The last few months

Over the autumn I had been busy renovating the rear end of the MZ.  There had been no damping of late at the back and it shewed going over "sleeping policemen" two up, while the back brake was pretty useless.  Of course, since the front brake is a Brembo disc and there is no MOT here the braking wasn't a problem.
The state of the struts can be seen in the pictures below:-

After the new struts were fitted the bike looked, and handled, a lot better.

Martin at Burwin's where I source all my MZ parts, had had made up some rubber gaiters sized to fit over the struts, protecting them from the elements.
The old struts were put into the skip that we had delivered because the Housing Association were finally renewing the shower room.  As part of a rearrangement of the top floor since Damien is finally moving out as well a rather heavy freezer had to be shifted downstairs.  Since Alexander had cried off at the last moment I helped our handyman carry it down: bad move! There is a condition called Costochondritis, an inflammation of the cartilages between the ribs and the sternum which can be caused by such exertion as moving a freezer downstairs!
I had had a touch of it a few years ago; the MZ had to be pushed home a few miles when the ignition failed.
This time it was full on.  My chest was hurting badly and there were stabbing pains in my neck, skull and back.  Ibuprofen and paracetamol taken together are keeping the pain more or less under control while the condition goes away but it is taking s-o-o-o long.  I was not able to move about much in the beginning.  Walking, cycling and even motorcycling had been impossible though now that the pain in my neck has subsided somewhat I can turn my head to look behind and riding the bike is again possible though not too great a distance as the condition worsens in the cold!