Beauty is Truth .........

Right then - something tells me we've been here before ! Much pork and other meats have appeared on these pages over the years. I would suggest that any of us who received the first outbreak of "horse in beef " news with shock or surprise have been either living on another planet or simply been deluding ourselves. Nothing wrong with horse meat as long as it's prepared for human consumption and not pumped full of Phenylbutazone which will cause you to suffer aplastic anemia. Debates on the merits or otherwise of a more diverse meat diet are generally missing the point which is that manufacturers, distributors and retailers have been marketing horse as beef. That's just plain wrong  - and very ugly - in the view John Keats and the rest of us who acknowledge the beauty of truth. Why is it that the world is so full of untruths and plain bollox ? I've had many a conversation - not least at our weekly ShitBikeClub meetings - in which we have explored what might happen if politicians, big business and The State ran a trial period of 12 months uttering nothing but the plain truth. Needless to say we decided it ain't gonna happen. On the basis that you're never going to know what's in processed foods because "They" aren't going to tell you how it is - just stop buying the stuff. Nutritional benefit for your English Pound is poor and could probably be outstripped by eating your grass cuttings - may be a little extreme - but - let me point out one thing. I know exactly where my bacon comes from because they're my pigs and I cure my own stuff. I also know exactly where my beef comes from because I get it from the man who raises it. Now, I appreciate we can't all do this for the sake of time, space and convenience.We could all get a lot closer though by buying locally from people we know and trust - them's what say it how it is, ask them. I reckon my pigs find their way into my freezer in the form of chops, legs,shoulders, fillets, trotters, sausages and all the wonderful offal at an average of £1.50/lb all in. That's not expensive by any standards. It has to be said that if you prefer your bacon a little less fatty than that above - can't think why - then they'll oblige. A little change of diet is all that's needed.  MORE HONESTY !

Let's Get Started

Blimey - that beer making nonsense is just too time consuming and has caused havoc with my blog writing over the past few months. I have a pile of jobs awaiting me at Diplo HQ - things have slipped, the Series is out of MOT, the Little Shit is off the road and the 'shop is a disaster zone. Pictured above is the idyll of motosickle ownership, a selection steeds, sunshine and the prospect of a lazy cruise to the boozer for a Sunday lunchtime freshener. All is not just as it seems right now. The XT pictured has had to go (Rick Parkington has exported it to The South) to make way for the Little BSA GT50 in the middle of the picture. This has come on board to satisfy Diplo Jnr's need to get on the road at an early age. This will need a rebuild over the next few months to be ready for the Spring and the process may feature a little on these pages. The Little Shit is due a new exhaust system which we're proposing to manufacture in house !! The Series needs the rear hubs stripping and re-sealing so the brakes'll satisfy the man from The Ministry. All of these jobs offer hours of entertainment and contemplative Yorkshire Gold moments - First Things First - find the workbench ! MORE DETERMINATION !

I May Have Been Gone Some Time

Dear Reader. Forgive the break in transmission. I see it's a few months since I posted any news. Been very busy making beer but I'm feeling ready to get more done. I detect a build up of rants which will need to be aired before too long. More to follow shortly. MORE BEER !

Blind as a Bat

Always been a big fan of bats, brave little critters with seemingly massive odds stacked against them. Very energetic flight and a lot of hanging around on a diet of little bugs requires even the diminutive pipistrelle, weighing about 5 grammes, to consume as many as 3000 bugs a day (night). Given they have to do this in the dark/dusk with poor sight and a crude radar system to guide them to their prey, I have always assumed survival to be knife edge operation - I mean just how many bugs can there be to go around ?. Well judging by the state of my goggles, helmet, jacket and bike after a brief ride out of Diplovile the other evening - plenty. Our little friends have got it easy, I reckon. All they need to do is fly at 80 mph about 4ft off the ground with their little mouths wide open for 10 minutes and they'll be replete. MORE SURVIVAL !

Corrective Measures

Now then - we are forever being told that a balanced diet is required to ensure good health and longevity. Far too much VERY good champagne last night in the absence of a barrel of beer, (a small oversight by my host) in an evening of quite delicious food and some of the most amazing wines I've ever come across. Obviously need to make amends today so have revitalised the system with an early morning Huevos Rancheros - very raunchy Chorizo, fat bacon, fresh plum tomatoes, 4 eggs and lashings of Tabasco, washed down with buckets of Yorkshire Gold, of course. MORE BALANCE !
POST SCRIPT (to answer your question, Ron, I consulted my host)
Bubbly:Dampierre Cuvee Des Amabassadeurs, White:Meursault-Blagny 1er Cru 2004, Red:Chateau Prieure-Lichine Margaux 2000, Sweet:Rabaud Promis Sauterne 2001, Port:Dows 1977. The first three in magnums, the Sauterne and the Port, decanted - all in extremely generous quantity. MORE LISTS !

One Small Step .........

This is the business end of a Diplo 220x55 mm solid fuel rocket motor. It consists of two home-made extruded 110x55mm solid fuel cells stuffed end to end into the pipe. The nozzle is cast ceramic. This lot (and possibly multiples of) are contained in a blast box to minimise the risk from errant motor combustion. Not immediately obvious from this picture, but the blast box is bolted to the back of one of Diplo Jnr's push-bikes - we've some work to do because this is an ex skip-find bike that has been stripped of brakes etc for stunt use. Ignition is via a home made Diplo electronic initiator powered by a 12 volt battery using a "GO" button on the handle bars. As with all solid fuel boosters, there is no "OFF" switch. Earlier static motor tests indicate we could be in for some massive thrust and impressive speeds. We have had some huge motor explosions as well but we are confident that recent technical improvements have eliminated the most dangerous problems. MORE ROCKETRY !

Yet More Proof ........

.....if it were needed, that A: less is more, and B: the world throws up delights where cynics would have you doubt it. New crash helmet arrived in the post this morning. Ever since my vintage '60s Everoak got run over by a truck I've been without a satisfactory open-face helmet. Modern-spec gear leaves a protective layer so thick (almost 2 inches !!)that a size 59 helmet will have an o/c of around 860mm or 34 inches !!!!. Several problems here - you end up looking like some weird Disney character with an over-size bonce, goggles don't fit, fuel consumption goes haywire and you're in grave danger of being taken for more brainy than you really are by the cops when they pull you over (that's not good if you're trying to play dumb). I run a sweet pair of Bolle Chrokadesi goggles as preferred by special forces and other tough people, these simply won't sit with your average euro-spec lid. Having spotted a "slim-line" open-facer in the motosickle press I set about trying to establish where it came from. The marvelous e-bay turned up the goods, £39.99 and 10 days later a brand new lid arrived at my door. Considerably less: less weight, less than an inch thick, less protection, less drag. Even more: more comfort, more goggle friendly, more normal, more gas-mileage. This thing is perfect, it accommodates my Chrokadesi bins and appeases my vanity. Quite how useful as a spill deflector is questionable, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. MORE SENSE !