Christmas Cards

Well, only a tentative connection to the title of this.

A while ago, my main computer went "pop" and so I have In lost addresses. So, now the object of the exercise is to store as little as possible on my computer. I've used Google Drive for a while but now I am going full-on. It's electronic movies, that I've taken off DVDs, and music is the killer for otherwise, my life is quite empty But I was getting a lot of nagging as my 80 Gb was getting up to 80% full and so I've upgraded. There is nothing between 80 Gb and 2 Tb, so I've had to from from 80 odd percent full to about 4% full.

A bit annoying that there is nothing between 80 Gb and 2 Tb, but I am more annoyed by no longer being able to consider buying a new bike when I finally have the money to do so. The DVLA situation is too risky and I won't be dealing with reasonable people but vicious bastids there!

 

Good [point as I could of got a big USB drive. They can also go wrong. Google must back up to protect customers' Google Drives, but that is not my problem. Also with the Google Drive, I can get stuff off it, to my phone and tablet.

In theory, I could also get it on my iPad, but I have not used the iPad today and I feel better for it! I appose that I will have to face it again. as it was quite expensive. One day. Another Month. Another Year, Another Country. I may take it to Spain and leave it there.

 

You really want the long and boring story? Here goes (again):

In 2019, I was knocked off my Monster by a stupid prison warden leaving work, as I was riding home from my work.

I remember nothing of it ss I got a severe knock to my head. My brain bled and my brother used to have the x-ray on his phone for a good laugh. Odd thing was, that my Arai helmet, that was returned to me later, looked absolutely fine. It was binned and replaced, anyway. First I was taken to Southmead Hospital in North Bristol where they replaced my left hip and put in lots of metal in my left leg. At first, there was a nurse in my room in he high dependency ward all the time. At one stage, the doctors were worried about my leg and I was "nil-by-mouth" for twenty four hours in preparation to have my leg amputated. On the morning of the op, the surgeons changed their minds and I was allowed to keep my leg. As Southmead is the major trauma centre for the South-West, they like to keep as many beds as possible free, so as soon as they felt that there would be no more operations, I was transferred by ambulance to Gloucester Hospital. By then I was eating and drinking but could not get up so I still pissed in a bag! Them I was transferred again to The Vale Hospital in Dursley, as they had gyms and exercise equipment for me to use. That is where I learnt to walk again. This was about six months after the crash. The Vale was really good and we all used to eat together in a dining room cum lounge, where you could always go for a coffee. And the nurses always took pity on me having to stand up to use the coffee machine and so they would always make my coffee and bring it to the table. They really were lovely. The food was good there, as it was too small a place for a big kitchen, with about ten patients, so the food was delivered and heated up. It might of been Ocado and there were always spare meals as some people would not leave their rooms, and they were trying to build me up, so I often had two meals!

That is where I really started to use the equipment as nobody else seemed to do. I could do exercise cycling and there was a walking machine. The place had nice gardens and I was there in the Summer so I was allowed to wander around and sit in the garden,

As that hospital was quite close to my home, I assumed that my next stop would be home, but I wasn't allowed. I was sent to Wheatridge Court in Gloucester where you are supposed to prove that you can look after yourself by doing your own shopping, cooking and cleaning. There was a big ASDA next door where I could shop and they had a coffee shop as well, where I would go often.

Then I found it that it was ran by Gloucestershire County Council and you get about six weeks free and then you are billed about a thousand a month. It was OK but no way was I paying, so I get my brother to take me home.

Although my brother had become my "legal friend" because I was absolutely skint and it was not known if I would ever be able to get home, he had appointed a solicitor to fight my case. The other side's insurance company must of known that they were in the shit from day one. The driver always admitted fault and was prosecuted for driving without due care. All sort of shitty tricks were tried, like saying that I could not prove that it was me riding the bike at the time and that I must of been speeding. After the other driver was prosecuted (to which she pleaded guilty) the Police released all their reports to me. It said that I wasn't speeding and the Police thought that she was on her mobile as they pulled her phone records. As there were no other witnesses and so the exact time of the crash was not known and she even might of been the one to call the ambulance, the Police didn't pursue the phone thing but just driving without due care.

Although the Police never thought me at fault and nor did her driver, the DVLA didn't se it that way and banned me. I was meant to do a driving assessment but I read about it and you have to do a sight test. I had been set to Cheltenham Hospital many times about my left eye. They think that the optic nerve connection from my left eye to the brain had been compromised by all of the bleeding. After many trips there, they finally admitted that there is feck all that can be done! Not only did I fail a normal eye test at my local optician, I was told that I must not drive!

I've had enough now and you will get Part Two tomorrow!

 

So then there were months of doing the DVLA test at Specsavers. The DVLA enjoyed not telling you straight if you had passed or failed, but a few weeks later you would get another appointment letter from Specsavers. Eventually, I must of passed as they told me to show up at the driving assessment centre in Bristol. They take you out in their car with two other people and first of all they got pissy saying I was driving too slow. This was in suburban Bristol where it is all 20 mph limits, so I reacted badly. "It's a 20 mph for crying out loud! Let's go on the M4 then to test me not driving along at 15mph!". "Oh No we have not got the time for anything like that, nut we will go on the ring road." And after trying (and failing) to get me to drive past a "No Entry" sign, we went out on the ring road. I know this road really well as I take it to go to Riders of Bristol. It is all dual carriageway with 30,40,50, 60 and 70 mph limits, that I know well. It It's a favourite spot for wankers wanking in speed camera vans wobbling as the operator furiously pumps his tiny cock!

Anyway, they were doing roadworks (as in picking up a fallen leaf) so one side of the dual carriageway was shut, with everybody of the other side and temporary traffic lights, so it was just one ling queue where we were being overtaken by cyclists. They had closed the cycle lanes by the side of the road because these cants where feeling well mean!

By this point, I had totally lost interest and we went straight back to the Mean Bastid Assessment Centre! They said that they could not tell me if I had passed or failed as they needed to go and lie down in a darkened room, with a cold, wet towel on their forehead in order to think. I left and just thought of it as a waste of time.

Then some weeks later, a new driving license came in the post. No letter of explanation, but only a new driving license! Although it had become all about my ability to drive a car, all the motor cycle categories were on there and other stuff that I don't even know what it is!

So, after about 18 months after being knocked off in an accident that was not my fault, I finally got back the ability to ride a motorbike again! Odd how life works,

This was in 202o/21 and I got a license that runs until 2031. I never realised how much this pissed off the DVLA Medical Group, but it obviously has. If they ban me again then I will stay banned as there is no way that I am ever going through that shit again! Especially as you never know if that is the end of it, or tomorrow you will get another letter telling you that you must do this or that.

And also, this is why I will not spend out on another car or motorbike. I just will not risk it. A neighbour used to have a VW that, like all of the VWs that I have driven, was total shit and she had returned it. She has now got a BMW car that she reckons is really good. Ut is a 2015 3 litre diesel, If i was ever prepared to spend out again, I would look into getting a BMW. It has a heated steering wheel and heated seats and cruise control. I would look into a BMW car if I did not have this DVLA garbage hanging over me. I may never hear anything again, but I am 100% certain that buying anything with wheels will push them into action. Somehow, they must know. maybe there is a marker against my name.

 

They are just not clear on that. They asked me to make an appointment with a named Doctor at my local surgery and o I did. Then the surgery cancelled it as they had not heard anything from the DVLA, so did not know what it was for, why, and what to do with the outcome. If the DVLA tell you to make an appointment within so many days and you do, but they go back to sleep, what am I supposed to do? I have told the DVLA that the surgery cancelled the appointment because they had not heard anything from the DVLA medical group and . . . . . . . nothing.