A nice surprise from Brighton Kawasaki

I bought my motorbike second-hand from a farmer. It’s a Kawasaki ER-5 and he maintained it meticulously as well as getting it serviced by the book at Hard-on Kawasaki. Since they’re in Ballarat I was hardly going to keep taking it there for a service.

My first port of call for a quote was Cosway Motorcycles in the city. It’s close to my work so I’d be able to catch a cab or take pubic transport. But another rider recommended Brighton Kawasaki so I decided to try them out. The first nice surprise was that they provided a loan bike while mine was being serviced. And it was another ER-5 so there was nothing to learn as I took on the peak hour traffic. The other nice surprise was that when I went to pay, the bill was a bit less than the original quote. You don’t get that every day!

Conned by my Nanna.

I once visited my Nan in Corowa, the winery town that she retired to. I went with my girlfriend in her mother's MG Midget sports car, which we borrowed for the weekend. Unlike other occasions (when I drove my old Honda Civic), my Nan asked if I could drive her somewhere.

I drove, she navigated. But even though she knew the town quite well, she kept saying 'Oh what was I thinking, this isn't the way. Turn around here.' I would dutifully pull into the driveway she pointed at, to execute a 3-point turn. And invariably a woman of a similar vintage to my Nan would peer out of the window at her, riding in the sports car in a scarf reminiscent of Jacqui Onassis. Once, out of the corner of my eye, I think I spied my Nan give a cheeky wave to her peering peer.

Bless her. I guess that's when I realised that we grow old, but thankfully we never really grow up.

I spy with my little eye.

On a long car trip over the Melbourne Cup weekend, we started a game of 'I spy'.

During one of my turns, I said "I spy with my little eye something beginning with m' which stood for 'mirror'.

My four-year-old asked "Is it inside?"

"Yes," I answered.

"OK," she said. "I spy with my little eye..."

She thought that because i had answered 'yes' it was her turn. I guess that's how the game looks to a four-year-old lol.