Farewell Jasper

Last night at 18:30 Jasper made that final journey to join Sooty in cat heaven. On Wednesday evening Sue and Andy had taken him to the vetenary surgery that we use as he was obviously not his usual self and had been so over the Christmas - New Year period. There he was diagnose with having a massive tumour on his liver and most likely attached to other organs, and it was deemed to be inoperable, particularly when taking his age of 11.5 years into account. The tumour was described as being the size of a large hens egg, very rough with multiple nodules off it. He must have carried it for some time but being a large cat he hid it from us.

The events of the last few days around Jasper have badly affected us all, he will be sadly missed and little Charlie now has a massive job to fill the void that Jasper has left in our hearts.

Dianne Abbott MP vs Stephen Lawrence

Comments like the Dianne Abbott made today (widely reported) just goes to illustrate that no matter how much "whites" are forced to accept those from other ethnic and race origins, it will not change the way many of those from "ethnic backgrounds" view us native caucasian whites.

Only yesterday the murderers of Stephen Lawrence were convicted. That boy's death changed the whole perception and acceptance of "coloured skin" in the UK yet today Ms Abbott reveals the darker side of someone who has probably benefitted more than most from that shift in attitudes. It's a shame she can't reflect a similar change in attitude to "whites".

Honda Crosstourer V4 Adventure Sports Tourer

Honda have announced the long awaited Crosstourer - a V4 Adventure Sports Tourer aimed straight at the likes of BMW's R1200GS, Yamaha's Super Tenere 1200 and Moto Guzzi's Stelvio/NTX 1200. Triumph have followed Honda with the Tiger Explorer 1200. Thankfully it is the Yamaha that is the "weakest link" in this company as their offering is the only bike using primitive chain and sprocket final drive - and in this sector that is a major failing.

So what do I think of the CrossTourer? It's OK. Now I recognise that is damining it with faint praise, but, I say it as I see it. The CrossTourer is the bike that they should have released a year ago when they gave us the VFR1200, and in truth, it should have been here at least 3 years ago. The CrossTourer has been released into a crowded market place dominated by the BMW R1200GS. Why would any GS wannabe buy any other bike than the BMW when the alternatinves are all the same money or more. Yamaha tried selling the Super Tenere 1200 on the internet only and initial sales were good even though you couldn't get a test ride, but now, now that owners have had a chance to tell it "warts and all" and it appears it isn't as good as the bike the press free-loaders (sorry, motorcycling journalists) lead us to expect & believe.... it's not doing so well.

So what is my problem with the CrossTourer? Nothing really, it's what I expected from Honda, but in a way, that's the issue. I wanted Honda to deliver just that little bit more. The pricing is top line but to ask BMW price for a bike that doesn't have the proven record that the BMW has established is (in my mind) either optomistic or foolhardy. European bike manufacturers are currently riding high, dominating sales and yet still the Japanese beleive they can charge premium prices. Sorry, but I don't think it will work and I expect discounts and 0% finance to be available before the end of 2012. If they had offered us the CrossTourer from 2008 at £9,750 (GBP) then I believe they could have marched into BMW GS territory, but 4 years late and at £12,000? Ask yourself, am I an adventure bike rider or...?

Honda VF1200F updated

A year ago I created a bit of a stir with my comments about the newly released VF1200 describing it as the bike that nobody wanted with so many limitations that it was fit for nobody, and presumably nobody bought it because only a year after it was released Honda have announced a heavily revised vesion for sale in 2012.

A year ago I said:-
1. that the fuel tank was too small - well the tank size has been increased.
2. that the styling was wrong - that has been revised
3. that the rev hungry V4 didn't suit - Honda have revised the low-mid range for more torque (i.e. grunt)
4. that the seat wasn't good enough for the type of riding this bike was designed for - so Honda have now fitted an ergonomically designed seat

On top of that there is now:-
* Traction control
* Redesigned facia/dash with more information
* LED indicators
and an updated DCT system is an optional fitting.

I recently met with Honda at their stand and talked with Fiaona Cole about their current range of bikes and she was adamant that Honda are reacting to feedback, that Honda UK have never been so busy with releasing new and updated models. I am a Honda fan having had mostly Honda motorbikes since the mid 1970s so I am glad that at last Honda is addressing the UK bike market with bikes people want and that are "fit for purpose".

To all of those that contacted me a year ago saying that I was wrong I have just one response... "I told you so!" It wasn't perfect then, and indeed, it's not now, BUT (and it's a big BUT) it is much better and much better suited to it's purpose.

On 3 wheels

While I'm on the subject of MCL and the surprises of the show I have to say that the biggest surprise (on a positive note) was seeing the Aprilia Fuoco and Piagio MP3 range of, what I can only describe as, 3 wheeled super scooters. However I can't help but think that Piagio group have missed a trick by not putting a Gilera GP800 engine and running gear into one of these 3 wheeled chassis. THAT would be worth riding.

MCL at the NEC

Last Saturday I went to the Carole Nash Bike Show at the NEC at the invitation of Honda. Me, Phil and Colin met with Fiona Cole (lovely, efficient, Honda PR person) and collected our free passes for the day and later spent some time with her in discussion over a cuppa. And it made a nice change to be listened to and our opinions garnered rather than the usual verbose renderings about how the latest super fast plastic crotch rocket is going to change the world.

And the evidence was on the stand. The new NC700 based range of bikes, the Crossrunner and the Crosstourer (I'm ignoring the new Fireblade) are all evidence that Honda has taken it's corporate head out of the sand and is back in business producing inovative bikes that reflect the demands of the modern motocyclist. I/we had a great day out. The show was loads better than the last one I visited 3 years ago (and by all accounts the 2 I missed were abismal). Walking round the 3 large halls and checking out the stands and displays one could sense that the motorcycle industry, while having a rough time of things of late is actually starting to fight back and looking to win our hard earned money by producing products that more people will buy.

Honda UK should stand up and take a collective bow accompanied by a pat on the back. School report should read "has at last woken up to the possibilities... ". I hope this revival continues because it promises to be quite exciting IF they can get thier pricing structure right.

Honda NC700X

A while back I wrote quite disparagingly about the VFR1200 and how, in my opinion, it was the bike that nobody wanted, nobody needed and which instead of being all things to all men was absolutely nothing to virtually everybody. Well, it seems that Honda haven't quite lost the plot. In fact, quite the opposite. It appears that Honda may actually have been listening to comments made by me and others like me and we have the evidence here and now. The Honda NC700X, NC700C and Integra are all built on the same platform and share a lot of common components including an engine that is derived from splitting a Honda Jazz 1400cc car engine in two.

Want to know more of the technicalities then visit Kevin Ash's web site, Ash-on-bikes but in my view Kevin is spot on. This is the bike that meets most bikers needs most of all most of the time. Technically it is a quiet revolution as it marks a giant step away from producing motorbikes that drink like a fish and screams like a demon to produce unusable amouts of power to feed egos the size of Mars belonging to people with balls the size of pin heads.

I saw these new bikes on the Honda stand at MCL at the NEC Birmingham last Saturday and the only fault I could find was that Honda have stuck to a chain final drive (which on the Integra looks well out of place). Having started with a car engine to produce the power you'd at least have expected them to use car technology to deliver the power.

Integra - that was a Japan only, grey import, car. I'm not sure that Honda had to go that far down the intrgration route with their car division...

Reviewed & Connected

I had to take Tuesday afternoon as annual leave to attend a Nursing Care Review at the home where dad is now resident to ascertain with the local Social Services Care Manager, the local Primary Care Trust (PCT) Nursing Care Assessor and a Senior Nurse at the home, myself and mother. Starting at 14:30 we the review covered every aspect of the care provision for Dad as well as an assessment as to how he had settled in, his general health and demeanour. At the end I was able to raise some concerns mother and I had from the first 5 - 6 weeks of his residence.

The net outcome of this meeting is that Dad has been assessed as receiving the level of care appropriate to his needs and apart from a couple of incidents, that we are happy that his needs are being met. Because he chooses to spend most of his time in his own company we will look to provide more entertainment for him in the form of a DAB radio so that he can listen to classical music and talking/audio books so that he can listen to stories.

Yesterday (Wednesday) a phone line was installed so that he can now make and receive calls to keep in touch with family. Because of the BT charge plan he is on he will only be able to make landline calls as calls to mobiles are charged at a rediculous rate. The up side is that it includes a BT Home Hub so that visitors with laptops or mobile computing devices can connect to the internet if there is content they want to show him. I'll be upgrading my laptop to one with a built in camera so that hopefully we can get him into live video chat with family in America (I know Chris will love to see Dad in real-time).

Health, Wealth & Happiness

Everything is relative and everything is interrelated, and at the moment there's a lot of change happening in our world. Dad has gone into full time residential care because mother simply could not cope with either the physical or mental demands put on her by caring for him. That's hardly surprising, he is 79 and she is 76. So now I find myself in the position where I have to run their affairs as well as those of my own family.

Except it doesn't stop there. We have a very similar problem with Sue's parents. Her dad has gone down hill rapidly over the last few months and was taken into hospital Monday this week after blacking out and not coming round for some time. Fortunately there was a "nurse" in attendance at the time, she called for paramedic assistance, and they called the ambulance. Some hours of waiting around in A&E saw him into the MAU, from there he was transferred to a ward in another local hospital (I suppose that was where there was a bed available). He's been kept in and is likely to be there some weeks for assessment of his and Sue's mother's condition and capabilities, but it looks very likely that he will be sent into full time care.

And all this takes time, our time, to resolve their situations, to get on top of their affairs and take command of their financials. Working out what their income is - because the care homes have to be paid for out of their income and the mothers (who are remaining at home) have to manage on a much reduced income, and that means cancelling the luxuries like Sky TV, milk and papers delivered to the house, direct debits to charitable organisations and loads more besides. Then there's the ferrying of the mothers to see their spouses, which has to fit into visiting hours and around our full time jobs...

And so it goes on. I suppose it will eventually settle down, but right now, it doesn't look or feel like it.

Helen Ley Centre update

I took mother to see dad in the respite centre Sunday afternoon and it appears that the centre will close at the end of November after all as the prospective buyers have pulled out and there is only a week left for anybody new to save the day - which is very unlikely. The government cuts in funding mean that this much needed facility will close making the residents "homeless" and not providing much needed respite to carers of long term MS sufferers like Dad. Fortunately Dad will be going into long term residential nursing care in Derby close to home from 1st October but others will not be so fortunate.