We had a thoroughly enjoyable & unforgettable evening – and much enlightened.

Education is a wonderful thing & we certainly were, by a Master of this particular Craft!

Gavin Pratt is a Burns enthusiast & he gave very emotive & descriptive renditions of Tam ‘o Shanter and Holy Willie’s Prayer. Neither too short, nor dragged out.

Doreen Taylor introduced the poems (John was there too- and looking well), dimmed lights & Holy Willie was dressed in his night attire with chamber pot (we’ll not describe the contents).

Ab fab.

Jim MacFarlane had the wit to provide haggis, neeps & bunnocks- so we were all in the mood. Thanks, Jim

Motorcycling took second place & even those who were reluctant to come to a Burns night, really enjoyed themselves- please note, Sam.

Thanks, Gavin. I hear you can sing as well- next year? There’s a piano in the Hall!

PLEASE NOTE- YOU CAN INCREASE THE SIZE OF PHOTOS IN ALL ARTICLES BY CLICKING ON IMAGE

A very fraught day indeed.

You may wonder- yes, you, you whimps!

Only 4 real bikers decided to get their legs over. So plastic bags surrounding my socks off I went to join up with David, Grumpy & JH at Uplawmoor. Not ½ mile from my house, road closed because of flooding. Did this deter a real biker?- not a bit of it!

So wet socks under plastic bags & motor still running, through I went.

Sure enuff, we set off @ 11 am searching forever for a coffee stop. At the third attempt, after scouring Dunlop, Stewarton, Fenwick, we stopped at the Co-op supermarket at Galston- which was actually, very good.

No run is complete with David without some educational element. He took us to Ballochmyle Viaduct (well not the writer), the path down to the viaduct was steep & muddy, and as he had his ski-ing motorcycle boots on, he would have got there in ½ the time- but never to be seen again).

Reports were that it was very interesting, as you can see from Grumpy’s fotos, but look up the Web to read & see more about it.

Then we set off to Largs by a faster route. First David avoided a pheasant, then managed to stop BEFORE a small herd of sheep crossed in front of us- not so the bold JH (who assures me he’s never been off his bike). Talk about a slalom on a bike- MAGNIFICANT as Colemanballs used to say. Not a dead sheep as yet.

More danger ahead! We reached the main coast road north, via Skelmorlie (zillions of new flats) and out of the limit on a gentle left bend, your writer’s light BMW seemed to take off, got into a tank slapper and somehow, just short of vehicles coming towards me, and by dint of supreme skill and not a little good fortune, managed  to straighten the bike and veer left.

Looking behind to see if Johnny was OK, I noticed he also had gone somewhat right, presumably to avoid hitting me.

At last (about 1.30 pm), we arrived at the splendid Brisbane restaurant. It was when we dismounted that we found out that 3 of us had hit this large area of spilt diesel (on top of a wet road). All 3 had a serious moment. Therefore we didn’t take alcohol at lunch. Have to say, Brisbane is a great find, spotless, clean toilets etc. and very good food at a very modest price.

We chatted forever, as one does, especially if the service is slow, and we left as it was getting dark. Not a good omen for Mr McGoo, who who drove home, again ignoring the “Closed Road” sign near home & thanking Monsieur Braille for all his efforts.

David, a great job, we’ll let you organise many more, if you’re a good boy.