So, I picked up the bike on Saturday and it looks the absolute dogs in black. Trickier to ride than the last one, but I think it could end up being pretty damn cool, especially on the track. Pictures to follow when I figure out how to work iPhoto.

So old Strom finally shuffled off this mortal coil. You can hold the floor for so long but human frailty eventually intervenes I guess. But what a crazy bastard he was. Only in America(?).

This was funny about a bloke being unintentionally insulted by British Gas. Makes a change from the usual intentional insults from companies. Or the tacit insult of the appalling customer service provided by companies such as ntl. (Sorry, I have had bad experiences with ntl on several occasions. The broadband internet is nice though).

Useful advice

Now Barry Biker’s pet hate is paying extortionate insurance premiums. And Barry’s premiums are higher than most, because a) he lives in central London and b) he got done for drink–driving in 1998. Now Barry’s not one to make excuses, but he was nicked riding home on a CG125 the morning after a party when he was a student. When the breath test was borderline, he was bloodtested — came in at 81mg/100mls. The limit is 80mg/100mls. So, a fair cop, but 10 more minutes and he’d have been alright. And when he told me about it, I told him that I suspect most people have been a bit dodgy the next day and not even thought about it. Of course, it’s a DR10 as far as the insurance companies are concerned and no–one’s ever interested in the background, whether he was five times over the limit on an R1 and was founded doing a wheelie through a kindergarten playground, whatever…

So Barry goes to Court, tells the magistrate how ashamed he is, serves his year’s ban and resigns himself to paying excessive insurance premiums, being refused car–hire and being generally stigmatised by society for five years until his conviction is spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and comes off his licence.

WRONG. The conviction’s spent after 5 years for the purposes of the criminal law, but for the purposes of the DVLA it remains on your licence for 11 years and many insurance companies will still ask about it when you apply for insurance and will in any case see it when you send your licence in. Six more years. Bogus.

Now this is wrong, I thought. These insurance companies make enough money as it is and Barry’s not a bad bloke and pretty careful on his bike. So I did a little research and was interested to find something that appeared on the Financial Ombudsman’s site in February 2003.

It appears that in the view of the Financial Ombusdman, if an insurance company refuses insurance or gives less favourable terms and conditions than to other policyholders, simply because of a spent conviction, this will be a breach of statutory duty (imposed by the ROA 1974) by the insurance company — from the FOS site:

“If firms insist on asking questions about spent convictions, then they must effectively ignore the answers they receive. Otherwise, we are likely to consider they have breached their statutory duty.

Similarly, if a firm cancels the policy of a customer who has a spent conviction (but whose licence is still endorsed), simply because the customer did not disclose the endorsement, then we will uphold the customer’s complaint”. Excellent.

So, once a conviction’s spent, you don’t tell anyone about it and see what quote you get (and get it in writing) and if they try to change the quote once they find out about it, you complain to the FOS. I’m sure all this will be of no interest to you law–abiding lot, but thought I’d mention it, just in case… Here’s the full article

Wimbledon beckons.

Foxy internet

So they told me she was a foxy–looking chick; I had visions of someone who looked a bit like Cameron Diaz, but turned out she had big pointy ears and a long pointy snout.

So I took the plunge, gathered up my insurance payout, added the salvage value I got for the pieces of my old bike, incurred some more consumer debt and purchased one of these from Lloyd Cooper Motorcycles.

You guys seen this? Apparently, a bloke got a very nasty beating outside Farringdon tube (my stop for work) last night. Just remember to be careful when wandering around pissed out there.

Ridicule is nothing to be scared of

The Dandy Highwayman stands and delivers in a cafe. To be honest, I'm slightly saddened by his mental problems, as I was an Ants fan as a (little) kid. Then again, maybe the signs were always there...

Query whether all the hullabaloo over Beckham’s future is merely a holiday scam for news reporters over the Summer. We’ve had people reporting from Milan, Barcelona and Madrid so far, with little more to say than “This is where Beckham might be coming. These are some nice shops which Posh might like. Nice and hot isn’t it”? Watch this space for a “Beckham to move to Sporting Mauritius” headline.

I knew exercise was bad for you. Polar explorer Fiennes has heart attack, aged 59.

These snow bike conversion kits for your motorbike look like the dogs.

Russian duo T.A.T.U. really are utter pony with their whiny songs and tedious lesbian imagery.

Some good cigar action over the weekend, enjoying some of the Madrid acquisitions. Most notably, smoked a Cohiba robusto last night with a bottle of the Baron de Ley Rioja that we enjoyed so much while in Spain. It smoked perfectly and was one of the best cigars I can remember smoking.