Ferret, I love your motorcycle. Even more now that I have seen it in person. What a beauty.
Kids do not play like we did. My brothers and I were expected to be out of the house after breakfast and back at home for dinner when the lights came on. In between, we could do whatever we wanted as long as our Mother did not receive a call from the neighbors or a knock on the door from law enforcement.
My parents never talked to us about school because we just knew the price we would pay if there was anything other than an “A” on a report card. It may seem harsh to those who had a warmer upbringing, but because our parents had to deal with the Nazis, Russians, North Korea, and food shortages, they expected their sons to play sports, attend church, tinker with engines, hunt, and take care of themselves. There were always relatives who were truly in need, but we were blessed, relatively speaking.
When our schools were desegregated, my father took me aside and told me to make sure things went well because some of the boys had fathers who served side by side with my Dad, and they were good men. Our Forum Guidelines prevent me from sharing the colorful language my father used, but he essentially told me to “persuade” the first bully to be quiet and the rest of the cowards would fall in line. More than once, he had watched me fight my brothers, and knew it would be quick.
I probably shared way too much about my childhood, but that is my reaction to seeing your CB1100 with over a 100,000 miles on the clock parked in front of a beautiful empty baseball field on a sunny Sunday afternoon while kids are at home staring at screens. The world is a better place now, but we may have lost something along the way. We will see if Cormanus and pdedse allow this post to remain in the thread. David
)! Glad you're able to get the helmet on OK and ride again. I just had a doc look at a suspicious spot on my arm, but he had it under a magnifying glass and saw it was actually discoloration due to a minute scratch--prolly from picking blackberries on the edge of trees behind our house. But it sure looked strange and also similar to internet photos of melanoma...worth checking on.
