Dear Hasbeen,

Please accept my deepest sympathy at the loss
of your mother.

"Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine on them.
May they rest in peace. Amen."

I have two elderly mothers that I'm currently
looking after. My mother who's in her eighties,
and my mother-in-law who's in her nineties.
I'm making the most of my time with them, as
I know I could lose them at any time.

Stay strong, and the best thing that you can do
for your mother is to live your life well.

My prayers are with you.

R0bert

Thank you for taking the time to read and consider the article. I do not think it applies to all men (CJ Morgan) no one thing can. But for some I think it is relevant.

Hasbeen

I am sorry to hear of your loss. My own mother is slowly dying by degrees - a painful process.

I understand that introspection is not your 'thing'. However, I wish you would stop with the personal slights - you know full well I have a motorcycle licence.

You may enjoy this Australian based web-site. I receive a different newsletter every day.

http://www.bikeexif.com/

I find it difficult to have a favourite bike - it is more a case of what I don't like, for example over-customised, covered in stripes or decals, poncy looking machines.

Hi Hasbeen - great story about the Hillman and the Triumph. I take your point about speed... the fastest I ever got mine up to in my reckless youth was about 160km/h on a good road. Of course I don't do anything like that now in my dotage.

I had a Hillman Hunter for a couple of years too - another great car that I went to outrageous places with. Once we took it over the top of the Barrington Tops after turning down the wrong logging track, 3 kids in the back and surfboard on the roof. We only bogged it twice, dug it out after laying bark in the ruts. Ah, the good old days...

I like the pit crew idea. Take care - I enjoyed the scotch ;)

Hugs Hasbeen. Take care of you and yours.
My hubby is into cars, mainly Fords and it gives him great joy (not that I always understand it - but that is cool). My mother passed away recently and we are still feeling the effects often I catch myself remembering her at the oddest times, like when walking past a garden and seeing a flower or tree she loved or picking up a book she gave me.

You were close to your mum and have often mentioned her here, I am sure you have many fond memories of your mother that you will treasure always.

Severin

We had a Bonnie and a Norton on the farm. These bikes had been restored after speedway use, long before. Fearsome, thundering, living, breathing machines with a fuel/oil smell rarely encountered now. I managed an unintentional Evel Knievel sideways over an earth dam wall. Got better distance than the bike and was hurt much more too. Cause was a 'temporary' farm repair of a brake cable. After that and my seeming inability to control the bikes on gravel, they were sold. Shucks, spoil sports, Birmingham rocks.

RObert,

It would be a shame if the excellent points raised in this thread couldn't be continued. I was quite taken by this comment, to take an example:

"Factors impeding the development of an effective health policy for men include a preoccupation with limited clinical perspectives (an emphasis on the prostate and erectile dysfunction) and a common assumption that all health problems in men are a result of 'masculinity' and 'men behaving badly'."

That last line in particular calls into question some of the assumptions that wrongly drive the debate. It seems that many of us, including me, regularly boob by getting the bull by the tit so to speak, by blaming 'masculinity' for all ills, physical and otherwise. Again, should the advancement of men be restricted to discussion of health issues and the negative effect on women of some men?