Thanks for all the kind welcomes.
I insisted that my bike came with the plastic cup upgrade... only a fool parks on carpet without that
Yes, the 12v upgrade is something bouncing around my head at the moment.
And as for jumping straight to an A10: Yes, I'm both excited and pretty nervous about this. I've got a 'classic' car too, and if you cock something up in that PEOPLE NOTICE. So I'm having nightmares of stalling / bein unable to kickstart it / slowly toppling over at a traffic lights at the moment!
I'm conscious that Im very lucky to be in the position that I can do this. The truth is, as I mentioned, this is a heart decision. And an unusual one for me. I think there just comes a point where you realise 'well, I think I'd quite like that... and life is quite short'. So you just have to go for it. Plus, my step father wanted to sell this bike and it's nice for it to stay in the family. So here we are!
Just got to learn how to ride and look after it properly now.
It won't quite be my first bike: I'm taking delivery of an extremely fetching 1980s GS125 for £500 this Friday.... that'll be the bike to make all my mistakes on. Full test ('Direct Access') follows in a couple of months (then I've just got to get used to doing everything the other way around)!
Of course none of this holds me up from the essential job of standing in my garage, drinking a cup of tea and just staring at it and smiling
Cheers
Sam