While working this evening a lady took the decision that i must be gay for the following reasons:-
I dressed quite fashionable,
I said i like to take care of myself(gym, keep fit etc)
I grow my own vegetables,
I have rhythm!
I talk posh,
and finally...(this is the best one) I don't drink alcohol.
If you take each of these things on their own, it really shocks me that in 2010 any of these can make you look gay in certain parts of the country. Personally i took it as a compliment, but surely we as a country can move on from these types of crappy assumptions.
Just because i choose not to drink, why should that warrant any assumptions about my life at all. But for some reason in the UK it's almost classed as being...I dunno...disabled in some way. I really dont get the whole drinking mentality in this country, to have a good time in the evening the general censuses is you need to be well on your way to not remembering anything, and the less you remember the better the night was. I'd love to say it's only in certain types of bars and in certain parts of the country but unfortunately i can't.
Whenever I used to go out and had quite a few drinks myself, something has always shocked me into being sober. Be it a fight, an argument between friends, or even consoling a friend, so after years of this i decided 5 years ago that i'd rather have the money I would have spent to stay in my bank account. The lady in question tonight almost tried to boast about spending...wait for it...£240 in one night on booze! I couldn't do that even if i tried.
Now and then i do think, yea i'll have a cold one but thats it, One and no more. I usually drive everywhere and if i can i always opt for my car instead of taxis because of costs again, but surely i'm not alone here, or maybe i am?
JTP
Saturday 7 August 2010
"I hate motorcycling wankers!"
Actually... i dont, but i've met alot of people who do for various reasons. "they come from no where!", "who do they think they are!?", "it's just dangerous!, buy a car you twat!" we've all heard them at one point or another but why?
I have been a lover of bikes since i was about 12 years old and i'm proud to say i am i biker, I've been on the road and on the track for over yen years and i've seen and experienced quite a bit i recon, but i don't understand where the overall hatred of the whole biker scene comes from?
I had what ended up being quite a heated discussion about biking with a work collegue today, and even though their was over 15 years experience (between 2 bikers) and the other having no experience with bikes at all, he still believes that all bikers are scum!? It must have been at least an hour long discussion/sticking up for biking in general terms that it ended with myself just walking off to cool down and process all the info as quick as i could just to almost 'save face' and not (myself) look like a 'madmax' death wish stylie biker, even though while goin through this thought process I had done nothing wrong?
When i first got my fun road licence i did in under 24 hours already know what my bikes top speed was capable of, but even at the tender age of 19, i still did it on the motorway at 1am on a wednesday evening. That doesn't sound like much but at least it wasn't rush hour during a school run, using 30mph city roads, which denotes to me that even back then i had common sense with my riding. Over the years as my confidence grew into over confidence, i was politely reminded of the general dangers as a road user aswell as a motorcyclist. This i believe gave me the want to be as safe as i could in any situation but as i said i deffo am not and haven't been a saint, where's the fun in that!!
It was only when i was 24 that i decided to hang up my road 'miled' boots and venture into track racing to get my kicks instead. Which didn't feel safer, quite the opposite and a hell of a lot more expensive! The reason i decided to come off the road was due to the speeds that i was reaching on a daily basis partly due to me but also due to the bike i was riding. I am not proud of this fact but it need to be said as i'm alway going to be honest on this blog but my decision was planted one lovely afternoon i went for a ride, and on my way home i reached a speed of 176mph on the speedo during a straight piece of road and it just felt...normal! How could this be? almost three times the legal limit and it felt normal? As i passed cars i was indicating, checking blind spots, thanking drivers that pulled to one side, all the proper things i should have done while riding legally but with a stupidly huge speed difference. I was even calmly thinking to myself"blimey, are those road lamps new?"... this cannot be normal! There were a few other occasions like this that followed over the next few weeks, and the faster and more confident i became, the less my speed and the dangers actually mattered!
Believe it or not, after 4 years off the road i'm preparing to get back in the saddle on the roads! Now don't panic i'm not actually doing it just yet, theirs a few months of saving ahead, and yes the police have already been informed but i believe my choice of bike and overall mindset change will be the best for riding on the roads again. It's now all about enjoying the ride, not getting from A to B asap.
Now as long winded as this is (you now see why my lady gets lost in my convo's sometimes) I completely understand why bikers can get a bad name, but i haven't ever had a run-in with i biker while driving, I always look for them, but at the same time i (due to my biking experience) look for everything else aswell. Many car drivers i believe feel safer in the 'Cage' of a car so sometimes certain risks are taken by the driver because hay... the car will save us right? I've done it myself, and everytime i do it i give myself a real hard time as i don't want to be a contradictive person in general at the best of times.
Each to their own i suppose, but can you knock everything until you've at least tried it??... i think thats a question for another blog.
JTP
I have been a lover of bikes since i was about 12 years old and i'm proud to say i am i biker, I've been on the road and on the track for over yen years and i've seen and experienced quite a bit i recon, but i don't understand where the overall hatred of the whole biker scene comes from?
I had what ended up being quite a heated discussion about biking with a work collegue today, and even though their was over 15 years experience (between 2 bikers) and the other having no experience with bikes at all, he still believes that all bikers are scum!? It must have been at least an hour long discussion/sticking up for biking in general terms that it ended with myself just walking off to cool down and process all the info as quick as i could just to almost 'save face' and not (myself) look like a 'madmax' death wish stylie biker, even though while goin through this thought process I had done nothing wrong?
When i first got my fun road licence i did in under 24 hours already know what my bikes top speed was capable of, but even at the tender age of 19, i still did it on the motorway at 1am on a wednesday evening. That doesn't sound like much but at least it wasn't rush hour during a school run, using 30mph city roads, which denotes to me that even back then i had common sense with my riding. Over the years as my confidence grew into over confidence, i was politely reminded of the general dangers as a road user aswell as a motorcyclist. This i believe gave me the want to be as safe as i could in any situation but as i said i deffo am not and haven't been a saint, where's the fun in that!!
It was only when i was 24 that i decided to hang up my road 'miled' boots and venture into track racing to get my kicks instead. Which didn't feel safer, quite the opposite and a hell of a lot more expensive! The reason i decided to come off the road was due to the speeds that i was reaching on a daily basis partly due to me but also due to the bike i was riding. I am not proud of this fact but it need to be said as i'm alway going to be honest on this blog but my decision was planted one lovely afternoon i went for a ride, and on my way home i reached a speed of 176mph on the speedo during a straight piece of road and it just felt...normal! How could this be? almost three times the legal limit and it felt normal? As i passed cars i was indicating, checking blind spots, thanking drivers that pulled to one side, all the proper things i should have done while riding legally but with a stupidly huge speed difference. I was even calmly thinking to myself"blimey, are those road lamps new?"... this cannot be normal! There were a few other occasions like this that followed over the next few weeks, and the faster and more confident i became, the less my speed and the dangers actually mattered!
Believe it or not, after 4 years off the road i'm preparing to get back in the saddle on the roads! Now don't panic i'm not actually doing it just yet, theirs a few months of saving ahead, and yes the police have already been informed but i believe my choice of bike and overall mindset change will be the best for riding on the roads again. It's now all about enjoying the ride, not getting from A to B asap.
Now as long winded as this is (you now see why my lady gets lost in my convo's sometimes) I completely understand why bikers can get a bad name, but i haven't ever had a run-in with i biker while driving, I always look for them, but at the same time i (due to my biking experience) look for everything else aswell. Many car drivers i believe feel safer in the 'Cage' of a car so sometimes certain risks are taken by the driver because hay... the car will save us right? I've done it myself, and everytime i do it i give myself a real hard time as i don't want to be a contradictive person in general at the best of times.
Each to their own i suppose, but can you knock everything until you've at least tried it??... i think thats a question for another blog.
JTP
Friday 6 August 2010
Hello and welcome...
Well, this is just a quick introduction into why i've decided to do this 'blog' and generally see if it help me as a person.
Although i'm still only in my late 20's, I always seem to spark comments during conversations due to my experiences in my life so far. I dont believe i have actually experienced that much. I haven't extensively travelled, I haven't lived the 'high life' and i definitely haven't been a ladies man of any sort, so i find it hard to believe that normal everyday general knowledge would cause such a stur at times.
It has also been bought to my attention from my lady that I have the ability to logically think things through and to come up with answers others would not have come up with in the same sort of time, which again can cause a whole heap of issues!(lack of knowledge + testosterone = lots of swearing!)
Generally people i know well dont see me as a 'know-all' just an intelligent conversationalist(if that is a word?) But over the last few years, since i've been involved in the building industry my natural traits have some how caused me quite a bit of bother!? Even sometimes on the verge of victimization or bullying in my direction.
I have, more than most had to become thick skinned over the years, so the comments and general banter doesn't get me down, but the overall mindset of the people i meet sometimes does, so as my lovely lady has had to endure the countless re-enactments of conversations i've had with people from all over the world both in and out of work, I thought this could help our relationship by allow me to release my thoughts everywhere all at once without wearing my ladies ear lobes off. Also finally allowing me to relax a bit more so I can focus on what is really important in this world to me and not some weird afterthoughts about an experience i've just had.
Last thing... I can talk for england but sometimes my grammar is deffo not my strong point, so i"ll apologize now and hopefully writing these future blogs could improve that too!?!...
Thanks, and enjoy...maybe.
Although i'm still only in my late 20's, I always seem to spark comments during conversations due to my experiences in my life so far. I dont believe i have actually experienced that much. I haven't extensively travelled, I haven't lived the 'high life' and i definitely haven't been a ladies man of any sort, so i find it hard to believe that normal everyday general knowledge would cause such a stur at times.
It has also been bought to my attention from my lady that I have the ability to logically think things through and to come up with answers others would not have come up with in the same sort of time, which again can cause a whole heap of issues!(lack of knowledge + testosterone = lots of swearing!)
Generally people i know well dont see me as a 'know-all' just an intelligent conversationalist(if that is a word?) But over the last few years, since i've been involved in the building industry my natural traits have some how caused me quite a bit of bother!? Even sometimes on the verge of victimization or bullying in my direction.
I have, more than most had to become thick skinned over the years, so the comments and general banter doesn't get me down, but the overall mindset of the people i meet sometimes does, so as my lovely lady has had to endure the countless re-enactments of conversations i've had with people from all over the world both in and out of work, I thought this could help our relationship by allow me to release my thoughts everywhere all at once without wearing my ladies ear lobes off. Also finally allowing me to relax a bit more so I can focus on what is really important in this world to me and not some weird afterthoughts about an experience i've just had.
Last thing... I can talk for england but sometimes my grammar is deffo not my strong point, so i"ll apologize now and hopefully writing these future blogs could improve that too!?!...
Thanks, and enjoy...maybe.
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