rex615

And her husband Bob?

nigelme

Last call for Sunday - Hyde Park Serpentine Cafe 10 to 10:30

snafu21

Yes, I'll be there, despite petrol none-strike & water shortage. I burgled the local ambulance depot for petrol last night, (they only use it for driving around in circles with their sirens on) and have seventeen open jam-jars of the stuff on my kitchen stove. What can possibly go wrong?

Diode100

Yep, I'll be bringing my new zipped roll.

jefmcg

Have fun today, guys.

Looks like I won't be joining you until July (at least), so lots of pictures please. Oh, and it's a bit brisk today, so I think pies are in order.

snafu21

-= Ride Report =- 1/04/2012

The massed Presidents of the HPFBS gathered outside our usual venue today in Hyde Park, London, first to arrive was Captain Midnight (Dahon Vitesse Hubba Hubba) Captain Stage Fright ('Hello Kitty' Mezzo) and then Captain Moonlight (Dahon Jetscream). There was some moderate pie scoffing by yours truly then we set off for Fulham and Chelsea. I'll let the other Prezs tell the full story, but it was another glowing success for the HPFBS, with the best turn-out of the year. Well Done! The weather turned hot by lunchtime, too. There were few Dangerous Sports incidents to report: the bottle of water on the Mezzo detached itself going at a lick over a bridge and rolled under a bus, then the Mezzo tried to kill its occupant when riding through some sandy soil, the Kojak slick tyres being apparently unsuitable for downhill MTB-ing. A stiff note to Schwalbe is in order. Total distance: 11.9 miles, Max speed 17.2 mph.

Pic: Three members of the HPFBS loiter suspiciously outside Princess Di's old pad, their identities concealed to hide their shame:



Pic: Respects are paid at Brompton Cemetery:

Jiten

Oh Snafu, the eye blinds totally ruined the Captains' handsome faces. The one on the lady cracked me up, though.

snafu21

^^^^ Page 176 of the Society Handbook forbids me to identify individuals of this highly secretive organisation. It has no Facebook page, never Twitters, and has no 'members'. It does not even have a Society Handbook. Spooky, huh?

One of the regular attendees is rumoured to be (distantly) related to the Royal Family, so we are careful with our bona fides.

Jiten

But, but, but...we've already seen the handsome and pretty faces of the Society's regulars, with the exception of Snafu's (now THERE'S a mystery). The photos are floating in a thread here somewhere. Your Society is so secretive, though, that I have to go the roundabout way of matching face to folding bike to know which user name belongs to which face.

Diode100

We are only slightly more secretive than The Hole In The Wall Gang, but of course they didn't ride folders or have a gang tie.

Can someone please tell me (PM ?) instructions on how to upload nice snaps, like those above ?
Thanks !

snafu21

" with the exception of Snafu's (now THERE'S a mystery)."

I am pictured in the HPFBS library of mug shots somewhere on here, but even then, I am unsure myself if I exist or not. I lecture on philosophy, so am constantly bemused by the complexities of this.

The soc is at www.hpfbs.org

If you're in London on the 1st Sunday of the summer months, do come along to meet us. It helps to bring a bicycle, or at least steal one on-route. After a brief initiation ceremony involving 'pies' and 'tea', you will be granted President-ship after your first ride. Because we have no hierarchy, no membership, and no subs, it was long ago written that anyone 'joining' would be immediately elected President. We have about 20 of them now. No names, no pack-drill.

For Diode100: To upload unseemly pix to the fora, they must first be 'hosted'. You may thus first size them to about 1024x768 or so, then upload them to say: www.tinypic.com.

That will give you an [img] pic [/img] code you can paste directly into your message here. If you use tinypic, you don't first need an account there, but if you set one up, you may store your uploads to send them elsewhere, later. I think Flickr does much the same but Tinypic worked better on here for me.

Diode100

Suggestion No 1

Corkscrew Lane, south London
A secret corridor leads from south London into winding, empty country lanes and villages. Dropping from Crystal Palace to Elmers End and through West Wickham you arrive at Corkscrew Lane, and suddenly it's all woods, valleys and rolling fields. The lane takes you to the top of the North Downs and on a good day you can see 30 miles. You might touch 40 mph on the exhilarating drop to Westerham. Then it's the big cogs to climb the elegantly named Hogtrough Hill (15%), heading north through Cudham and the pretty Downe to Keston. Cutting left down the steep hill by the Norman church takes you past fields and stables until suddenly you arrive back at West Wickham. The last push up Anerley Hill is helped by the thought of a double espresso at Café Paradou on Crystal Palace Parade.

Haven't looked at the route on a map, so dont know how far it would be, sounds a fair ride though.

rex615

Picasa is an other option for hosting photos if you like things Google.

Jiten

Ah, I must have missed you in the photos because you change bikes often. Oh, a philosopher. That explains things...

Alas, London is not in my pootle itinerary anytime soon, so I will have to rely on the benevolent (when it comes to pies and tea) Society's photos, which hopefully include eyes. (Why does the spell checker think I misspelled pootle?) And I will have to find another excuse to steal a foldie and to be President of nobody.

Diode100

Jiten,

If you can post a photo of yourself with your folder in close proximity to a statue of Queen Victoria I think you will be a shoo in at the next HPFBS membership committee meeting.

You can expect to recieve a club tie soon after.

Jiten

Hmmm, Queen Victoria, that will be tough. I reckon the best chance of finding such statue would be in front of a palace, like the palace in the background of the lady in Snafu's photo (whom I don't really know, maybe because of the blindfold). The closest thing to a palace around here is the main post office downtown, and I don't recall seeing any statue in front of it. And I covet the pie (and tea) more than the tie.

snafu21

We could probably arrange for non-attending distant persons to have an affliate membership. £200 should cover it? You'd get a card at at Christmas, an authentic Certificate of Affiliation (suitable for framing) and permission to use our magnificent crest for tattoos or your headed hand-made personal note-paper. No other folding bicycle society based in Hyde Park can offer you this.

Jiten

I don't want a tattoo because I want to go bathe in an ons...wait, wait, wait! How did it come to this? I just like seeing your photos, I wasn't requesting membership. No offense, you all look lovely (except Snafu whom I haven't seen in a photo yet), but £200 would go a long way toward my next foldie. (Did I say my next foldie? I thought I talked myself out of that.)

snafu21

No, no. Don't spend the money on a folding bike. You'll just end up lonely, friend-less and bitter. One of our Presidents lives in San Francisco. We could hook you up with him. Oregon is just down the road, isn't it?

Jiten

Wow, you have Presidents everywhere, impressive. The Land of Tolls is not quite just down the road from where I am, even by plane. No chance of me pootling over there in a foldie.

Excuse the late reply, but I've been trying to find a statue of Queen Victoria.

jefmcg

Not a statue, but you could try here or here

snafu21

We also have a Prez in Vancouver if you fancy a trip to the Great White North. They have bacon there, too. Yum!

Diode100

Anyone up for a ride along a one mile tidal causeway off the essex coast ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Osea_Island_map.png

snafu21

It's a bit of a flog for me from Hampshireville, alas.

Why not investigate that midnight Dunwich Dynamo Joanie mentioned? It looks to be an hoot. If you don't stop cycling at Dunwich, you end up in Belgium.

No cycling here, bad weather and stormz has grounded 'Hello Kitty' for a week and more is forecast. Bah! I may have to emigrate somewhere warmer. Death Valley suddenly looks appealing.

Diode100

[QUOTE=snafu21;14132887]It's a bit of a flog for me from Hampshireville, alas.
QUOTE]

Ok, future posting on Osea Island will be under the pootle thread.
NB: It was apparently the film location for recently released The Woman in Black. I would have gone yesterday, but the tide tables conspired against me.

Still to decide : venue and route for Sunday 06-May-12


Dunwich has overtones of HP Lovecraft, but if you look at Google street view it's a bit of a one lampost town (did I just say town, maybe that should be hamlet ?), not even sure there is a pie shop.