Modern Vespa

Maybe I'm just not particularly enjoying retirement right now. I retired during COVID, and I don't think I've yet broken out of that shelter-in-place mindset.

Find your way to CO and we can putz up Pike's Peak. You can even use my Vespa if you bring a delicious bottle of wine to trade.

That, plus how difficult it can be to let go and relax. I thought I had a low-stress job, but once I got out from under, I realized how stressful it was. Sure, I liked the job and pay, but it had its price. I'm much happier now.

I had a high-stress job -- as high-stress as you can imagine. So I am actually happy not to have that creeping dread every Sunday evening about the coming week.

And I spent probably a whole year just decompressing.

I do miss the fat paycheck, but not enough to go back.

Now I'm 3.5 years in (or out, depending on your perspective) and I still haven't quite figured out what's next. I think the uncertainty about everything related to the Portugal visa certainly made it much more difficult to move forward (and still is, in some ways).

Gah.

I believe that you finally got your visa, so everything is looking up now. When you're on your porch in Portugal, sipping a mellow wine, it will all be worth it!

I'm 3 years out as well, and must confess that it took me some time to figure out the new program and pace. I thought I had a plan but, in fact, it wasn't how things have unfolded and I'm in a better place for it. I work a little, consulting for industry friends' companies a few days a month, ride scooters when I like, and spend more time with my grandkids than I thought I could.

Things will still evolve, I'm sure, but I have better perspective and am able to enjoy my time more.

Cheers,

Bob

Since starting high school 50 years ago I have loved that Friday feeling, in many respects more than Saturday.

So the thought of every day becoming Wednesday is somewhat daunting.

Work gives me routine and a (sorta) meaning, and I'm nothing if not a creature of habit.

That pay check has been a must raising 4 kids, and now there's 5 grandkids, there's still plenty reasons to continue with the Sunday night dread!

Bloody knew I should have taken up fishing 50 years ago!

It's never too late!

Just reading about protests against foreigners in Mexico City. Overtourism, digital nomads and gentrification. Sounds like things got a bit violent by the end of the day.

It's personal to me as it's my wife's home town. One of the more contested locations is Colonia Roma, where her grandparents lived and parents met each other. It's kind of bad timing as our potential escape route is, with most of her family living there. Mexicans have been generally hospitable, putting up quietly with gringo b.s. (we did hear some "pinches gringos" behind our backs during the invasion of Iraq). For better or worse my wife is essentially white, so when we travel together people tend to lump us together...and she gets a lot of compliments on her Spanish.

I love Mexico City, though with reservations...it's crowded, challenging to navigate and the air isn't always the best, but it's been home away from home for nearly a quarter century. At the moment, living there is a somewhat remote option, but increasingly tempting...plus I have my wife broaching the subject every couple of weeks. Her neighborhood is much lower profile, and of course we have the option of lots of other locations, but trading her comfort for my discomfort isn't a great selling point at the moment....though only fair, I guess. I'd still throw my lot in with Mexicans. Just better brush up on my Spanish.

If I had five turds and two donuts I would be very happy to replace the turds with donuts and have seven donuts.

Just saying.

EDIT :

If anyone wants to borrow that for the "heard without context" thread, feel free.

Ok, so scooter related.

I decided to check the valve clearance on the Sprint. They "sound" a little loose, which worries me less. Things started out nicely ... the plug cover and valve cover came off nicely. I found my .006" shim and went to the fan side to ... wait. Where's the hole in the fan cover for the socket to turn the engine? Guess there isn't one.

I wanted to look under the CVT cover anyway, so I grabbed my 8mm socket, took off the little plastic cover that for some reason is separate for the dipstick and air inlet. But ok. It was the same on the Aprilia.

I started taking bolts off the CVT cover and most were fine except up by the air cleaner where they actually put a little flange on the bottom of the housing for no other reason than to interfere. I took the cover off, three Philips heads in blind holes and then the three thumb screws that have to come off from under the tub. Still the CVT cover doesn't want to come off without removing the air cleaner housing, and that beautiful blue steel body is simply just barely in the way. Everywhere.

So, I put the cover back on ... I'll do that later. I used the kick lever to move the engine a little at a time, watching the intake valves move. But I still want to make sure I'm at TDC, so I was going to pull the plug to feel the top of the piston.

Now, I've been figuring out the odd angle and doing the over/under with tools to fix cars since I was a kid. But it's like they calculated the least desirable angle to put that plug and boot under that body. And the boot did not want to come off.

Rather than break something I reassembled the whole mess, started it and ran it to make sure I hadn't accidentally knackered something, and decided to put the whole job off for a day where it isn't 95º out.

Now I could go on at great lengths comparing this job to my GY6 bikes and even the Aprilia, but I won't. Suffice it to say I am really on the edge of deciding whether this is the bike I want to keep or the SportCity. Just from a working on it standpoint.

Next time, don't just set out to do the valve clearances - just do them only when you're also doing belt'n'rollers and a new rear tyre. That way it's a doddle to undo the shock and let the engine swing right down - actually more a matter of lifting the body right up.

Access is then dead easy for the plug and the valves. Adds 10-15 minutes max to the other tasks. That's with beer breaks.

Oh, my lord ... that sounds like the old Microsoft "Re-install Windows" solution.

I'll wait to sweep the basement until the next time I replace my furnace.

I have just had the wettest ride of my life riding from Cambrai to Sedan in northern France, me and the wife are currently drying out all our clothes and gloves so we have something to wear in the hotel bar.

Hope they hurry up as I really need a pint or 3 of the Belgian beers they have downstairs to make me feel human again!

I thought all of Europe was in a heat wave. It is almost unbearable here in Porto!

School f'n holidays. Its a perfect Winter's day and the country will be full of families.

It could be worse. You could be sitting on a quiet beach in Fiji and they all show up.

And that was my thinking when I did my packing, infact due to the riding for hours in relentless rain I was shivering when I got to the hotel despite wearing 5 layers.

Just looked at the forecast on the Met Office, if you can, may be best to hunker down today?

We moved to Grimsby last year and I discovered that Beedspeed is only about 10 mins from my house. I've avoided them because of the recent reviews etc but because had cause to need some bits over the weekend, we went along. We were there for about 15 mins but there was no one there. the front door and door to the warehouse were open, but despite shouting hello and that sort of thing, nothing.

My wife did a bit of a google of them when we got home and we wont be using them at all having read a bit more of the history.

Welp.

Yep, another shocker of a wet ride today, but thanks to Belguim beers and a cracking Horse Steak (don't judge me, I'm on holiday) it was a very nice evening in a lovely little town.

I've never seen the issue with a nice horse steak!

I have a Genie model 404 - it's old - but finding a manual is like finding hen's teeth. I have spent this morning and another afternoon asking the duck.

why are the touch pads on my ipad and phone large enough for my fingers, but in order to actually touch the actual M, N, C, V, etc... I gotta hit a spot the size of a damned pinpoint?!?! is someone getting a bonus for every time I hit a backspace??
Every . Darned . Time!
/rant

This isn't really pissing me off, but earlier today between say 11:30 and 14:30 I received a message I've never seen, except on places that want only Safari or Chrome. WTF?

The browser in question is Firefox, latest version.

First, my apologies. Again.

In the never-ending battle against the bots, you appear to be caught in the crossfire yet again.

It looks like your browser isn't sending back all the information that we ordinarily expect to be present when we screen an anonymous client. I'm honestly not sure why, there isn't anything exotic about the data.

I've temporarily suspended that check while I figure out what's happening.

Is there anything unusual about your settings? Private mode, or anything like that?

For data points, i always use Firefox, private and Proton VPN, and aside from the Robot.. i have no issues on 100% MacOS or IOS.

Thanks for that data point. I'm scratching my head on this one.

Naïve query - are you looking for data back that MUST be sent by browsers, or data that SHOULD be sent, or data that it's just customary (and possibly polite) to send back?

When a new session is scanned (or screened, they are similar but different) we don't immediately send the actual requested page to the client -- instead, we send some javascript that examines the environment requesting the page. This weeds out all the simple bots, which aren't actually browsers and don't generally execute the javascript on the page, nor are they running a browser environment that can be examined.

Yes, it's definitely possible to simulate all the elements of a browser, or even automate a real browser to scrape data. But this is not nearly as common as the dumb-as-a-brick bots that just request data and then move on.

The javascript running on the client does the initial examination, including calculating an integer from a randomized math equation. The server knows the expected result of the equation, and the value calculated by the client must match what the server expects.

The client then sends the results of the examination to the server, which (if everything looks correct) marks the session as "probably human" (one can never be too sure) and sends back an all-clear signal (HTTP status 200).

The javascript on the client, upon receiving the 200 status result, simply reloads the page. Since the server has marked the client as "probably human", the requested page is then delivered, and that session retains its status as "probably human" until it idles out.

If the client continues to make requests without successfully passing screening, the IP will be banned after a small number of requests.

The error that Syd was encountering, I've now determined, was (of course) my own dumb mistake. On (not especially) rare occasions, the legitimate result of the equation is 0. In my code on the server, I was checking for the presence of the result, but using a method where 0 and not set are indistinguishable. Completely my failure. And nothing to do with Firefox, or Syd. Just dumb luck.

I've fixed that and am currently testing to see if this looks solid.

Bloody zeroes! And Infinities!

Perhaps the Romans had it right.

Actually, I'd like a word with whoever decided that dividing by zero is an error. It's obvious to me that any number divided by zero is infinity (except possibly zero).

Back (or front) bumper torn off? Can't be a fun story, I'm guessing.

Yesterday I drove through all of the bad weather in Belgium that's been talked about above and it was pretty atrocious.

Standard for Belgium but still pretty rough.

Plumbing problems-again.

It's been a busy year here with plumbing issues...connecting new kitchen sink, leaking in bathroom water line, bad water supply shut-off....

In the process of figuring out the bathroom leak, I wrongly suspected the toilet. Wasn't, but found a nice crack on the base. Replaced that myself, everything solved...I thought.

But no. Our bathroom intermittently gets a foul smell apparently after flushing, which seems most likely a vent or wax ring issue.Wife is not at all happy (hard to blame her ), but looks like it's check things myself or once again call the plumbers. I like the guys, but I'm already joking about having to put them on my friend's and family mailing list.

Should be another interesting day....

Blame the dog.

Jaguar Sales down 97.5 %

49 cars registered in Europe in April.

It's going to be a leather goods manufacturer at this rate.

Saw a beautiful e type drive past today. See a lot of beautiful cars because a few doors along from my daily cafe there's an upholstery restoration shop. Seems to specialise in high-end and vintage.