Cake

I don't generally 'bro' people easily so when I say these people are family it means that they are some of the best people I know, not just ride with. So much so that I scraped myself off my sick-bed and drove 5 hours to London, endured the cheery banter of the multicultural Underground system to go to Jake and Dixies joint birthday. Joint with Ian who it was a pleasure to meet for the first time. The hugs turned to chatter which turned to drinking which turned to dancing which ended in lunacy.

It was nice that they personalised the toilet doors for the Mean Fuckers. Either that or it was a vague reference to gender.

The cake was amazing and the beer was copious- even at Camden prices. I didn't feel too bad til the next day, sat in the Ace Cafe feeling woozy. I took a very abstract photo of the shadow of the back wheel of a lovely Indian. Lets face it, in a shit way, it's quite good.

Revival

For me being bikeless in London can be quite frustrating. Especially when you can just make out the sight and sound of riders storming through the traffic in Kensington Gardens on the way to the same place as we're headed: The Royal College of Art for the Revival show. Purely by chance, and not entirely by good chance, we found ourselves in London the same week as the show. Enduring the Underground for as long as we could we jumped ship and chose to amble through the park so I could smoke a leisurely cigar. We dropped out of the park at the Albert Memorial to see a few bikes negotiating the streets around the Albert Hall to find the mews entrance to the college. My cigar was just reaching it's sweet spot as we arrived so we had plenty of time to look at bikes and chat to friends before going inside to dig the art.

The exhibition itself was put on by Mensfile Magazines Nick Clements. Alongside his original photos were examples of his clothing brand The Curator. I love Mensfile; great photographic articles featuring fantastic revivalist clothing centred around cars, bikes, bicycles and cricket (?). It's my favourite non motorcycle based publication and fortunately for me, now that i find myself greatly reduced in income, comes out only twice a year so I can't torment myself with all the cool stuff I now can't afford.

Just as we were leaving we met an awfully nice fellow who introduced himself simply as Paul. It hit me like a frying pan in the face this morning that Paul is none other than Paul D'Orleans aka The Vintagent, a man whose work I read avidly... nice to meet you Paul.