Blue day but still silver lining about

It’s been one of those weeks.

I took my bike off road and crashed it into a river, flooding the engine with water. The downside is there is water in the engine and it’s a mission to get out. The upside is, I’ve now done it and have to learn how to fix it. Apex motorcycles in Hampton are my heroes and I’ll go there on Saturday to fix the problem gaining some of that desperately required hands on skill. www.motorworks.co.uk have also been really helpful as far as ordering parts go.

The downside to the whole problem is I discovered that after a proper BMW service record, the oil sump plug is far too tight for a person (or two) to take off by hand (with normal human strength). I also discovered that BMW is generally not helpful outside doing an annual scheduled service and I suspect you need to famous or part of a big marketing con to get any customer service. It is so hard to get information. I’ll probably never buy another BMW for this reason. I doubt BMW cares at all as the GS is the biggest selling bike worldwide and they don’t need little insignificant customers. They also clearly make their money on spares and servicing - the price we pay for a brand.

BMW is not for hands-on bikers.

Wherever I go I meet bikers who are pretty much always, wonderful people. I mean, I can’t think of a time I’ve met bikers and they weren’t great, helpful, kind people. There is this unspoken fellowship we share. Unfortunately BMW does not share this ethos.

The next bike I get will be a proper little off road bike that is completely easy to manage and no “black box” features. If I’m ever tempted to get a road bike, I fancy the latest Kawasaki (who has a new MD with a whole new customer focus and inspiration). I guess the GS makes a good compromise but it's irksome not knowing how to solve things.

I guess the cherry on top really is what transpired yesterday: it was a particularly bad day in my career, I’d say, the worst over my entire career. By midday I walked out of the office. I’m feeling really confused about what to do and if there is any way of making the best of the situation. I’ll have to try to muddle through. I’m so wishing we had left 1st week of October as we had planned because this would all have been avoided. Clearly, it's not worked out that way.

Well. I've not shot myself in the head nor run riot with a semi automatic weapon. Things can't be too bad.

When I was 18 I had a particularly annoying manager, who used to order me to make coffee in a particularly rude way, just to wind me up. To retaliate I used to add salt to his coffee. I knew it always tasted rank but he still demanded his f*ing coffees in his usual big prick way. So one day I spat in his coffee. He never asked for coffee again. I'm not sure why. It must have been the nicest tasting one I'd ever made (no salt) and presented with a smiley face.

As for this job - it just sucks and I can't imagine I'm ever going to have the satisfaction of getting things even.