Taking in the view – life from a scooter by Mark Bennett | Book review

50 autographed copies available through SLUK now!

How old are you? 55 

Occupation? Operating Department Practitioner in the NHS

What year did you first own a scooter? I got my Vespa PK50 in 1984

How long were you without a scooter during your ‘gap years’? I was without a road-going scooter for six years, while the kids were small and I worked in the village I lived in. But I had a Lambretta cutdown, all in boxes and stored in the garage, waiting to be rebuilt as soon as I could justify it.

What scooter/s do you own now? Solid Air – a battle-scarred Indian GP with a Quattrini 190cc engine, Minty the Imperial – a Spanish LD125, which should hopefully see some road miles in 2024. I am also, putting together another GP to take over duties from Solid Air for a bit so that it can receive some much-needed care and attention.

What inspired you to write the book? It’s all the fault of Kerry, my girlfriend. She planted the idea, which I shrugged off at first, but then a few days later I thought I would make a start and see what happens, and here we are!

Have you had any previous publishing or writing experience? Does English Language O Level count? Apart from that, the only thing I have done is submit articles to be included in the LCGB New Jetset magazine. I’ve also written a few Euro rally diary threads on the LCGB forum and friends have followed me on my travels on Facebook for which I received encouraging feedback. Recently, ScooterNova has just used a two-part article on a trip I did to Sweden and Norway earlier this year, which is an abridged version of one part of the book.

How long did it take you to write the book? The writing itself took one year, then the following three months were spent proofreading, correcting, rereading countless times and working on the design and layout. They were three very intense months, hard work but very satisfying and rewarding.

Are you happy with how it turned out? Despite all the checking, I know of one fault in the text (a repeated line on page 129) and there are a couple of errors, an incorrect date and a misspelt name. That’s very frustrating for me but also not bad going, considering there are over 70,000 words in the book and the whole process is brand new to me.

You self-published, did you also create the layout and design yourself? Yes, I self-published. The chances of getting a publisher interested were less than nil, with no experience or history. But going down the self-publishing route is great as it gave me total control over the project. I also asked questions of people and received some helpful advice from Sticky and Brad (of Time Trouble and Money fame). 

Who did the design work? I had a graphic designer organised but she had to drop out very late in the day. That became a blessing in disguise, after a Facebook post asking if friends knew of another we came up trumps. From that, I was introduced to Martin Bird of Bird Creative Studio Ltd. He completely understood what I was looking to achieve and was fully on board. I had the basic layout and some ideas for the maps and illustrations in my head but needed the people with the necessary skills to make them real, including a friend who did the wonderful illustrations for me but wants to remain incognito.

Martin was enthusiastic and quick, came up with some great ideas and was happy to explain things to me about the design and printing process but also listened to my ideas and suggestions. His older brother Gary is a scooterist, so he could relate to the subject matter but also learnt a lot that was new to him too. Martin’s skill with design and the illustrations in the book brought things in my head to life and massively enhanced Taking in the View. I am very grateful.

Were you happy with how it turned out? I’m amazed at how it turned out, chuffed to nuts, and very proud of what I have achieved in the time and with no experience of producing a book too.

The book has been out for a week, how have sales gone so far? It’s been a great first week! People have been very interested and enthusiastic about the book in the UK and also from places such as Australia, Germany, Norway and Sweden. 200 copies have been sold through the following three outlets, which are my website www.lifefromascooter.com, the SLUK shop and Cambridge Lambretta Workshop, who are also taking care of all the overseas shipping for me.  

Give us a brief snapshot of your scootering life to give readers a flavour of what the book is all about? 70,000 words into a couple of hundred words? I’ll give it a go… Lost teenager discovers music and The Jam, Harrington jackets and Sta-prest, All Mod Cons, a semi-hidden Vespa becomes real in ‘THAT film’, there’s no going back, road legal at 16, the underwhelming power of a PK50. 

Introduced to the world of national scooter runs, go a mod, return a scooterboy, silly haircuts – sillier music, riding round the country, drinking beer – lots of it. Making friends, breaking scooters, losing friends forever. Boy meets girl, settles down and makes a family, just like millions of others. Always two constants – music and scooters, one exits stage left for a few years but will be back.

Part two

It all kicks off again, the enthusiasm is still there, scooters to be built, rebuilt crashed and broken, miles to be ridden, friends to be met, memories to be made, still traipsing around the country on an old two-stroke. Lifts home on the back of a lorry, broken pistons – too many! Coast to coast, the Channel Tunnel, Euro rallies, going racing, hour on hour – round and round, crash bang wallop, get up – keep going. Getting old – staying young. Huge Norwegian mountains, a massive metal moose, still drinking lots of beer, still riding mile upon mile, always happy to get home, ready to do it all over again, if you don’t do it – you haven’t done it!