Nothing Day

Such a nothing day today.  I spent so much time staring into the laptop I missed the sunshine.  By the time I went out for bread it was becoming cloudy as the rain returns once more.  The chap who runs this establishment has left his beast outside to impress folks.  I thought it a great little show and had to grab a picture or two.  When I was 16 these were very popular and I was torn between dreaming of having one of these or a proper motor bike like a BSA or Norton.  Naturally I got neither as there was no money of any sort.  It was ten years before I managed to get my hands on a short lived Suzuki, not nearly as splendid as this beast on show here.  My renown technical achievements soon rendered it useless!
All the bikes I admired, Triumph, James, BSA, Royal Enfield and the like died soon afterwards as the word 'innovation' was a stranger to the companies that made them in the English Midlands.  The Japanese however were very much into 'innovation' and their superiour Suzuki's, Honda's and Yamaha's soon became the thing to buy.  Simple things like a push button start as opposed to kicking the brute helped many enjoy the bike.  Oil not dripping everywhere was another advantage. In every way the Japanese were better and by the 70's there was no more UK bikes.  Occasionally one or other reappears for a while, always producing huge bikes that cost millions, and only Royal Enfield continue as before, this time based in India.  All official bikes in India at the time were Royal Enfield's and they had their own factory there.  They bought up all the machinery from England and shipped it out to their factories and continued to make the bikes, still do!  These are now imported into the UK, indicators and other things added to make them legal and appropriate, and the 350 and 500 are occasionally seen on the roads here.
Ah well, when the rain stops tomorrow afternoon I might blow up the tyres on my bike and pedal around, or not as the case may be...