I spotted this amusing list of 35 Amazingly English Things To Do Before You Die a few days ago.
Six of the 35 things are tea-related, which didn’t surprise me. But one item on the list did surprise me:
9. Give a bicycle an old-fashioned name (eg. “Bertie”, “Gladys”, “Percy” or “Randolph”).
I had no idea that giving a bike an old-fashioned name was a particularly English thing to do.
If you’re from England and you have a bike with an old-fashioned name, please comment and tell us more about this tradition. (Also please tell us your bike’s name!)
For the rest of us: if you were in England, and you had a bike, what would your bike’s old-fashioned name be?
For me…I think it depends upon the color. Kinda partial to Mazie, though.
P.S. Here’s some bike name inspiration.
Image: Adapted from Blue bicycle facing left in Boulevard Lascrosse by PierreSelim under CC BY 3.0.
I’ve met a bike called Gladys! Also an Ethel and a Susie. They were very vintage bikes: sit-up-and-beg, wicker basket, leather seat and dringy bell. My bike is newer and more stolid, and called Mike.
Thanks Clare!
Huh, the main character in the Flavia de Luce novels has a bike named Gladys. Never realized that it was a particularly English thing to do and just thought it something a particularly eccentric person would do…
I guess this is one of those little nuances that don’t cross the pond without explanation.
Irish cyclist Dervla Murphy called her bike “Roz,” short for Rozinante (apparently after Don Quixote’s horse).