aha...so I revert to my previous statement of we drive/ride on the left so the sidestand's on the left - but as the Spanish drive/ride on the right it's on the right                                                                                                                                                                              

yes but............. the germans invented the motorcycle and............                                                                                                                                                                             

The MZ had a sidestand ........................ on the left

It also had a "kickstart" .............................. on the left
                                                                                                                                                                             

Trust you !                                                                                                                                                                             

For the record for I don't want everyone thinking that I'm really really thick.. just a tad thick.. at times.. in blonde moments...

I DO know where my stand is.. but sometimes after riding for hours.. my foot forgets.. which is actually a huge improvement on forgetting completely to put it down in the first place and thinking that you had... 

However.. I can't describe it just like JP did.. so this post is a bit of a futile exercise.. but loving the chat anyways...                                                                                                                                                                              

Futile excercise ? its life  or death now                                                                                                                                                                             

What is... putting my side stand down?? Or trying to convince people I'm not thick??                                                                                                                                                                             

Its not a case of being thick or blonde it should be an automatic thing to know where your side stand is unless you have a bike that is just not well desined so its a bitch to hook the stand with your boot if you have such a bike it can be sorted out by a simple bolt welded on the stand to make it much simpler to use

"True about the swords SS, but not true about the armour.
The modern infantry lugs around with twice the weight of armour.
A knight who couldn't remount in battle lost his primary advantage so wouldn't have accepted the notion of calling for his winch crew during battle."

Not so JustJerry.  The average combat loading for a soldier is 90 pounds.  That includes everything a soldier requires - weapons and all. This is stuff he can put down if necessary.  A suit of armour could easily weigh up to 100 lbs - that's not including his weapons.  And it was bulky stuff.  A knight unseated was a very bad thing.  Field of view  was limited in a helmet - virtually no peripheral vision to speak of. He'd be very vulnerable. If he slipped or fell he'd be buggered.  He couldn't get up unaided if he fell on his back or stuck in mud. It'd be a misericorde to his visor and that'd be it.  

So the knight would either be winched into his saddle or assisted by his squire or squires at the onset of battle.  Thereafter his squire or squires would follow him into battle to assist the knight into his saddle if he were unseated and to act as a spotter for oncoming enemies whilst his knight's visor were down. They also carried his extra weaponry and standard. 
                                                                                                                                                                             

  What a faff!   Poor horses   Being a lefty I like to think the side stand was put on the left especially for us lefties                                                                                                                                                                                

Anne, if you can't find your side stand try using your left foot; lol.   Way back when in the midsts of time, but a little later than knights on horseback, when I did my test I recall being told when stationary to always have my right foot on the peg in case I needed to operate the brake. Now why you'd be in gear and likely to need the brake when putting the stand down I don't know, but wonder if it could be something to do with that.                                                                                                                                                                             

My 1980's BMW 1000 also had both the sidestand and kickstart both on the left, not that i ever used it, the kickstart that is                                                                                                                                                                             

ok...so am now reverting to my horse theory!!     Simon...how the hell are you supposed to cover the rear break & put the sidestand down at the same time??? You'd fall over???                                                                                                                                                                               

See its a brain teaser aint it lol                                                                                                                                                                              

That's a good point but the idea seemed better than saying I don't know; lol.   There is a theory that if you stand a bike totally upright and let go it will, in most cases, fall to the left. Don't know if it's true, don't know why, and no I'm not going outside to try it. That's the best I can come up with......so far.                                                                                                                                                                             

  ...I recall being told when stationary to always have my right foot on the peg in case I needed to operate the brake...   I remember being told that too, but was also told that I was likely to get my foot run over if I left it on the ground lol, that's a good way of remembering.                                                                                                                                                                                

thats crap be course older bikes had the gears on the right and brake on the left
anyway i put both feet down and if i needed to use a brake it would be the front brake i'd use
                                                                                                                                                                             

  What's crap, Bill?   My bike was born in 1982 so I'm assuming you mean OLDER than that cos my bike had the brake on the right side.                                                                                                                                                                               

thats right Sandi before 82 but there,s nothing crap about it, as all British bikes used to have the brake on the left, i still have 3 bikes with the brake on the left.                                                                                                                                                                              

  Bill, I didn't say anything was crap YOU said it was crap and I asked you what is?   (shall we swap glasses? lol)