More Book Stuff

Well, I had surgery on both feet last week in an attempt to remedy the chronic plantar fasciitis which I've had for many years,The upside (other than curing my foot pain) was that I would have time to catch up on some reading and other quiet activities and that I would have time to get out and put in some serious scootering. (More on that later.)

It took me only a couple of days to finish "I See by My Outfit." I'm not going to write an extensive review, but it was good. As I mentioned before, the book is not so much about the scooters, but they do play important roles, heck, they even have names: "Jenny" and "Couchette" I think the book is a good read for those into their scooters.

The photo above is a Heinkel Scooter, like Jenny in the book.

In my last post, I mentioned a passage and before I quit talking about this book and move to the next, I'd like to mention another. As our Hero is riding along, "Jenny" dies on him. I don't know if you've ever had your scooter ever die unexpectedly, but I found what he says about the experience to be particularly true. Check it out: "The silence of an engine that has just cut out under you is one of the most chilling quietnesses I know. Drive a scooter for even a little while, and she becomes strangely yourself, yourself grown swift and powerful and untiring In turn, you feel what she feels - a quirk in the wind,a difference in the road surface, the ride or fall of the land - and her sounds become like the noises of your own body, her vulnerability becomes your own."

A "chilling quietness." I really like that description. I've coasted to a stop before, usually wondering if my scooter is okay, long before I worry about how I will get home or to work.

Another book that I got for Christmas (also from my wife) at first may seem to have nothing to do with scooters. Some people will see the connection right away, however. My wife saw that it fits my quirky personality. It's called "The Complete Blokes & Sheds - Behind the corrugated-iron curtains of Australia's sheds." My wife immediately got it for me because I love barns, pictures of barns, stories of barns, etc, etc. However, I love to tinker on my scooter and I'm beginning to rack up some extra parts and tools which are scooter related. After reading stories and seeing photos of blokes and their sheds, I'm ready to get one of my own.

I found the photo above on a Google image search for "Australia" and "shed." I also happens to be a picture from the book. The book talks a lot about the relationship between a man and his shed. Here is an excerpt from a section called "In Praise of Disorder." "The shed is an outbreak of dirt and chaos in what is otherwise a serenely ordered world.... there's a powerful need for a safety valve that allows the pressure of organisation, appearances and expectation to be released."

Here the part I like the best. "It the potential of what can happen in a shed that really matters, not what actually takes place." One of the author's opinions is that while many women have a place like this where they can retreat to in order to create, think or retreat like a sewing or craft room, many men have no such place. This, then, is where the shed comes in.

I grew up on a farm, where we had the "shop." In it, my grandfather used the welder, torch and wondrous tools of his own fabrication to repair farm implements, fashion toys or even to make more tools that were needed for a specific task. As I sit here, I can smell the melange or oil, arc welder smoke and wet earth that existed in the shop.
I do not possess the knowledge or skills of my grandfather, but I think I would like someplace to work on my scooters besides the driveway. A while back, a fellow on Modern Buddy put up one of those 10'X12' Tuff Sheds and then finished it with scooters in mind. One view of it is pictured above. (See the entire post at: http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11262&highlight=garage )

So, now I'm pondering the possibility of adding a shed to my scooter collection.

I mentioned earlier, that while I was off on sick leave for 2 weeks I had

planned on doing some serious scootering (Yes, I know I supposed to

be resting with my feet up, but riding is restful, right?) At any rate, by

the time I'm feeling good enough to go out and ride for several hours

at a time, we are now in the midst of a huge, multi-day winter storm.

I know this is the desert and we need all the rain we can get, but at the

same time I'm on leave and free to ride to my heart's content???

Give me a break.

Ride on,

Howard

ps - What is up with the formatting on this thing? Look at the previous paragraph.