I believe that Finn McCools Sod had plastic (polymer) notes before the larger islands.

We did but reverted to the paper ones soon enough (was/is it actually paper?). We also had pound coins before the Adjacent Isles. More like a sixpenny bit than any of the current formats with a core forming a magnetic 'key', to deter forgers or facilitate slot machines I know not. They, too, did not last long.

M'Lord Varley still uses Groats for payment and in emergency the White Fiver may be produced. :chuckle:

The Noble Lord is like all nobility, as Private Godfrey said, nice people but you couldn't get the money.

I understand that those who are in short trade to the west do maintain bartering accounts to suit the natives there but I don't think goats feature. If they did you'd be like the Scots, raiding us for the loose ones. A fiver? do we still need a manual watch on the boiler water level?

Back after a couple of days in Portrush watching the North West 200 road racing, at 72 ought I invest some of my pension in a Kawasaki? And is it too late to enter the Isle o Man TT this year? Perhaps Lord Lax could be my Agent and have a quiet word with the Lord Leftenant.

At your age you will be safer doing the Ballinamore pram race if you can find a large pram to sit in. You need to ask varley if he will give you a loan of his dummy. And another tip is dont pick a pram with a bockerty wheel like Frank Mcourt did.

Decisions, decisions - go for the Kawasaki young man you have earned your pension. :applause:

I, too, have a decision, lesser than yours of course, to make! At eighty tomorrow - should I buy a new tyre for the pushie or buy a new bike?

Wandered into a bike shop the other day - most embarrassing - felt like the old railwayman that I am in shorts and work boots in a RR showroom. :o Bikes of titanium, carbon fibre and God knows what for $A10,000 and upwards in multiples thereof. Tyres, nose in the air salesman, 'oh no we don't have them on display we have them out the back'. (Probably sealed in plastic and sold in brown paper bags.) :eek:

Being a miserable coot, as both my kids and the YMs oft tell me, I will buy a new tyre from some less salubrious bike shop, do the bearings, give the old bike a wash and sprinkle some chain lube around!

No, I don't wear lycra gear either! :rolleyes:

A Kwaka doesn’t have to be big.

But this would be more my style…

For some strange I've got 26 by one and three eights and 26 by one and a quarter burned into the few brain cells I have left. I'm not in lycra but in Lidl's equivalent, I expect to be partially naked before mid-day.

I do, and i will be 81 on June 5th. had full checks at the Docs yesterday and all results are good. Firing on all cylinders. Best thing I ever did was taking up Biking. Great exercize.

May i recommend dogging ?
You can even use the chains.

Attachment 3942
Dogging, innit ???
Snow chains reqd

Well done BB. Keep it up, I believe that cycling has done wonders for my health. I too got a good medical this week and I like to think that it has contributed to retaining what little sanity I have left.:wave:

Would you say cycling is better than brisk walking or jogging? Obviously distance has to be considered.

ES

Definitely better than walking/jogging/whatever in my case.

My doctor used to say many years ago that 'joggers are just ruining their knees'!

I took up recreational cycling about 40 odd years ago after problems with my right knee and have never looked back either physically or ,arguably, 'mentally'. :rolleyes:

As a kid I used to ride a bike, of course, but there was a gap of perhaps 20 years when I did not.

You will have seen that I like to combine maritime photography with cycling and I aim for about 50 km/week here and there on the bike although this is often not possible. I don't ride on the road as we are fortunate in that I can go out my back gate about 12 km NNW of the CBD onto a walking and cycling path which allows me to reach Port Melbourne and the Lower Yarra 99% 'off road'.

I thoroughly recommend a pushie to you ES - you are never too old, nor do you need a flash bike (or a lycra suit either :jester:).

My current bike is a 20+ year old 26 inch mountain bike (long ago out of fashion - like me) that cost around $A300 at the time. This was mid range (?) before titanium and carbon fibre for ~ $A20 000 became the go, of course. I don't have shock absorber forks or suspension for the saddle - they are just unnecessary complications.

https://www.shippinghistory.com/gall...searchid=30657

Go for it Comrade - at least you don't have snakes to worry about in Ireland.

Geoff :wave:

I have an Oohh Aahh bike I use occasionally as it brings tears to the eyes. It doesn't have a saddle hence the sound effects and the watery eyes. :jump:

Cycling can be extremely hazardous to ones health, especially on a wet, foggy night on the Queens Road when you find your bike wheels caught in the tram tracks. The Tour de France has bugger all on a Friday night at knocking off time in Harland and Bluff. :chuckle:

Don't mention tram tracks especially as we have more of them than anyone else in the world. Those in Swanston Street were one of my downfalls.
There are limits to both unnecessary complications and the KISS* principle.
* Keep it simple stupid.

I ride around 7 Ks at 04:30 every morning. When i get back and put the Bike away I walk the Dog for 3 Ks. 06:00 Breakfast. Loving it.

I get enough exercise during the night. The bathroom's quite a long corridor away.

Hi varley, welcome to the piss quick club. Can i put you down for chairman. Anyone else who wants to join just let me know, i think i hold the record time of 28.30 seconds on the 26 jan 1999 when the night temp was - 11. soon back in bed with a quick wipe on the wife's 7ft long sheepskin nighty i was soon asleep.

Off-Line for a few days, doing a 4 day tour of the Dunkirk beaches with a couple of colleagues. Fourth ttime with Leger Battlefield Tours.

when you stand at the waters edge at low tide and look inland...Its a wonder anyone survived a long hike like that.
Like lambs to the slaughter.

Reminds me of the old saying " If you can read thank your teacher, if you can read this in English thank a soldier":applause:

Dunno if this is true or not but it sounds just about right. Charles Degaulle when President of France allegedly remarked to US President Eisenhower that he wanted all foreign soldiers removed from France "does that include the ones who are buried there?" responded Eisenhower. :applause: