A great bargain: 37 BBC DVDs covering the complete Shakespeare for about £120. I mean, how otherwise will you ever see Timon of Athens? We watched the plays on telly in the seventies and are now re-viewing them. Two surprising enlightenments: The Comedy of Errors and Henry Vl, pts 1 – 3.Plus a salutary reminder from Falstaff: “Lord, Lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying.” It’s not that I overtly fibbed but I may have left the wrong impression and I feel I must do a little repolishing.
The subject was motorbikes – what else? The hero was the Honda Fireblade and for starters I must confess to a conflict of interest. In asking Honda if I could use an official photo of this mighty beast I was mildly interrogated about my motives. As a result I was given the key to the Honda Virtual Press Office! This may have affected my disinterestedness.
More important, did I leave anyone believing I had ridden a Fireblade? If so I apologise. I haven’t. I’d like to but things are stacked against me. The insurance companies have identified a new category of risk with its own amusing acronym which, alas, I forget. Basically it concerns men d’un certain age who now have the wherewithal to indulge activities they could only dream of in their youth. They buy a two-wheeled monster and then do fatal damage to themselves, the bike and a tree. It’s usually a tree.
Restrained by the work of actuaries I can only stand by the roadside and yearn. There, am I shriven?
