It was a cool but dry Tuesday morning on the seventeenth of October when I got up at 04.45. Yes a quarter to five in the morning! Actually it was Sue who got me up; she seemed amused and pleased to have the opportunity for a really early start at school. At least, I think that’s what she was trying to say between yawns!

By 05.00 the neighbours also seemed amused by the noise from my Screamin’ Eagle performance pipes, (I don’t know if it goes faster but it’s noisy enough to sound as if it goes faster and that’s what really matters). At 05.30 I met up with a couple of fellow HOGs on the Purley Way near Croydon. Although I usually leave for work in Lambeth by 06.30 I was surprised at the amount of traffic an hour earlier. I’m a Surrey boy but I suppose I should realise by now that the city never sleeps.

Then it was onwards and upwards, (where does that expression come from, is it sexist?), to Steinways London showroom for a 06.15 meeting with John Lennon’s Model Z upright, complete with cigarette burns. Now being in the fire brigade I have seen a few burns caused by cigarettes left smouldering on a surface but for some reason these burns were more tapered than usual. I can only imagine they were a joint effort by John & Yoko!

A TV documentary crew and five other HOGs were lurking in Marylebone LANE in wait for us. Unfortunately yet another rider was cruising up and down Marylebone ROAD looking for us. Ah well, the best-laid plans of mice and men, (I know where that expression comes from, but is it also sexist or perhaps animalistic?). Anyway, eventually we were ten in number, and magnificent we were too.

When the TV crew eventually sorted themselves out they filmed us leading the van carrying the piano through the streets of London. There was of course the usual change of plans, several times, as the media demanded their photo opportunities. Eventually we set up a guard of honour, (a line out to you rugby fans), across the pavement outside the Hard Rock Café and the joanna was rolled inside. We followed it in and laid into the free coffee and pastries.

The media took thousands of photos, Gargy Patel and the other TV reporters did interviews with me but some tall bloke called Mike Fleetwood wearing a Fred Dibner cap kept on pushing his way into shot and his "partner" Ted Owen who is short enough to be from the Bill Owen, (Compo), family did the same.

It had been an early start and we were really lucky with the weather that had been atrocious the day before and was awful again the next day. The organisers gave us a Hard Rock Café tee shirt each and a cheque for Mencap, the charity supported by Surrey HOG.

Steve Whitmore

Ps: How many song titles can you find in this piece?