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Met GRowler - GRowlette
(This began as GRowlette\'s thread about her anticipated visit to England, but has now developed into one about a July Backroom Meet, possibly, and appropriately, at the revamped ACE Cafe.)

Eight days to go and we get to UK. My Big One he tells me to share the driving. I\'m terrified.

Any tips PLEASE! HELP!

Growlette aka Catherine

Panicking - teabelly
Don\'t panic until you get here! It may not be as bad as you think :-) Does he mean share the driving on the way to your destination in the UK or once you are here? If the latter you could persuade G to let you have a lesson or two with a local driving school so you can get used to things without him in the passenger seat to stress you out. Alternatively find a quiet housing estate and driving around slowly for a bit then tackle a few of the more main roads and keep driving on progressively busier roads for the first days so you get used to them.

If he means straight away then that would depend on where you are landing in the UK and where you are going to. Chances are he wouldn\'t make you drive anywhere you couldn\'t cope with and driving in the philipines has to be more of a challenge than driving in the UK :-)

www.highwaycode.gov.uk/ - this is the UK highway code (rules of the road) it might help to make you recognise a few of the UK signs and have a basic idea of what you can and can\'t do so it feels less strange when you get here.
teabelly
Panicking - J Bonington Jagworth
He might be bluffing, Catherine, especially if you can \'help\' him to hire an interesting car (assuming Hertz/Avis have such a thing here). Anyway, I doubt you have much to fear if you can cope with Manila...
Panicking - Andrew-T
Won't you be hiring an HD?
Panicking - Altea Ego
Pack you macs kids, as you may have seen from Wimbledon, the weather is crap
Panicking - THe Growler
No worries mate. You chaps have rain. We are in the tropics and we have RAIN. (lol)i.e. 12" of the stuff in 20 mins.

I will post something with a few days' notice if I can with location etc.
Panicking - BobbyG
Growlette, I think your first concern is to watch out for anyone who hijacks your thread to arrange for a booze up with his mates!!!

That will be why he is wanting you to drive...
Panicking - GRowlette
Oh yes I know that. He has made plans to meet up with old pals that's why he wants me to drive. One thing he loves his beer and get him started with his mates really you don't know, anything can happen.

No Mustang in UK. I hate that thing. Noisy and oily and smelly inside, he wastes his money on it. Harleys are OK, I love them.

Really I hope i get that visa friday, still they say come back to the Embassy I don't know what they want. So much paperwork. If it was Philippines embassy just give someone lunch money and something under the table and you get it in a couple of hours.

I'm a working girl and I'm with him and he says he'll sponsor me, return ticket, got property in UK also. I'm not mail order bride, we've been together 5 years. Really I'm so nervous about it all.










Panicking - Adam {P}
I think I speak for everyone when I say a nice place in Lancashire would be great! Of course I live there but that has no bearing on my suggestion whatsoever.

Lancashire it is then?

;-)


Adam
Panicking - frostbite
Lancashire it is then?



Isn't that near Yorkshire?
Panicking - Happy Blue!
Todmoden then - a place in Yorkshire with a Lancashire post code ;-)
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
Meet GRowler - THe Growler
Fellow BR-ers

For totally selfish yet entirely practical reasons on my behalf London is the only place I could make it. Has to do with time and commitments I have to attend to back here in our glorious Republik. Anywhere central London will work for us, let's say pub/dinner?. For my account. Suggestions? Just give me some space to post some dates.I will do that once we arrive in UK.

Right now we are on tenterhooks hoping my Filipina partner can get that visa from HMG's representative in the colonies on Friday. Otherwise I will bring my equally (oops) beautiful daughter who is half Brit.

Either way you'll get some eye candy. That's what you all want anyway.......be honest..... personally I would just like to make sure I don't upset Mark and an investment in a few pints of his preference plus a decent steak and kidney might prove a good strategy.....

Now then, motoring it must be, so I'm off to book a class B on the 'net via Hertz.

Salamat po at ingat ka.

Growler


Meet GRowler - Mark (RLBS)
an investment in a few pints of his preference plus a decent steak and kidney might prove a good strategy.....


I can be bought, and that seems a fair price.
Meet GRowler - THe Growler
>>>>>
I suppose for Growler, really it should be the Ace Cafe.

Yup, give me my Triumph Bonnie, stick sixpence in the jukebox and I\'ll do the ton-up down the N. Circular and be back before Chuck Berry finishes Maybelline...............




Meet GRowler - Dalglish
suggestion to hj & mods:

how about changing the title of this thread to include reference to the potential meet-up under discussion?

i only ask that because i had missed reading this post until now.
Meet GRowler - AngryJonny
Hopefully this'll work. Not used TinyURL before...

tinyurl.com/3agr7

...is the location. Just about where the arrow is.

www.ace-cafe-london.com
Meet GRowler - Dalglish
ace cafe location and history; alternative to e34kid\' s location link: -

a thorough explanation how to get to the Ace Cafe site, either by road or public transport

www.ace-cafe-london.com/f1_10.htm


THE ACE CAFE LONDON - A Short History
www.ace-cafe-london.com/f1.htm

Meet GRowler - DougB
Stonebridge Park station is about 35 mins from Oxford Circus on the Bakerloo Line. ( I used to go to the dentist there and counted every minute). Not sure about the Sunday service

Also good access for M25, M1, M4, A1 and M40.

If the date fits I would go.

Regards DougB.
Meet GRowler - SjB {P}
Good luck GRowler and GRowlette.

I am a lucky guy, very happily married to a Czech girl, but boy did we go through the hoops with endless interrogation and petty officialdom to get here. Even got caught up in the IND computer fiasco, which got used time and time again as an excuse for what was actually Head Office versus Consulate politics and rivalry. The only positive side was that the pain, heartache, and yes, near rifts on a few occasions, really proved that the relationship was the right one, and that it worked! We laugh about it now, but it was not so funny then!

Hope you can look on a similar positive side, and sorry we won't get the chance to meet (I would have happily ridden the Hornet in to the Ace Cafe, with Mrs SjB pillion) as it's just an hour from here, but we will be on holiday in Sweden (As if I don't see enough of the country with my work!)

Enjoy your trip.
Meet GRowler - volvoman
Second that Gr, HJ & SJB - our trip overseas to get Mrs V's marriage visa was a nightmare in the planning for all the reasons mentioned BUT the official we dealt with at the British Embassy in Bratislava made the whole thing painless for us in the end. He was extremely polite, efficient and above all considerate of our siuation - no interrogation whatsoever! A different story here though at times and as has been said those who follow the rules always face a more onerous task than those who seek to evade them. Anyway I sincerely hope it all goes well for you in the end HJ and that Growlette doesn't find good ole GB quite as awful as GR says it is :) Good luck.
Meet GRowler - THe Growler
Ace Cafe, N. Circular, dates to follow. Pencil in 26 - 27 July -ish to be confirmed. I don't have me Bonneville any more but I'll bring me Harley vest and tattoos. Just so hope we can get my old lady's visa Friday. She would be mortified to miss such an event. She would charm you all I(males that is).

I don't think I have quite enough hair any more to grease it up into the obligatory duck's-tail, and the waistline isn't quite as Wild One-esque as it was once, but I'll do my best. Hopefully with some Del Shannon on the jukebox we'll cope.

If anyone out there has a Norton Dommy 88 or a Beeza Goldie in need of a workout, do let me know.........I'd love to get a ride in UK, seriously. Or a Velocette Venom Clubman, now you're talking. No other bike I've ridden ever since held the road like that did.

This may work. Let me talk dates when i get sorted in UK.




Meet GRowler - J Bonington Jagworth
"This may work"

Hope so - esp. for Growlette...
Meet GRowler - Mark (RLBS)
>>Norton Dommy 88

Funny you should say that.

The good news is that its actually a 99SS, one of the first with the slimline featherbed frame - 1955, I believe, since before that they had a rather peculiar lump of iron as the frame - 600cc of lots of noisy fun.

The bad news is that its been 15 years since I last had it in one piece and running and I can't see it getting fixed this side of a long time from now.
Meet GRowler - THe Growler
You mean you still have it? Silver or red paint? Give it to me, I'll fix it. Engines were crap,all full of rattles but roadholding A1.

So far this thread looks like Rockers 3 Mods nil.
Meet GRowler - SjB {P}
Aww... You beat me to it! GMTA.
Meet GRowler - Mark (RLBS)
Silver with black lining.

The featherbed frame was so far ahead of its time that its still a lovely frame to use.

I like the engine - pre-unit construction & dead easy to work on. The only thing I don't like is the little caps just below the rocker covers, but I've only stripped them about a thousand times each. I know people prefer the triumph engine in the featherbed frame, but I've always liked the Norton engine.

I like the fact that I not only still own tubes of hermatite, I still need them !

And give it to you ? With all due respect, I don't think so !!!

It'll be my retirement hobby if I don't get to it before. It came off the road partly because I was leaving the UK and partly because I had frankly neglected it for a year or two and it needs a substantial amount of minor work - rubber shocks in the rear hub, primary drive sproket, clutch, oil leaks and the like.

The final straw was when the dynamo (no alternator) went toes up. But like I say, I'll get back to it and in the meantime I like it being in the garage - it keeps the box with the Matchless G12 (complete and original) company - naff frame, great engine. Although that's younger, its 1959.

Meet GRowler - Alyn Beattie
Ahhh! Velocette Venom. Buying clutch corks by the bag, fishtail silencer, best sounding single ever. Did not have the clubman though.

Travelling to work when I was a 17 year old apprentice. Scrawny little kid that I was, had difficulty kicking the old girl over. Swapped it for a 1953 Singer Hunter (Bad Move)
--
Alyn Beattie

I'm sane, it's the rest of the world that's mad.
Meet GRowler - THe Growler
Yes, clutch corks! Every 3 months or so take down the plates and replace the corks. Velos were definitely idiosyncratic. They stuck with that wretched Miller dynamo belt-driven as I recall which gave lighting power roughly equivalent to that of a candle in my local church. Their engines were superbly hand-built though and the sound they made.......

Kick starting was an art. Tickle the carb, Retard the magneto, pull the compression lever, find TDC, take a deep breath, leap up in the air and jump on the kick-start for all you're worth. I'm sure my left leg is longer than my right to this day.

If anyone sometimes asks me what happened to the UK motorcycle industry I always say it was a simple stroke of genius by the Japanese -- fit electric starters......

Well, Dad signed as guarantor and I got a Bonneville. £320.16.3d
OTR. Which brings us back to the Ace cafe. I used to live in Stanmore so it wasn't that far away.


Meet GRowler - Alyn Beattie
You are right Growler, The starter motor on a bike changed it all. My current machine, a 1982 Honda CX500 is easy to start, easy to ride and super smooth. But not as much fun as the old Velo.

Think we had better stop this reminiscing, otherwise one of the Landrovers might get sold and a bike of known make will end up in the garage. (I sense a divorce threat on it's way)

Hope to meet up with you but it depends very much on the date


--
Alyn Beattie

I'm sane, it's the rest of the world that's mad.
Meet GRowler - Ian (Cape Town)
>> an investment in a few pints of his preference plus
a decent steak and kidney might prove a good strategy.....
I can be bought, and that seems a fair price.


I seem to recall the going rate used to be a ploughman's lunch ... I suppose inflation comes to the backroom eventually.
Meet GRowler - Mark (RLBS)
>>used to be a ploughman's lunch

"Used to be" is right.

And when are you going to get your sorry self over here ?
Meet GRowler - Ian (Cape Town)
Sheesh - given the weather reports I see, of you guys sweltering in 19C degree heat with monsoon, while I'm freezing my nads off at 24C under clear skies, maybe I should wait ...
But seriously, a whisltestop trip is planned for later this year.
Meet GRowler - Altea Ego
So If I turn up on my Lambretta Li150 I shall be laughed off the forecourt then?
Meet GRowler - malteser
Shame - we do not arrive in the UK until 11th August. I remember the Ace Caff, junction of the Harrow Road & the North Circulasr isn't it?
Roger in Spain
Meet GRowler - THe Growler
If it's a blue and beige Lambretta and reg 1862 BP then it belonged to my fiancée Sandra with impregnable Aertex knickers (c. 1961)
Meet GRowler - hillman
"Any tips PLEASE! HELP!"

Greetings, and have a great time here!
Sorry about the weather, we can't arrange that to order.

There was a thread not too long ago about advice to a new lady driver. I was very impressed with it at the time. I'm not good at finding these things, terrible memory, worse technique. Perhaps Mark will point it up for you.

If you get into any problems make sure that Himself is next to you. A smile from him should sort things out.
Meet GRowler - malteser
Bearing in mind the recent report on spelling & word meanings (and today's article by Lynn Truss in the Daily Tel.), I am glad to see that GRowler knows the correct meaning of "impregnable".
Roger in Spain
Meet GRowler - THe Growler
Sorry about this.

Up since crack of dawn. I have a tear-streaked Growlette on the sofa who has cried herself to sleep.

My beautiful wonderful lovely Filipina lady who is the apple of my eye and who charms all she meets and is the gentlest kindest most loving and generous person I know is in tears, Despite a file-full of bank statements, pictures of us together, sworn affidavits of support from me, copies of my UK tax returns, 2 prior consular interviews, copy of her little house's title deeds, records of her Social Security payments, statements of both our bank accounts, invoice for return air ticket, Brit Embassy turned her down for her visa "not convinced she would return to the Philippines". Look at her, she's on the HJ pic website, does she look like a threat to national security? Terrorist threat advisories here etc are currently at a high level, so undoubtedly some Embassy feller is doing a CYA. This is a motoring not a political or agony forum so I will not elaborate. She's miserable, She said it was like being stripped naked. I called her Mum over to be with her. Sorry for rant.

Nonetheless Yours Truly will be there with tales of derring-do, will give the Ace Cafe date proposals shortly when I get my schedule sorted to give reasonable notice and of course any and all BR-ers are welcome. Let's call it an advance ??th birthday party for the Old Guy. I hope to bring my daughter Alexandra as well (just graduated). She's not a biker but I keep trying!

I'll bring my helmet and if anyone has a classic bike they wouldn't mind me taking a spin on, I'm up for that! Would love to throw my leg over a Velo after all these years, Beasts to start but boy did they handle the bends. Better than a Norton IMHO, and I've fallen off more bikes than most! There was a little humpback bridge on the A283(?) near Pulborough where, if you gunned it on the Velo while leaned over, the whole plot would leave the ground and come down at 30 degrees ready for the next bend. The Velocette wouldn't waver an inch. A Triumph on the other hand required the clenchest of clenched buttocks. We used to see how fast we could do it, 3 of us. Ron's Ariel 350 went into the hedge and we had to extricate him from a group of curious cows. On those skinny Avons 3,25 in front 3.50 at the back that was madness when I look at the big fat comforting rubber my HD has now. Stop it G. Old men's tales already.

Mark I still have some red Hermatite in my toolbox somewhere, doubtless congealed solid by now. You never told me you were a closet biker......used to make me own gaskets out of brown envelopes.....if I could just get hold of one of those rattly leaky 1960 Bonnies with the whippy frames in 2-tone blue just for an afternoon once again...never could balance those twin Amals, used to do it with a piece of neoprene tubing stuck in your ear so you got the approximate same sound out of each......... I have the Brando jacket (Harley one actually) already so that's OK...that is serious Ace cafe material.

One of my most treasured biking moments was when my pal Peter Gray in West Worthing customised 2 bikes for the late great Roy Orbison and he came over to take delivery of them. They were 1950's HD Panheads, ex Belgian police. Got my pic in the Worthing Herald with the Big O. Awesome.

Got some repair work to do on the home front after today (no not Mustang related, partner-related). More soon. Let's try and make this a serious date.

Forgive me for the indulgence if I need a bit of time to get my head together . My lady needs attention, somehow I have to pacify her. She really is devastated. I will be back.








Meet GRowler - Mark (RLBS)
>>.used to make me own gaskets out of brown envelopes.....

I dunno, you cowboys !

The correct way was to use a cornflakes packet, hold the piece of cardboard against the surface to be "gasketed" and then tap gently all the way around the [usually sharp] edge using a hammer. Perfect.

See your e-mail.
Meet GRowler - THe Growler
LOL, I feel I have been super-moddy-fied! Probably time for my come-uppance anyway. OK fair play to you sir.

Tell you what though, work in a petrol station and just save those last few drops of Castrol XL from each can, never have to spend any money on oil changes!








Meet GRowler - J Bonington Jagworth
"Terrorist threat"

If it's any consolation, French airport officials just confiscated the plastic swords from two toddlers dressed up in Peter Pan outfits, on the same basis.

Sincere commiserations to Cathy, G. I, for one, would love to meet her. There's no explaining the minds of bureaucrats...
Meet GRowler - Garethj
I went to the Ace a few months back, as it's 45 mins from home and 45 mins from the office, I'm sure I can make it.

I'll probably be on a (modern) bike too ;-)

Gareth
Meet GRowler - frostbite
My sympathies to you, Cathy.

The UK greets thieves, scroungers, and religious extremists on a daily basis.

You are clearly none of these.
Meet GRowler - uk2usa
Hi Growler,
Forgive my ignorance, but if you are a British citizen, isn't your wife then eligible to live and work in the UK with you? That being the case, I don't get why she has to specifically prove that she intends to return to the Phillipines after the holiday in order to be issued a tourist visa.
Meet GRowler - malteser
Is that a hint? HJ
Roger in Spain
Meet GRowler - Robin Reliant
Disgustingly heavy handed teatment to both Growler and Growlette, especially as the Muslim guy who spends his life advocating the deaths of all Jews and homosexuals has been allowed over as a guest of Ken Livingstone.

I sometimes feel the world is going bonkers.
Meet GRowler - Hugo {P}
GRowler,

I have other commitments so am unlikely to be up in London at that time, otherwise I would be honoured to pop in to see you.

Also I am really sorry that Growlette couldn't come over to the UK. I hope that she gets to come over another time.

All the best and I hope you and your daughter have a great time in the UK.

Hugo
Meet GRowler - THe Growler
First, I'm overwhelmed by all the kind remarks about my partner's non-visa. I just find the whole thing astonishing and for her part given her perception and preconceptions about the West as a so much better place than here she simply cannot understand it. She's still a bit weepy and the disappointment on her face is very upsetting. She had been building herself up for months for this. She read all your comments and told me to thank everyone for their kind remarks.

Such a shame, if you met her you would take to her instantly. Everyone does. How on earth a little 100lb thing like her could be regarded as some sort of potential immigration problem....but anyway....

We are not husband and wife, which I think is the nub of it.

Must get back on track here. I will revisit the Ace, I think around 26 or 27 and as I said will confirm. I wonder if they still have Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran on the jukebox. I'm thinking of my old RAF surplus leather jacket, the winkle pickers, white silk scarf, silver Cromwell helmet, Stadium Mk VIII goggles and a young lady called Virginia, who was a mere 17 years old with a mane of red hair and rode a Triumph T110. We always called her "Virgin for short but for long" although I have no knowledge (in both the Biblical and the literal sense) of that.

Rewind to 1959.........................

Sorry, yesterday was a difficult one..

...out/
+


Meet GRowler - THe Growler
HJ:

You may be luckier in BKK. I am pretty sure the Brit Embassy in MNL is taking an especial hard line due to the definite terrorist links down in the Muslim south of the Philippines. Of course that is good sense, but exercise a bit of judgement. I do some consulting with recruitment of nurses from her to UK, that is straightforward because the applicant has a job offer and a viable qualification.

It is daft. I mean if it was a matter of a simple 14 day average holiday visa, show us return ticket and proof of funds, sign here and pay the fee.....that was how it used to be.

She's looking over my shoulder now...here she comes:

========================

Really thanks all. So much kind words. This is too much posting by him about this thing, I've told him stop it, it isn't motoring and its wasting HJ's space. It's God's will anyway. I said go, have a safe trip, enjoy yourself, call me every day please and I'll be here when you get back.

For Mark: so kind, nice you said that. Too late this time but we will try again next year.

Now I'm going to wash my car (link to motoring?? :+)

Growlette/Catherine.


Meet GRowler - Hugo {P}
All the best for both of you!

Hugo
Meet GRowler - HF
Cathy - just to say I'm so sorry about what's happened - please see my email that I've sent to G's address for you.
HF xx