Attention to detail...

There are lessons in life which are more than just a good story.  Sometimes the difference between life and death is purely fortuitous.  The lesson here, in this story of foolish youth, is that one careless error could have killed someone.  Attention to tiny detail is IMPORTANT....

Very early on as a motorcyclist - in my first year at work at West Midlands Gas Board - I had a narrow escape from injury or even death on a friend’s bike, and I nearly died of laughter afterwards.

One of my young colleagues had turned up for work on a rather clapped-out BSA Winged Wheel power-assisted bicycle. With nothing better to do at lunchtime, we decided to "hot" it up, as young men do. Off came the silencer, followed by a few more tweaks before I mounted the saddle to test the 'improvements'. The yard was "L" shaped, ending at a brick single-story office wall, so from the farthest corner I engaged full throttle and pedalled like mad round the bend until, with around 25mph on the clock, and at the very last moment, I slammed on the brakes. I recall being more than a little dismayed to see both bicycle-type brake-blocks shoot straight out of their holders and a few seconds later hit the wall at full speed. Fortunately, my horizontal motion was converted into a vertical climb, and I recall seeing the rainwater gutter pass me as I went up, then pass me again when I went back down, landing in a heap on the wreckage. My colleague was much more concerned about the interesting shape of the forks and front wheel than about my health, although my hysterical laughter at my lucky escape might have influenced him. As I pointed out later, I might have saved his life. The brake-block holders were fitted back-to-front, and he could have been killed out on the road. As he was more concerned about getting the wreckage home and how to explain the mishap to his Dad than about the detail, I don't think the logic was fully appreciated.