20 years ago, nice sunny Sunday in North Devon. We went to a car boot sale as part of our annual clear out. SWMBO was going to drive the car back as I was going for my Sunday long run afterwards so was suitably attired in running shorts and vest. 30 lbs lighter than now, half decent set of legs, full head of hair, healthy tan. An older and very attractive woman leafing through our pile of old LPs casually enquired on SWMBO if I was available for purchase! I fear my marketability or "visibility" has somewhat diminished over the years and now I'd be gone, gift wrapped, for the price of the entry fee!
Last year driving through Boulogne I stopped to let a French lady (attractive, aren't they all?) cross the road. She was obviously surprised to see a car stop, clocked the GB plate, made eye contact and smiled the kind of smile that lights up the day! (Swoon? Oh yes!)
I find myself being called "sir" by strangers with a marked increase in frequency which is surely confirmation of the acceleration of the ageing process. I've also been checking out prices of used Caterhams - surely advance warning of looming mid life crisis?
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Nothing to do with motoring, but fumbling in the bank with a handful of pens, spectacles and annoying little paper slips one day I dropped a pen on the floor. A very pretty young girl of about 18, Japanese I think, picked it up while I was still wondering how to get it back without dropping everything else I was holding. This was some years ago but I must have looked about 100 to her even then.
I inclined my head with a benign look to thank her. Astonished by such courtesy from a longnose devil in his own land, she gave a dazzlingly beautiful smile, said 'Ah...' and bowed deeply. I too bowed, and we stood there bobbing at one another like a couple of foreigners. So nice that people are not just beautiful but well brought up in some parts of the world.
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In France a few years ago, on my motorcycle, I was following a coach full of very mature looking schoolgirls.
They were all waving at me out of the back window. One of them wrote what looked like a 'phone number on a piece of cardboard and then took her top off.
I had to stop for petrol, alas. I tried hard but could not catch that coach again!
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A couple of years ago, Staying in a friend's hotel in Givet, on the banks of the Meuse, we decided to leave our motorcycles and get the service bus for a visit to Dinant in Belgium. About 2 stops out a large group of kids, early teens, got on with a teacher. As the bus moved on they all broke into song, with one as a soloist and the teacher conducting...sang all the way to their stop. Absolutely delightful, lots of smiles and laughter and no swearing, fighting, smoking or seat-slashing. Where did we go wrong ?
Ted
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I'm pleased to report that I'm too young and good looking still to participate in this thread.
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I'm pleased to report that I'm too young and good looking still to participate in this thread.
Me too (not),
But has got me thinkin' about some of the guys I know, who have.....
One has, ought a Harlley Sportster, had it 18months & swaped it in for a gold coloured limited edition Harley something or other - 'well they did allow me what I paid for the Sportster, so £14995 isn't dear, really...' he said.
Another has a BMW single cylinder red machine, in the garage & I had the task of finding a nice - easier said than done, late plate Celica, just before Christmas, for him. & he's needed to go to holiday in Thailand, with a couple of other 'lads' 3 times now!!
& Another is on his second Audi TT, this the big engined one, of course. He does resemble the correct image of a TT owner - short balding guy, doing an impression of cartoon character, 'Wot No', as he peers over the door at you!! His wife has also had her second boob job & demands monthly botox appointments!!
Me?? I confess to actually checking Auctionview for Chrysler 300 Estates - but am still able to be persuded that we need to finish the house first - still got the outside to do - before the Omega goes.
Mrs V still has her Mx5, so uncertain what signals I should check for, there - just in case!!
VB
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Don't tell anyone this Ted (My little secret) but just south of Givet there is an area of about
1000 square kilometres of wonderful biking roads. They swoop up and down and around and go on for miles and miles. So good that the local authorities have put up warning signs for bikers.
French kids? While waiting for a ferry from Cherbourg a few years ago I killed a couple of hours sitting on the sea wall admiring the view. A big group of schoolchildren, 50 or 60,
filed past me. Every single one of them said "Bonjour monsieur." The same would happen, I suspect, in most European countries.
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Yet they come here on school exchange visits and get arrested 'en masse' for shoplifting.
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We've been biking in the area south of Givet, you're right, marvellous roads with no traffic. Went down to Ville le Ferte, at the end of the Maginot line. Amazing sight, all the rusty steel domes covered in shell marks, sticking up from the ground. Also there are the graves of the Algerian soldiers and the French officers who were gassed out by the enemy. Very moving.
Ted
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Quite right, tom. A friend of ours works in a popular (religious) tourist venue in London and says that they have to watch French schoolchildren more closely than any others, both for light-fingers and for petty damage. Very sad when one has admired their exceptional manners on home turf.
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I've also been checking out prices of used Caterhams - surely advance warning of looming mid life crisis?
Heck - my dad's been doing that for the last year - and he's in his 60s! I'm a mere 36 but I'm starting to notice the signs...
Dave TD
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Remember an amusing anecdote from the 80s, this might be the right place to post it.
A motoring magazine, could have been Auto Express, asked readers to submit what they thought were Britain's fastest vehicles. Over the next couple of weeks, the usual answers came up, Porsche, Lambo, Aston, Ferrari and various bikes. A couple of weeks later another letter came in from some sarcastic sod saying 'You've all forgotten the Astramax diesel van' ( remember them ?). Not to be outdone, another came up with the suggestion 'The National Express Coach'. remember the time when they were always in the news for tailgating in the outside lane ? Any others ?
Ted
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Going back a long way in the memory before i find any fillies expressing interest in this old fool.
I was always a shy sort and still am, (i blame going to an all boys school of a very old fashioned type) looking back i've had some obvious opening gambits from a few femme fatale's, but was too shy/daft to react...have spent the last 35 years kicking meself.
Suppose the most memorable would be the lovely lady who removed her...whilst i gazed open mouthed and mute whilst she got fed up and cleared off shaking her lovely head...and yes i deserve a kicking for sheer stupidity.
they've all taken place whilst i've been truck driving or at places i've visited, just don't fit the image i suppose.
I held the door for a very polite mature lady at South Mimms services who told me i have a kind face, that just about sums up any interest that comes my way these days..;)
Not sure about this thread OR, have a feeling these confessions may come back to haunt....
1400ted's post reminded me of an article i once read back in the 80's when i might have been driving nights for a certain company, the author was asking the question ''have you tried to pass a xxxx artic at night?''
We spent weeks wondering whether we'd all be hauled up before the beak.;)
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Didn't Clarkson pitch a 'this weeks supercar we'd all love to own but never be able to afford' against Stig in an Astramax, sometime back!!??
VB
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