Modern Vespa

I am doing the same course with a different teacher. Actually living here permanently does help. I have found that recently I have been understanding a bit more when someone speaks to me. It usually helps when there is a context. I also find that I can speak if I just try and get over the fact that I am going to make loads of mistakes.

I started watching a comedy on Amazon Prime the other night and that is completely incomprehensible, even with the Portuguese subtitles on. This is set in Lisbon and apparently Porto is easier to understand. Some day I hope I will understand.

EDIT I just found that book as an e-book on Kobo for €2,50 thanks for the tip!

It's the ass end of January, and with yesterday's daytime high temperature touching 64 F in one of our famous(?) mid-winter spikes, I was able to drag three of our four bikes out for a nice warm up spin.

Rode the Triumph Rocket for almost fifty miles round trip to the Kawasaki/Royal Enfield dealership to see if I could snoop out some info from Scott about when they might be getting one of those teal RE Classic 650's that I'm interested in (still to be determined).

After getting back home, I got the old Honda CB900C fired up, but it took some effort and the process showed the benefit of having a nearly new battery installed last month.

Rode the Honda out on a 20 mile loop.

I'll likely be selling the '81 Honda to make room for the possibility of another Royal Enfield 650 a bit down the road. I don't really want, or need, four motorbikes...five with Trixie's Triumph Speedmaster.

Then we arrived at 'the main show', another 20 mile loop on the GTS 300, and for the second day in a row, no less.

How can one not be cherry with such a winter's day?

Remember, this is western South Dakota, not Miami.

The song, "Scooter Blues" by Sturgill Simpson as his alter ego "Johnny Blue Skies" from his album "Passage du Desir" - I heard it on Margaritaville on Sirius - The line, "With the wind in my hair, I'm gonna scooter my blues away" speaks for all of us.

And on a blue scooter, no less...

Tasmania the island, or is that just slang for "I got a date"?

I'm confident I'll find some furry creatures.

Hiking through the bush right now.

Some might see this as a sad event -- the end of a treasured bottle of 51-year old Scotch.

But I choose to see it differently. This was a bottle well drunk, with friends and otherwise. And now I say a final adeus.

My dad liked Scotch, but the cheap stuff store brand from Anthony's Package Store.

Did find this guy today

I thought wóóót???? It´s below zero here. Was about to put on my polar mod coat to go to the neighbouring village for a meet concerning the classic club. (it was cancelled when had the coat on already)
Then remembered you are in Oz. Nice agamid



Cheering me up was a Fiat 500C for sale; bríght yellow with cyan blue interior

Nah, a bottle kill (especially a GOOD bottle) means it was (hopefully) shared with friends, and enjoyed immensely. Love to see it.

This is about the angle of some nasty sections of some 4WD tracks i ride.

Imagine this with loose rock and sticks etc

Confidence and momentum is key

And larger than average cajones.

and tie-down straps, apparently.

They're for beginners

Malossi cylinder + camshaft + forcemaster for GTS 300 HPE

cójones


Had several today.
- First was a call from the wífe of a car seller. He had cancelled yesterday evening, she appologised and said it was still on.
- Second the drive down the A-7000 chasing down a tuned AMG. Charming asked me to let up a bit as ´...pones nervioso al pobre´. I did but he still indicated to pass,
- Next in Málaga the not organised enthusiast, sort of monthly car meet was só much fun. The AMG turned up too; a bit later
- The Lambretta inside the Venta; see photo.
- The Scirocco (bought it).
- Lastly the drive back up into the mountains, top down under the sun.

From Google:

See: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cajones
And: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cojones

Finally found a replacement taillight grill for my Malaguti! Made it from Italy unscathed. Sure makes the rear end look better. Worth the cost. It's the little things. 😉 Yep, it's in NSR cause it's not a Vespa.

Ahem - It's Not Scooter Related, not NVR Not Vespa Related...

Ha! Thanks, I was overly excited. 🤪

At least you were Cheered Up!

Friends.

Just had a visit yesterday from an old (30 yr+) couple of friends, chatted about the world, catching up with life (we'd been mostly out of touch for some years dealing with distractions), dinner and such. Send them off in the evening and could feel a tangible euphoria.

Connecting more frequently with a colleague who I've known for some time as well.

Just chatted with an online friend I've never actually met, but decided to check in on (instead of liking his cat posts, lol) after he'd shared some mental health challenge. Lovely chat.

Anyway, just feeling the vibe. At this point of life I'm realizing the value of keeping in touch, and being there for each other. Not much matters as much....I mean, scooters are great too, but you can have both.

And yeah, I see you folks here.....

Damn, you got paper? Did it have all its pages? Either the dollar is super cheap in NZ or it was selling really badly in the Crimes and Thrillers department. I just ordered mine used for $8 USD.

Thanks for the tip, Jess! I'm flat out of excuses for my Spanish sucking....fully retired, catching up on the flurry of home projects to complete (per my economic anxiety), and even though Mexico is in the rear view mirror for now, we'll be back either as visitors or permanent residents. Fluency certainly makes either more attractive.

Anyway, what's making me happy is finding this title...I thought I'd taken a screenshot to remember it, but nope, so went back to some suspected threads, and there it was!

Ebook. I have no space for more piles of books.

Duolingo is going well at a week in. I'm confident I can order ouzo and couscous at the cinema should I need it.
The adds are driving me nuts though.

I saw this today and had to chuckle thinking of our resident curmudgeon, jimc. That cheered me up. 😂

I suspect I am probably entirely too excited about this Wrexham AFC amenities kit that my wife scored on EBay.

This was a special branded promotion that United did with Wrexham AFC (probably because the documentary is running on United's in-flight entertainment system). After watching to entire first season (on the flight back from Porto last month) my wife was enthusiastic about the team (she doesn't even like soccer football!) and bought some unopened kits online.

I have removed all of the original amenities (socks, mask, earplugs, essential oil bullshit, dental kit, cheap ballpoint pen) and replaced it with my own set of in-flight amenities:

- Reading glasses
- Pepto, Imodium, and Ibuprofen
- (better) earplugs
- Battery bank
- USB-C charger
- USB-C cables
- USB-C to lightning and USB-A adapters
- Watch charger (plugs into a USB-C cable!)
- AirFly bluetooth transmitter
- US-to-Europlug adapter
- Two-prong headphone adapter

...and probably more that I am forgetting.

Drove 30 miles and watched A Complete Unknown for the second time, on a much bigger screen at the mall.

My impression:
Fellow portraying Pete Seeger sounded so much like Pete, it was spooky! Terrific job.
Joan and Dylan, vocals and guitar playing - pretty good.

The movie sets (street and interiors) were well done.
Overall....it took me right back to a time when this music was very important to me...in.my mid teens.

O.S.

Malossi cylinder + camshaft + forcemaster for GTS 300 HPE (Post 2721126)

This. I'm working on something.

Saturn V with a decat.

Our ski day last week (Thursday) was kind of a disaster. My sister took a bad fall. The result was a bad break to her right hand (she is left handed) and an unknown knee injury. She had surgery on Friday to set the bones in her hand and wire them in place while they heal. Yesterday she had an MRI on the knee. No serious damage (whew!). She does have a tibia plateau fracture, but it will heal on its own and she doesn't have to be immobilized. While the injuries are no fun, no further surgery required and an excellent prognosis for full recovery. That cheers me up!

Soon as you said "knee" my heart sank.

6 months later I'm still in PT after the ACL surgery.

Glad she doesn't need more.

Hang in there! You'll continue to make gains. I'm 23 months post ACL reconstruction and I'm a lot stronger today than before the injury. My wife is 5 months post ACL reconstruction and we got her back to the gym a month ago. She's working hard with less pain and better strength every week.

Tibia Plateau Fracture does sound like a great live band.

I hope she recovers quickly.

Actually what is more dangerous, riding or skiing ?

Statistically? Skiing.

And horseback riding.

Cancels Horse Riding and Skiing Holiday.

Just from my own experience, skiing has a higher risk of injury, especially at our advanced age. Although when you look at all the non-injury falls, it's not so bad. But the injuries from a PTW accident tend to be much more serious. I hope I never have another PTW accident. I fully expect to fall skiing in the future.

Years ago in the UK it was statistically more dangerous to ride a horse than be a Dispatch Rider.