Posted by Jerry on August 24th, 2005 — Posted in Journal, Motorcycling
Sunday was not quite perfect for riding – the drizzle threatened, but held off for the most part as I headed off up the Cotter Road to the Cotter reserve where the Canberra Veteran and Vintage Motorcycle Club was having a gathering.
They were a welcoming lot and there was a good selection of interesting machines. I was too slow in getting the camera out to catch the Brough Superior, but I managed to photograph some good bikes. Here is a selection:
Vincent Rapide
Vincent Rapide
Triumph speed twin
Norton Commando 850cc
Norton Commando 850cc
Royal Enfield 1923
Ducati 750cc Sport
AJS 18S
AJS Model 20
Cheers
Jerry
2 Comments »
Posted by Jerry on August 11th, 2005 — Posted in Journal, Recipes
In all the jeans controversy, one small comment by Chloe stood out: “any chance of the chocolate muffin recipe?” Well, I’ll let you into a secret – while I DO have a nice quick and easy muffin recipe, I cheated on this occasion and used “White Wings Shaker Muffins: Double Choc” in which you add one and one third cups of milk to the container, tap upside down (with the lid on) shake vigorously for about 30 seconds and squish out the mix into 6 muffin pans and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for 20 minutes. And here is the result:
Cheers
Jerry
12 Comments »
Posted by Jerry on August 9th, 2005 — Posted in Journal
You know, it’s the strangest thing. I went to brave the cold recesses of my woodwork shed yesterday – so naturally I would dress appropriately – old tee-shirt, fleecy sweatshirt and old jeans. Now I could have sworn I had washed and dried my jeans and that they were hanging up in my cupboard.
This is not the first time strange things have happened – perhaps they were taken by aliens, along with the odd single sock…
Meanwhile I think Sharon is getting creative again – she has started humming around the house, and has moved the ironing board out of her studio – so I guess she has some project on the go and that stuff is everywhere. This is not uncommon – Sharon works that way – spreads everything out and does a careful visual appraisal. At this point I know not to disturb things because everything is placed with a purpose when she is designing.
I’m guessing she has something like a stitch challenge going, because the last couple of nights she has disappeared from the computer and headed off to the studio – reappearing only for a quick coffee and a few muttered words like “progress” and “they’ll love this”… At which point I nod appreciatively and bake muffins.
As for the shed, well the daggy trackie pants had to make do – even though they’re not the same as those comfy old jeans.
At least I get some computer time for the blog 🙂
Cheers
Jerry
3 Comments »
Posted by Jerry on August 6th, 2005 — Posted in Journal, Motorcycling
This afternoon I managed to get my historic Motobecane moped running again after a hiatus of some months. The 1970 40V moped is the same make as that used in the movie Amelie – so I have christened my moped Amelie 🙂
The two challenges that remain to make the bike roadworthy again are to install some kind of flasher unit – the indicators work, but don’t flash and finding six volt flasher units is not easy these days; and I need to get a low power horn as the original item – which never gave more than a half-hearted ‘quack’ anyhow – has long since ceased to function. Nonetheless it felt good to hear it running again after I cleaned the points and greased the variator. And once it was warmed up, I found the bike started easily – so that’s a good sign. On the bitumen I was able to wind it up to about 45 kph, so the running gear still seems sound.
I’m told that if I join a vintage motorcycle club I can get historic vehicle registration and ride it twice a month 50kms each – and it would only need to meet 1970 registration standards.
In response to Nigel’s comment – front and rear tyres are 2″ x 17″. I am told it is possible to get two and a quarter inch by 17 inch tyres here in Australia, and it is very likely these would fit.
For anyone looking for manuals, I found Motobecane moped manuals on the Moped Riders Association site at:
http://www.mopedriders.org/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=18
cheers
Jerry
13 Comments »
Posted by Jerry on August 1st, 2005 — Posted in Travel
The National Museum in Copenhagen is home to an amazing array of Viking, pre-Viking and Roman artefacts, as well as some fabulous Baroque-period interiors. It is just a short walk from the Danish Houses of Parliament.
I was struck by the quantity of viking artefacts, including quite a collection of musical instruments, such as the tuba-style horns – including one with a disk insert in the mouthpiece designed to be blown with circular breathing – like the Australian didjeridoo.
The bronze-age cart is remarkably well preserved, and clearly represents regal transport of its era
Danish bronze-age cart
The Danish wetlands and bogs preserved a lot of otherwise perishable items, such as these examples of bronze age clothing
It is the small, domestic things that really take the eye though, like this tea-spoon –
or the Roman glassware – of considerable delicacy – and other tableware such as this drinking horn
And Copenhagen is also home to Michaelangelo’s second David – yes it was cast by Michaelangelo in florence, but brought to copenhagen in 1870 by Carlsberg Brewery, and today it stands next to the copenhagen docks in a wonderful sculpture museum
But perhaps the most intriguing item in the national museum is this table with its anamorphic painting of King Frederik III and his Queen – which can be seen as reflections in the glass cylinder. It was bought in 1656 from the painter Gerdt Dittmers of Hamburg. Could this be an early form of image encryption?
Extraordinary isn’t it! I then paid DKR24 for a mineral water at the cafe and bought a book from the museum shop on the collections.
cheers
Jerry
4 Comments »
