belfastguzzi

Santa selected it as a Christmas surprise for Ben deBen?

It might have been me... what time was it, exactly?

WHAT! Just spotted this. That means I'm due one as nobody has gotten my quiz right either!

Yes indeed. They're not mutually exclusive options. You CAN do both, if you've got a suitable vehicle. I tried the thumb shear on a VW Polo today, but there was no way – modern cars have had all the fun removed from them. It works perfectly on an older Land Rover (Defender type) where there is a built in guillotine to trap fingers/thumb and scissor them off. For modern cars, your technique is the best. It's no wonder that steering wheels on motorbikes never caught on. The accident rate must have been pretty high.

Have you ever wrapped your thumb around the spoke of a steering wheel, down at the boss, and then trapped it against the indicator stalks or whatever gubbins protrudes from the steering column, as you turn a corner? You can't get your thumb out, 'cos you've got to keep turning the car to keep it on the road, but you can't turn the car because your thumb is jammed in the steering wheel... Or you've got feet like Martin and you stand on the brake pedal, but half your boot is pushing the accelerator pedal down too – possibly while you're wrestling with the steering wheel to turn the car but it's going straight for the wall 'cos you're all jammed up in everything???? and an apple has probably fallen off the seat and rolled under the brake pedal anyway

Oh oh. You want to be careful of those bows and arrows, you do. A fellow could get his eye put out with one of those; or nose taken off.

In the Tenni Forum, when they're all out at ballet class sshhhhh...

Has that thing got any sharp edges on it?

Yeah, I just spotted it at the last minute. Unfortunately I was so tired that I missed a lot of it anyway. I kept falling asleep. It wasn't actually that interesting to watch. Because it's all on a road circuit enclosed by solid high barriers, you just see a bike, or a few bikes hurtling along in isolation. There really isn't even any audience to create an atmosphere. It's all solid walls, armco, buildings. Road racing through the countryside, with people packing out the hedges and gateways, is a much better spectacle.

Wow, thanks. Jaap won't give me a Quiz Point, but I knew someone would see sense, eventually. I'm having trouble with the instructions. I generously wet the back of the computer screen and pressed the picture against a solid gold plate I had in the trophy cabinet. The picture hasn't transferred to the gold plate yet. Should I ask about this in Tech Topics? What is all the smoke that's now coming from the computer?

Guzzirider and other satellite tv slaves, Macau Grand Prix is on tonight, Monday, at 11.05 for an hour. BBC1. I guess it's BBC1 NI, so twiddle your satellite knobs. Remember that photo?:

ONLY your nose!? Well you should see the scar round my neck after my head was stitched back on! There's a big bolt too. Anyone know what torque it should be tightened to?

OF COURSE IT DID! You have been following my maintenance regime after all. Your next step, Grade 2, is to get the paint pots out. Have you got some time over Christmas?

Metal gasket?! I wonder did they change to that because so many gaskets were being damaged on assembly, leading to the leaks? Doubt it. Seems strange for this location / use. As for demagnetisation – assuming you're putting it back together this side of Christmas, it's hardly something to worry about.

I breathed in too deeply once – and sucked in a concrete block. It was so heavy. it made my head fall off. Unfortunately it fell on the chopping board where I was cutting carrots – and I didn't stop chopping quick enough. Boy, that hurt.

Yeah, it is. Look's like it's a year too early.

JRT's coming? It's ok: sure I can put that stuff in the back of the car with me.

Yeah. It's a shame. But if you want cheered up, drop in on the Scuras.

There's an hour long programme being shown on UTV at the moment (8pm here). It's streamed at http://u.tv/live/ if you want to try to get it. It's not working for me though. A lot of magical goals have already been shown – I'm sure there will be more to come. It's better than Moto GP

It's somewhere I have wanted to get to – someone should arrange a trip – and figure out for me how I can find some free time.

He's not that smart. He hasn't got Quiz X yet.

Hmmm. Johnny Badgoose be good? Unlikely. But I'll monitor the situation over the next coupla weeks. Otherwise, you get the Road King. Luckily for you, Ben's already getting the BMW – thing's coulda been worse.

Would you like a Road King? I hear they're pretty hot. I think it could be one of those internet rumours though, 'cause I also heard that the King is dead.

Sorry folks. This wasn't meant to be a comparison of who deserved to die more and who wasted their life... just the opposite just a comment on how, through delightful sports skills (sports – as it happens, in these instances) and warmth of character (that meant that so very many 'ordinary' people felt they knew and connected with these folk) generations of people, across divisions, can be inspired and have their vision lifted above immediate circumstances. All sports events can potentially do that for a short period. Some special people can sustain it way beyond the short term. Joey Dunlop was/is such a person (that's the motorbike connection, even if it's not Moto Guzzi) George Best was/is another (no motorbike connection, but the subject of football appears here every now and again – and George and Joey admired each other, Robert Dunlop also and I imagine he, with all his own road racing battlescars, will be at the funeral). On Saturday there'll be the biggest funeral that his country has ever seen. While they are grieving, yes, and 'frustrated', yes, all those people won't be there because they're 'morbid', or to meditate on disaster: they'll be there in such strength because there's something that's worth celebrating. And for me, one of the reasons that this is notable is that as a football non-enthusiast I, probably like a lot of people, would more often associate the sport with unbelievably gross salaries and incredibly shallow characters – and with motorbikes, we all know that the perception of 'yer common-or-garden man in the street' is that they're nothing more than noisy, vile, anti-social, speeding, hooligan-piloted death-traps. Yet here, through the achievements and the character of certain individuals, they're taken way outside those perceptions and can be seen as vehicles for demonstrating the best (excuse the pun) in the human spirit. OK, a quiz point to anyone who can translate this into one, or even two easily digested sentences.