Can anyone suggest anything to get this grin off my face!

[moko]

Who did you deal with at Te Waipounamu? John Rains?

We used to be the Auckland contact point for them.

More likely hired from NZ Motorcycle Rentals I guess?

Dealt with John and Rex via phone and e-mail to sort the hire out mate.Actually picked the bike up from their depot behind a tyre shop in Takapuna(?),is that where you work? young guy called Darren ran that end,my hire bike fell through and the free up-grade they offered wasn`t suitable.Quick phonecall to C/church and John O.k`d me having a BMW1100 uglybug for the price of an XT600.Got a small write-up going on Bob`s site(KB Newshound)pretty soon,good guys to deal with.Guys in the tyre shop were good as well,I had to wait for Darren when I took the bike back,tyre guy was busy but came across a few times for a chat and to make sure I didn`t need anything,gave me a couple of bike mags to look at e.t.c..When I was in there some Bike cop who seemed to think he was Mad Max was in getting new tyres on what we call a Pan-European,probably just a boring old ST1100 to you.Soon as Bob gets it up I`ll be mailing John to see if he wants a link up on his site,reckon I owe them that.

[moko]

Is it really that bad? I'm flying in in a couple of weeks...... Hows the weather?

Afraid so.London in general is a dirty,stinking shit-hole.wherever you are in England take a look downwards and you`ll see why Singapore banned chewing-gum.Coming back,even after only 3 weeks,was a major culture-shock for me.Kind of got used to going out for a drink at weekends without preparing to defend myself from un-provoked attack,clean streets,lack of vandalism and friendly people.Weather right now is very good for the time of year,supposedly some snow in places this weekend,where are you planning to go?There are nice parts of Britain,almost without exception well away from the big cities though.If you`re looking for other Kiwis you`ll find loads,Earls Court is a good place to start.Mind you I made a point of avoiding other Brits when I was in N.Z.,went 12000 miles to avoid the bleeders,the soccer shirt and pasty complexion is the giveaway.If you`re staying in London drop Bob a line,he lives in the East End somewhere,Ace cafe is worth a visit as well.Stonehenge should be quite good when it`s finished,typical Brit builders,2000 years and they havn`t got the roof on yet.

[MSTRS:Me]

'kin right, will get back a soon as I can.

PS just to cheer you up it is 3 above zero, wet and widy here.