Ess Jay

Back in 77 I was doing my apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce Diesel Division in Shrewsbury, UK ... I was on night shift churning out diesel engine parts by the hundreds and the thought of doing it for the next 40 odd years was doing my head in ... anyway, there I was and the idea came to me "why not ride around the world on a bike" and later that year I read 'Jupiter's Travels' ... so it was game on !!

Anyway, I started executing the plan ... bought a Honda 400 SuperDream on a Tuesday, looked at it on Wednesday and as I was riding it home on Thursday morning I 'bumped' into a car coming around a corner and totally effed my right leg up that led to 12-18 months of physio and rehabilitation. Sadly, a couple of years or later Rolls-Royce Diesel Division went belly-up thanks to the upheaval that happened in Iran (as it's now known) ... although if truth be known, I'm pretty sure I played a major part in it because I really was abysmal at being a machinist ... in the meantime I got retrenched and a payout so that was a 'plus' I guess and I applied to emigrate to Australia - I thought, I'll get my Aussie citizenship and just ride back through Asia ... so in 82 I moved over, got myself a career I'm now retired from and a family that's all grown up and sorted so here I'm finally about to give the touring adventure a crack ... go me.