​Last weekend, for the third year in a row, I attended the Rugby Bikefest. It turned out that this year’s event was the best so far. Previous outings resulted in blog posts and, in keeping with tradition (if three years is long enough to claim such a thing), so will this one. You can read the earlier write ups if you wish and I will try not to repeat myself too much (though it gets harder each time to find new angles to explore).

Bikefest 2015
Bikefest 2014

Year on year, the event has grown in terms of scope and attendance. In 2016 a greater proportion of the town centre was used for hosting purposes, more bands played on more music stages, there were a larger number of concessions, more shops were open and, in addition to motorbikes, the organisers allowed in some hot rods and military vehicles.

On Sunday 22nd May I got to Rugby at around 9:30am to ensure that I was able to observe the mass ride in – due around 10am. I took up station at Sheep Street with my camera. One of the first vehicles to arrive was a trike with the Mayor, Sally Bragg, on the back of it. She further proved that she was a good sport later…

…by having a go on the wheelie machine, which was situated outside the Town Hall (see photo). 

By 10:30 the town centre was rammed with people and vehicles and there was a palpable sense of excitement and occasion. As in previous years, I wandered around taking photos of machines I thought were cool – a selection of my favourites shared for your enjoyment.

By 12:00pm I was about to leave when I was advised that a chapter from the Outlaws Motorcycle Club was due to arrive in Old Market Place. I decided to hang around for that because I expected the arrival to be dramatic…

…and it met with expectations.

At about 12:30pm, the bikers arrived en masse, noisily and like a black, leather clad, back-patched cavalry. The riders swarmed into the square and formed up in quick order. I was taking photos when a goatee-bearded, stocky fellow in shades leant up close and in a gruff voice said “no number plates”.

I thought his approach was quite good because he wasn’t aggressive, just firm – he gave the kind of instruction that was clear wasn’t going to be the subject of a debate.

I suspect that there is a hierarchy in the Outlaws MC, and that he had a position of authority. I don’t know if this evidences status in a ride in, but this chap was one of the first into the Old Market Place.

Anyway – of the Outlaws related images – no number plates are shared.

I was pleased that I’d waited around but once the photos were taken, it was time to go.

And that sentiment brings this post to a close too.

​My thanks go to the organisers for putting on another great event.

I have spent some time thinking about how the festival could be improved upon for next year – because the bar has only moved upwards so far. Here are my thoughts:
​

• I wonder if Bikefest will evolve into a Rugby Transport Festival. Having the hot rods present was a good call in my opinion. Earmarking an area of town for special cars would attract a broader audience.
• Maybe an area could be set aside for some moving motorcycle displays/stunts
• Maybe some motorcycling celebrities could be invited – think Guy Martin or Charlie Boorman 
• Maybe a motorcycle auction could be held in town for bike sellers to find buyers

Or maybe there’s no need to change the format at all. It worked, it was fun and it was doable in the timescale for setting up and packing down. I certainly left well pleased.

The Daventry equivalent of Bikefest is scheduled for 11th June. I’ll be going, maybe I’ll see you there.

Click on any image below to enlarge it.

Over the last few weeks, I have watched all three episodes of the series “All Man”, on Channel 4. The programmes featured Grayson Perry and his quest to understand masculinity/machismo and then create art to represent it.

​Which I’ll admit beforehand, I thought was a bit weird. Grayson Perry, with his pantomime dame type cross-dressing and childlike make-up, is well known, more than a bit odd and the most unlikely of characters to investigate alpha male behaviour.

In terms of art, beforehand, I had only seen his pink Harley Davidson in the British Museum and, to be frank, I thought it was horrible. If you haven’t seen it, imagine a bike that would suit Mr Blobby and you won’t go too far wrong – a terrible thing to do to a Harley!

I once watched an episode of “Have I Got News For You” when Perry was a panel member (in drag) and I struggled to take him seriously.

In making “All Man”, Perry engaged with northern cage fighters, then went on to meet with some Skelmersdale scallies and finally some city hotshots.

​Some of the characters he engaged with were grievous sorts, those that thought that masculinity was best evidenced by fighting and hurting other people, or protecting their side of the council estate with knives. To his credit, Perry managed to have decent dialogues with some intellectually/behaviourally challenged individuals – he showed he has a non-threatening but probing interviewing approach (that reminded me of Louis Theroux) that got the best out of his interviewees.

And those filmed were not alone in warming to Perry. Without his OTT make-up and bonkers costumes, I found that I warmed to him too; he came over as bright, articulate, interesting and talented. His process of distilling observations into artworks was fascinating and the work produced was on the money. And that brings me to the city.

The last episode, aired on 19th May, featured city hot shots. Of all the groups, this was the one I struggled with the most, which surprised me. To be honest, I have no intellectual reference points for cage fighters or Skelmersdale gang members, but I thought I might identify more with the city types. However, seeing/listening to these egotistical blokes that thought they were important and that their opinions mattered because they were educated, wealthy and wore smart clothes, just made me cross.

Grayson may have had a similar opinion because his art to represent this group included a big cock and a nasty looking mutant animal. Absolutely bang on in my opinion. Funnily enough the city boys didn’t seem to appreciate his efforts.

I couldn’t watch the series without reflecting on my own maleness. My conclusion is that I am far removed from the alpha male stereotype and am thankful for it (though I’ll accept that there are those out there that think I am a bit of a cock).

Do you ever judge people on the basis of whether or not you’d be prepared to share a beer or a coffee with them?

Well the only individual from the “All Man” experience that I’d have been prepared to spend time with was, and unexpectedly I might add, Grayson Perry. Bearing in mind I was rather suspicious of him at the outset, I found my change of heart interesting. But then Perry has a wife and kids and, when not dressed up like a transvestite, comes across as a normal, decent kind of a chap. A beer with him would be entertaining me thinks.

If you missed All Man, why not catch up on 4OD, I’d recommend it. 

Blog Home
Blog Library
Home

Over last weekend, I finished reading an excellent book by Mark Willacy, an Australian journalist. I thought I would write a quick review and make a recommendation that you seek it out too if you are interested in nuclear power and the politics and dangers around it.

The book entitled “Fukushima” is a piece of investigative journalism around the Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Willacy interviews survivors who lost loved ones, people that worked at the nuclear plant before, during and after the reactor meltdowns, scientists and even leading politicians of the time. The story that is told is poignant, important, worrying and ultimately depressing – whilst the earthquake and subsequent tsunami were unavoidable, the resultant nuclear disaster could have been much less significant.

Willacy lays bare the collusion between the Japanese government, the nuclear industry and the nuclear regulators that resulted in commercial considerations being put before matters of safety. The cataclysmic tsunami had been researched and predicted by the scientific community but the nuclear industry trashed the findings and then didn’t act on any of the recommendations for safety improvements.

At the time of the meltdowns, the reactions of the Fukushima plant owners were inadequate, information wasn’t shared in the way it should have been and innocent citizens were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.

The plant managers, admittedly under massive pressure and acting without full information, made some bad decisions that made some things worse.

After the events, colluding parties tried to hold back essential information because of fears of causing public panic or galvanising legal action from those affected.

Since 2011, a variety of rules with regards to safe levels of radiation exposure for Japanese citizens have been revised upwards so that the true impacts of the disaster seem less worrying.

I have written about Fukushima before - http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/fukushima-the-stuff-of-nightmares - have a read of the post to save me repeating some of my earlier comments.

The financial and moral/ethical corruption that Willacy exposes in Japan should bother you because the issues could so easily affect the UK too. If the Chinese (CGN) and the French (EDF) decide to go ahead with Hinkley Point C, then what’s to say that corners wouldn’t be cut all over the place in the quest to make money. Our government has already had to agree to future electricity price fixing in order for the consortium to get as far as it has with its deliberations to invest or not. And I’d bet my own hard-earned-cash that whatever project costs the stakeholders anticipate will be under-called; and the need to make a profit will be even more of a driver.

In Japan, the general public was brainwashed for decades that nuclear power was safe. And I guess it is…

…until it isn’t.  

And it’s the “isn’t” that needs plenty of thought.

On top of the fallibility of the management/workers, there is the short-termism of global stock markets, then there is the power of Mother Nature to contend with, and of course there’s terrorism or war.  If the catastrophe in
Fukushima had escalated (more meltdowns, hydrogen explosions – and there was significant risk of both) then Japan could have ceased to function as a country.

On a separate but related matter, I watched Paul Merton’s “Secret Stations” a week or two ago. He visited Drigg Station, Cumbria. That request stop station is associated with the nuclear industry in the UK. Merton was taken around a low level nuclear waste storage facility (serving Sellafield) and when I saw the scale of the site and the number of shipping containers of waste, I was unnerved.

The reason for digressing is that the risks associated with nuclear power are broad; for us in the UK, Cumbria experiences seismic activity quite regularly. Whilst the UK is not in the “ring of fire” something could just as easily occur in our backyard.  And it might not even start with a reactor failure, it could start with a failing in what amounts to a storage yard.

Willacy’s book is well worth a read, it is carefully, and cleverly, written so that the science, nuclear physics and political contents are wrapped around true stories of human suffering and incredible endeavour. It’s moving, it will make you sad, it will make you angry and it will make you shake your head in disbelief.

My last point was going to be – go and buy yourself a copy – but a quick Amazon search has proved that might not be so easy – unless you have a Kindle.

The book is published by Pan Macmillan Australia and isn’t available as a hardcopy from Amazon UK. My copy has an Aussie RRP of A$32.99 so there is clearly a story surrounding how it ended up in the Newport Pagnell charity shop where I bought it…for 75p. Mine is signed by the author and has a dedication “To Dad, …love from Lulu”.

And the message is kind of appropriate because the next person that will read this book will be my dad.

Blog Home
Blog Library
Home

Do you get frustrated by unsolicited phone calls to your home? Well I do and, as a result, my home telephone number is registered on the Telephone Preference Service.

One organisation though hasn’t stopped calling despite me asking to be removed from its database/s numerous times.

The reason that TNS feels it is okay to continue to call my home is that it isn’t trying to sell me anything, it just wants to conduct some research instead.

To be frank, I have been quite firm in previous altercations and last night I was so assertive that the rudeness line was probably crossed. The “researcher” was just doing his job I suppose, but at gone 8pm, I had only been sat on my sofa for about ten minutes (having got in from work after 7pm) and I was less than prepared to be distracted from my wife and children by some random caller. He got both barrels.
​
As my previous requests to be left alone have been ignored, I suspect that last night’s opt out demands will also not be recorded on the necessary database/s. But far from accepting this fate, I am taking the fight back to TNS.

​TNS, I will never respond to a single survey request you make. You might as well save your/your clients’ phone bills.

I will use my website to lambast your organisation every time you contact my home and I will encourage my readers and social media connections to share my experiences (or their own) with others that they know.

And TNS, if you want to respond to this post, don’t call – you are welcome to contact me via my website.  I may publish your correspondence.

​Blog Home
Blog Library
Home