Modern Vespa

To be fair, things were a lot easier a few years ago. But to discuss that, things start to get a bit political, which we don't want.

Indeed!

You don't mind if I read all your posts in Groundskeeper Willie's voice, do you?



Welcome to the forum.

Bloody Brexit.

I'm still waiting for a single benefit nearly 9 years later.

It's a thinly disguised geezer term for 'God Dammit', often uttered by grizzled old western miners or prospectors with long grey beards, a pickaxe, and a pack donkey or mule, usually named 'Sarah'.

It's the second week of graduation season at the school district I work for. There are 40 high schools in the district, so they spread the graduation ceremonies across two weekends. Eveyone always waits until the last minute to submit their orders, because students on the edge of graduating are rushing to turn in work to make sure they do actually graduate.

So this morning I started printing the programs for two schools. They each want 1500 programs. As one of them is nearing completion the production supervisor comes into the print room and tells us to stop printing on both of them, that they have changes. I let him know that one of them only needed 45 more copies to be fully complete, while the other needed 400. He said to stop, so I stopped them, and we all went to lunch.

We heard back from the school that still had 400 to go. The inside pages are all bad. So we have to reprint them all. Still waiting to hear back from the other school.

So he approves me printing three other schools' programs. Just as we're about to start production on one of the, we're told to stop, that they have changes.

All of these schools' graduation ceremonies are on Saturday. We also have to print programs for the schools that graduate on Sunday.

You need to go back and read the original post. I understand dagnabbit fine. It's the thumbs down part that lost me.

The limit was put there to stop someone going through all a users posts and giving them negative feedback on every one. You can still do one the next day though. It's pretty rare that I issue a thumbs down and very rare that I'll issue two in the same thread so thanks for the task reminder.

Whoa! A thumbs down dagnabbit is triple bad.

The bulb isn't even what's pissing me off the most.

It's the fact the local cop at the stoplight could have said "hey your headlight may be burnt out, check that soon as you can." But instead he chose to say "your bike is unsafe and for your safety I may have to impound it."

Inviting him to ingest an entire tote full of phalli then fornicating in an offward direction felt like the proper response at the time.

Who the hell power trips that much that they have to flex the ability to steal your property "for your safety" and then force you to pay ransom to get it back? It's a farkin light bulb bro. Save that energy for the fentanyl dealers and human traffickers you can't seem to get a wrangle on.

During the daytime?

Yup!

Again, our locals always have the public's best interest in mind when they weigh investigating/stopping human traffickers at BWI airport and the adjacent hotels* against generating revenue.


* - I was the security manager for my unit at the NSA for approximately 7 of my 16.x years I worked there (6 on AD, 10 as a reservist on full-time status). We had contracts with numerous local hotels to put our members up (it's a reserve unit, and many of our people flew in/stayed in local lodging during drill weekends) and we ended up working to cancel several of the contracts, to include a full AFOSI (Air Force Office of Special Investigations--basically our version of NCIS which everyone knows from all the fun TV shows based thusly) investigation which concluded there was OBVIOUS drug and human trafficking going on at several of the properties--and the Wing above us in our chain of command, which is at Wright-Patterson AFB in *OHIO*, a totally different state, decided that the only thing they were worried about was the use of the word "vagrants" in the reports about activity at the properties. They were upset we used that word to describe the parking lot (which was, in fact, full of the aforementioned) and since we used that word they decided we had to keep using the properties.

God I don't miss it.

Though I did recently get word from the person who took over for me when I retired that the state police raided two of the hotels because it was *THAT FREAKIN BAD*.

No word on whether the wing still wants them to use the contract

Domestic cars on the Highway like a Toyota Yaris trying to race me while I'm on the BMW.

Seriously, why do they bother ?

Maybe they wanted to talk to you about it?

Do you only accept challenges from foreign cars on the highway?

Ha, it's kind of strange as it's happened a few times.

A small car will be hogging the middle lane but not actually overtaking anything and so I overtake them with ease.

Soon after I see them in my mirrors in the fast lane trying to keep pace with me
which is pretty pointless when your car is so small.

On your second point while I was having a nice coffee at some services later on in the day I guy pulled up on a fully kitted BMW K1600 and parked next to the RT.

He totally ignored me. Perfect.

Here in the US the middle lane is regarded as a 'travel lane.' The expectation is to pass on the left.

But I would suppose your middle lane, being on the opposite side of the road, must mean something different.

I am thinking about trading in my little KTM for one of those BMW machines. My 390 does nothing but hog the middle lane, as anything over 73mph is rather unpleasant.

The UK Highway Code or you could suggest that the Law is that unless you are overtaking you should be in Lane 1. The lane closest to the Hard Shoulder.

Many drivers in the UK will stay in Lane 2 for eternity but not actually overtake anything, so you have to enter Lane 3 to successfully overtake them and then go back to Lane 1.

Once this is done I'll often find small domestic cars try and overtake me again which is frankly weird.

Tesla owners will often give it a go but once they see their battery charge drop they soon give up.

Worth mentioning that in both the UK and the US, the left-most lane is commonly referred to as lane 1. This can be a cause for some confusion.

Both assume people will number from left to right.

Do you live in Japan?

No, but cars from there seem to follow me.

Especially small ones.

Crash bars and a front bumper! I've just spent a small fortune getting a top case and backrest and now I am fighting off the urge to "complete the look" of my Vespa with the above.
The thing is I don't really need them and it is debatable whether they do enhance or detract from the sleek lines of the Vespa.
I know that they would protect the paintwork to some extent, were the scooter to fall over.
It fell over due to it not being secured properly in the van when I was transporting it up here. The dent removal cost be £630 to sort. So I understand the argument in favour of spending money to save money, but still...
The FA Italia bars etc. do save money compared to the Vespa ones but the saving isn't huge, so I am not sure whether to go for the budget option or the satisfaction of having the "real deal". I prefer the FA Italia to Faco because the former are more understated and I think they look slightly better.
Anyway, I will probably buy the bars, once my bank account has had some time to recover from the top case outlay.
What is a little frustrating is how the Vespa at a really good price, secondhand on eBay has become a black hole with a seemingly relentless appetite for swallowing up cash.
The running costs are low because it's electric but all the additional costs; tax, insurance, transportation costs to get it here, repairing the damage sustained during transit, the cost of obtaining my licence and associated training, helmets and protective clothing etc. not just for myself but for the family too, now I can take a pillion passenger. The windscreen and top case are the two enhancements, I've indulged in so far, oh and the quadlock phone case and holder and earbuds. I know there is an endpoint but I just feel like this is a runaway train of expenditure, when what I really want to do is get out there and ride the thing, rather than venerate it like some kind of religious shrine, which I buy trinkets for, to adorn it with. So for now and the next few months, I say "No more!" I can enjoy riding it just fine without the crashbars etc. If I make it till my next birthday in October, then I might relent, as a treat to myself, or I might have got over the obsession by then. Zheesh!

Although Mark Twain considered that golf is a good walk spoiled, I hold the same disdain about dog walking!

I don't own a dog, but when I get to look after my daughter's, I spend most of my walk acosted by other doggers who won't release me until I have swapped the mutts name & age and shared amusing (to them) canine anecdotes.

My morning trudge often takes twice as long as it should and my face aches from feigned mirth!

Grumpy rant over

I want £5.00 for every time a dog owner has said Sorry to me

Bless them.

Exactly! I see this happening daily on my bicycle ride. People lose their minds when they see another dog. They stop right in the middle of the trail to talk completely oblivious of everything around them and block the trail. This happens multiple times. They look at you like your from Mars if you say "excuse me". 🤬

and don't get me started on retractable leash etiquette

I've had just the opposite feelings about this.

There were several years when I took care of my daughter's two rescue greyhounds during the day. I would take them for walks and was always approached by people curious about them. "Are those greyhounds?" "Do they bite?" "Can I pet them?" "How fast do they run?" It was always a pleasant and friendly encounter.

When I took walks by myself no one would ever come up to me as a man walking alone and initiate a conversation.

(For the record, rescue greyhounds are the friendliest dogs ever and only get aggressive when they feel a threat to themselves or their "pack" - which includes their human companions. They are also the laziest dogs ever, sleeping up to eighteen hours a day like big cats. They are quite happy to be retired from racing.)

(When greyhounds who don't know each other get together, they immediately form a pack and thoroughly enjoy hanging out.)

(And, yes, they are still very fast - up to 40 miles per hour in a sprint - but only run when startled. Because of the way they were treated at the racetracks, loud noises terrify them and they will run until exhausted and lost, which is why they need to kept on leashes unless at enclosed dog parks.)

Amazing dogs! I lived in Florida back in the dog racing heyday in the early '90s. I had misconceptions. It may have been different back then, though.

This winter my wife and I went to a home show downtown and there was a booth adopting out retired greyhounds. She set me straight on a couple of things. She said as race dogs they are usually very well cared for. And, as a lot of people think, I thought you needed a farm where they could run. She said no, not at all. She called them '40mph couch potatoes'.

I was going to donate a fiver to them, but my wife beat me to it and dropped a 20 in their pouch. I think she likes most animals better than most people.

I am pissed off because I can't get all risks insurance on my new Vespa GTS 310 in Portugal. To be honest I am not really surprised. So it looks like I am only going to get a minimum cover policy which doesn't even include theft.

Ah well, at least it's cheap at under 100€

Doh!

I knew a guy at work, a smart guy too, who owned a 'Vette and a custom bike.
This bike was incredible. The solid wheel spokes were shaped like AND and OR gates. And the pinstripes were his 50 patents. But the point is that he was self insured. "If you can afford these, you can afford to lose them" or some such.

Surprised me, for such a 'smart' guy.

you dog and BMW beardos have it easy.

try having a walk with these two:

You should try mine. Zorro has bitten Jesse's elbows on numerous occasions!

I should really try him on a lead and harness (have but never used!)

My gas wall furnace seems to have eventually died. The pilot flame has become smaller and smaller over the years and now won't light at all. (yes I do know how to light it, have done many times before over the 24 years I've lived here).

So, do i get ripped off to get it fixed or install a reverse cycle split system air con.

Is the pilot unit replaceable? In the US, on older units that use standing pilots, it is often a replaceable subassembly. No idea if that's a US thing or a world thing.

One thing I had to do was clean spider webs out of the orifices in both home and camper furnaces. The first time it happened was in my mobile home and the lady at the trailer service place diagnosed it for me over the phone. It was actually an igniter system, so the pilot didn't stay on ALL the time, so it may be a little different than yours. But anything in those orifices will drastically reduce your flame.

But, as Jess said, those units are often replaceable. As long as the furnace is still safe, it might save you a lot to replace that component.

I've replaced the thermocouple / pilot unit on our water heater a couple times over the last 20 years. But I haven't had to replace the tank yet.

I think the parts are available (maybe not original but after market). Not sure if replacing the pilot and thermo cluster is what's needed OR replacing the main valve control unit (which has the main knob and pilot & spark & off buttons on it).

but pretty sure it ain't the thermo as should still be able to light the pilot *while* holding the pilot button even if the thermo died. ie dead thermo should only cause a problem keeping pilot alive.

but I don't feel like causing a gas leak so replacing parts will mean a stupidly expensive licenced gas plumber. it's that labour cost that is gonna suck.

On Friday, May 30 my dentist's office called to remind me that I had an appointment for a cleaning and checkup on Tuesday at 1:30.

Great. I will be there.

I show up yesterday with time to spare and they tell me I don't have an appointment today. My next appointment is June 17th.

They had called me to remind me that I had an appointment 18 days from now.

Go the air con route - we did! Self install as well, it's very easy. We got fed up with the gas wall heater - the pilot light used more gas than we ever needed to actually heat the house after we installed OTT insulation. Plus occasionally some cooling is required.

Even with that, and a Fiat 500e electric car, the 3.5kW of solarr panels ensure our electricity meter goes backwards a bit year on year.

I installed a 30,000btu (~8.5kW output) inverter mini-split. Very efficient, even when heating it's better than 250% gain.

They must be very lax on their installations where you are, here in the UK Air Con installers need to be F-Gas registered which involves a week long course.

I work for a Plumbing and Heating Merchant and we can't even buy the refridgerant to sell on to our customers.


https://www.cityplumbing.co.uk/blog/installing-air-con-units?srsltid=AfmBOooTUwfxkrSWUENRYH7UF2A5xCs-WAM2HMnA9tMwBKcSAr5nW7W6