July 2002

July Meeting

A rush home from the central belt, change from business suit to leathers, spin the 88ci mill to a throaty rumble and head to Oldmeldrum. A brisk run through the lush, green countryside, park up, get a pint and order some Moroccan Lamb casserole.

A great start to the meeting for me and I was quickly joined by the usual suspects, maybe a dozen there, a few missing as a posse prepared for this years tour to the Alps. What DID we talk about? The Ballater "doo" is all I remember but the evening went so fast, it's always like that for me with mates!

Politics

One of THE things I like about my bike and HOG is to get away from "office politics". However it can't always be escaped and the meeting in June was full of it. I really couldn't care one way or the other about a Chapter/Dealer tartan as I wear my own clan tartan but the Aviemore rally issue seems to be an emotive one. (Or is it, the majority of the meeting participants were quite muted).

I can see both sides of the argument and my comments below are simply a couple of thoughts on the situation. I have no axe to grind with the Clyde Valley members and would love them to remain involved as it reduces the chances of me having to help out.

Aviemore started as a "Dunedin" rally, right from when Alvins was sponsoring dealer. When there was no dealer sponsoring the chapter it remained a Dunedin event as far as I recall. The rally started before the Clyde Valley Chapter existed.

Now if West Coast Harley had been opened up by a competitor, with no link with the Edinburgh set up at the time, then I suspect West Coast Harley would NOT have been invited to have a stand. I believe this because from memory I can't recall any other bike parts or clothing stands when Alvins was the sponsor.

Now consider this; imagine you had been the person who had invested your money in Dunedin Harley-Davidson. Having invested a huge chunk of cash wouldn't you like to take the benefit of having the sole stand at your chapter's event? It seems logical they are after all operating a business and from a chapter point of view, I assume it is better to have a successful dealership to sponsor the chapter than to be left without one as we were.

The converse argument is that there have been close ties with the membership of Dunedin and Clyde Valley and long may that continue. I can also understand that Clyde Valley members who want to remain loyal to their dealer and therefore not assist in the running of Aviemore. To me ...the more stands the better as theres more chance of a bargain with extra competition! (Did I sound sincere there?)

I can see a couple of solutions. Firstly, the event could become a solely Dunedin event, all other chapters would of course be welcome. Clyde Valley could start their own event if they wish, why not, they are after all an independent chapter. Secondly HOG UK could step in and declare Aviemore a "Scottish" chapter rally and both dealers could have a stand along with other bike part and clothing retailers more like the Heart 'n Soul Rally. The second option would suit me just fine.

At the end of the day its kinda nice to be up in the North where we don't do committees, rank badges, speeches etc but just have our own sort of organised anarchy!

Ballater Nicht Oot

Speaking of organised anarchy, sometimes the least organised things can surprise you. "Why not go to Ballater the night before the July meeting "says I. A few e-mails later and a short ride saw a band of the North mob turn up at Ballater campsite to pitch up along with some evening visitors.

A few drinks at the site warmed us up so we head into the village to find somewhere willing to feed 16 leather clad geezers. After a couple of false starts we found an oasis which was The Monaltrie Hotel, a posh looking job which we fully expected to get chucked out of. Far from it, we were made more welcome than warmly welcomed thing. The hotel does not only a decent bar supper but also a Thai menu, which turned out to be superb http://www.monaltriehotel.co.uk if you're interested.

After a few drinks in the Monaltrie we headed for The Barrel Lounge which was fair loupin and when that closed we nipped through the house to the disco to show the Ballater "cheils" how to shoogle. I don't think I'm alone in saying the night was just great and we WILL do that again!!

Buchan Doric

For those of you have met some of the North members you may have wondered at some of the "Buchan Doric" language. As a Buchan loon by birth I have a fair knowledge of "Fredspeak" as it is sometimes known but my own Michelle is currently undergoing an education exercise from the Buchan fowk on some special words.

She has mastered the well known replacement of "wh" with an "f" as in fa (who), fit (what), far (where) and foo (How???) Unfortunately some other terms have fair dumfoonert her but she is working hard.

So a wee test for the southerners on the following words. Spelling may not be accurate but you try and find a Buchan dictionary with these words! Answers may appear next month.

Hummel Dodies

Foggietoddler

Knap Darrlachs (Pronounced Kinap Darrlachs)

Finally on this subject, I watched in Ballater as a tipsy John Milne asked a Spanish woman where her "Hame" was. Despite her excellent handling of english she asked John "what is Hame"?

"Far ye bide" replied John!

Monthly Meetings

The group meets on the first Wednesday of every Month except January at The Red Garth Hotel, Kirkbrae, Oldmeldrum at around 7.00pm Contact Fred Henderson at Tel 01466 751319 for details.