18 years ago dad got into a new hobby: restoring and exhibiting stationary engines. It was something that he and Rick absolutely adored doing together, and in the early part of my teenager years the three of us would go off to various fields at weekends to exhibit the engines at 'Vintage' steam fairs and suchlike events.
As time went on, my interest in the events faded, but dad kept going and diversified into models and now motorbikes. He's always been a passionate bike enthusiast, and I reember as a 9-year-old kid him being very excited at starting work on a classic BSA Bantam D4 Major. Although he never did finish restoring that bike (he swapped the incomplete restoration with a guy who gave him a complete one) he has done many others and he was plannign on taking one along to a rally on the weekend we were in Buxton.
We joined dad at some ridicuous hour of a Sunday morning, and drove over the hill to Astle Park. We spent a really nice day looking at the various classic vehicles, smelling the lovely aroma of traction engine steam and smoke, and wandering around the endless lines of stalls. The highlight, though, was seeing dad riding around the showring on his bike - it's the first time I've seen him ride since I was very young, and he looked really at home on the back of it.
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