On Sunday the
9th October, the wife and I attended Brightona, an event on Madiera
Drive in Brighton in aid of charity and featuring some custom bikes
and a few yank motors, stalls and of course a couple of stages where
bands were playing, it was a good relaxing day out, aside from when I
realized I hadn't turned the heated grips off after an hour of being
there, and knowing the triple needs a decent amperage to get it
turned over and fired, I powerwalk back to the bike and find it all
roses, phew.
As we came up
the on ramp to join the A27, were found ourselves on the tail end of
maybe a couple of hundred bikes, riding en mass. Whether they
were all together or several little groups doesn't matter, it's
moments like that I remember why I ride bikes, that and being waved
at by other bikers who have stopped in laybys to wait for friends
etc.
There was one
guy, riding a trike, with his family on the back. He was of a
back patch orientation, but he also only had one arm, and controlled
the bike via joystick. This guy has lost an arm and hasn't
jacked it in. This too makes me proud to be part of
motorcycling, I don't need to copy and paste a facebook status to
prove that. I've been a motorcyclist all my adult life and I've
been lucky to learn a few things and meet a few people and make a few
friends in that time, but, like most scenes or hobbies, it has to be
said, it can be quite cliquey and has it's fair share of pretenders.
I'm not saying that once you start biking you can't jack it in,
or you can't start later on in life, but I've seen people come in to
it all a bluster, talk the talk for a couple of years, then leave
again, never to seen by anyone ever again, they are not bikers in my
eyes, they are pretenders. I'd like to think that for most of us,
once it's in there, inside of you, it isn't going away.
I
spoke to an old friend about this some years ago, you find them all
the time, they've probably got bored of squash or golf and need
something new they can do with their office chums. "oh yeah
that marquez is shit hot, I went to bobs bikes last night cos Leon
Haslam was there opening signed envelopes and there was a (insert
current exotic bike name here) in the carpark". That's
nice, ever heard of Mick Doohan? No? Then fuck off. It's like they started watching a film halfway through and switched it off 20
minutes before the end, and not bothered to find out what happened
at the start or the end. Then having the nerve to say it was a
brilliant film. I'm being harsh there as you don't have to
follow racing to be in to bikes, I doubt back patch clubs give a toss
if Hutchy wins the 2nd supersport race, t'was merely an example of
how I see things sometimes.
I'm
ranting now.
Which brings
me nicely to the aforementioned social media site. Some of you
may know I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. It's
handy as it genuinely helps with keeping in touch with people one may
have lost contact with for whatever reason. For example, we met
a guy in Brighton I used to work with, we used to chat about bikes at
work, and as it happens, we still do. If it wasn't for fb, he
wouldn't have messaged me his number, and we wouldn't have happily
hung out together for a couple of hours and had lunch. That is what
I'd consider a friend. Saw a number of other people I knew, but
they weren't much interested in hanging out or catching up, but
that's exactly who they come across as, just people I know, with whom I share a
common interest. I might have met them at a local bike meeting
place, or through another friend, or even through another hobby,
there's no need to ignore them or be rude, that's not on, I'm always
friendly and civil, but they're not actual friends, and that's what I
hate about facebook. It misleads you into thinking you have more
friends than you actually do. I see, on a personal basis, maybe
about 5% of the people on my list, they have been to my house and
drunk my tea and sat in my lounge or whatever. Some of them can't
though whether it be distance, restraining orders, court injunctions
or whatever, and that's fine. Some people are there because you
might be in a group, or club, or there's an exchange of some
capacity, or they're a fan (haha)
So too are
friends who are far away but you still see them during your chosen
hobby. One dude I race RC with lives nowhere near, but has been more
then helpful during race days, and we've shared a laugh, I would
consider him a friend. Sure, not everyone gets on with everyone
else, life isn't like that, so someone you think could be a friend,
just turns out to be someone you know instead.
You know what
I'd like? I'd like a text on my phone, like the old days:
"working in garage, I need a hand, I'll get kettle on, can you
spare an hour or so". I'd be round there, helping a
friend, having a laugh and inventing memories. Much preferable
to my phone going off with an fb notification: joe bloggs tagged you
and 6 others in 4 photos. Are they likely to come round for a
brew and hang out in the workshop? Are they fuck, and am I likely to
care or remember in 5 years time that I was tagged in 4 photos?
Frankly, there's more chance of an arm growing out of my arse.
I mean, what would you rather hear? “Do you remember that time
Jeremy did a wheelie, fell in the mud, got pissed, lost his keys in
the sea and got stopped by the bill for kicking wing mirrors off cars
while on the back wheel of his Virago while dressed as a chipmunk?”
or: “did you see I tagged you in 65 pictures of your bike in a
carpark on facebook?”
That
song by Baz Luhrmann, Sunscreen. It's true you know, all of it. The
line: “the older you get, the more you need the people you knew
when you were young” is spot on. Being 40 and a bit eccentric, you notice crap like
that. I've been on a mission lately to see old friends, friends I
had when I was young.......sorry, younger. I've caught up with a
couple so far, with 2 or 3 more to go. Sure, it's not easy, people
move on to different circles and adult stuff gets in the way, that's
life but if the friendship is real. It doesn't take long to pick up
where you left off and the good times come back.
It's
easy to make excuses to not see people in todays society. “Can you
pop over tomorrow?” “I can't, got band camp/wife or husband is angry/
working late/ got a cold/ decorating/ skint/ dog has a wet nose”
etc, and it's too easy to not want to bother with them because they
don't bother with you. Social media makes it OK though because they
are on your friends list, but how long before they turn into just
someone you know instead of a friend?
Anyway,
now I've posted a link to this drivel on facebook, the kettle is on
and I'm waiting for that text message while working on my bike.
Still waiting..........
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