The Triumph of eBay!

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After a long month of reading and shopping and searching through the classifieds and many other sources, I’ve bought a motorcycle! Not what I first started off at, but perhaps a better purchase overall. I’ve put money down on a project bike, a "parts bike" – a 1970 Triumph Trophy 500 – aka T100C. Its very much like the first Triumph I had in school … a bike I rode to Myrtle Beach one very long Labor Day weekend. The bike I’m getting needs a battery, paint, better tires and some finessing to get it running – but its a great start for a 33 year old bike (Manufactured date Feb 1970).
I have visions of cleaning it up and stripping it down like some of the leaned down bikes
on this site … – like a 500cc version of this one


A gorgeous 69 Trophy 500 I saw online (Click to see more)

Two-wheeled urges

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photo of my old 1973 Triumph 750 twin
click to enlarge

With all this rain we have had in the past month, the rare warm and sunny days have triggered memories of days long gone, days when I rode a British bike everywhere. Now in my riding days (70-76), Triumphs were still in production, and parts were almost available – there were 4 or 5 dealers in the Baltimore Washington area, and Triumph distribution was just north of Baltimore! Since those days, a lot has changed. BSA went out of business in 72, Triumph finally failed in the 80s (tho they’ve “come back” with new designs), and old British iron has become even rarer. So to humour my dreams, I’ve done a lot of web searches and – I’ve developed an interest in old thumpers – one of the big British singles. Something about those old BSA Victor Specials is appealing.
I’ve got a decent shed now to keep it out of the rain and snow, got the tools to manage it, I even have alternate transportation (the car) for the majority of my time, the bike would be for fun only … Now, all I need to do is find one somewhat locally. Or perhaps an older Triumph 500 or 750 twin of the early 70s – one with the shifter where it belongs! The picture above is my old Tiger 750 (single carb). After an unfortunate tussle with the side of a pickup truck, the original frame was tweaked and I located a ’67 650 frame to put it all in. I put on a lightweight rear fender, removed or trimmed the sidecovers, and even found an old aluminium BSA gas tank to save more weight. I kept the front chrome fender for looks … I sold it off to get into sports cars – as I couldn’t afford both … and was trying to “settle down”! Ah, who knew …

Link to read more about the older Triumph bikes

Mary Condren at WATER

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Tuesday after work Ginnie from church took Emma and I to Silver Spring for a meeting of WATER – the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Religion. They were featuring a guest speaker from Ireland, Mary Condren, Director of The Institute for Feminism and Religion in Ireland, Teacher at Trinity College, Dublin (Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies), and author of The Serpent And The Goddess: Women, Religion And Power In Celtic Ireland. She was a marvelous speaker who described her book as the story of the rise of patriarchal ideas in Ireland. She spoke of the early legends and myths of Bridget and talked about the changed perspective – from the idea of celebrating life to a celebration of the dead (from wombs to tombs). She used the term colonized a different way – a combination of conquered and co-opted. She was a fascinating speaker and I only wish I had known more of her before I heard her speak, tho her book has been reprinted and is available through Amazon. I’m hesitant to write more as any reduction of her words takes from the richness of tradition and ritual.

photo of Mary Condren at WATER in Silver Spring, MD May 12, 2003
Click to enlarge

For more information, please see Papers by Mary Condren and http://www.tallgirlshorts.net/marymary/marycondren.html

21st Century Schizoid PM?

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From the Diary of Robert Fripp … (May 7, 2003)

" …from the London Evening Standard, in the Londoner’s Diary column …
Tony Blair’s old friend and Ugly Rumours sidekick Mark Ellen told this morning’s Today programme that the PM gets away from it all by listening to a song by 1970s prog-rockers King Crimson called 21st Century Schizoid Man. It’s not the Londoner’s idea of rest and recuperation. A typical verse runs: “Blood rack barbed wire/Politician’s funeral pyre/Innocents raped with napalm fire/21st Century Schizoid Man” "

And speaking of Political leaders
from The Long Logweb
Some slumber parties get advertised all over the world.
Looks like the advertising for this one got a bit out of hand…

click to enlarge