Holy Lucky Penny (or Something) Batman!

So, I've been saying for a while that I needed a change in luck. When I got my camera back after losing it on a bus, I figured I might just have turned that long-ass corner into the land of the Fortunate. Here's more news.

When I found out about a month ago that my scooter incident back at Christmas time had resulted (unknowingly) in my front end being "bent" or something, I got all pissy and depressed because my panic-artist Taiwanese mechanic (his English skills are neglible, but he's an awesome guy and very, very good at what he does, but highly neurotic -- "Taiwanese" is a necessary descriptor here 'cos they tend to take their scooters VERY seriously. IE: My front end would cost $80 to look at it under a microscope, and then only "authentic" Yamaha parts would be suitable for the repair) told me the job would be anywhere from $250 to 800 to fix.

Now, you don't know how much I love my piece-of-shit super-cool little now-rusting still-hip Yamaha Vino 50cc 2003 Classic scooter. You JUST DON'T KNOW, man. I fuckin' love that thang. The two most valuable things in my life are my camera and my scooter, and they're huge pieces to The Identity of Steff.

So, my reaction was: OhMyFuckingGod! MyScooterIsDYING! Gah! I was horrified. H o r r i f i e d .

Fast forward a month of contingency planning, fear-mongering, and praying for the best while preparing for the worst, and...

Ultimately, I decided my Taiwanese guy was far too fatalistic and perfectionist to give me a proper "pragmatic" look at what was wrong. IE: Is it the kind of thing I can just ignore and drive the bike into the ground with? I mean, I've put some 20,000 klicks on it now (13,000 miles) and would like to double that.

So, I asked around town at the good folks in the local Vespa club told me about a dude here in the city at a cool shop called "Empire Scooters".

I made my plans to see him this Saturday and toted a boy I know along for companionship while I nervously would await the prognostication of just how dire my Beloved Little Beast's future might be. Oddly, all three of us (the owner being one of the three) arrived separately at the shop at exactly the same time. An omen? One could only hope!

Chris, the owner, threw open his gates to reveal what was a veritable treasure trove of the coolest fucking scooters one could ever see, all amassed under a single roof.

Then, the hoardes of hungry scooting afficionados surely proceeded to descend upon the shop like vultures to a coyote's carcass on a plain. Every new person presented yet another hurdle and delay towards my Learning The News thanks to the desk girl's call to say she was "waiting for (her) pants to dry". (Two hours later she still hadn't arrived!)

After all that was said and done, Chris finally mounted my bike upon his stand, took the brake covers off, eyeballed the tire, pondered the correctedness of the fork, and then...

...undid one bolt. Then he retightened it.

And presto. My bike stood straight.

Payment due? A large coffee. Naturally, I threw in a cookie. Oatmeal, of course.

Not hundreds of dollars. A bolt. Pragmatism at work, my friends! A BOLT! $4 of payment due!

I cannot tell you how giddy I was. Then I learned that I could get rid of my ugly fucking wand-style turning signals and get the way-cool traditional cats-eye embedded/flush signals for $25 instead of the $125 to replace ones I don't even like. Now, in a month, my little beast will look cooler than ever.

And further scooter trivia for you. Know what I named it, long long ago? "Pussycat." Why? So when I'm labouring, puttering up a big hill, I can shout "Faster, Pussycat! Faster!"

Anyhow. I have no fucking clue why I'm tellin' y'all, but shit, I'm in a great mood. I'm up for a glass of wine. You? Yippy for Steff. :)

And, yeah, that's an "Evolve" fish on the front of my ride. Would you expect any less of me? Down with Creationism! Big Bang all the way! Shot's taken in the Fraser cemetery last November on a record rainfall day, before my signal was busted. Underneath the signals you'll see two ovals cut into the front shield -- that's where the cats-eye lights would get embedded. Ooh. Sexy, no?