I pulled my anorak on over my Belstaff and set off to do some serious train spotting. I was 44 years old, single and still lived at home (this bits not really true just a bit of drama to spice up the message) and Mum shouted from the front drive: 'Don't forget your spam sandwiches Rodney and you must put on your day glow jacket'. That was the 'Divvie'for you, a sensible sort of bike for very sensible people who wanted reliability over style. The people who ride this bike know train timetables backwards; they memorise rain fall patterns and statistics.They like I.T. and know all about computers. But whoever said it was wrong to be an 'anorak' then? Boring maybe, owners may not be the life and soul of the party either and you definitely won't see gorgeous young women draping themselves over a Divvie; its definitely no 'babe magnet'. In fact, its the ideal 'secret agent' bike, you blend into the background - big time; it a chameleon of a bike, but it gets you to your assignment on time and in relative comfort. So if you want every day reliability, reasonable performance and decent fuel frugality this hunk of metal is for you. I would argue this was the first all round 'retro' bike of its day. It pre-dated the Bandit and almost out lived it, only being chopped due to stringent EU emission directives. The 4 cylinder 600cc 'Divvie' (as its fondly called by owners) carried me 35,000 uneventful miles. No breakdowns. No drama. No tears. It did its job and ought to have come with a sensible owners anorak. Mine was a W reg 2000 model in a racing green colour with the twin front calipers, so the stoppers were good, the more recent ones had this addition as well as an oil cooler fitted. The Bridgestone tyres I had turned in 12,000 miles before needing replacement. Mr Frugal was well pleased, most of its life was spent taking yours truly back and forward to work - and this is what its good at. The small OE standard fairing was able to keep the worst of the British weather at bay and as other bikers (aren't we bikers so ridiculously brand conscious?) raised their noses in collective disgust,as the poor Divvie and I rode by, I was laughing all the way to my listening 24/7 online bank. Nothing ever wore out apart from one chain/sprocket set and a pair of tyres. The nearest thing to excitement was a 2 day ride there and back to Cornwall (uneventful)and a day with a horde of other Divvie riders riding sensibly around the New Forest (Yes there IS a community of Divvie riders who are keen afficianados of all things Divvie, they are also suprisingly normal too). Eventually its sheer boring nature got to me; its as dull as Mum's proverbial dishwater and I sold it on e bay to a chap who saw a good thing when it was advertised - bought it just from my description and photographs (never viewed it in the flesh), sent a man and a van to pick the Divvie up and he gave me good feedback on e bay; what a sensible gent he was. A sensible gent with a sensible bike in a sensible world. Welcome to Divvie land....'Rodney get up to bed and wash your hands' shouted me Mum, 'Its way past your bed time, its already 9.30, Ovaltine is by your bed and there a nice hot water bottle.' Memories were made of this, its Divvie time all over again.