HERE’S A STRANGE THING….

Iran has launched   English language TV channels, that’s right, Iran….Reagan’s ”Axis of Evil” and Bush’s ”Hotbed of Muslim extremism”  are broadcasting English/American TV shows.

After a storm nudged the satellite dish last week I was flicking through my 999 channels, (996 being either Arabic, Turkish, Farsi or Mongolian) looking for my three English channels, BBC World, Al Jazeera English and Bloomberg Europe.

We used to have four English channels before, but CNN got banned, anyway as I was flicking through the 999 channels an episode of LOST suddenly came on the TV, in English!!

Both Linda and I starred loose jawed at the TV, we watched a whole episode of LOST before speaking, could it be true….English programmes….YES, Iran has launched two English channels, one news and current affairs, the other films and TV shows etc.

I think the new Iranian English channels are a counter to the BBC launching  new Arabic and Farsi channels in this part of the World, so if it’s a battle to win hearts and minds, well the Iranians have won mine, if they keep showing me English TV programmes!!

HERE COMES LUCY

Luceen has come to live here in Turkey with partner Mick, and part of her new life here is joining us on motorbike trips around Turkey….But first she has to learn to ride a motorbike. With most couples, self included, it’s almost impossible for one to teach the other anything without World War Three breaking out, hence I volunteered to teach Luceen and not Mick.

First was the safety drill, no sandals or flip-flops, sensible shoes or trainers…..and ”It hurts when you fall off…. so don’t fall off.”

Last years attempt at riding a scooter did not go well for either Lucy or the scooter, so I thought we should begin with the basic clutch/throttle and stop/start on soft ground, very soft ground.

Those of you who are regulars to this blog will recognise Lucy is riding  Montie, (Mondial MCT 250) at a little over 160KGs and 21 HP, it’s an ideal learner bike,  nicely balanced and very forgiving when you make mistakes.

All fears were soon abated, the scooter butcher of Dalaman turned out to be a natural on motorbikes, after an hour of   basic instruction on dirt tracks, it was on to the roads next.

We rode up and down the road,  practicing going up to 3rd gear and then down to 1st and stopping.

Next lesson will be up and down through all the gears, and then a short run out somewhere.

2009 MOTORCYCLE TOURING HIGHLIGHTS (Pt.6)

The final video, at long last, this  year I won’t take half as many photos….It’s been quite a year for touring!!

The 2009 motorbike touring season took us through these Countries : Turkey, Greece, Italy, Vatican City,  Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, France, England, Scotland, Spain, and Gibraltar.

Sightseeing in the following towns and cities: Paris, Pisa, Rome, Lucca, Siena, Barcelona, Gibraltar, Granada, Bolognia, Pula, Norwich, Richmond,  Verona, Split, Pebbles, Marbella, Nerja,  Zagreb, Vatican City,  Venice, Gallipoli, Troy,  Epheses, Kusadasi, Myra, Fethiye, Dalyan, and plus the others I’ve forgotten or can’t spell.

2009 MOTORCYCLE TOURING HIGHLIGHTS (Pt.5)

Part 5, of what was originally intended to be a trilogy, it’s so difficult to whittle down 4000 photos to just a couple of hundred for the videos……And yes, there is going to be a part 6 lol!!

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2009 MOTORCYCLE TOURING HIGHLIGHTS (Pt.4)

Part 4 of the never ending 2009 Motorcycle Touring Highlights.

2009 MOTORCYCLE TOURING HIGHLIGHTS (Pt.3)

Had another audio issue on Youtube today, so tried out Vimeo again.

2009 MOTORCYCLE TOURING HIGHLIGHTS (Part 2)

The second, (but not final) part of our 2009 motorbike touring highlights video.

2009 HIGHLIGHTS OF MOTORBIKE TOURING (Pt.1)

2009 was the best motorcycle touring year of my life, so far!!…….Over 20,000KM ridden through a dozen countries, taking almost 4,000 photos in total this year. I will spare you all from the four thousand photos, so here instead is my motorbike highlights from 2009.

A CHRISTMAS IN TURKEY

After another night of pre-Christmas feasting, mostly on chocolates, nuts, sausage rolls, cakes  and Turkish Delight, we both awoke with the distinct symptoms of  ”Bombay Belly.” Last night I chipped a back tooth while eating nuts, and this morning I put my back out just unplugging the TV lol.

Today being Christmas day, is by tradition the day you fall out with your relatives,  and over eat to the point of  severe stomach pain,  fortunately we are thousands of miles away from our relatives, plus I have a high pain threshold!!

Linda spent the whole day cooking or something, whilst I had the hard job of   loading programmes on to my computer. It was our turn to host Mick this year, Mick is a good dinner guest,  he never eats much, which then leaves more left-overs for me!!

After eating two and a half full Christmas dinners, a 30 minute time-out was called before serving desert, when in England two months ago, we loaded up on all the traditional Christmas goodies that we can’t get out here in Turkey.

We brought Christmas pudding and Mince pies back with us from the UK, delicious they were!!!……After four helpings of  pudding and mince pies, served with cream and custard, I had to retire in great pain to the settee, with a large box of chocolates for the traditional Christmas Dinner Nap!!

I love a traditional Christmas!!

POSTING VIDEO’S ON YOUTUBE – AARRRHH!!!

You say to yourself,

”I’ve made a nice little video here, I think I’ll put it on YouTube, so my friends can see.”

That one little sentence will be the beginning of  a  stressful and un-wakening nightmare, lasting weeks as you try to understand why your beautiful DVD quality, hand-made master piece, crafted with love and care looks so dreadful, once on YouTube.

You tell your friends, ”Honest, it plays like a DVD on my computer or the TV.” But nobody really believes you, the time now dawns where you tread the lonely path of the damned, in the hopeless search for FORMAT!!!

Like a junkie looking for a fix, you scour the web looking for FORMAT information, clues to solve the mystery……But, unfortunately FORMAT is not the whole picture (Pardon the pun!!) Bitrate,  (Mega Bytes per minute) is also a factor, the greater the Bitrate, the better the quality, but….the greater the file size, and not suitable for uploading to the internet, and I’ve not even mentioned resolution or aspect ratio  yet!!

The best compromise between file size and quality that I have found for YouTube is the MPEG2 format, after that the quality slides away and deteriorates like a newly elected politicians  promise. WMV and MPEG4 are not to bad, but all the other formats (About 30) look just dire once mashed up by YouTube.

Anyway, on a more successful note, I acquired some fancy editing software and re-made the Santa Ride video from last week. My new software has IMAGE STABILISATION, so now  vibration and bumps are  no longer of any concern as the software can transform any kidney bouncing motorbike ride, into a silky smooth glide.

Remember to press the HQ button.

Readers in Turkey go to:  PAGES-MY VIDEOS-click on VIMEO.