Telling My Dad
December 10, 2007 at 8:52 am | Personal, Trip | No comment
Christ, I was bricking myself.
My dad, has never been a fan of bikes, and is the only person I can think of that has my respect, the intelligence and a reason to talk me out of this trip.
Having delayed it this long, I wanted to try not to rub it in my dad’s face, so I concoct a story about the boss lending me her company car for the evening so I can go and visit him (as he’s 150 miles away!).
I make the trip down, which coincidentally happens to be the first time I’ve ridden my bike outside Milton Keynes!
A long journey in the dark isn’t my idea of fun, and with only one heated grip working and my £12.99 Tesco Value gloves, my fingers are about to fall off.
Nevertheless I arrive, parking up some way away from my Father’s house so that I can undress (which feels very weird on the side of the road, despite me having my normal work clothes underneath my gear!) and make a relatively normal entrance (bar a rather suspicious looking backpack stuffed with all my clothes).
I go into my dad’s house nochalantly and wait for him to bring up my trip.
“Yeah, James, that’s actually why I’ve come down here… I’ve changed my travel plans a little…”
“Oh?”
“I’m not going to stay in Italy, I’m going to drive to Australia”
“What!?”
“The thing is… I’m not going to do it in a car”
“What are you going to do it in?”
“… A bike…”
“Ah…”
He looked at me meaningfully for a few moments, obviously deciding how to react.
“Sounds interesting!”
Phew! He later explains that he would have exploded and forbidden me to do it, bar the fact that he didn’t think I’d take a blind bit of notice!
Interestingly enough, his concern about the bike was not as focused as his concern about me travelling through Iran, or the fact that I was doing the journey on my own.
I related my tales of planning and revealed that I had my license and not only had I already bought a bike, I’d ridden it to his house.
While shock value was what I was trying to decrease when telling my dad, it was still rather entertaining to see his incredulity to each new revealation.
In the end, my dad gave me his blessing, and I’m sure will prove to be a powerful ally with regards to contacts, paperwork and general travelling know-how.
A great success!