Off topic

Quite a broad remit, but here goes:

Descended from a mountain in northern Spain to find what tuned out to be a Dutch RE5 owner taking a close interest in my Interpol 2. He had never seen a Norton rotary in the flesh before. He asked if it was reliable. I said yes. I ased if his Suzuki was reliable. He said no.

A couple of years ago, returned to my Interpol 2 in a town in Brittany to find an Englishman admiring it. He said that he didn't realise they still made them. I told him they don't: it was made in 1986!

When I was 17 I gave a mate a lift on the back of my 99. A policeman decided to follow us. As my mate got off the bike, me still sitting at the controls, the policeman asked him "Excuse me sir, is this your bike?". He then directed his torch at the tank badge and asked me "Old Norton is it?". "Dunno", I said "I just stole it".

The previous winter, the mice ate all the rubber bits on my Ducati, but left the Nortons alone.

Funny old world, isn't it?

On the subject of mice. When my Jubilee Deluxe was off the road for 18 years stored in a shed at the back of my garage, the mice made a cosy nest in the empty tool tray under the seat.

With visions of the wiring loom being bitten to shreads, on examining the nest contents not one bit of the bike had been used, the mice had preferred to use the insulation material in an old hot water jacket insulating cover that was one of many items piled on top of the bike during its long sleep from 1977 to 1995.

Regards,