Something outside the mundane commute.
Last Tuesday morning - 3am-ish, I mounted the steed (minds out of the gutters, chaps). And was at my usual parking spot here by about 6:30am:
I park at the little red circle and I walk to the big red circle for work. Just to the right of where I work is Liverpool Street station.. Not the most valuable bit of real estate on the Monopoly board, but I would love to own it.
I digress.
I came in to meet a direct report. We hadn't caught up face to face and decided we would meet on the Tuesday. So, after parking and chaining the bike to a railing provided by the council, I walked to the office, showered, went to my desk and bashed away at the keyboard in between the plethora of meetings I have these days.. most of which are not terribly productive.
What I forgot to mention was I tried to change my now irregular Thursday night booking at the pub to Tuesday night - and low and behold there was no vacancy. So, I decided to do the Hestom Motorway Services Travelodge - Eastbound (on the side of the M4 that heads towards Heathrow):
The little circle is more or less where I was parked and the big circle is on the M4 heading west.. No public transport to take one there.
My direct report and I caught up at 5pm for a couple of hours - she was taking me through her designs and ideas - most of which were a little ahead of the curve. I returned to my desk, did a couple of emails that won't save the world, and then headed to the change rooms to change into my bike kit.
I did the 5 minute walk to the bile; unchained it, put my backpack in the top box, and started it up. There was a slight delay with the sound of a flooded carb, but the engine popped into life. There was a small whiff of what I thought was fuel - I attributed it to a slightly flooded carb.
Well, but this time, it was after 8pm and on a Tuesday eve, London is dead post Covid. So, I had an excellent run out a couple of miles to Blackfriars Bridge (on account of a closed road). When I finally pulled up at a set of lights, I smelled a strong smell of fuel - or that is what I thought it was.. I had ear plugs on, but I could hear a hiss with the engine, and when I gave it a quick rev, the hiss increased in volume. What was going on? What else is bloody wrong with this bike, I thought to myself.
I looked at the fuel tank and as close to the lines as I could from the sitting position - and there was nothing untoward. But, I could feel my right leg warming up while waiting at the red light. And I looked down and - bloomin nora - there was no oil cap. It looks like someone stole it. How do I know? Well, it is possible it worked itself loose, but I check it before each commute leg, and it was nice and tight in the morning. So, at what was now about 8:45 and with no shop open, I rode it back gently to its original parking spot, hoping it just fell off or whoever perpetrated this left it close by. It was nowhere to be seen, and that includes tracing the first 250m of my ride in case they stcuk it on the seat or similar and I didn't see it in the dark,
So, back to the office, change and what to do? The "hotel" I am booked into for the night can't be reached by public transport and I am not about to part with another £80 to get a cab there. So I decided to take a tube to the nearest station to the start of the M4 - Gunnersbury. While I was on the tube, I signed up to Uber as teh Black Cabs would have costed me about £30 - £40 from there. I linked my Paypal account to the Uber account for payment; a quote of £16 was quite acceptable. Before too long after alighting at Gunnersbury, I was in a clean and comfortable cab heading towards the Motorway services and the Travelodge. It turned out my driver lived in Melbourne for 9 years - Tarneit. I explained it wasn't even thoght of when I left Aus. We exchanged pleasantries and he was off. I was so impressed with Uber, I pre-ordered a ride at 6:30am to take me only about three miles to the nearest rail station to get me into London. Although it was a short distance, the price was £19; £3 more than the 6 or so miles to get me from Gunnersbury to the services. Oh well, it is a busy time of the day.
The next morning, I was out at 6:35 waiting for my Uber. The night before, a driver in a Merc accepted it, but I noticed that had changed to a driver in a Prius. That is perfectly fine for me. At 6:30, there was no sight of the driver, so I opened the app and he was due, although the car wasn't showing on the app. At 6:31, I presume it was the driver, cancelled - but somehow I got slugged the £11.56 for the cancellation fee. My first thought was first (round trip) and last time I use them.. And that is the case. I will never use them again. The second thought was to get my money back.
Well, the app does not make it easy to say the least. I found a telephone line, but it is for drivers (and I think couriers) only. So, I lodged a claim with Paypal. They immediately approved my claim, so I guess this happens a lot. But, how to get from the Services to the rail station to get to work. I called a local mini cab company (I approached black cabs, but they were all pre-booked). The company said it would take about 1/2 hour.. so I went to one of the services cafes and ordered a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a drink. I literally took my first bite and the phone rang - they were here. Ship!. Thankfully the sandwich was in "to go" packaging so it went back in there and into my bag.. as did the unopened drink. I figured it would be a bit colder on the train, but I would still get my breakfast in.
The driver was a devout Muslim - with a Quran in a caddy on his dash. I hadn't thought too much about it until I could smell the toasted ham and cheese sandwich wafting from my bag. "Ship" I though to myself, "I don't want to offend the fella in his own car). So, I opened the rear window. I am sure he would be fine with it, anyway. But, it was a tad cold.. I forgot to mention his price - it was £13.. £6 cheaper than Screwber. But, the traffic was soooooo bad, it took well over 3/4 hour to get to the station - not quite 3 miles away. I was livid - not at the driver - but at the crappy road planning around there. When we finally got there, I have him a tip to take the fare to a little over the Screwber.
I finallly got into work, but I had one little issue - the bike, which by now had a tree seed covering the oil inlet to stop moisture and other crap getting in, still needed an oil filler cap. The problem is, there is no motorcycle spare parts place for about 12 miles in any direction, and I don't have the time during the day to trek those distances. But, I work out an M20 bolt will do it, and because they tend to have longer shafts/shanks, I will need a nut and a heatproof rubber seal, too. No probs, as there are two well known builders suppliers/hardware near the office. At lunch time I went to both, and they could stock me the washer, the nut, but not the bolt! Ship!. There is a motorcycle seller/club/bar/restaurant/cafe not too far away - the Bike Shed: https://bikeshedmoto.co.uk/?srsltid=AU7gw4Wpt_qj_fJcvBqFg3YBC3IeklsfTJqDHY9nlX2oxl6lgAyDZXr6, where you can get a basic mens haircut for only £37 ($74).
Needless to say, they didn't have an oil filler cap. I had to get back to the office, but at 3pm, I said to my team. my boss and my internal clients, I have to fix the bike. I rang the closest motorcycle mechanic I looked up earlier and he told me to ride to him and he would see what he could do. Unf, he didn't have a cap, but recommended a fella about a mile away. He had nothing as well and recommended a shop a couple of miles away that specialised in bigger bikes. I rocked up. "This is your lucky day.. we are changing over a firebird engine and yours is a detuned Firebird engine). So, he went to the blown engine and cannibalised the oil filler cap. He put a new seal on, affixed it, and started up the bike to listen for any FOD. He then let it sit for about 10 minutes, while cleaning the oil spray off with a detergent of some sort, rag, and water. He declared everything OK after checking the oil level. And the charge? £5. I gave him a tenner, got a card, and said to him he had earned a new customer. Since they are open to 7pm, it makes sense as I can ride to their shop, get the Docklands Light Rail to within 200metres of the office and I don't have to tear out at 4:30pm.
I rode back to the office, worked until about 9pm, dutifully checked the cap was still on and rode home. Got home at 1am (stopped for dinner).
As always, informative. I enjoy your shared adventures. Glad to hear you finally got a oil cap. It doesn't take long to spray oil out - messy. But if you hadn't noticed it quickly, the story would have ended badly.
Something outside the mundane commute. Last Tuesday morning - 3am-ish, I mounted the steed (minds out of the gutters, chaps). And was at my usual parking spot here by about 6:30am: I park at the little red circle and I walk to the big red circle for work. Just to the right of where I work is Liverpool Street station.. Not the most valuable bit of real estate on the Monopoly board, but I would love to own it. I digress. I came in to meet a direct report. We hadn't caught up face to face and decided we would meet on the Tuesday. So, after parking and chaining the bike to a railing provided by the council, I walked to the office, showered, went to my desk and bashed away at the keyboard in between the plethora of meetings I have these days.. most of which are not terribly productive. What I forgot to mention was I tried to change my now irregular Thursday night booking at the pub to Tuesday night - and low and behold there was no vacancy. So, I decided to do the Hestom Motorway Services Travelodge - Eastbound (on the side of the M4 that heads towards Heathrow): The little circle is more or less where I was parked and the big circle is on the M4 heading west.. No public transport to take one there. My direct report and I caught up at 5pm for a couple of hours - she was taking me through her designs and ideas - most of which were a little ahead of the curve. I returned to my desk, did a couple of emails that won't save the world, and then headed to the change rooms to change into my bike kit. I did the 5 minute walk to the bile; unchained it, put my backpack in the top box, and started it up. There was a slight delay with the sound of a flooded carb, but the engine popped into life. There was a small whiff of what I thought was fuel - I attributed it to a slightly flooded carb. Well, but this time, it was after 8pm and on a Tuesday eve, London is dead post Covid. So, I had an excellent run out a couple of miles to Blackfriars Bridge (on account of a closed road). When I finally pulled up at a set of lights, I smelled a strong smell of fuel - or that is what I thought it was.. I had ear plugs on, but I could hear a hiss with the engine, and when I gave it a quick rev, the hiss increased in volume. What was going on? What else is bloody wrong with this bike, I thought to myself. I looked at the fuel tank and as close to the lines as I could from the sitting position - and there was nothing untoward. But, I could feel my right leg warming up while waiting at the red light. And I looked down and - bloomin nora - there was no oil cap. It looks like someone stole it. How do I know? Well, it is possible it worked itself loose, but I check it before each commute leg, and it was nice and tight in the morning. So, at what was now about 8:45 and with no shop open, I rode it back gently to its original parking spot, hoping it just fell off or whoever perpetrated this left it close by. It was nowhere to be seen, and that includes tracing the first 250m of my ride in case they stcuk it on the seat or similar and I didn't see it in the dark, So, back to the office, change and what to do? The "hotel" I am booked into for the night can't be reached by public transport and I am not about to part with another £80 to get a cab there. So I decided to take a tube to the nearest station to the start of the M4 - Gunnersbury. While I was on the tube, I signed up to Uber as teh Black Cabs would have costed me about £30 - £40 from there. I linked my Paypal account to the Uber account for payment; a quote of £16 was quite acceptable. Before too long after alighting at Gunnersbury, I was in a clean and comfortable cab heading towards the Motorway services and the Travelodge. It turned out my driver lived in Melbourne for 9 years - Tarneit. I explained it wasn't even thoght of when I left Aus. We exchanged pleasantries and he was off. I was so impressed with Uber, I pre-ordered a ride at 6:30am to take me only about three miles to the nearest rail station to get me into London. Although it was a short distance, the price was £19; £3 more than the 6 or so miles to get me from Gunnersbury to the services. Oh well, it is a busy time of the day. The next morning, I was out at 6:35 waiting for my Uber. The night before, a driver in a Merc accepted it, but I noticed that had changed to a driver in a Prius. That is perfectly fine for me. At 6:30, there was no sight of the driver, so I opened the app and he was due, although the car wasn't showing on the app. At 6:31, I presume it was the driver, cancelled - but somehow I got slugged the £11.56 for the cancellation fee. My first thought was first (round trip) and last time I use them.. And that is the case. I will never use them again. The second thought was to get my money back. Well, the app does not make it easy to say the least. I found a telephone line, but it is for drivers (and I think couriers) only. So, I lodged a claim with Paypal. They immediately approved my claim, so I guess this happens a lot. But, how to get from the Services to the rail station to get to work. I called a local mini cab company (I approached black cabs, but they were all pre-booked). The company said it would take about 1/2 hour.. so I went to one of the services cafes and ordered a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a drink. I literally took my first bite and the phone rang - they were here. Ship!. Thankfully the sandwich was in "to go" packaging so it went back in there and into my bag.. as did the unopened drink. I figured it would be a bit colder on the train, but I would still get my breakfast in. The driver was a devout Muslim - with a Quran in a caddy on his dash. I hadn't thought too much about it until I could smell the toasted ham and cheese sandwich wafting from my bag. "Ship" I though to myself, "I don't want to offend the fella in his own car). So, I opened the rear window. I am sure he would be fine with it, anyway. But, it was a tad cold.. I forgot to mention his price - it was £13.. £6 cheaper than Screwber. But, the traffic was soooooo bad, it took well over 3/4 hour to get to the station - not quite 3 miles away. I was livid - not at the driver - but at the crappy road planning around there. When we finally got there, I have him a tip to take the fare to a little over the Screwber. I finallly got into work, but I had one little issue - the bike, which by now had a tree seed covering the oil inlet to stop moisture and other crap getting in, still needed an oil filler cap. The problem is, there is no motorcycle spare parts place for about 12 miles in any direction, and I don't have the time during the day to trek those distances. But, I work out an M20 bolt will do it, and because they tend to have longer shafts/shanks, I will need a nut and a heatproof rubber seal, too. No probs, as there are two well known builders suppliers/hardware near the office. At lunch time I went to both, and they could stock me the washer, the nut, but not the bolt! Ship!. There is a motorcycle seller/club/bar/restaurant/cafe not too far away - the Bike Shed: https://bikeshedmoto.co.uk/?srsltid=AU7gw4Wpt_qj_fJcvBqFg3YBC3IeklsfTJqDHY9nlX2oxl6lgAyDZXr6, where you can get a basic mens haircut for only £37 ($74). Needless to say, they didn't have an oil filler cap. I had to get back to the office, but at 3pm, I said to my team. my boss and my internal clients, I have to fix the bike. I rang the closest motorcycle mechanic I looked up earlier and he told me to ride to him and he would see what he could do. Unf, he didn't have a cap, but recommended a fella about a mile away. He had nothing as well and recommended a shop a couple of miles away that specialised in bigger bikes. I rocked up. "This is your lucky day.. we are changing over a firebird engine and yours is a detuned Firebird engine). So, he went to the blown engine and cannibalised the oil filler cap. He put a new seal on, affixed it, and started up the bike to listen for any FOD. He then let it sit for about 10 minutes, while cleaning the oil spray off with a detergent of some sort, rag, and water. He declared everything OK after checking the oil level. And the charge? £5. I gave him a tenner, got a card, and said to him he had earned a new customer. Since they are open to 7pm, it makes sense as I can ride to their shop, get the Docklands Light Rail to within 200metres of the office and I don't have to tear out at 4:30pm. I rode back to the office, worked until about 9pm, dutifully checked the cap was still on and rode home. Got home at 1am (stopped for dinner).
