Editorial
www.oldbikemart.co.uk
The clocks have gone forward, the garden is awash with daffodils, crocuses and the last of the snowdrops and finally, as Covid-19 restrictions are scheduled to ease, we do perhaps have reasons to be hopeful.
By now, many of you will have had your first vaccinations – and some of you your second – and for the first time in months will be looking forward to this year. Putting the news pages together this month has been a pleasure because I’ve finally be able to bring you details of events that are planning to go ahead rather than dire tidings of yet more cancellations.
We are far from out of the woods yet, but perhaps we can see a little sunshine peeking through the top boughs. Some shows are still being cancelled, such as the Bristol Classic Motorcycle Show and the Prescott Bike Show, but in all parts of the country organisers are preparing to welcome everyone back, whether for runs, one day shows or larger events.
Not one of us has been untouched by the pandemic. Some of you will have lost loved ones (we have lost a dear member of our own
OBM family) while others will have suffered illness. But, even if you have been lucky enough not to have been directly physically touched by coronavirus, you will have felt the effects by not being able to attend favourite shows, not meeting up with family or motorcycling pals or simply doing the things we love, like going out for a ride with no particular direction or destination.
To paraphrase the country song 'You never miss a real good thing until it says goodbye'. Few of us can have imagined that this time last year we would be facing interminable months of staying at home. That the summer wouldn’t be punctuated by ride outs to events or by pub lunches with mates. That would we finally get time in our sheds to work on all those projects. That time would stand still.
If anything, the last year has taught us one thing; that ‘carpe diem’, the old phrase we learned in school, has never been truer. Mind you, my garage still looks as untidy as ever and not everything runs, so I’m not too sure what happened there! But it has made me more determined than ever to attend as many events as possible and to support the clubs and organisers who are struggling.
Last year so many shows were already in the late process of being organised when the plug was pulled on social events. Advertising had been paid for, tickets printed and sold, services booked and bought, so many ‘hidden’ expenses that couldn’t be recouped.
Likewise, the traders and caterers who depend upon shows and autojumbles to sell their products were hit hard. We need to support them all. But, most of all, we need to get out and support events for the purely selfish reason that we enjoy them!
On a different note, I would like to thank everyone who has sent in their queries and stories for the Unearthed and Feedback pages. I am quietly amassing a collection of helpful folk to ensure we can answer your questions as Mike Worthington-Williams did for so long, even if now it will take a village to do what one man did. Please carry on sending in pieces for Unearthed and Feedback to me at OBMfeedback@gmail. com so we can make sure the pages continue.
Meanwhile, I will leave you with the words of the comedian and actor, the late Robin Williams: “Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’” Let’s do just that.