I think that at some stage in every young person's life, they dream of riding off into the sunset on a noisy, anti-social motorbike. Sometimes it is simply a thirst for adventure, other times it is to throw off a yoke of convention that is threatening to define ... and constrict.

It is often said that youth is wasted on the young. I only agree to the point that many don't realise there is only a small window between the time you leave the influencing umbrella of your upbringing, and the embracing of grown-up responsibilities like relationships, mortgages, children, career pathways etc. The Ernie adventures took place in that 'sweet spot'.