That was the question I asked myself when I was back at work and earning – many months after breaking my neck in a motorcycle accident at the age of nineteen —

Or do I go back to the leather flying helmets that were plentiful after the war – I still had one tucked away somewhere from when I started riding on the road the day I turned seventeen – complete with the neccessary Mk8 goggles —

I remember vividly from many a ride in all weathers home to Dunblane from a Saturday night dancing at the Kelso Corn Exchange – from rain in the Scottish Borders turning to sleet and snow over the heights of Soutra – the flat belt driven dynamo fitted low down behind the front wheel of the 350 Velocette was virtually useless once the pulleys got wet and would leave me groping through steamed up Mk8 goggles in the dark —

Time to move on – my mate Les had given up riding after a collision with a coal lorry while riding his 600 Norton Dominator. The collision didn’t do the truck any good and Les didn’t fare much better. Tthe nett result after the coal dust had settled left him with one leg shorter than the other. It was enough for common sense to prevail and Les gave up motorcycling and I won his open face Bell helmet for a fiver —

Anyone want to buy a picture? I jest – my wife happens to be an artist and that oil pastel of her family at play in an orchard isn’t for sale at any price. But the open face helmet is a masterpiece too – a Roland Sands Replica of the Bell Helmet I was wearing when I had my own little crash which left me with a broken neck and mouthful of broken teeth —

Unfortunately I wasn’t blessed with the same degree of common sense as my mate Les had shown. With my Bell Open Face helmet last seen with a police sergeant’s fingers poking through the smashed roof as photographed by the Daily Express when they ran a major campaign to make motorcycle helmets compulsory – I had to decide what style I was going to wear next —

Yup – always the ijit – I went for this Pudding Basin lid – mainly because my all-time hero Bob McIntyre looked so good in one. I wore it back in 1966 when riding my BSA 650 Lightning – my best mate Patch has inherited it now and I have to admit he looks better in it than I do —