There are many features of social media that I do not like. I participate because it has enabled me to re-establish contact with dozens of my old friends from decades ago and to make new friends who share the same passions and beliefs that I do. It is also useful to share my pursuits and interests and to re-invigorate my ailing collection of dad jokes.
I have become very adept at deleting/blocking/ignoring the posts that annoy the daylights out of me and also pruning from my list of acquaintances those who have merely become friends so that they can attempt to make money out of me or to use my friendship as a means of bolstering their own statistics in the murky netherworld of cyberspace. The same applies to those whose attention is not worthy of my time and attention (a well-known so-called motorcycle journalist figures at the top of this list)
Lately, Facebook has been adding items to members’ news feeds featuring photographs from them that were posted some time ago. Since it is entitled “news” and since news, by definition, is something that is current, the rationale behind it is somewhat lost on me. These tend to fall into the “ignore” category as they appear in my feed.
The one above appeared yesterday, 30th March and, for once, it sparked my interest. The picture shows the very first appearance in restored state of the Shadowfax Kawasaki at the 2012 Barry Sheene Festival of Speed. Taken on the 30th of March 2012, just after the bike was first rolled off the trailer, the photo features two noted Kawasaki “nuts” On the left is Keith Higgs who donated a large amount of valuable parts to the project and on the right is Dave Quinn, the man who did the vast amount of the work that was involved in the restoration and who, without his nous and extensive knowledge of all things green, the project simply would not have been completed.
Little were either of us to know that, on that same weekend, Keith would suffer a catastrophic brake failure on his own race bike that resulted in serious injuries to both his legs the results of which still trouble him four years later.
The Shadowfax is still resting in my garage and I hope to find an appropriate permanent residence for it one day (National Motorcycle Museum is the perfect spot but it is 5 hours drive from here and that is rather impractical if I want to see it/use it/show it to my friends). I hope to be able to take it to Broadford next year as it is a runner but I have never been able to ride it. It needs tuning and I don’t have the expertise but I hope to remedy that before next April so that I can have a quiet bimble around the track and be able to say that I have actually ridden my bike!
The weather is looking nice down my end of the woods, what do you have planned for the weekend?
dunc says
have you thought of the motorlife museum at kembla grange
they had a few bikes there from cass , clem daniels , gardner at one stage as well
thats close
and the answer to the Q maybe a trip south to melbourne then return to a rally out west nsw on the 10th on the way back
Phil Hall says
Yes, I have enquired at MotoLife and the curator is happy to have it BUT she only wants it for 6 months which will go like crazy and then I’ll be up fpr finding somewhere else to display it. 🙁