Mechanically Affectionate

I made that face that I make when something seems goofy to me a few days ago when I was visiting one of the scooter forums and came upon a post asking how many scooterists have named their scooters. I thought of J.D. on Scrubs with his beloved "Sasha." I thought of my late mother-in-law and her seemingly immortal "Buster Duster." I thought of our own Chevy hatchback years ago which somebody named "Sylvester" complete with a Sylvester the cat statuette on the dash. Naming vehicles? Goofy all around! Yet...

I remember the first car I owned - a monstrous Fury II given to me by my dad when I married and left his house. It didn't have a name, but one day when I was at work my wife and my dad junked it. We'd been on the verge of buying a new car and it wasn't like I didn't know that the Fury's eventual ride to the scrap heap was on the horizon, but with the way they did it I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to it and some part of me still feels the less for that. Goofy? You bet!


If it appears that I'm touching the Fly50 affectionately in this picture, pat yourself on the back for being emotionally observant. I snapped this shot before I took my final ride on it - back to Team Effort Cycle to trade it in for the BV250. I never did name the Fly, but I did feel a particular closeness to the little thing. (Certain family members occasionally referred to it as "Ladybug" but I wasn't about to call it that myself!) It had served me well in giving me the unmistakable taste of being on two wheels with a motor in between them and of the incomparable sense of freedom that riding provides. And, what can I say? It was cute.

By the way, the BV in BV250 stands for "Beverly." NO! I didn't name it that. Piaggio did. Will I ever call it that? Not even in a nightmare! Well, unless the translation of "Beverly" from Italian means something like, "Manly ride."