Orange Bananas

If you're an IE tragic (as am I) you may have come across sites which fail to function in Bill's admittedly somewhat bloated browser, a reaction perhaps to one corporation having such a huge share of the market and a concerted effort by members of the global technorati to encourage users to switch to a less buggy viewing platform.

In his defence, considerable good results from the Microsoft World via the Gates Foundation. Five years ago 43 scientists were given grants amounting to $450 million, and one of the projects is a banana enhanced with vitamin A. Not so silly, actually, when you think about it.

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Alpinating

This will have to be a very brief post...
and an unashamed plug for Cliff's Ozalps European Motorcycle Tours
Motorcycle Heaven - riding in the European Alps is just the most unbelievable buzz - whether or not you've seen big mountains, you're in for an extraordinary experience. The scenery is - I'm going to run out of superlatives soon - breathtaking, and the roads are just brilliant - one day I think we rode seven mountain passes, one of which had something like 80 hairpins. I'm going again!

Mullumbimby Gotcha

Excerpts from a series of emails...

The corner I crashed on is South of Mullum. I am sure of that, because the ambulance arrived from the North. Not hilly road, just level, perhaps following river flats. Hilly slopes just off the road on the west side. Unimportant now... but I remember everything. I can still remember threatening the ambulance officer with a ‘gotcha’ if he cut my riding boots off. Ah. Happy memories.

The hilly slopes would be Coorabel Ridge, most likely, and that sounds more like Myocum Rd than the highway.. and what's a "gotcha". A mate of mine runs the hospital these days, and has taken up motorcycling again after a long break.

Definitely the Highway, as it was then anyway. Just two lane road. I was on my way from Brisbane to Glen Innes with a mate on a Tiger 100, intending to head inland from Grafton.

The ‘gotcha’? ho ho ho,

It comes from an old golf story.

An amateur bets Arnold Palmer that he can beat him over 18 holes of golf so long as he gets 5 strokes start and two ‘gotchas”.

Arnold Palmer doesn’t know what a ‘gotcha’ is either, but hey, the guys an amateur. He will be easy to beat, so Arnold accepts the bet.

After 6 holes Arnold Palmer has made up the 5 strokes start and reckons he has it made, but when he is putting on the 7th, the amateur comes up behind him and without warning shouts ‘gotcha’ and reaches between Arnold's legs and administers a violent ‘gotcha”. ( do I have to be more explicit?)

For the rest of the round Arnold Palmer’s putting goes to pieces because he’s waiting for the second gotcha. The amateur wins.

Okay…. So the ambulanceman pulls out a big knife and prepares to cut off my expensive (and hand made) motorcycle boots, so I show him my hand in a claw grip and offer him a gotcha if he came any
closer with the knife. He couldn’t concentrate for laughing, which is how I saved my boots.


You want memories? They aren’t always funny. I was in the next bed in Brisbane General when Sandy Macrae and Monty Petrola (look them up) were brought in to hospital. Monty died the next night.
The nurses took turns sitting by his bed trying to will him to live. “Come on Monty, fight it. You can do it” ….for hours.

Article on Sandy Macrae

You won’t find me criticizing nurses.

Sandy discharged himself from hospital against doctor’s advice and used to come to outpatients on his Vincent with one arm in a sling, his wife on the back reaching round to operate the clutch.

I thought he was a bit crazy, but when I got out I was riding a mates bike with my leg in a full cast up above the waist, and the leg propped up on the crash bar out front.

I had to be very careful when I stopped to fall over to the left.

Cheers Grant

Self-Mutilation

This chap went to some extremes to save himself - he hacked off his own arm. http://www.smh.com.au/world/trapped-worker-hacks-arm-to-save-himself-20100611-y0tb.html

It has happened before. In WWII, a commando trapped in an ice cave used a pen-knife to carve off his own toes when they became gangrenous. He survived the experience, returned to England, and once more dear friends unto the fray. We Die Alone by David Howarth. The amputation is a small episode in a great adventure of which he was the sole survivor.

Two more such self-amputations are described here:
here

Morning Glory 2010

Diane Davey flew her MotorFalke to the Gulf of Carpentaria to catch the elusive Morning Glory and was one of the very few to succeed this year. She and Erich Whitstock found a system right at the end of the season. She was interviewed on ABC radio.

http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2010/10/11/3034962.htm

Diane's blog:
http://morningglory2010.blogspot.com/

When I Grow Up...

I want to go loop the loop...

Clever Girl

Late night TV, glanced at whilst passing thru kitchen, interesting... rivetting... thought provoking. I looked her up, this rather erudite blonde.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Greenfield,_Baroness_Greenfield