Lovely Autumn

If this is global warming, bring it on. I’m being flippant, of course, but after years of being bombarded with statistics but little evidence, we’ve finally had the warmest autumn ever. End of November and we still haven’t had a frost here in London; the skies have been blue and sunny and the temperature still manages to get into the mid-teens (centigrade) every day. Perfect biking weather or it would have been for me if I hadn’t already sent the Triumph off to deepest Wales for the engine modifications I mentioned in the last post. The garage has also suggested a sixth-gear modification, which evidently is quite easy on the Thunderbird, “just slip a sixth gear cog in, change the selector fork and it’s done” said Sandy, so I’m going for it. He’s also going to re-paint my mudguards; I was going to buy some shortened fibreglass ones and get them painted, but they probably wouldn’t have matched the tank......you can see where this is going, can’t you? Might as well get the front forks stripped and re-polished as they were looking a bit weathered, and I suppose I may as well get the seat recovered with some extra padding......

So I’ve found myself enjoying the warmest autumn ever without a bike. Over in Richmond Park, the deer are pretty confused by it all. Their mating season is usually September to mid-October, but the warm weather has encouraged them to keep going; the stags have pretty much shagged themselves to a standstill, they’re to be seen during the daytime lying around with their antlers resting on the ground, looking absolutely knackered. You can walk up close to them without their normal reaction of jumping up and running away; they just sort of look you in the eye, sigh and put their heads back down to sleep. Amazing! Plus we’ve also still got leaves on the trees, so we’re treated to some fine autumn colours instead of the usual bare-branched views of November. Can’t wait to see what Spring will be like, especially as the bike should be done by end of January – which is probably when Spring will start.

Plan B

Triumph update – bike didn’t sell on eBay, so implementation of Plan B has commenced - I’ve booked her in for engine overhaul and upgrade for more power, plus more shiny bits ordered.
I also realise that for a motorbike blog, there’s an awful amount of me moaning about ironing shirts, so I just thought I’d mention – growing up as a teenager in London in the early ‘60’s I adopted the latest fashion style as worn by ‘Mods’, that of the button-down collar shirt. At that time these shirts were only obtainable from Brooks Brothers at enormous expense, or cheaper rip-offs from Ben Sherman. Yes, I was that fashionable teenager in the swinging sixties. Fast forward on 40 years, and this sad old bastard is STILL wearing button-down collar shirts from Brooks Brothers at enormous expense. And you just can’t wear a button-down shirt that’s creased; I don’t know why, that’s just the rules. Of course, having been divorced a couple of times I’m actually a dab hand at ironing, but being of a certain generation I expect to be waited on hand-and-foot by my woman (yes you can blame my Mum for that).
So I promise never to mention the subject again. And I apologise in advance for any offence to the fairer sex.