Great Expectations

You can have Great Expectations with anything and everything:  Xbox games for one.  You buy a game, lets give Gears Of Wars as an example - its a Fantastic looking game there is no doubt about that!  All the hype surrounding it, all the ads you've seen on the T.V. make the game look soooo choice!  When you put Gears into your 360 for your first online experience you can't say it didnt blow you away.... at first. 

Then i guess it can go either way.  Gradually it may sink in that it was just a load of hype afterall and the game is simply not for you (as it was in my case) or it feels like the developers knew what you wanted and gave you the biggest gift ever and here you are 8 months down the line enjoying it just as much as you did to start out with.

Great Expectations can happen with everything you see:  a plant you buy for your Garden, a coffee table for your living room, a tin of Branston Baked Beans (coz godamn it Heinz just cant make the best Baked Beans can they?? well ok wrong about that one but....) And one of the biggest things you will own throughout your life is what you drive. Truth be told, until you get any of these dream items/purchases home and put it in its destined surroundings you just dont know how your gonna feel about them truthfully! As for a car or a bike well you had better test drive or ride it before you buy the sucker - am i stating the obvious?!?

Your first car or bike is the best thing that has happened to you so far!  Doesnt matter if its a Nissan Bluebird or a 1987 Honda CG125.  Its the tangible thing you can reach out an touch that has given you your FREEDOM.  And all us 9-5 work jockeys still have that freedom.  You might not think you do but its right there waiting for you. You will get to know your first freedom givin machine like the back of your hand - inside an out and it cant disappoint you because you have no real frame of reference to fall back onto - except for whatever it is you took your driving test on or in.  

And to what end have we grown up and moved on for if we cant remember and cherish our first riding experiences?

I've had a lot of bikes over the years and agreed with them all bar one. A Yamaha FZR1000 Genesis.  Soon as i saw it, first thing i said was thats bloody immaculate! A 1989/90 in pristine showroom condition: never seen salt off the road, never ridden in the rain, 8,000 miles for a 13 year old bike and it was amazing to look at (ugly now but this is an example - mine was predominantly Black broken with Red decals).

Bought it without test riding it - foolish to the extreme.  The sensation of riding this bike?  Like a hitman had popped a cap in my ass not quite killing me then giving me some concrete boots an throwing me in the Thames.  The only way is down and i have no control of the direction in which i was goin down coz believe you me, on THIS bike i was goin down!!  I had no control whatsoever - it felt like Stephen Kings Christine in two wheeled form.  It rattled and throbbed and threatened to spit me off on every bend - it refused to bow down to me no matter how hard i tried to understand it. 

And i did try!  I thrashed the life out of it knowing full well i was on the edge of a cliff and if i did put a foot wrong that it would bite a huge chunk out of my ass.  If i crashed it there would be no way i would repair it - despite its beauty and its rarity it would kill me or i would kill it and have done with it! In the end i gave in to it.  I couldnt win.  Everytime i endured the two hours max i could ride it i would step off shaking like mad reaching for a smoke with my hands barely able to hold something - it scared me that much!

So i bow down to you Genesis, and all the people who have actually conquered you.  You beat me and i am humbled in your demonic presence.  I wish you were still here so i could gaze at your beauty and reflect on my worthlessness!  All in all you taught me a great lesson:  nothing is quite what it seems and you are not as good as you think you are!