Nostalgia

[Digit]

Anybody remember the 2i's coffee bar?

Roy.

 

[Harbo]

If that's the one just off the North Circular? - its still there.
Saw it on a visit to Ally Pally a few weeks ago.

Rod

 

[Digit]

Nope! Soho, it was a tiny little coffee bar that saw the birth of British Rock music, Hank Marvin, Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele, Terry Dene.
It was that small you couldn't get two dozen people in the place! But till the rise of the Cavern and the Beatles it was the scene!
Had my first espresso there.

Roy.

 

[Benchwayze]

I didn't think the Espresso (as we know it today) was about in those days. I'm certain we wouldn't have allowed them to rip us off with 'sippers', which in quantity, is just about all Espresso is! :mrgreen:
I remember a drink called 'Expresso' (Frothy Coffee). Is that what you mean Roy?

Of course I could have it all wrong, as the memory plays strange tricks .

 

[woodbloke]

I didn't think the Espresso (as we know it today) was about in those days. I'm certain we wouldn't have allowed them to rip us off with 'sippers', which in quantity, is just about all Espresso is! :mrgreen:
I remember a drink called 'Expresso' (Frothy Coffee). Is that what you mean Roy?

Of course I could have it all wrong, as the memory plays strange tricks .

No John...'sippers', as you ought to know, is a navy phrase derived from letting one of your best mates have a small sip of your rum tot...as opposed to 'gulpers' which is entirely different kettle of worms as it would be liable to have the offender thrown overboard :lol: - Rob

 

[Digit]

You're correct John, 'frothy coffee.'

Roy.

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Rob.....

I think my attempt at 'sarcasm' wasn't well expressed. (No pun intended)

What I meant was, the amount of coffee one gets today, when buying an 'Espresso', would just about be equal to 'sippers'.

And I rarely gave anyone gulpers of my tot. I had some good oppos, but the kind of favours that 'gulpers' was worth were few and far between! :mrgreen:

The 'Espresso' I recall from the 60s, was served in a pyrex, bowl-shaped cup, and we always called them Expresso or 'Frothy Coffees'.

They were the elixir of life for bikers, racing from one coffee bar to the next, to decide who paid. Pretty tame stuff by today's standards, but still a dangerous pastime from the speeding point of view! ccasion5:

Cheers Roy... We bounced posts I believe!

 

[marcros]

was that where the whole cafe racer thing came from then Roy?

 

[RogerS]

Nostalgia....not what it used to be.

 

[Digit]

was that where the whole cafe racer thing came from then Roy

Yep! We couldn't afford motor cars so we had bikes, and the only reason we didn't sleep with them was because we couldn't get them upstairs. What money we had was lavished on our steeds, and inevitably speed became important, so just as of yore steeple chases were between churches etc, we raced from coffee bar to coffee bar or coffee bar to, for example, the nearest round-about and back to the coffee bar.

Roy.

 

[Benchwayze]

was that where the whole cafe racer thing came from then Roy

Yep! We couldn't afford motor cars so we had bikes, and the only reason we didn't sleep with them was because we couldn't get them upstairs. What money we had was lavished on our steeds, and inevitably speed became important, so just as of yore steeple chases were between churches etc, we raced from coffee bar to coffee bar or coffee bar to, for example, the nearest round-about and back to the coffee bar.

Roy.

BSA Road Rocket here Roy!
Later a Triumph 350
and a Gold Flash A10.
Now I am cadging spins on No. One Son's 'Kwacker'! 1000.
Silly old fool that I am.

 

[Digit]

Road Rocket, ooooh! I'd give a kidney for one of them even now!
I was an apprentice doing a part time Batchelor's in engineering, so with tuition fees on top of everything else all I could afford were such heaps as a BSA C11G, about which the less said the better.
Without a doubt the most unreliable machine I have ever had was an AMC engined Francis Barnett 250 Cruiser, the bike the copper rides in Heartbeat, show it a damp patch and the electrics would pack up.
Eventually I junked the battery and rewired everything from the alternator. It had an Avon Safety Mileage tyre on the front, they were flat sectioned so when you leant over the bike fell into the bend.
So fed up did I become that eventually I modified the front brake to twin leading shoes, put a round section tyre on, rebraced the rear end, modified the clutch, a massive carb, megaphone exhaust, modified porting and a fairing.
It was the fastest 250 at the Busy Bee cafe, then I ended up in hospital! :lol:

Roy.

 

[Benchwayze]

Road Rocket, ooooh! I'd give a kidney for one of them even now!
I was an apprentice doing a part time Batchelor's in engineering, so with tuition fees on top of everything else all I could afford were such heaps as a BSA C11G, about which the less said the better.
Without a doubt the most unreliable machine I have ever had was an AMC engined Francis Barnett 250 Cruiser, the bike the copper rides in Heartbeat, show it a damp patch and the electrics would pack up.
Eventually I junked the battery and rewired everything from the alternator. It had an Avon Safety Mileage tyre on the front, they were flat sectioned so when you leant over the bike fell into the bend.
So fed up did I become that eventually I modified the front brake to twin leading shoes, put a round section tyre on, rebraced the rear end, modified the clutch, a massive carb, megaphone exhaust, modified porting and a fairing.
It was the fastest 250 at the Busy Bee cafe, then I ended up in hospital! :lol:

Roy.

Well Roy,

I didn't have a bad smash fortunately, but then being in the RN, meant I didn't get as much road time as I would've liked. Then I got married, and bikes took a back seat. It wasn't until the early seventies that I got back on one, when I bought the Triumph T21 350 twin.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-T21-3 ... 0838831399

The one with the bathtub rear mudguard and the 'knacker-rack' on the tank! By then I was enforcing, rather than breaking the speed limits!

 

[Digit]

Oh you were one of them were you, the enemy! :lol:
When I started riding the police were on 'noddy bikes,' and didn't have a cat in Hell's chance of catching us, later on someone spoiled our fun by supplying you lot with Triumph Thunderbirds, a slightly different kettle of fish of course.
Actually most of the biker cops I've met up with have been human beings, unlike speed cameras and I always managed to talk my way out of trouble.
'Yes officer, no officer, watch your bike officer my mate's dismantling it!'
I'll never forget the copper who came into the hospital to see me for a statement after my accident, his opening words were, 'well I never expected to see you still alive!' A real bundle of fun he was! :lol:
And your age has nothing to do with it, get a bike!

Roy.

 

[Benchwayze]

Well I just made 73 today. So nahhh I think it's a bit late Roy.
Right, I have been down memory lane Googling Road Rockets and A10s... Now I am off to clean into my 'Best Blues', for a right old stuff at the 'Buffet Island' Chinese restaurant, up the road! All you can eat for £17.50 Go around as many times as your bread-basket can stand! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[Digit]

Many happy returns John, but I'm 72 this year and I still ride a motor bike.

Roy.

 

[Harbo]

The cafe I saw off the North Circular was the Ace.

I think my first taste of real coffee was on a school trip in 1959 at Basel Station.
Fresh bread rolls, butter, black cherry jam and coffee - I still remember the taste!

Yes Coffee bars used to serve their stuff in Pyrex cups - I suppose the term came from the use of Expresso machines as most coffee is made as an Expresso and then diluted with milk etc in various forms?
I generally drink Expresso or if thirstier an Americano - I cannot stand the frothy milky ones or Latte!
It really annoys me when people in front are ordering the weird double mochas, skinny, chocolate, vanilla whotsits with extra cream which take an age to make?
The Italians do it best and keep things very simple.

Rod

 

[Digit]

The cafe I saw off the North Circular was the Ace.

That was the venue in my day, but it bit too far as I lived in Dunstable, in Bedfordshire, so my normal week end haunt was the Busy Bee on the Watford by-pass.

Here..

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... Ow&cad=rja

Roy.