Charles Dickens set his 1837 novel, Oliver Twist in the Southwark district of London. Locals pronounce the neighbourhood 'Suvurk'. It's across the Thames river from "The City," which is London's financial and legal center. In Dickens' time, pubs, theaters, entertainment and prostitution were banned from the highbrow financial district, but they flourished here, just south of the river.

I found myself in Southwark searching for Chasbikes, a repair shop that could easily have been described in a Dickens novel itself had motorcycles been invented a few years earlier. It's a dingy shop, jammed under a couple of soot-blackened brick arches supporting a 19th-century railway bridge.

"Chas" is Charles Holt. When he shrugs, a droopy moustache and bags under his eyes combine to create the vague impression of a basset hound. His shop is what London's motorcycle couriers call a "roll-on/roll-off" shop. No appointments necessary. A half-dozen mechanics work while customers wait. Even Chas admits his shop's specialty is "vinegar and brown paper"--Cockney slang for makeshift repairs. But if you're a courier with a flat, every minute costs you, so you'll be happy with a quick patch job at Chasbikes, even though the mechanics'd laugh out loud if you asked them to balance your wheel.

For a while, Chasbikes only worked on Honda's workhorse CX500 V-twin, which London's couriers affectionately call "maggots." Nowadays, however, the shop is crammed with 'slightly' newer models also favored by working riders. Hanging around in here you quickly realize that most couriers care not a whit for style. What they want is bulletproof reliability first and foremost, preferably with a shaft drive. So would you if you rode 50,000 miles a year, in all weather, in one of the world's most congested cities.

In Dickens' time, the population of New York was about 800,000. London was already a sprawling metropolis of nearly three million. Virtually all of central London was built up before the invention of the automobile. Its streets, to this day, are much too narrow and winding to adequately handle car traffic. Now that the Greater London's population has reached about 14 million, rush hour lasts from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. With traffic too congested for cars, and distances too great for bicycles, London's 2000 or so motorcycle couriers play a key role in keeping business moving.

There are always ads in Motor Cycle News looking for riders. Companies lure employees with guarantees of up to 500 pounds (more than $1000) a week, and promises of affordable company bikes and insurance. Britain has triple the U.S. rate of unemployment, so that kind of money talks.

It's not an easy job. British weather is often wet and cold. Cobblestones are still a common road surface. Diesel spills are everywhere. London is a maze of narrow, winding streets that rarely meet at right angles. Most streets are only a few blocks long, and street names seem to change in the middle of blocks. Even people born here don't try to find a new address without bringing their copy of London A-Z, the thick book of neighborhood maps that is the courier's bible.

All in all, it's not for the faint of heart. Whether it's true or not, several couriers told me the same story: "A few years ago, they did a survey of the most dangerous jobs in Britain, mate, and the three most dangerous jobs were bomb disposal, deep-sea diving--and being a courier!" That has the ring of an urban myth, but the reality is bad enough that there's no need to exaggerate the risks. When I asked a group of couriers how often they actually made physical contact with other vehicles in traffic--banging mirrors, booting cars in frustration--they looked at me curiously; "Every day, of course." The average courier lasts less than two years, but the lifers I interviewed, with from six to 20 years' experience, almost all had stories of broken bones. There are one or two fatalities a year.

The hazards are everywhere. Most couriers cite taxicabs first, though it's the empty ones that are dangerous. They'll slam on the brakes or make sudden U-turns to pick up fares. When they're carrying passengers, most London cabbies--imagine this-- drive like chauffeurs, taking care not to throw their passengers around. If you're going to survive as a courier, you learn to check the back seat for a passenger. But the worst complaints were reserved for drivers of Royal Mail vans. If you can believe the couriers, the drivers of these vans are allowed three accidents a year before being disciplined, and they all use up all three free passes.

Street survival skills become second nature to long-term couriers. Most told me that they'd had their serious accidents early on. They learned quickly to assume other drivers can't see them until eye contact has been made--and once eye contact has been made, to assume the driver will purposely attempt to run them down. Veterans notice even the subtlest body language from drivers; things like the slight upward hunching of drivers' shoulders when they tense up before a desperate lane change.

Even the most skilled rider can be had. Dan Walsh, an ex-courier who now writes for the British magazine Bike, told me some crashes are inevitable. "There are two times a year when everyone crashes. The first is in February, when London always gets a day or two of snow. The second is the first really hot day in June, when the secretaries are out in their miniskirts; bang! you ride into the back of a van."

In Dickens' time, Smithfield Market was London's live cattle market. While they no longer drive cattle into central London, it's still the city's major wholesale meat market. The building covers an entire city block. Like most London markets, it's only open one day a week--in this case, Monday. The rest of the week, traffic in and out of the building is minimal, so there's room to park bikes and loiter, out of the rain, under the awnings that cover the market's loading docks.

In general, motorcycle couriers are either long-haul or short-haul specialists. The dispatchers--called "controllers"--know what kind of bike each rider has, and try to match the trip with the bike and rider. If you're willing to pay the price (about $300) a courier will be happy to run an important contract from your office in London to Scotland, and deliver it later that same day.

There were a dozen bikes parked around the cafe when I arrived around mid-morning. I fell in with three long-haul boys, standing on the sidewalk by their bikes, Honda ST1100s and a BMW K100. At first they were wary; couriers do a fair bit of work for cash, and strangers are presumed to be Her Majesty's tax men until proven otherwise. When I walked up and started asking questions, they tended to drift away making a show of listening intently to the radios that link them to their controllers. However, once it was established that, despite my funny accent, I spoke pretty fluent motorcycle, they opened up a bit.

Like bikers everywhere, the bike they preferred was the one they had. I listened to a "ST vs. the K100" argument that I could tell these three guys had carried on for years. There were, however, lots of things they agreed on. These riders, who had covered about half a million miles each in the last decade, right through British winters, swore by ABS. Spending thousands of hours a year in the saddle, they deemed niceties like heated grips and full fairings absolutely essential. (You know the story about Eskimos, who have 50 words for "snow"? That's the way couriers talk about rain gear.)

The courier scene here really exploded about 20 years ago, about the time increasing car ownership made London traffic essentially impenetrable for cars. 

To hear veterans tell it, it's not like it used to be. "When oi stahtid," one lamented over his bacon sandwich and tea, "it was company against company, but now it's wroidah against wroidah. Loik, the company oi wuhk foah is on an open coal system--Roight?" He arched an eyebrow at me, to see if I grasped the significance of an "open call" system. What that means is that, as companies get calls, they put them out to all riders, and the riders nearest the pickup point radio in a sort of "dibs" on that trip. The controller then assigns it to whoever seems most available. Needless to say, it's a system that breeds discontent. "So weah in competition with each utha. There's no comradery any moah. Some of these guys, when they go home, they have cars. They're just riding to make a living."

Most riders work for a guarantee, which means the dispatch company guarantees a minimum gross income; but to earn the guarantee, riders must be available 10 hours a day, five days a week. Guarantees have elevated "skiving"--dodging work while creating the impression of working--to an art form. Couriers trade deliveries amongst each other for cash, passing off packages to other riders who are heading in the same general direction. Couriers have been known to lie at home in their beds, radio on, calling for the occasional delivery to create the impression they're on the job, all the while hoping they don't actually get assigned the delivery.

As a courier, if you need a day off, you can always quit. Experienced riders who know the city will be rehired whenever they want. I asked Trish, a CB500 rider who was one of the few women I saw on the job, if she was worried about getting paid the wages she was owed after quitting without notice. "See this radio?" She patted the two-way radio that connected her to her controller, "We just hang on to it until they pay us!"

The first thing couriers told me they liked about their jobs was the freedom. Virtually all of them were bikers first, who tried the job because they liked the idea of getting paid to ride around. After riding all day, most still ride for fun, too. For pleasure, they ride everything: lots of choppers and rat bikes, super-motards, a 350 AJS. I ran into one courier whose CX500 was out of commission, so he was dispatching on his play bike: a lowered, drag-tuned FZR1000 with a Spondon swingarm that let him extend the wheelbase by three inches at the dragstrip. Maybe not the most efficient tool for the job, but great at the traffic lights.

On the way, I run into a courier I'd met earlier in the week; his name, or nickname, is Crudgie. His gray beard and hair tumbles out from beneath a 40-year-old Everoak cork-lined, leather-covered crash helmet. It turns out while British riders must wear helmets, any helmet that was ever approved is still considered legal headgear. Looking at him, you could imagine him delivering the tapes from the Rolling Stones' first big recording session to some East London record-pressing plant.

Crudgie rides an aging Honda 250 twin. It was (well) used when he bought it, but has since logged 125,000 miles. He'd fitted it with a massive fiberglass fairing off something like a Phelon & Moore Panther. We chatted for a minute. In fact, we talked about the merits of chain oilers. Crudgie volunteered that, really, his motor pretty effectively lubed the whole back of his motorcycle. When I bent down to look, I saw his point. He threw a delivery into his top box, and wished me a good weekend.

In my week with London couriers, more than one told me that they figured the Internet would eventually kill the courier business. People are adaptable, but it's hard to imagine this lot doing much else. As one told me, "This is the last rock 'n' roll job, mate."

And you can find ads like this:

Most of the work tends to be during business hours, so it's not generally an easy job to carry out on a part-time basis, although it might suit you if you're working shifts. But beware, as this is a job you need to be alert in. 

Most will state that It's a great job when the sun is shining and if you love driving or biking, but there are generally plenty of traffic hazards and discomforts. (To name but a few - you can be too hot, too cold, too wet, get saddle sore, suffer an aching back, experience lorries turning left, everyone wanting to turn right across your path, and of course car doors opening in your path!) I found that in print! And this bit:

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wsHqFkLlOw

They are a rare breed of motorcyclist. I couldn't imagine doing this for very long, and now with the Olympics in town...OMG! "