Chair’s chatter

Hi All,

Well, what a month February turned out to be - rain, floods, freezing, not freezing and more floods; and of course Covid-19 (coronavirus) - the biggest of Elephants sitting in each of our front rooms.

I remember being told as a child of various significant events, ones that happened before my birth or for which I was too young to recall myself - such as World War 1 and 2, the holocaust, the assassination of JFK, the Apollo moon landings or both world wars, and learned of many more at school.

I have lived through many events that have changed our lives (for better or worse) and the political landscape of our world, Gulf War, 9-11 through to the more recent such as Brexit – these are all history - every second that goes by is history, but thus far we have been “lucky”, “fortunate” or just taking things for granted not to have lived without a significant disruption to our modern lives.

Well as we know (and I know you do because even Steve Pratt has had heard and he’s in Yorkshire) this is all changing and as I type this on my work PC, I am about to go into a meeting that will decide what my employer does next and how we go forward for a period of time to try and stay ahead of the Coronavirus.

Whatever we do within LAM, we can be split into three distinct groups - Observers, Full Members and Associates (then we have sub-groups such as committee members etc.), but we are all adults capable of rational thought and as such I would ask you to remember two things:-

1. Freewill – no one should be under any pressure to attend any LAM event. Observers, you are all Volunteers; Associates – I have written to the IAM for guidance on how illness or cessation of group activities will impact your journey to test and your fees to the IAM and they have confirmed that should you be impacted and not complete your test within the year, they will consider illness as an appropriate reason for a deferral.
2. Please read and adhere to the Government guidelines

There are of course thousands of other ways you should be vigilant and everyone will have an opinion and advice, but as I say we are all adults and need to function with a degree of common sense and take the appropriate steps (to play a part) in keeping this at bay for as long as possible until the threat level reduces.

The group as a whole will monitor the situation and will be guided both by the IAM and the UK Government and will take all measures available to it in order to comply but to keep all at LAM safe.

Before getting on your bike carry out your POWDERs and I’m SAFE – as always, if any of these are a concern then please don’t ride.

Okay, that was pretty heavy stuff, made worse by the three bike magazines that dropped through my letter box in the week telling me that Spring is here and that I should wheel my bike out of the garage and give it a good clean, checking everything that might have seized over the winter and encouraging me to get out and buy some shiny new kit.

I read these magazines and wonder how the so called “experts” can become an authority on everything bike (and who hasn’t read a review for the latest tyre gauge and on their recommendation ordered it straight from Amazon without even batting an eye?) if they are only now getting out to play?

Have these people never experienced hands so cold you can’t pull your cash out of your pocket to buy the coffee in the Costa where you are currently being mopped around by the young person who is trying to clear up the small lake dripping off your best Finnish jacket?

How did we get to the Costa? Well we used our Sat Navs with our newly acquired skills which came courtesy of Bernie Segal and Vines (I suggest you go along to any future training sessions which Bernie will arrange, it’s well worth it) and MIND BLOWN we set them to work as CAR units and NOT MOTORCYCLES!

Thank you Bernie and Simon (@Vines).

Whilst I am on the thank you boat, once again thank you to Dennis and Jill for your bacon butty and tea making skills at Banstead.

Congratulations to Nigh Milupi who passed with a First from Steve Bradbury and also to Ashley Cole who passed his National Observer retest, both passing on days when a canoe would have made more sense than a motorcycle.

If any Associates have the urge to get that TEST PASS feeling then I cannot recommend the Norfolk Training weekend enough. There are places available on the LAM Website (LAM Shop) or contact Pat McNulty directly.

You will get two whole days of ORs (three if you can find a friendly observer for Sunday) and one of the best after dinner speakers outside of Ricky Gervais and the Golden Globes!

Not to feel left out, for Full Members there are still rooms available to for the Wales trip on 9th October to Llandrindod Wells.

Those of you coming on the Ring trip - there will be a presentation on all things German Trip on 5th April @ Banstead and you should have received an email notifying you that the clothing store is now open for some trip “MERCH” with the classy new stitched logo.

For those of you left wondering what the post script to the Chair’s Chatter was last month please see the attached photos which I hope explain references to new bacon butty procedures at Tatsfield

Ride safe all, stay safe and please just enjoy life – we are here but for a blink of the planet’s eye and whilst we need to be extra cautious and consider our actions carefully until the world returns to a degree of normality, the B4000 is still there any calling our name.

Paul