His missus would give him a peck on the cheek and he would shift to 1st gear with a thunk and pass through the gate gaining speed with the rising whine typical of the two-stroke Vespas.Īs two-wheelers go, this one doesn't have the crowd-pleasing features that one is used to seeing on the roads today. Blue smoke filled the air as he sat astride his scooter in his impeccable suit ready to leave for office.
Mr Whitbread used to work in Adamjee Jute Mills and like clockwork, every morning at 6:30, he would wheel out his blue Vespa VBB to the lawn and kick it to life. When I was growing up in Dhaka in the '60s, my downstairs neighbour was one Mr Patrick Whitbread and his wife.
