[Fot] Jan Alexander

[Richard Taylor]

British Motoring, Fall '08, Editor's Choice, Triumph Friend, Joe Alexander,
by Kathleen M. Mangan

 

This is a nice article about our buddy. But study carefully the photo of Jan
with Joe and his TR-3 in the background. 

 

I first met Jan years ago at a race. She was sitting quietly in their Nomad
knitting, sewing, crocheting or something equally domestic. I squeezed in
the cabin and she and I got into a wonderful conversation about something we
had each read recently. With the grace and patience of nobility she let me
go through whatever rant was on my mind. Her contributions were gentle,
tolerant and thoughtful. You know, the kind of stuff that all guys fall for.
Well, needles to say, I fell for it.

 

I fell for it until she reached out to pick up her iced tea. There on her
fore arm was a glorious tattoo, bright and bold. And here was I, caught with
the incarnate image of Shirley Jones with a PhD, discussing loftier thoughts
than often found in the paddock, and totally charmed by what's his name's
wife!

 

Of course we all have varying prejudices about tattoos; pro, con or
indifferent. I think I have trained myself to be fairly indifferent, but
this one caught me totally off guard. My thoughts were racing, trying to
re-create the mood and circumstance which precipitated this adornment. I
just couldn't make it fit. In my mind Jan's calm, call it serenity, simply
belied the need for personal signature art. So I figured that probably she
just stayed stoned all the time and one day she ran out of dope and in a fit
of frenzy strolled into a tattoo parlor. That wasn't exactly what I thought,
but that was the nature of my quandary. 

 

Tattoo or not, however, I was still smitten; still am, in fact.

 

Especially after some 6 months later when I cautiously broached the subject
to Joe. He laughed heartily and told me that Jan was just having fun with
wash-off tattoos. How perfect!

 

As Kathleen's article points out, Joe's a pretty Boss guy. But as many of
you'll know, there is a reason for it.

 

Richard

TR-4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/fot/attachments/20080930/c83d2310/attachment-0002.htm>