Editor’s welcome
While standing in front of the fish stall at the market, the choice of what is in front of me is always mind- boggling – simply because everything (and by that I mean everything) appeals. My weekly journeys to see Mick (whose dad used to have a 650SS Norton, I’ve learned) are also like a learning process, as I ask “What’s that?” and “How would I cook that?” and thus end up, every week, coming home with all sorts of different things, while I’ve also picked up when cockles are fished, what areas the best mussels come from and that if the weather is bad, there’ll be no fresh crab, as the small boats that are used to harvest them can’t go out. Diversity and the acquisition of knowledge. It’s what, to me, so many things are about, including, of course motorcycling. Both our columnists touch on that subject this month, while also reflecting, in Roy Poynting’s case, on why certain things appeal to particular people, while Jerry Thurston talks of different mentors, and their influences. Mentors and peer pressure are big things, no doubt, regarding our choices in many parts of life, including motorcycling. The one make clubs, in particular are rife with people who have grown up in Velocette or Brough Superior circles, though – conversely – there’s always the man who rides a Norton, though his dad was BSA through and through. Actually, that analogy probably applies more to the man who rides a Yamaha, though his dad was BSA all the way… Marque loyalty and enthusiasm is also fascinating, as is why it comes about. Of course, the familial link is present there, but there’s also so many other reasons – I remember someone telling me of the disproportionally high number of Scott OC members with that surname, and I’m sure it’s the same for other makes too. Then there’s the ‘wanted one when I was young’ brigade, the ‘had one when I was a boy’ crew, and then the odder ones like ‘I was given it’ or ‘I found it.’ All these things are influences, which help inform and influence choice. But as with my dilemma at the fish stall, I face the same nice problem regards motorcycles. I like them all, and while l understand why people won’t eat a whelk or want to ride a hand change flat-tanker, personally I can find appeal in the lot. Hopefully, this issue will have something to satisfy all palates too.