It’s been more than a little hectic around here for the last week or so for reasons that I can’t explain. It has kept me pretty close to home and unable to update but I managed to fulfill a very important obligation last night that I would like to share with you.
You see, today is the 60th birthday of a bloke who I first met 41 years ago when he was punting around the race tracks of NSW on a very fast Suzuki GT250 and then an even faster TZ250 Yamaha.
His name is John Morgan and, if you live in Canberra, and you’ve needed to have your carpets or business cleaned, you very probably have had something to do with the business that he created after his racing days were over. But when I first met John he was trying to carve out a career as a road racer. From a mad keen motorcycling family, John was the second son of parents who had already have had to deal with a major tragedy in their life. John’s elder brother, Bryan, whom he idolised, had been killed in a motorcycle accident on the road and the strength of character that was shown by his parents when he said that HE wanted to go racing is something that I have always admired.
Riding the ex-Alan Hales 250 and a little later a TZ350 as well (that was his 21st birthday present), John progressed quickly through C Grade and B Grade and was looking increasingly like he was going to get to the top. But his rise was halted through circumstances that were entirely of his own making. You see, John’s mum, who was his manager and team controller, ran a very successful commercial cleaning company and she and Eric, John’s dad, had always impressed upon him the fact that he had to consider what he was going to do AFTER he had finished racing, a very unusual situation in the day. So John decided that he’d take a break, travel to Europe and see the world.
By the time that he returned, he had decided that a career in business was what he wanted to do. The financial incentive was vastly superior to the “pouring all your money into a race bike” lifestyle that he had been leading and he could always come back to racing if things worked out. At the time his racing mates thought he was crazy, but he was crazy like a fox and he was spot-on with his assessment of the way his life should go.
Morgan’s Carpet Cleaning started small with family members being the staff and it quickly outgrew the small premises and the small staff. John was meticulous in business, a perfectionist whose approach was to always do the very best job he could because the customer was paying his own good money for it. The reputation of the company soared and it expanded over the years to become the biggest in town, and it has stayed that way. John has sold the business, taken early retirement and now spends his time riding his beloved bikes and cutting extremely hot laps around Eastern Creek and Phillip Island on his Ducati. His two daughters both live in town still and the close-knit family closely resembles the close-knit unit that was John’s own family.
So last night, family and friends got together to celebrate John’s 60th. It was a marvellous affair. Many of those attending were friends of mine as well from the old racing days and many a line was shot during the evening. There were many speeches (one of which from me; I was privileged to be asked to say something) and it really was an old home type of evening. John’s family is still the most important thing in his life and his humble acceptance of the many accolades given last night showed just how fine his upbringing had been.
It still seems a bit bizarre to think of John as being 60; to me he still should be 21, but that’s what life does to you. I’m very grateful for the invite and I wouldn’t have missed it for quids. Here’s to many more happy years.