Evesham Cat's Protection and Dogs Trust, Sunday 21st March, 2010.

1) Spring has arrived (but you knew that 'cos we told you the other day) so it's a chance to get some dog walking in before April's showers arrive. We nip into the CP first just to make sure that those two cats we fell in lurve with last week are still doing OK. The IAMS Cat, or Kimberley as some fool has christened her (we prefer to call her Cleo), is still a bit unwell and hasn't been re-homed yet. Vicky keeps looking at David in that way.

2) Willow is still gorgeous so it's little wonder that she has found a new home. David can't help feeling a tad sad about this as he knows he will never see her again but, as Vicky is always reminding him, it is what the CP's for.

3) This is Rhia ('Her Name is Rhia and She Sails the Rio Graaaaande' - oh shaddup David, says Vicky, it wasn't funny the first time) a four year old Lurcher. She's an Irish stray and is probably the most docile and affectionate dog we've ever walked at the DT. A real tonic and a joy to be with. Make someone a great companion.

4) Ah yes. The day at Crufts has obviously rubbed off on David who is now a master of dog obedience. Either that, or Forbes (another ridiculous name) has only got little legs and is already glad of a chance to sit down and rest.

5) Finally, we have Lucky. She's nine years old and isn't particularly lucky 'cos her owner is now too old and unwell to look after her. She was very down at the beginning of our walk but managed to perk up a bit by the end. She even wagged her tail at one point. Not for long, but it was a definite wag.

Friday19th March, 2010 (Pt 2).

1) The 1988 British GP and all British hopes in the 500cc class rest on the shoulders of Niall MacKenzie. In this shot, Vicky has got young Niall and his engineer Erv Kanemoto, trapped in the back of the team truck and she's not letting 'em out without a photo. Amazingly, they seem more than happy to oblige. She even instructs then to 'stand closer' and they do. She said later that they were just like two well behaved children. Thank goodness it didn't fall to me to have to take this shot. They are heroes and so I would have frozen from sheer respect or got the camera on the wrong setting (or both).

2) Niall leaves the HB Honda garage for another attempt to get the 'bike on the front row. He came fourth in the race.

More from the '88 British GP next week.

Friday 19th March, 2010 (Pt 1).

It's the August 1988 British GP at Donington and Vicky has tracked down Barry Sheene. Some would use the term 'stalked' but that would be cruel and unfair. She's a fan. We all were/are. Nowt wrong with that.

Looking at this photo now makes me wish I had a camera back in the '70's when I first started to go to 'bike meetings on my 5oo-4. You could get any number of shots of young Barry back then. He always made time for his fans. At the October '75 Brands Powerbike Meeting I remember walking into the Paddock at the end of the racing, and seeing Barry sat on top of his caravan, then my mates and I walked all around the paddock gawping at the riders packing stuff away and when we came back to Barry, about an hour later, he was still there signing stuff as happy as Larry. Of course, as serious bikers, we were too 'ard to want to get our programmes signed. That was for gurls and families. I look back on it now and think: 'what a wasted opportunity'. There you go.

I didn't have a camera back then. Never wanted one. Had other financial priorities. Think of all the riders competing back then. I could have got photos of Ago, Read, Smart, Potter, Haslam (on the Pharoah Yams), Ballington, Grant and Ditchburn on the 'Green Meanies' etc etc. You name 'em, they were there. But Barry Sheene was the best ever. For Vicky and I, our all-time favourite. So we must be grateful we have this image of him taken when his racing career was well-over. But still he retains all the same cheeky enthusiasm he always had for motorcycle racing. Dodging from garage to garage, motorhome to motorhome on his paddock 'bike, cadged off somebody no doubt, chatting to riders and teams about their prospects for the weekend. Still a star.

Crufts, NEC, Sunday 14th March, 2010.

1) Tinker is a sweet natured little dog. Which is just as well really as folk have been doing this sort of thing to her since the show opened some six hours ago.














2) That's it. Stand there, don't move, and I'll rest my head just so. Mmmm, nice. It has been a loooooooong day.

3) Best in Show? Absolutely.




















4) Not exactly walking the dog, eh?

Evesham Cats Protection, Sunday 14th March, 2010.

1) I say. Aren't you that IAMS cat-fella?







2) Willow is fairly happy to be the recipient of 'a luv'.











3) The prisoner of Cell Block 5 has been successfully reincarcerated since last time. There's nothing to say he has to be happy about it.

Saturday 13th March, 2010.

1) Careful, Bob. Don't take another step back. Doh, too late. Classic.

2) Bob, Vicky and Sue stop to contemplate whether the chattering classes should be allowed to change a baby's nappy literally inches away from your pre-booked table at the posh restaurant (The Quay, in case you were thinking of going there) where you are trying to eat your Saturday lunch. Evidently, it's perfectly acceptable.

Friday 12 March, 2010.

1) Darley Moor, October '87 and something in British motorcycle sport is stirring. This is Malcolm Heath, Norton's test rider, on the new Rotary 588cc superbike. The 'bike had already done a few low-key Darley club meetings but this was the first time it had competed against a national field. There was a lot of interest in the 'bike, it was British after all, but we'd seen this sort of project come and go just as quickly before, hadn't we?


2) Heath leaves the paddock only to break down in the first Stars leg (although he finished a creditable eight in the second leg). Word was it would be a 'right goer' in more experienced hands. We weren't all that convinced. Rotary engines? Mazda had used one, hadn't exactly set the car world on fire. Suzuki had a 500RE road 'bike back in the mid-'70's. A bloke at the Toddington and DMCC had one. Didn't know anyone else who bothered. Bit top-heavy and 'all arse and moustache' as I recall.

3) However, by the time we saw the 'bike again, at the British Championships meeting at Mallory Park the following July '88, the designer Brian Crighton (on the right) had persuaded Norton's management to find the funds to pay Trevor Nation to ride it. 'Big Trev' was no mean rider at national level and results immediately improved. It was time to start taking the project seriously.

4) This was the sort of competition Norton were up against. British ex-GP riders like Keith Huewen, on the Loctite 750 Yamaha. The Jap importers were not all that happy with the ACU for decreeing that the Norton Rotary should be measured at 588cc. It all depended on how you measured the engine. There were dark mutterings
from some quarters that it was actually nearer 1300cc. But the importers relented and agreed it could race. The British Championships would never be the same again.