Bikers take care of their own, a heart warming display of generosity

I have written of late about biker generosity, well another example of the way that bikers here take care of their own was exemplified just recently.

Two members of the Meeulanders motorcycle club have had more than their share of bad luck when Stefanie became ill last year, she has had fingers removed from both hands due to gangrene and this year her condition worsened to the extent that she needed an oxygen machine. To make matters worse, her husband Henrico was recently involved in a motorbike accident that resulted in a broken hip and an injured knee. This put his own business under severe pressure with him being laid up.

The Meeulanders sprang into action and started a fund to assist financially and as I wrote in my last entry this resulted in us raising the amazing amount of over R6,000 in a very short time, this in spite of the other charity work that we have also been doing at the "Cool Kidz" home in Lambert's Bay.

The local chapter of the Gypsy Jokers under the President Eduardo and his lady Anna, of whom I have already written also started a fund and also within a very short time raised the amazing amount of over R13,000 to purchase the much needed oxygen machine which they presented on Tuesday.

Anna informed me that the Capetown and Johannesburg chapters of the Gypsy Jokers got involved and that donations were received from all over, and not only from local bikers but from members of the public too, most of whom did not even know Stefanie.

Now the fund continues for medical expenses. Words fail me, words are not enough to express the way that I feel about bikers and especially about unassuming people like Anna and Eduardo and all of the bikers who do things like this from the goodness of their hearts.

Have I already told you that I'm proud to be a biker?

Uncle Frank's birthday celebration at the Phoenix bar

On Saturday everyone's favourite Uncle, Frank Galienne, my old rally buddy turned 77 years young and bikers gathered to help him celebrate. Although he doesn't ride anymore he is still a big part of our club and still regularly attends local "dayjols" and breakfast runs.

I've known Frank for over 17 years now and we've ridden many, many miles together. We attended many local rallies together where we traditionally partied through the Friday night, often still standing at sunrise the next day. It got to the stage where, if one went to a rally without the other we had to face the oft repeated question; ~ "Where's your buddy? You two are always together."~

Club members catered for the occasion with Kathy doing very popular pancakes, Malcolm and Elize did a local favourite; boerewors rolls and Janet fried chips. The funds raised from the sales went into our benevolent fund for one of our brothers who was injured in an accident. 

That same evening we raffled a picture, done with wood-burning and painting by our own Murray Harris, which he donated to the fund.

On the left is Filip a member of the Gypsy Jokers, who won the picture - he promptly sold it and donated the money back to our benevolent fund! Bikers are amazing people!

In the meantime Uncle Frank was enjoying the attention of all of the well-wishers, especially the ladies! He got lots of kisses that evening.

Throughout the evening there was a good crowd of revelers, with many more coming in for a drink, a quick chat with Frank and going again and the party raged on as biker parties always do.

I didn't stay until the end, I'm not sure what time it was when we left, but Frank did stay until the end, "Last man standing", he normally has to be politely told to leave - as in "Frank, you must fuck off now!"

I'm confident that Uncle Frank is going to be around for many years to come, not sure what we could do without him, he has become such a feature of local biking and a counselor to many a young biker.

We play pool at the Phoenix bar every Friday afternoon and he comes to our house for dinner once a week, the bikers will continue to take care of Uncle Frank.

Another bike trip in a cage, for a good cause

Saturday dawned clear and calm, a sunny day in the middle of winter and I would have to do another bike trip by car! I had been forwarded an email by a friend concerning a children's foster care home in Lambert's Bay, according to the letter it was a serious need for assistance. I put it to the club and the members sprang into action.

We already had quite a large collection of new blankets and some toiletries donated by club members  which we could give and when I discussed this at the Phoenix bar even the non-biking patrons joined in with cash donations, another offered help with the lady's car which was in need of repair/service which she couldn't afford.

We met at the BP garage in Vredenburg, those that could would ride along and we were to meet up with Daan and Bev who had already gone to a rally in Lambert's Bay.

 I had quite a load in my bakkie and then Johan (Cactus Jack) arrived with a whole lot more bulk foodstuffs, he was working so couldn't go with, good man.

Only two bikes on the run, Willie and Sampie and Kathy. Adrie and Stefanie arrived with their bakkie, we could also have gone by bike had I known they were coming, ah well too late now, we set off.

It was a pleasant drive, I envied the guys on their bikes though. As usual the road to Eland's Bay is in a very bad condition, lots of potholes caused by the large number of heavy vehicles using the road, one must take care along there but I was, on the other hand very impressed with the new tar stretch that approaches Lambert's Bay from the south, this always used to be a rather bad dirt road, this has cut the traveling time to Lambert's Bay by a lot. I look forward to riding my bike there next time.

We found the "Cool Kidz" place of safety easily enough and met the ladies involved. Tanya introduced us to the children currently in their care and gave us a run down of the difficulties they face on a daily basis.

 Tanya is a very caring and passionate lady and quite obviously loves the children in her care, she told us that children can be brought to her at any time of the day or night, usually by the police, and they are always children with dire problems, often related to parents abuse of alcohol or drugs. Over the years she has cared for as many as 64 children and was moved to tears when telling us of some of those she cared for. Some of our group were also tearing up, not me though, I'm a big tough biker! (he said, surreptitiously wiping a tear.)

Both of the lovely children in this picture, who's identities we were asked to protect, were suffering from serious health problems. Now these ladies have been told that the small home that they have been renting is needed from November and they have to find another, that is not so easy in a small town like Lambert's Bay.

It's hard to comprehend how wonderful people like this battle on, providing loving care for children with health or mental issues, at the expense of their own private lives. In fact they have no private lives, Tanya shares her bedroom with two of the children!

We handed over our collection of new blankets, bulk foodstuffs, toiletries, detergents and a small amount of cash which seemed inadequate given the circumstances but for which the ladies were extremely grateful. I am confident that Tanya and the "Cool Kidz" place of safety will become one of our regular beneficiaries from now on.

 We went to "Isabella's" restaurant for lunch, Adrie took Tanya's young biological son, who also lives with them, along. I had a lovely fresh "Hottentot" fish, I was so hungry that I forgot to take a photo but I will have to have it again, it was delicious. 

Isabella's is a very popular restaurant in Lambert's Bay, situated right on the edge of the picturesque harbour it is frequented often by bikers and because there was a rally nearby there were a lot of bikes parked outside.

Homeward bound, it had been a lovely day, a "feel good" day and as usual the bikers had given freely. I continue to be amazed and proud of the way bikers give to charity, you've heard me say this before and you'll hear me again; no other group, club or society gives to those in need like bikers do.

I'm proud to be a biker and I'm proud of the club.

Breakfast run by car, at least we got together!

Sunday 1st July was our regular breakfast run day and the forecast was bleak; strong wind, low temperature and rain. I pride myself on the fact that I am a biker and if you ride a bike you are going to get caught in the rain out on the open road, this has happened often and we take it in our stride but to cold-bloodedly set off in the morning in pouring rain? Sometimes not necessary and Janet made it clear; "If you're going to breakfast on the bike I'm not going with you."

This became my excuse for "caging it" and I was glad of it. We had discussed the run at the previous weeks club meeting and most had said that they would go by car, we thus decided to meet at Juffroshoogte and have breakfast there.

Eighteen of us met at 10h00 and three were on bikes; Willie, Daan and Bev., they made me feel a bit guilty but as far as I'm concerned, guilt is a wasted emotion and it didn't take long at all for that feeling to pass, especially when I looked through the window at the rain lashing down.

The restaurant bar was not open when we got there but Johan had our "tea" so we decided to have it there, this is a breakfast run tradition.

Gerda pours the warming libation

Bev serves while the bikers queue

I got a "slap on the wrist" from the management for this, not allowed to bring your drinks into the restaurant before bar time but we spent over R4,000 there, I don't think they were too worried about it, however duly noted.

We spent a good couple of hours there and it turned into a very pleasant get together, some opted for breakfast while others like us waited until 11h00 to order from the lunch menu and to have a drink when the bar opened.

Elsje and Daan

Uncle Frank taking orders?

They organised a long table for all of us and the conversation ebbed and flowed, the drinks were good, the food was good value and the company was of the best.

Bev took the camera to get a photo of Janet and myself, I always take photos but hardly ever appear in any unless Gerrie is with us but he wasn't able to come this time.

This is the "Moerse Burger" (Moerse being a colloquial term for very big, which it certainly is) and it is a delicious bargain at R95 - I haven't had it for quite a long time and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The restaurant certainly got busy over the lunch period, it is a popular place and if you haven't been yet I have no hesitation in recommending it to you.

By the time we had all finished the rain had abated and I think the three on bikes had a fairly pleasant ride home. Thanks guys and girls!

It looks like we'll be taking a trip through to Lambert's Bay the coming weekend, the Dragon Fly rally is being held there and we have found a beneficiary for our blankets, I'll tell you all about it.

Winter hits us hard but doesn't stop the potjiekos competition

Winter is upon us! There has not been much for me to report on this past month, as I sit here shivering at my keyboard the thermometer shows me that the temperature inside my house is 11 Celsius. There is positive news though; we have winter rainfall and over the past couple of weeks we have had excellent rains, dam levels are rising and the Theewaterskloof dam, from where Capetown gets most of its water has had copious inflows. The drought is not broken though, western cape residents will still have to use water sparingly but according to reports the water usage over the past registered period has been the lowest on record, showing that people are being serious about conservation.

We have been doing our bit to save water, as have all of the people with whom we are associated, we catch the water from the washing machine to use for washing the floors and flushing toilets. We shower over buckets, running the water for a short while then turn it off to lather up and then turning it back on to rinse off etc. I don't wash my bike as often as I used to, and then only with grey water from the washing machine. These can easily become lifestyle habits and when friends visit they are used to these measures in their own homes so it is no inconvenience.

Snow has fallen over the mountains in the western cape and it has been extensive; I read that the Swartberg, Theronsberg and Gydo passes have been closed to traffic, Chapman's Peak drive between Hout Bay and Kommetjie is closed due to strong winds, mud slides and debris and there is thick snow on the N1 at the Hex River Pass, at Montagu and the Hemel en Aarde valley near Hermanus. Happily when all of this melts it will run into the dams as well.

As good as this news is, there is an adverse side and that is to motorcycling; it does tend to put a bit of a dampener (if you'll pardon the pun) on our enjoyment. Last Saturday the West Coast Motorcycle Association (WMA) sponsored a fund raising "Potjiekos" competiton (pronounced "Poy-key-kos" literally meaning "Pot food") at the Phoenix bar. I think there were six teams entered including Sampie and Kathy representing the Meeulanders. It was a cold, blustery and intermittently wet day, but it was a day of fun and camaraderie which was attended by a larger than expected crowd and there were more cages parked outside than there were bikes.

When I arrived I tried to park my cage surreptitiously far from the door but I got the message from Alex, there weren't many bikes there anyway. 

One group of hardy bikers from Capetown group had decided to do their pot the traditional way, with fire outside;

 The others, including our own, had elected to use gas inside one of the large storerooms and I must say that the aroma of food inside that store was mouthwatering!

self, Daan and Willie

Sampie shows his pot to the judges

Apart from the bar, which was doing a roaring trade, the storeroom became a bit of a gathering place where we all chatted and drank and waited for the judging so that we could buy some food.

Frank chats with Kathy

Delicious mild curry beef and rice

We wandered over to the bar for the prize giving and although our team did not win a prize they did a great job, I suppose it is very difficult to choose the winners when everyone involved is good at doing potjies, after all it is a South African favourite - especially in winter.

Etienne serves up Mutton and Bean pot

Undaunted Club came second

The Nimrods Club from Yzerfontein came first, very well done guys and good of them to travel up in lousy weather, as with those who came up from Capetown - biking is strong in the western cape.

Point a camera at the Gypsy Jokers!

Willie with Mohicans Pres. Alex

The party carried on in the bar, it had been a really good day and a success I'm sure, I certainly did not expect so many people in such bad weather. It just goes to show what dedicated and hardy people bikers are, and when there's a party not much will keep them away.

Our favourite, the Phoenix bar

Everyone's Uncle Frank and Murray.

and our favourite barmaid, lovely Maryke.

Thanks to Sampie and Kathy for representing the Meeulanders.

Sunday was to be our club breakfast run and the bad weather continued - next up, stay with me.