So, its been a while, so an update is definitley in order. After spending a really enjoyable and cold month in Berlin we headed to Amsterdam for a weekend. Those of you who know me well enough know that this is one of my favourite towns. the bikes, the wonky buildings and having lived there for a long time, the enjoyable feeling of being at home. We were there for a CJA meeting which covered what we wanted to get up to after the COP15 event, the meetings were productive, and it was great to see a different side to the city than i’d seen before. And to be honest, it was a bit of a social because we seemed to know quite a few people there and enjoyed catching up. In fact, there were 6 ‘bobs’ there, so that was a real bonus.
We stayed at a campsite in the east of the city, and having our bikes with us meant that we could get around cheaply and not feeling like tourists. Since i’d last been there the trams had gone up in price, so we were sorted. As i mentioned, i’d not been there in a while and was dissapointed to see some changes….such as no coffee shops sold beer anymore, and most of the clubs i frequented in the past were either closed or just plain rubbish. But i don’t want to paint a dull picture. It was good to be there, and had a great time.
After our brief weekend in the ‘dam, we got the ferry from Donkerque to Dover. We’ve had the van a year at this point and an MOT was due. We got back to london and were welcomed back by all our old friends and got to work on our projects and finished unfinished buisiness. We spent time in Hackney with p & r, and in brixton with c & s. And we got to hand around with another ‘super dog’, called scruffy.
One of the things that i wanted to do was to build a mobile sound system. When in copenhagen i was inspired by the work of filistine with his portable bike sound systems, and i wanted to build my own, but make it bad ass. Ben had collected some parts in tipping point, and we got to work putting them together, and the end result was the ‘dissident dreadnaught’. Its bad ass and it currently lives in mare street., and the DI crew are putting it to good use (see it in action). We painted it black and me, diddy, michael, james and bryn did up some stencils to turn it into a crazy terrahwak type of cube. Not many peopple get that reference, but if you do, then you’ll know just how cool it is.
Preparing the van for the MOT was a bugger. Me and G know funk all about engines so we concentrated on the body work, and my god did it need it. After filling up 4 holes in it, we found another 5. Thats perhaps an exageration, but it seemed like loads – including one right beneath the accelerator pedal. If we hadn’t fixed it then, i could have ‘put the foot down’, and literally put it through the hole and onto the ground. So, we fixed all that and went through all the other things we’re supposed to check and brought it to a place outside of gillingham to be tested. So, the dude started poking and prodding and eventually he takes me aside and says ‘i’m gonna have to fail you due to a rear light not working’. He hands me the failure slip, and before i had a chance to try and win him around by crying and wailing, he whips out a screwdriver and repairs the light and then passes it! Diamond.
London was great to visit again, but after 4 weeks there we felt it was high time to bust a groove. Rather than going all exotic, we headed back to Ireland.
Brian