeage ( I feel like Ronnie Corbett, now where was I ?). It is a wonderful service. The bike is nurtured and it looks like there are about 15 of them now. I was the first I understand. He stores cars as well so if you plan to go to UK and buy a car, leave it with Alan until you have had your holiday trips and then bring it home. So the plan is : UK for a week to go to Land End and just by chance Padstow to dine at Rick Steins, just because he makes such good TV he deserves support but his food is pretty good as well, as a visit to Mollymook on the NSW Coast South of Sydney will attest. Then its to Bath for a Bath (of course) and to visit a couple of Cathedrals to hear some music before attempting the blockade at Calais. This "refugee" thing is very serious. No one has the balls to just say go home or we will shoot you as an invader. We talk about the flag that we fought under well it is time to get real. I happened to be in Norway in the Port waiting for a Ferry, and there was a Statue of one of the City father, who had "defended our nation" one assumes against invasion from wherever and there sitting on the footpath was a person with a begging bowl. Yes of course they are human like me and I have no idea how I would handle being born in Africa in poverty but is the answer to reduce every other country to lawless poverty any sort of a solution ? I guess its the opposite of delayed gratification, it is delayed hurt because the invaded countries will pay sooner or later for not preventing entry. The old story, if you have a problem, make it bigger or smaller to find the solution. If 500 boats of 100 people rowed into the Waitemata harbour what then ? Oh the Harbour Board would claim a victory because there was a place to land the boats at the new wharf. This is a serious indication I need to get away. So I want to visit the old parts of Europe where the Romans invaded. I doubt they could be called refugees they marched in and took over, despite the local defences. Is the same thing happening again ? Then to Spain where the Moors marched in and took over and it took many years to persuade them to go back to Africa. These invaders will not be going home any time soon I suspect. Oh and this time of year the biking is wonderful. Too early for the wine harvest which makes the small towns of France and Spain smell so good, but there is plenty in bottles from previous years to investigate.