Last Sunday I was witness to the wonderful sight of groups of scooter riders heading along the highway to some reunion or other. There must have been well over a hundred of them, nearly all dressed in the traditional Parkas adorned with Union Flags, RAF roundels, The Who stickers and other memorabilia from the 1960s. These were the descendants of the 1960s Mods, proudly carrying the mantle handed down to them by parents and grandparents.

I remember, as a child, the Mods and Rockers on the seafront on hot 1960s sunny Bank Holiday Mondays. Bank Holidays were always hot and sunny in the ‘60s, weren’t they? Or do our memories play tricks with us as the years advance, causing us to remember only that which we wish to remember, forgetting about the bad?

Well, I remember those days well enough and remember too, the parental warnings to stay away from the Lambretta-riding Mods, dressed in the latest ‘60s fashion and their rivals, the scruffier Rockers, on their Triumphs, Nortons and BSA motorbikes. There was certainly no love lost between the two who seemed intent on knocking seven shades of whatever out of each other whenever they met up!

The question always remained though, and I thought of this as I watched those Mods last weekend, “Are you a Mod or a Rocker?” Both had their attractions and maybe it was best to reply, as Ringo Starr once famously did, “I’m a Mocker!” meaning neither one nor the other or both!

However, yesterday I saw a pristine black and silver Triumph Bonneville, a truly beautiful English machine, gleaming in the sunshine and, like an epiphany, I knew instantly which one I would have chosen – had I been old enough, of course!