My latest scheme: learning to ride a mo*orcy*le

I’ve had a few rather stereotypical male things I’ve wanted to step out and do for years (an earlier one was shaving my head). This one has been lurking since my late teens when as the assistant to an ageing biker youth hostel warden in Litton Cheyney in Dorset I was ferried around by gentlemen riding large machines. I remember one ride on a beautiful Sunday evening in summer riding from Dorset up to Royal Crescent in Bath on the back of a BMW bike. Getting to ride a bike is complicated and rather costly now. First there is a motorbike theory test which I take this week, then a 5 session course starting with a CBT (Compulsory basic training) that nowadays anyone who wants to ride anything with a motor needs to have, and ending with taking the bike test on a 500cc machine. Hoping I pass, after that there is the question of buying a bike. I already have a rather nice jacket from ebay for a tenner.