A painful birth

The first post in my new home. You can still smell the paint on the walls. The furniture is new, too, but I hope it'll get quickly broken in by friends sitting around and having a chat. So pull up a pew, take the weight off ... there's some beer and wine around here somewhere ... I'll join you as soon as I finish grilling this haloumi and sliced chorizo.

This blog will drift from topic to topic, seemingly at random; much the way my mind works. I hope we'll touch on topics as diverse as travel, motorcycling, photography, politics, the English language, food and wine and ... well, see what I mean?

The photo with my profile deserves a bit of explanation. It was taken for my grandaughter, Jaime. In fact, I'm wearing her beach hat in the photo. It seemed to me that, often, as we grow older, we lose that touch of silliness we had when we were younger. Life can be serious enough as it is, without deliberately being all po-faced all the time. So when I saw the photo, I thought "Why not?"

Actually, "Why not" is something I seem to be saying about a whole of things lately. I think that's good.

And here are two of the loves of my life; one far more than the other. My Dearly Beloved and our current bike -- a 1997 Yamaha XJS900 Diversion. The old girl (the bike, not DB) is a source of pleasure for both of us. I came back to motorcycling after a break of many years, as a lot of others do. But more of that later.

This will do for a start.