Ups Downs and Roundabouts

Well, it has been an interesting week.

We finally came to an arrangement over the transport and the Heinkel and Troll have finally been shipped as of Friday 22 May. It will take approximately two weeks for them to arrive. I'm very excited.

So that was the good news. But on all other fronts it's been a terrible week. Firstly - and of course this has nothing to do with scooters - but work has been a real mess. There is a pall of gloom hanging over my work at the moment as the main project I am on continues to descend in disaster. Political forces are preventing me and my co-project manager taking the steps we need to resolve the problems and get back on track. It's all very disheartening.

To add to my woes I dropped my bike during a lesson for my motorcycle license. How embarrasing! As soon as we hit the road it started to belt down with rain - the first time I'd even ridden in the wet and as we came to a roundabout I locked the front wheel and stacked it big time. Fortunately the most damage was done to my pride. I walked away with a scrape on the knee. The bike was okay too. But it shook my confidence a little driving on the wet roads. Oh well, could have been much worse.

And to add to my sense of gloom - the Vespa is f-cked again. The indicators haven't worked since I got the bike back from Sam. Following his advice I replaced the dodgy old battery and replaced all the globes - three were broken. But as soon as the bulbs were fitted, suddenly the wiring went. Only the right hand turn signals would work and they did not pulsate at all. Occasionally when I turned the handlebars hard left the left lights would come on which indicates to me the wiring was compromised when the front end was replaced. Sam and I had had a conversation about that after I picked up the bike and he'd indicated quite clearly this was not a job he was keen to take on so I'd already been planning to do it myself. Today (Sunday) I began taking apart the indicator switch and looking at the wiring. To be frank, it's pretty f-cking rubbish. As soon as the wires disappear inside the tubing the nice new wiring is superceded by what is clearly worn out old sh-t wiring, amateurishly twisted together. It'll undoubtedly all have to be replaced.

But that's the least of my worries.... no sooner had I started work today than the bloody engine failed. I don't know what's wrong with it now. It seems to be the same problem as before. It simply won't turnover. Given that the bike has done only one very short trip to the petrol station and back since I got it and has been turned over every three or four days while I tried to track down the wiring fault, you can understand I'm not very happy.

The German bikes were always intended to replace the Vespa eventually. The question is, what the hell am I going to do with the bike? The electrics are just an inconvenience. I can fix that myself, but if the engine is going to break down every couple of months I'm never going to be able to sell it. You live and learn maybe.