So what would you have done?

Went to the beer & music festival at The Trout in Lechlade on Saturday,
L on the SV & me on the Tig with L's daughter[1] on the back. We were
sat down by the river when I heard the Tig's alarm go off. Wandered
back to the carpark & saw two blokes holding the bikes, having moved
them back a few yards. I shouted 'Oi, what the ****** do you think
you're doing?' as I walked towards them, & got some very blank looks
back. I told them to **** off, & pushed the bikes back to where they
were.

They then started muttering something about a car getting blocked in by
another car, & moving the bikes was the only way it could get out. I
bit my lip, glared at them & wandered off, not wanting to kick off in
front of L's daughter. It really fucked me off though.

[1] 15 & her first time on a bike. We hit the ton on the way there, &
the first thing she said when we stopped was 'Can we go faster next
time?'. She couldn't wait to go out again after we got back to my
place, so I ended up taking her most of the way home in a 'spirited'
fashion while L went in the car[2]. I've now been tasked with tracking
down a trailie-style moped before she's 16...

[2] I've still got the SV here as the chain hasn't arrived yet. Thank
me for reminding myself to chase it up.

 

Yeah, I'd do that. In quite a stamping about sort of way, I think.
Diabolical liberty, innit.

Faced with mitigation, I might well have relented and moved the bikes
for them, if it was the only way they could get out - but
simultaneously delivering a lecture about manhandling other people's
property, and how easy it is to drop a bike and how expensive it would
be to repair.

People do seem to feel at liberty to do things with bikes they'd never
consider with a car, though. Like picking their sprog up and swinging
them onto the seat for a picture, or just so that screaming sprog goes
quiet for a minute - and then proceeds to apply lolly-sticky fingers to
controls and clocks. Never think about dangling shoes scratching
tanks, do they?

You've got a proper one there. Might be worth hanging on to this one
and suffering the stepdaughter grief, you know.

 

Ah I didn't realise there was another Trout right there. I've a friend lives
in Letchlade and we occasionally go to the one near Oxford which does rather
nice food.

 

That it does, and a good place to take a "friend" if one does not want
to be spotted.

Alan

--

 

<cough>
<splutter>

 

Krusty escribió:

<snip bikes moved about>

I'd have had disc locks on both bikes, so wouldn't have happened.

 

They'd have *tried* to wheel them and then fallen over.

 

Most likely, especially considering how (top) heavy the Tiger is. The
steering lock was on which could've toppled it anyway.

 

'Lechlade' - no 't'. Tis a very nice place to spend a few sunny hours,
& the food is pretty good. Just don't confuse it with the pub on the
main road by the bridge, which is a scuzz-pit.

 

I wouldn't, if it had been the car driver moving the bikes. I would've
told him to **** off & find the owner of the car that was blocking him
in.

That's the bit that really pissed me off. The Tiger is very heavy, &
top heavy at that, & the steering lock was on, so a recipe for
disaster. If it had toppled over onto the car next to it, I doubt he
would've hung around to pick up the tab for the damage.

Quite. On an MV trip a few years ago, we stopped somewhere in France &
lined the bikes up in front of a plane for a pic. A coachload of
Japanese tourists arrived, & some of them ran over & just got on the
bikes while others took photos. I was too gobsmacked to say anything.

I doubt she'll be much grief (famous last words). She's not remotely
interested in boys, booze or drugs - all she cares about is her horses.
Well, & motorbikes now. She wants to be a copper too (a mounted one),
which has to be a good sign.

 

The other bridge on the other main road!
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=51.692876,-1.693113&num=1&t=h&sll=51.689
884,-1.678784&sspn=0.001989,0.005429&ie=UTF8&ll=51.692767,-1.69278&spn=0
..001252,0.002411&z=19

 

Actually, I've just had a cunning plan...

 

I'll tell you what I'd expect them to do - come looking for the owner
of the car that blocked them in, and if he wasn't easily traced then
people in bike gear might be a good place to start when searching for
the owners of the bikes. Then they could have fucking asked for the
bikes to be moved by the owners, which normally gets a positive
response.

I'd be fucking livid if some **** tried to move my bike, and I'd be
more inclined to push it back where it was and then add the two
disclocks that live under the seat. I'd also be fucking livid if
someone bumped/bounced my car out of the way

 

Anything they liked as long as it didn't involve them touching our
bikes without permission.

 

Although probably not as much as it would have had they "moved" the bikes
with the car itself and fucked off. It makes a change for someone to take a
more reasonable approach to a blockage than simply "nudging", because as we
all know (or should do) nudging a bike on its stand isn't a good thing.

 

Does this plan involve that long straight road and a pair of motorcycles in
drag?

 

But I wasn't blocking anyone in. They moved the bikes to give the car
more room to get around the other car that /was/ blocking it in.
Neither of the cars were there when we parked. It would've taken the
useless cunts all of 30 seconds to wander round to the garden & spot
the table with three crash helmets sat on it.

 

What you want is a bike with red hot sticky out cylinders you do.

They only touch them once.
--
Gavin.

Moto Guzzi California Aquila Nera
GSXR600K1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk

 

many moons ago, when I had recently passed my test, and was still
living in NI, I'd ridden up with a couple of mates to see the NW200,
on my SZR660.

After watching some of the races, we went back to where we'd parked
the bikes, and found some drunken teenagers sitting on them and making
"voom voom" noises. Unusually for me, I had a major sense of humour
failure. Not really at all proud of it, but a helmet makes a useful
weapon.