All these public holidays of late must be killing upcountry business, but what a bonus for us!
Hopefully, the N2 south will be bumper-to-bumper with motorcyclists and fun-seekers headed this way for South Coast Bike Fest next weekend.
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Of course, it would be more PC (politically correct) to be punting April 27 as Freedom Day… ‘the true dawn of democracy’… and attending some political (not motorcycle) rally.
Alas, it will be a toss-up between Matthew Mole and Julius Malema for some. Tough choice.
Then Friday is followed by May 1, Workers’ Day. (Many will probably take the Monday off in between as ‘sick leave’. So, in effect, it’s a five-day weekend.)
We really shouldn’t forget the real reasons behind these very important days, but this is a hungry tourist destination and we can’t afford to kick a gift bike in the piston. Also, considering our high unemployment rate, Workers’ Day is a bit of a misnomer anyway.
If the ANC Youth League gets its way, we could also be getting a new public holiday in honour of the late Winnie Mandela, who was referred to by many as ‘Mother of the Nation’. (Mandela biographer Charlene Smith’s ‘Conscience of the Nation’ is probably more appropriate.)
Perhaps the Bike Fest organisers can persuade their fantastic line-up of musicians in Margate to add the National Anthem to their repertoires?
Another appropriate song would be ‘Born Free’, but Matt Monro’s classic probably wouldn’t resonate with the leather-clad clan. They would be more into Steppenwolf’s ‘Born to be Wild’ from the 1969 cult movie, ‘Easy Rider’.
Just in case any musicians read this, there are several other appropriate songs to choose from: ‘Motorcycle Man’ by British heavy metal band, Saxon, ‘Live to Ride, Ride to Live’ by Twisted Sister, ‘Freewheel Burning’ by Judas Priest, ‘Motorcycle Mama’ by Neil Young, ‘Ezy Ryder’ by Jimmy Hendrix and ‘Bat out of Hell’ by Meatloaf… to name a few.
But there’s even a much older, way more famous song that was written long before motorcycles became the rage: Harry Dacre’s ‘Daisy Bell’.
It goes back to 1892 and was a hit in dance halls in the Victorian era. It was also the first song to be sung by a computer, an IBM 704, in 1961.
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No doubt this memory will get some (maybe not motorcyclists) humming quietly to themselves as they read this: “Daisy, Daisy… give me your answer, do (etc.) But you’ll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle made for two.”
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