WORDS: ROGER MORONEY
MORONEY READY FOR A CHILLY
MORNING COMMUTE…
A
GOOD ON YA…
few years back, whilst sifting through
piles of old magazines, programmes,
brochures, unfilled prescriptions and
general literary fodder (which one is inclined
to hang on to) I came across a weary old
British motoring magazine from around the
early ‘60s.
I don’t know where it had emerged from
although I suspect it may have once been
part of my late father’s collection of motoring
journals and the like. It was generally focused
on the four-wheeled side of motoring, but
there was one photo which caught my eye as
it focused on two wheels.
Two very cold wheels, for this dear old
black and white image had been shot during
the height of an English winter… and if you
reckon the chills of our winter efforts of
late have been a tad severe then you would
simply have no words for the chills which are
generated by an English off season.
I have only experienced it once, and that was
back in 1974 before I left that fine land at the
start of December after a marvellous OE of
wandering, exploring and crossing off public
houses.
While it was only the first week in December,
and the first official week of winter, it was
about 4°C and the air chill was like a dagger.
I’d never felt such sharp ice-like attacks like it.
But hey, you put on the jacket and kept your
hands in your pockets so all was well… sort of.
But back to the old picture I spotted in the
old car magazine.
It was a hardy (some may say mad) dedicated
motorcyclist standing beside his single
cylinder mount. I think it may have been a
Velocette but I’m not sure, because I went to
dig it out the other night and I can’t find it.
Typical.
So yep, this hardy old rider wearing a huge
coat down to his knees, and great boots and
a pair of gloves which appeared to have come
from one of Scott’s South Pole adventures.
And a great woolly scarf, as well as a very
sound and solid cap with those ear flap
things down the side.
I’m not absolutely sure what the caption read
but it was a jovial sort of “he must be nuts” type
of description. About how not even the most
severe icy roadways or frozen air or potential
rogue icebergs occupying the village pond would
dissuade him from getting on his motorbike
and heading off to get the shopping.
I was proud of the chap, who has most likely
long passed on as he was hardly a spring
chicken then.
For he was clearly a devoted rider, although
I daresay he may not have had the funds to
buy a car so the family transport probably
had to be a motorcycle.
Winter riding is always a challenge although
progress and evolution, on the fabric and
material manufacturing front, has meant