I used to ride a BSA A10, 650cc - rebuilt it in the dining room of a (ground floor) flat in Margate Rd Southsea.

There was a motorcycle shop in Elm Grove and they were rather bemused to have a person of the female persuasion coming in and buying bits for a motorbike - it was 1970 but there was a 50 year time lag as you went through their door.

I took the bike around to show them once I had finished it and got it back on the sidecar - a double Watsonian.

I used to carry all the gear for a couple of folk singers, and often folk singers as well. We used to go to various pubs, the Thatched House and Old House at Home on Locksway Rd - and the White Swan next to the theatre in the city centre, opposite the Yorkshire Grey, The Horseshoe at the end of Elm Grove and three or four more - we took a collection at half time, did quite well from what I remember.

Ah those were the days.

Oh - and when they were frying up breakfast, the cooks would test the heat of the hotplate by spitting on it - when the drops danced it was good to go.