Chair’s chatter

Hi all and welcome to yet another CC  -  it only seems like yesterday that I sent last months’ off to Andrew!

Well what a month it has been, full of sunshine, rain and over 1,000 miles of miles with smiles for me as I holidayed in various places around the UK and got to experience Welsh rain and Yorkshire rain, and I can tell you that both are equally wet and they both allow road muck to be flung up into the most unusual of places and of course the most difficult to reach. I am still racking my brain to work out how “whatever the dried on squishy mess on the inside of my screen” got there - was it matching me in MPH right up until I hit the brakes, or was it travelling faster than me, and simply mistook the optical clarity of the GS screen as open road? There be some fast bugs in Wales if that is the case.

I am fortunate to own some fairly decent motorcycle clothing and can usually be seen in an outfit for each occasion (my garage is often mistaken for Motolegends or Helmet City - other motorcycle clothing vendors are available) but for the first time in my life I experienced middle age doubt! What I mean by this is that we can adapt as we go along, open vents when it is hot, close them when it is cold or wet, but I’ve never experienced the feeling of cold you get around your middle where it’s raining and you know you aren’t leaking but you suddenly feel cold and wet and wonder if you hit that pothole just a little too hard and your muscles are no longer as toned as they were in your twenties. It’s a very odd sensation and something looks very strange when you get off for a tea stop and check!

So the world is still crazy and listening to the news this morning it appears that we are due a ramp up on the crazy, so I am afraid I still cannot give you any information on when the group can return to how it was twelve months ago and like all of us can only hope. Instead we keep trying to evolve and come up with ways to keep training going and more importantly trying to give everyone structure or a day a month where we all know we can definitely do LAM things.mSo in order to keep as close to the traditional LAM monthly activities, we are introducing a virtual Tatsfield. What does that mean exactly? Well for one, it’s not a definitive structure and will evolve over time as we understand the needs and wants of the participants (both Observers and Associates) but for now it is a fixed date in the diary, the third Saturday of every month where any Observer who cannot make time in the week for the pre-booked ORs can make themselves available and we will endeavour to find an associate for you to take out. It’s virtual because we can’t yet use Tatsfield without a whole host of necessary requirements being put in place and instead we have elected to use just the name and traditional event slot, but the Observer and Associate meet wherever is mutually convenient and agreed prior to the OR. These ORs will be carried out in line with UK Government and IAM advice and procedures and again there is absolutely no pressure for anyone (whoever and for whatever reason) to return to riding or Observing.

We have our AGM in November where the positions of Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary are up for election or re-election, and this copy of Progress contains all the necessary information for anyone interested in these roles to seek election.
Congratulations to Lynn Sammonds who passed her test with Steve Bradbury - well done Lynn.

Enjoy your read and see you all soon, the unicorn has been dusted off and will be at the Wales weekend. Now, a final stat to leave you with - Tony Turner (see this month’s “Meet the Observer”) has had more bikes than LAM has run Wales weekends!

Stay warm and ignore the wet sensations in your lap.

Paul