Bike City

Yesterday, as a distraction to our ailments, Betty and I decided to take some time off – she stayed at home and I went to the Photography Show at the NEC. Which means I have space to share about a recent visit.

At the weekend, we decided to celebrate our birthdays (yes we can protract this as long as we need to), by a visit to Oxford. We drove. If you’re interested in visiting, you can try and park in one of the municipal car parks, it will cost you in the region od £15 for the day. We didn’t. We found a nice little all-day-parking for £5 (they’re around if you look for them).

My wife, myself and the two kids like to go out for the day on or near our shared birthday as it is a good opportunity to get away from the daily distractions and have some quality family time – on previous visits we have travelled to Cambridge, Southampton, Oxford (again), Cheltenham, Leamington Spa, Bath, Stratford, Bristol and numerous other places. But Oxford is a recurring visit – it’s not too far from the family home and it has sufficient familiarity, in terms of a high street, to prevent it from being too alien.

Oxford is one of those places that is full of expectation and often delivers disappointment. I’ve been to Oxford on a number of occasions, but never, in all that time have I ever seen Inspector Morse or his faithful side-kick, Lewis (please don’t tell me they’re fictional characters). This time, with my new found passion for the Bickerton, my eyes are peeled; I’m on the lookout for one. While looking I did see this mildly amusing sign...

... mildly amusing, because you know you're in Oxford when you see signs like that. And mildly amusing, because in my head I'm thinking "Why would they want to remove the wall and window?".

You know that odd thing that happens when you get a new car? You start to notice them everywhere. It was quite easy after I bought my Land Rover Defender 90 – all the other Defenders flashed their lights, wave, or generally made themselves known. It was like a secret society of Land Rover Owners (had similar experiences when I had an MGBGT). But you do start to notice more of them – an odd phenomenon.

As we saunter around the streets, have lunch, do some shopping – not necessarily my ideal day out – and take in some of the sights (guess which ones) I notice a distinct lack of Bickerton Portables.

There were plenty of other bikes around – names that I won’t use here (I might upset Betty) – after all it is Bike City (in competition with Cambridge, I suppose). No matter where I look though, a distinct absence of our favourite bike.

What to do?

Well. I think we should start to lobby Parliament. After all, didn’t Mr Osbourne just state that he was for the 'small' business? We could ask for a restriction zone in all of our big cities where only folding bikes were allowed in pedestrianized areas. There could be a stipulation that only bikes starting with ‘B’ are allowed and only ones that haven’t got ‘ompton’ in the lettering (Phew!! For a moment there, I thought I was going to have to say the word).

We could offer a campaign for people to get around on Bickerton Portables (something similar to those early adverts – “Be seen on a Bickerton”, perhaps. I should state right now that, despite the name, I have no connection with the company). Or we could just keep riding our bikes and evangelising about them.

I’m getting on mine. Now where's that secret society of Bickerton owners?