THAW!

It's here! The February thaw that I'd hoped for so earnestly in my last post, and just in time to keep me from climbing the walls. Here's the formerly icy alley just this afternoon. Yes, I helped what was left of the ice and snow along with some salting, chopping, and shoveling over the course of the past few days, but it was all effort well spent because I was able to get the scooter out today!

Admittedly, I didn't venture terribly far. I went to the mall because I needed to get a new fan for the processor chip in my '98 machine. Perhaps my grin appears to be too wide for the occasion, but yeah, it felt THAT good to be out again. And I needed to hit the supermarket around the corner to get garbage bags. (I will curse Lee Namey to my grave for having, in his tenure as mayor here, instituted the pay per bag form of garbage collection.)

I was still wary of coming upon a stray patch of ice unexpectedly so I kept close to the house. It wasn't freezing, but it was chilly enough to temper my wanting to go farther. I was able to ride without the visor and gloves, though it felt darned good whenever I'd come to a stop sign or red light and get a short respite from the wind chill of forward motion.

I was thrilled to discover that one of my latest attempts at finding the perfect cell phone headset resulted in having found one that's tolerable on the bike, both to me and to whomever is on the other end. I prefer wired headsets to Blue-tooth types because the clarity and noise reduction seem superior, and because I've yet to find a Blue-tooth headset that doesn't feel like it's about to fall out all the time. I'm sure it's debatable as to whether or not I should be talking on the phone while riding, but I don't feel like I'm compromising my safety. Until somebody can offer a reasonable explanation of how talking on a phone is different from talking to a passenger I refuse to give in to the "common sense" belief that cell phone use results in more accidents while motoring. Talking is talking. I'm proud of Pennsylvania for not giving into every special interest group that wants its own agenda written into the motor vehicle code unlike New York, for example, that needs a half dozen signs at the border telling you specifically what's outlawed there.


Keep your fingers crossed for warmer days ahead!