A new hobby. I’ve set myself the challenge in 2026 to get more mobile and join a community of enthusiasts who may fill a social gap for me. I’ve always wanted one of these and, typically, I’ve finally managed to get one, five years after having a stroke. It’s primarily for scenic joy rides, riding with the South Wales scooter club and reaching the supermarket. I am nervous and enthusiastic about doing my training. It doesn’t go too fast and is electric. I always liked the idea of being a Mod, and now I can be a stroke survivor Mod.
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Please keep reporting in with your progress.
I’m so pleased that your efforts are producing results.
Best wishes for an exciting and adventurous, but safe, New Year.
the above is a tune from my youth that used to be played at extreme volume on a stock car racing venue. The cars were v8 engines on a large bus or truck chassis they were not fitted with silencers and flames jetted out of the exhaust ports.
Eventually it was all closed down no doubt to the relief of residents in the area.
It was horribly dangerous for all concerned but it was an age when thrills were important and you had to take care of yourself.
Go steady young @Rups
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Wow that’s some new form of scooter.
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Watch out Rups is about 
Happy scootering.
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I absolutely love the colour.
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I’ll add it to my playlist. I will be going steady, like a Sunday Driver, I have no need for speed.
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Faster than a pushbike, slower than a car. 
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Aye, watch out for the pootling chap behind the Harley Davidson.
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Purposefully chosen for safety, I want to be really visible on the road and orange is an established safety colour for tools, lights, vests and signs.
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Who is this similar looking chap?
Addendum; just got it, Griff Rhys Jones, gosh, I didn’t recognise him at all.
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I like Richard Ayoade, the one person I constantly get pulled up as is a well-known guitarist, in fact, a picture turned up on my partner’s Facebook feed of this guitarist with his shirt off and my partner had a double-take, thinking it was me.
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Motorcycles and jimi Hendrix? I did not know i was still allowed to have fun after stroke. Great pics. Nice break from the other side of this mess we’re in.
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Well, if there is a Hell’s Grannies, I could be one of the Hell’s Stroke Survivors … on a more serious note, any bit of pleasure I can suck out of the marrow of life after stroke, I try.
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The way they are talking here, I’d probably rather be a Rocker than a Mod, but as a wise friend said to me, always try and subvert the dominate paradigm. Or the interview is biased
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Another surprise for 2026 is this little kitty … given by my partner to help my mental health post-stroke. Her name is Annie. Annie the orphan because she was taken away from her mother too young. She sorts of replaces the loss of my cat Daisy, who was also an orphan, who I used to take for walks in the woods before she was, tragically, hit by a car. Annie has massive ears and big eyes, quite compelling really.
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All I know, post stroke, is that every survivor experiences this … a strange angle to the universe. I think that was E.M Forster, although I have never read any of his works thus far. Maybe I should.
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This story about cats resonates deeper with me because I lost my mother at three years old. So, I have a particular fondness for animals separated from their mother at a young age.
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I was sorry to hear about poor Daisy. I remember how she used to take you for a walk in the woods.
RIP Daisy.
I hope Annie has a long and happy life with you.
(Back in the day I had motorbikes. They gave me the opportunity to expand my horizon, to travel and get away. There were accidents but I lived to tell the tale.)
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