OK, here we go with a few of my TT memories. Some have been lost in the ageing grey matter, but there are some that seem as plain as yesterday. My first time was Friday 16th June 1967 with my late brother, a Motor Cycle News ! day trip for the Friday races. This entailed taking a train from Reading to London then another to Liverpool, it must have been a midnight ferry because i remember we had breakfast in a cafe on Douglas seafront, then went on a coach trip round the course. We then made our way to Bray Hill where we got a spot on the inside of the course near the bottom. The first race was the 50cc. The sight & sound of 24 screaming 50s in a mass start hurtling down the hill was unbelievable !! After it finished we made our way up to the start & sat on the wall on the inside just before the finish line. Here we witnessed the Hailwood / Agostini battle where Ago's chain broke & Mike won, I was hooked from then on.
I returned the following year for the week this time when we watched the Read / Ivy duel with little Bill doing the 100mph lap on the 125cc Yamaha & also Ago doing what was to become his famous leap. I also got sunburnt. On to 1972, this year i remember for  other reasons apart from the racing. Along with a couple of mates we made the 200 + miles journey to Liverpool in an old Bedford Van ( the one with sliding doors, that would not lock ! ) which i had bought for less than £50 ! & left it parked up somewhere near the docks. In the boarding house we stayed at worked a pretty young waitress. Well, one of lads fell for her hook line & sinker but it took until our last Friday evening for him to pluck up courage to ask her to come down the pub. They eventually got married & remain so to this day. And yes the Van made it back home again !!
Many years followed inc. 1975, 1976 & 1978 when of course Mike the Bike made his fantastic come back after 11 years.Then came several visits in the 1980s inc. marveling at the talents of Joey Dunlop . Camping at a muddy Glen Dhoo in 87. Going over in 1989 on my new VFR 750 when i had a chat to Stanley Woods watching the fireworks display on Douglas Beach. In 1992 i was sat on the bank at Rhencullen where i saw probably the best race ever when Steve Hislop won on the Norton. Due to work & other commitments i never returned to the IOM until 2007 for what was my last TT when John McGuiness won the Senior with a lap record of 130mph. Since then I've been over for the Southern 100  & also the 2013 Classic MGP. I still love every thing to do with the TT, the excitement gets to me every year & i get that same buzz listening to the radio broadcast's etc. one day I'll be back there again.