Electric Motorcycles

I was speaking with a dear old friend today when he told me that Spagthorpe were planning to build an electric motorcycle - to be called the Joule!  What wonderful news, as the Jessops have a long connection with Spagthorpe ever since my Grandfather, Edgar, test rode the Spagthorpe Lightning.  Everybody knows that only 17 Lightnings were made and few are known to survive - many having been re-engineered into Brough Superiors.  I did, by extraordinary coincidence, come across this Spagthorpe Bloodhound in the summer - at the Davidstow Racetrack Museum.

Davidstow itself is famous for being where John Coombs gained Lotus's first ever Formula One victory, in a Lotus Lea-Francis in 1954, but I don't think the Bloodhound would have negotiated its tight corners! Interestingly, Davidstow isn't far from Peter Tavy where Spagthorpes are made today. Because so many of their machines were named after dogs (Airedale, Wolfhound, Bloodhound, Beagle to name but a few), my friend Jennifer once wrote to them asking her to call one of their machines the Giant Schnauzer.  That's because she has a Giant Schnauzer, and she said it should be a suitable for women to ride in a skirt or a long dress (the motorcycle that is, not the Schnauzer!).  She was quite sure that, in her circle of friends, it would really catch on, especially if one was loaned to a properly 'womanly' celebrity. But Spagthorpe's marketing people said that they couldn't see it working.

I was quite surprised at that as I thought it would be a great PR opportunity - perhaps someone like Vanessa Feltz might say on her radio show that she had spent the weekend washing and polishing her Giant Schnauzer.    

The joy of cream horns

That charming young American boy, Brady, doesn't know what a cream horn is!  Brady, my dear, you don't know what you have missed!

It is a delicious puff pastry cone, sugar coated, and filled with cream.  Now there are many variations, but the essence of this delicacy is the horn - and the bigger the horn, the better. Then, it is filled with the lovely light cream known as Chantilly cream.  Some people put a dollop of strawberry conserve into the horn first - some people add chopped fruit, nuts, chocolate, even cheese and craime fraiche.  But for me, it is only necessary to have horn and cream. And NEVER custard - that is not a cream horn, it's a custard horn.

So, how should a cream horn be eaten?  Well firstly, one needs to hold the horn delicately, and not squash it - horns are delicate.  Secondly, and without being too personal, it depends upon the size of one's mouth.  I myself like to nibble at the end, gently. Some lick them so that the cream bursts into their mouth, and others can apparently swallow them whole - as I have seen Jennifer's Giant Schnauzer do!

Unsophisticated young girls will often be left with much cream around their face, resulting in licking and sleeve-wiping - but refined gentlewomen will dab at their lips with a moist kleenex.  However, what is NOT acceptable is to burst into a mock rendition of O Sole Mio, substituting the words "Just one Cornetto!"  The Cornetto is horn-shaped but filled with ice-cream and is therefore not a proper cream horn.

A proper accompaniment to a cream horn is a nice cup of tea.  Earl Grey is very acceptable but some good leaf Ceylon is better.  I myself like 'rooibos' - I think a cream horn always goes well with a good Redbush.