Another busy biking weekend

As you all know bikers are generally altruistic, whether they are club affiliated or not and this is certainly true of the bikers and clubs on the west coast where I live. This past Saturday we held our annual "Tin Run" and we are not the only club that does this, we stand outside local supermarkets and ask members of the public to donate an item of non-perishable food. We usually do this at the end of the month when people are more likely to have a little money.

This time we targeted four of the supermarkets; Pick 'n Pay at the Laguna Mall in Langebaan, at the Weskus Mall and the IPIC centre, Vredenburg and then the Spar in Saint Helena Bay, four members stood at each place from 09h00 until 13h00. Once we have finished the goods are handed over to the local chapter of the Round Table Association for distribution to those in need.

Heine, Gerda, Janet and I were at Spar

Frank, Adrie, Murray and Laureen at Ipic

Floors, one of the four at Weskus Mall

Roleyn and Antoinette at Laguna

It was a long time to be standing around, we found that a lot of people went into the shops after agreeing to bring us something but then rushed out avoiding eye contact, also we all agreed that the poorer segment of the community seemed to be the most generous!

We packed up at 13h00 and loaded the goods and headed for the storage facility, we will have a formal hand-over to the Round Table with a breakfast at a later date but my impression was that it was a better collection than last year.

That is a large quantity of food and it will certainly bring relief, as I said we are not the only club doing this, others will have their own collections on different dates. This was a great effort by the club members, it's not always easy to give up one's time for this sort of thing.

After that it was time for a bit of a get together for a drink and some lunch so we all met up at one of our favourite spots; Juffroushoogte just outside of the town.

It's always a good time when we have any sort of get together and this was no exception.

Gerrie and Frank

Meeulander patches

Good food as usual

Feeling proud

Many members went on from there to the Joker's party at the Phoenix pub but that's another story, I intended to go but by the time I got home I was feeling a bit lazy so I decided not to. At least Meeulanders were well represented.

Sunday dawned bright and clear, the day of our monthly breakfast run and some had suggested a visit to the "Fynbos Skou" at the agricultural grounds in Hopefield and as this is only about fifty km we decided that kickstands-up should be at 10h00 and not our usual 09h00 as the beer tent would only open at 11h00.

Fourteen of us headed out from Jufroushoogte on eight bikes followed by Floors in his car for the short ride and we parked our bikes on display in front of the pavillion, apparently we were supposed to get free entry for doing this but not all of the organisers or helpers were on the same page.

Meeulander "bloemetjies"

This huge machine impressed me

We wandered around for a little, there were a lot of home craft, food and flower related stalls as well as the usual plastic junk ones you always find. Our real interest was in the food and beer tent which we soon found and settled into.

Meanwhile the menfolk were busy with the braais, getting food ready for the lunch time rush and the smells coming from there were awakening my taste buds.

Gerrie grabbed an ice cream and Willie had a Creme soda, they were two of those who went to the Phoenix party the previous night and were obviously still feeling the effects!

Notice the chandeliers?

Hanging bunches of Fynbos.

The place gradually started getting busier as more folk arrived for the day, it was a pleasant atmosphere with a couple of muzos playing some quiet mellows, not over poweringly loud so you couldn't chat.

The food was good and reasonably priced, I had some fried calamari with "slap" chips, Sooi had a bowl of offal and I saw someone else with what looked like a big steak, good variety. It was good to support local enterprises and we had a pleasant afternoon.  Thereafter a nice ride home and a brief stop at Pirate's bar for an A.B.F. Once again a great day out and the weather is only going to get better. Click on the photos to see them full size.