Farewell

to the yellow mean machine and the silver one with the tank of cheese.

Traded to a man who will likely break them into component parts and sell the parts for more than the bikes are worth whole.

I feel sad, inexplicably. They aren't my bikes. I have only ridden the Suzuki twice, and have not ridden at all in the past two years. Corin has ridden very little either - weather, time, insurance, roadworthiness, cost. All factors that have conspired to stop him from getting out.

I also think that he knows that every time he does go out, I am terrified that he won't come back in one piece. Not because he rides dangerously - I've ridden with him - he is very steady. But having learned to ride myself, and seeing the kind of repeated numptiness on the roads that I see every day, I realised a while back that it wasn't Corin's riding style that I needed to worry about.

I feel guilty, a little, and worry that my own misgivings about bike safety have caused him to relinquish them. In reality, I know this is not why. Weather, time, insurance, roadworthiness, cost. That's really why.

But, the bikes have always been important to him. It's a little hard to see him let them go.