Milestones. 10/25/2006
The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things.
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.
Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter, from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872.
Some men measure their lives with milestones. A kiss. A love like no other. A moment in time, washing away like tears in the rain, as Roy Batty said. For some men, upon reaching a certain threshold in their lives, look back, and take stock of what they have done. Of what they have acheived. Of the mark they wish to leave behind in the world.
I have lived my life with no regrets. I have, as they say, always tried to sieze the moment. This has, of course, in accordance with the law of unintended consequences, resulted in some less than ideal outcomes for me. But I have stayed the course. There are no rehersals in life. No turning back. The decision you make is always in the here and now. The best you can do is guess at the outcome, and hope it comes out the way you want it to later. Especially when dealing with other people. Human determinism is perhaps the greatest monkey wrench of all time.
I have, I guess, done most of what I have set out to do in my life. I chose to get involved with motorcycles at a young age. And I think it’s finally starting to pay off for me. I shall be having discussions with the gentleman who runs FastDates.com, and we shall see where it leads.
Younger riders look to me for advice and knowledge. This is a role that humbles me, and I am glad to sharewhat is in my head with the young turks in my chosen passion. I look at them, and see myself 20 years ago, thinking I was invincible, and the hottest things on 2 wheels since Mike Hailwood, until a very senior rider on a Norton Manx put me and my GSX-R in our respective places. Which was basically a ditch by the side of the road. That was when I learned, very painfully, that it is the rider, and not the bike, that matters. A good bike makes it easier, certainly, but there is no substitute for skill and experience.
I have become, through a rather long process of being side tracked, the acknowledged master of my vocation. A very specialised field, where the number of really good men are counted in a couple of dozen, world-wide. I still retain the skills and knowledge taught to me in a past life, some of which I have recounted in “Pulp Fiction”. That is a stage of my life I would sometimes rather not talk about. The memories in there are raw and sometimes painful.
Let’s put it this way. I’ve broken all the Seven Deadly Sins. And almost all the Commandments.
Since I’m not a Christian of any flavour, I guess it means nothing to me, in the end. There are things I wish I had not done, or perhaps done differently. But no regrets. None. Done is done, as they say. Spilt milk and all that.
So in a life fuelled by adrenaline and alcohol, nicotine and caffeine (and other mind altering substances), I have reached a milestone of sorts in my life. I would like to thank you all for being there, and for some of you for coming along for the ride. Despite the cost to yourselves personally.
Here’s to the past, and the future.