I suggested that it might be a good idea to get [the motorbike] in midsummer so that I could get plenty of practice in before the skiddy weather set in, but he thought there might be too much tourist traffic going through the town […]

I said do the bump, huh, I said shake your rump / And stay on the scene like a sex machine

Alternative form: north-northeastwards

The usual show-goer, who knows little of such dogs and their work, would call them 'weedy.