Ok, I'm well behaved these days, so when I get a new (to me) bike I make a point of doing a service and doing it properly.
So tonight I'm doing the oils and filter on the Blackbird... Taking the lower halves of the fairing off was about as easy as you'd expect(!) Sump plug came out fine and was replaced (with a new washer) and torqued to the book setting. The genuine filter spanner wouldn't fit because of the proximity of the headers, so now I'm watching oil drain down the handle of the (decent quality) filter whip which is wedged into the crushed remains of the old filter, still firmly attached to the front of the engine, well that oil which isn't already in a pool around the container on the floor... As the title says, why is it never easy? :-s