Not much to write. Brent and Julia were just here, they hung out for a little while then we went out to my car to see what was up with the brakes. It seems I've blown a brake line, and well the Master Cylinder is alive, but I wouldn't call it well. So I'm going to replace that too. It'll be next weekend as I'll have to get the car to Brent's house - he's got a lift in his garage so we can work on it with ease.
We're debating the idea of pinching off the line so I can drive it out there, or if I should just catch a tow. Our friend Jon has a tow truck, but he's in Korea until April I think, so that is out. Mind you Jon has a tow truck and a few plow trucks but is that what Jon does for a living? No. Jon is a Nuclear Design Engineer who enjoys plowing snow and working on trucks. He's not like one of those actors *cough*Paul Newman*cough* who enjoyed racing cars so he's show up at B-races with a pit crew. Jon is just as much at home working with his hands as any other guy, if you didn't see him working on a power plant you'd think he built houses for a living. He's more like Steve McQueen. A man who raced bikes and cars and was also an amazing actor - but he was REAL. (no disrespect to Newman, have a lot of respect for him too).
Wow that was a ramble - thats how my mind works. I'll start on one thought and just descend into something else. You can say "Cat" and I'll start talking about Sherlock Holmes - because in my head I will think Cat... Dog... Scooby Doo.. Detectives, Hardy Boys.... HOLMES!!!!!!
I've started slicking my hair back again, but in a more serious way than before - now its more like it was in Phoenix. I've also grown out my sideburns pretty seriously.
Instead of using the Gillette Wax I had before, I have moved back to the actual hair pomade. The trick is to use a little Gillette wax to get it into place, then with your hair wet, you run the pomade under the tap of hot water for a few seconds to soften up the stuff which is a much more serious wax than Gillette's but it is essentially wax, I mean its essentially what I waterproof my Belstaff Jacket with (Waxed Cotton). Once it's hot, you come it through your wet hair, and when the hair dries the wax does too and basically hardens holding your hair in the form you put it in.
So for example I did the above fairly late last night and fell asleep, woke up and my hair was still in close to the same position it's in in the picture. Just had to run the come through it to make it fairly neat again.
The general idea... well its not being a "Greaser" so much as a "Rocker" but the difference is, well you say Greaser and people know what you mean. You say Rocker and anyone under the age of about 50 thinks of a musician - which is not the case here. Rockers were like cafe racers, but not always and not quite. A leading famous example of the Rockers is the 59 Club, which was a club of essentially hooligan boys and girls in England back in the 50s and 60s that was lead by a Priest - Father Graham.
Father Graham was a motorcyclist who saw the boys and girls who were tearing up the streets as his flock, and organized the 59 Club to basically keep them out of trouble, and to give them a real community. THIS is Father Graham
Incidentally the bike he's getting on is a Norton Dominator - or actually either an Atlas or a 650SS - either way its very much the same bike my father rode. Its the bike that is in a basket case in the other room. This priest is one of my heroes.
So here are some pictures of the 59 Club
I so wish my leather jacket was that style, but the one I picked out isn't - but it vents easier, the company that made mine (now in Fall River MA, makes the jackets on site) is Vanson and they make that older style, but I got something more modern which is shocking. I'll never replace it though, dad got it for me - it is one of my prized possessions.
So anyways I have the older bikes - though now I have an 82 Yamaha - but it WILL appear older eventually. I have the leather jacket, I have the open face helmet and will have goggles again eventually. I have the hair.
Its not some misguided attempt at fashion or style. Its not about looking cool or trying to be something that I'm not. This IS who I am. If I was my age now in the 50s or 60s I'd be on an old English bike with the leather jacket and my hair slicked back probably carrying the Same watch, listening to the same music - by the same method, using the same cameras, and telling the same jokes, smoking the same pipes and the same tobaccos. Thats the trick. I Really should have been born in the 40s, it just worked out This way.
Anyways I'm done.
There are a couple of guys I'm thinking about right now. One more than another. So I'll leave you with the Bee Gees live in 1974, singing what I'm feeling right now, sitting here alone on Valentines Day.
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