Bikes: The mighty Honda XL250R; 1985

The last trail bike I owned before a 20+ year hiatus was a magic red Honda XL250R trail bike. This was a pure magic state of the art bike back in 1982. Electronic ignition so you didn't watch the sun set out the back of Lake Manchester while you struggled to clean the points and kick start a recalcitrant Yamaha 2 stoke into life. Pro(gressive) Link rear suspension which made the ride so much more comfortable and a six speed gearbox for more relaxed bitumen cruising.

Yes, this Honda was my magic two wheeled escape machine! My dear friend Ken bought a smaller XR200 Honda and away we would go on the weekends following our noses all over the best back roads that our little patch of South east QLD had to offer.  I must have been a mug lair as I also had the Honda riding top and matching bum bag.

So fast forward from 1982 to 1984. We were living at Wavell Heights and my Honda had a little shed to live in out the back. But the times were a changing.. and I didn't see it. My better half decided we need  to shift to a new home. I was happy living where we were; but her mind was made up. After a couple of  false starts we ended up buying an "unusual" home in Albion. It appealed to me because it had a studio already in it! Bonus! The down side was no under cover car accommodation.. and nowhere for the Honda. So the Honda came to live under the house at Armagh Street.

The studio space was still full of unpacked tea chests some three weeks later (and the first mortgage payment yet to be made) when my wife walks in after work one day to tell me she will be leaving.

And leave she did the next day.. never to return.

Turns out she was going to set up a happy home with the gardener from her work place.

Bloody excellent timing.

Miss Irresponsibility 1984 I called her! (She ended up unintentionaly pregnant and married around 2 months before her child was born. In hindsight… the best favour she ever did me was leaving!)

But back to the Honda... in order to help me sort out my now pressing financial dramas.. the bike had to go.

One Sunday morning in early 1985 I put it in the studio (ride it up the stairs) and photographed it to produce an advert. This is was before digital cameras, eBay etc… a lot of work went onto producing the flyer!

It was very sad to see the bike loaded into a truck some 3 weeks later and go to a new home! A really great bike and I often wonder if I should find one and restore it.. perhaps not! Might end up divorced again!

Riding the Honda down the studio front stairs - 1985

Youth: The Day James Bond Came to Toombul

You Only Live Twice. What a great movie! I remember sitting in the cool air conditioned Winter Garden Theatre in Queen Street at the start of the  Christmas school holidays.

I so looked forward to those Bond movies… and those 6 week  holidays too!

There is a scene in the movie where Bond calls for Q to send Little Nellie to him in Japan. Now Little Nellie is a Benson Gyrocopter equipped with rockets and all sorts of incredible gadgets. In fact there are two Little Nellies in the movie. One that packed down into a few suitcases and the real one that Bond flies over a fake volcano in Japan.

The owner of the real Little Nellie who actually flew the gyrocopter in the movie, brought it to Australia. And so it came to Brisbane in 1968. The DCA would allow him to only fly it over the lower car park at Westfield Toombul Town shopping centre between Sandgate Road and Widdop Street.

Wow.. to a teenager this was a sight to behold. So my mate Wayne Pinna and his younger brother Glen jumped on the push bikes and headed off to Toombul. And me with my 127 TLR around my back. My parents had allowed me a couple of rolls of colour film to shoot this beast on the day. Just could not get that Massey pushbike to go fast enough.

We get there… and here it is before us! We are kept a fair way back.. a pity as there is no telephoto lens on the old TLR but what a morning it was. This little beast powered by a VW flat four zoomed backwards and forwards over the car park and   we just couldn't believe we were actually seeing the same aircraft used in the movie!

So here is one of the old faded colour prints from Mr Kodak. As a matter of interest the film was handed into Mr McSweeny's Pharmacy at Clayfield for Kodak processing… where Deb's shop is now located.

The sad sidebar to this story is that the Benson crashed a year or two later killing the pilot!

The Pilot preparing to board the little beast!

Photography: Nikon FM. The tool of a generation of newspaper photographers.

The Nikon FM. A fully manual focus, non automatic 35mm camera. Thousands of these cameras wielded by grizzled newspaper photographers all over the planet have produced literally millions of images that have enthralled the population of readers.

What an amazing piece of kit. Lower in cost and features than the Nikon F3, this camera was the ideal choice as its lower price meant one could have 2 bodies in the camera bag. Able to be fitted with a motor drive for sports images .. or any action images for that matter, these things are as tough as nails.

Long before the current crop of fresh faced young digital photographers had even been born, guys and girls with a purpose and vision and only 36 exposures at a time created the images that stopped the world. If you have one memorable image from the front page of a newspaper from the 80s.. it's a good bet it was shot with a Nikon FM or it's automatic sister, the FE ! It was a different time… HP5 or Tri X were the films of choice… and the magic of watching that 8x10 image form on a piece of Ilford paper in the dev tray was something that today's digital folks will never know.

When the Russians invaded Afghanistan, confusion reigned supreme on the streets of Kabul. One enterprising young French press photographer booked a flight from Paris to Kabul.. spent a day there shooting everything and then flew back.. before the Russians shut the place down. His were the only images of the utter chaos that was unfolding.

You have probably seen the images, if not try Google.. all captured on film and probably with a Nikon FM. Imagine his joy looking at each neg as the film strip came out of the dev tank.

Now that is pure magic photography.. created with the human eye that can "see the light" and a sturdy Nikon.. and not a hi speed digital camera & bloody photoshop to fix your mistakes!

Sorry to see this go to a new home!

Life: The passing parade! J.F.K.

It seems like only yesterday, but I remember it so well. A normal Saturday morning in the Taylor household. My parents took turns to get each other a cup of tea in bed on weekends. On Saturday mornings, my mother brought dad a cup of strong tea and the Courier Mail.

This particular Saturday, half a century ago is indelibly engraved in my mind. I am sitting on the side of my parents bed while dad unwraps the Courier Mail. And as usual I am pestering him for my pocket money. And also as usual he is teasing me about have I been a good young man to my mother. The usual father/son stuff!

Suddenly I hear mum rushing up the hallway. She bursts into the room and says..

"President Kennedy has been shot!" I knew who he was even at 10!

Dad says… "Is he all right?"

Mum burst into tears.. "No! He's dead!"

It was probably only the second time I had seen my mother cry.

My father was stunned by the news.

"An absolute tragedy! This is not good for peace!" he says.

A pall of gloominess hangs in the air… but slowly for a ten year old at least, life returns to normal!

1983 finds me in England.. large billboards show a rifle bullet shaped like a missile with a blood covered American Flag in the background. The headline says.. "Twenty years ago, a missile killed America" They were promoting a BBC special on the Kennedy assination. I watched in Drymen, Scotland with my now ex wife.  Very sad!

I still often contemplate what would have been different if Kennedy had of had his 2 terms of office? Still open to conjecture I guess.. and as for all the conspiracy theories surrounding his death? They don't really mean a damn thing in my opinion.

A good man, a war hero, was stuck down in his prime and we, the citizens of planet earth are the poorer for it!

Captured at his.. "We choose to go to the moon…" moment!

Youth: Music; the magic time machine!

Today I had a dental appointment with my good friend Don the dentist! So I took the bike. And plugged my iPhone into the helmet's blue tooth system to listen to some music.

Accelerating onto the ICB what should come through the helmet speakers but.. Oliver's Good Morning Star Shine, from the musical Hair. The time machine in my head begins to spin up….

It's C1967 and my good mate Robert Fysh and I have been to a meeting of the RSKOM (Jnr) Astronomical Society at Greenslopes. His mother has picked us up and we are going to visit her friends out in he leafy Western suburbs. We arrive at this amazing house surrounded by trees.. the stereo is playing Good Morning Starshine and we sit outside on a cool evening and gaze at the sky.

At this point one of the family members tells me they own a Land Rover and take it to Moreton Island where they drive on the beach! Now back in 1967 only the Army and the RACQ had 4WDs. Then the  average family hack was a station wagon of the two wheel drive kind. I am over the moon on hearing this.. they talk of deserted beaches.. sitting on the tailgate and dragging toes in the sand.. and all of this story is coming to me against the background of Oliver's voice.

On that night. I know that one day I would own a Land Rover. (Have had 2 actually) And this tail of high adventure on the sand just blends in with a cool evening breeze in a stunning home in an area I have  never been before.

That memory surfaces every time  I hear that song.. and again today.. the video played again in my head. Robert, if you read this.. do you remember that night? I only ever think about it when I hear THAT song!

The mind is a wonderful thing!

Life: The young years; our wings were drying in the sun!

1988 and I am 35 years old. It is Australia's Bicentenary and EXPO 88 is in full flight in Brisbane. Because Virgin Blue hasn't been invented yet, air travel in Australia is relatively expensive. Interstate coach travel is the go! And with the explosion of the number of people travelling to Brisbane to visit EXPO 88, the coach companies are run off their little wheels. And so they need new coaches. And back in 1988 both Denning and Austral who build most of the coaches in Australia are based in Brisbane.

Their order books are overflowing.

MAX Instruments cannot despatch the dash instruments and related hardware fast enough to enable these coaches to roll out of the factories. I am at my desk at 07:00 and lock the doors at 19:00 as Max is in Europe (I have just come back) and it really is high tide and green grass for us.

When the Germans come to visit us (actually they want to visit EXPO 88) we dine at the Sheraton.. and when they don't come.. we dine at the Sheraton. Talk about the Hollywood lifestyle. What we didn't know was that the "recession we had to have" was just around the corner!

One of the hottest cafes in town was Puzzles at Paddington. Casual breakfasts (when we weren't at the Sidewalk Cafe at the Sheraton) or a hamburger after a movie. Puzzles was the place. And a much younger Mark and Debra used to haunt this place along with Andrew and Toni and Sally and Greg and many others.

Debra found this picture during the clean up.. her comment was.. "Look how young we were!"

So I looked at that picture of a younger and thinner (much) Mark with the permed mullet cut and full beard.

Wow! Was that really us?

I think back to 1988.. Skyline Silhouette, Nikon film cameras, stealing Max's Van De Plaas for a more formal motoring experience. And seeing those endless great monthly results for MAX Instruments. Deb and I are flying high and planning our first overseas trip. (Stopped counting at 40 since then)

And the part time studio was really busy too! Taking days away from the office to cover assignments!

At 35 I had a different mindset.. the world was my oyster, a divorce under my belt and I was eager for any new life experiences. Now 25 years later I know what I like and want. Tradition has become a big part of my life; but our love of travel has not dulled. Actually we're busy planning our next trip around selling and buying houses. I guess I could now describe my life as one of contentment.

Gunter Klein from VDO told me back then that I should not be so totally focused on winning!

He said.. "Winning isn't everything!"

My reply was.. "No, winning isn't everything; it is the only thing!"

I hated losing sales competitions or deals… "Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser!"

Hey.. it was the 80s. Greed was good!

Actually I still subscribe to that theory although I am now selective in the battles I choose!

Never mind…..

And here we are outside Puzzles in Paddington one Saturday night!

Life: How do we manage to accumulate so much stuff?

Because we are selling up Armagh House, I am confronted with how much stuff I have accumulated! Where on earth did it all come from? And unless I move into Windsor Castle or perhaps Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, then I simply cannot take it all with me!

So I need to sort and chuck out… a lot!

Deb and I have come to realise now that we don't own this stuff.. it owns us. That American comedian who said… "Your shit is stuff.. but other people's stuff is shit!".. was wrong.

It's all crap!

I'll give you an example of stuff that's gone into the skip…

A framed letter signed by Robin Hood and his band of merry men. This letter guaranteed safe passage to the bearer should he travel through Sherwood Forest. Now I have been to Sherwood Forest.. a magic place in Autumn.. well what is left of Sherwood Forest as it has all been cut up and redeveloped. But right near the little village of Edwinstowe is a little parcel of Sherwood Forest that has the Major Oak in it. (Google it)

Twice I ventured through this said Forest.. the first time in 1983 without the letter from Robyn and crew (because I didn't own it then) and the second time 7 years later again without the letter because it was in a frame on the wall of my lounge back in Brisbane. You see I bought this letter from a gift shop in Edwinstowe.. and as it turned out.. I never needed it. My trips through the forest left me unmolested by the Sheriff of Nottingham and his band of bad bastards!

Now that is just one thing I threw away. Then there was the framed piece of Nottingham lace.. a picture of Robyn with his bow and arrow that was probably woven on a Mitsubishi sewing machine in a factory in Asia somewhere. Yes.. into the skip it went too.

As I sit in the office and look around me (and this is only one room in a 14 room house) I gaze upon all this stuff… the guitar, the two amps, the violin, the 2 stereo amps, the 6 speakers, the 8 camera bags I no longer use, more compact digital cameras than Photo Continental, an old mobile phone, a not so old mobile phone, several classic National Panasonic Transistor Radios from the sixties (just love them) and these are the things I can see. God help me if I open a draw or the safe!

Let's not forget the 4 electric razors, a gazillion CDs.. no longer played because of my iTunes thing, a plastic set of draws the fax machine used to live on. (Remember those quaint things?) Perhaps I should just take the cameras, the amps and speakers, the axe and the violin and dump the rest.

My days of collecting stuff are officially ended!

Clean up this week.. and then the shed……. don't mention the shed!

The axe sits waiting for fumble fingers to learn!