First Ride of the Year - 2018 Edition

This post is quite overdue, its being penned (keyed to be technical) seventeen days late, but I’ve been away for a week and was pretty busy before then with various things all going on at the same time.  And, although it was indeed my first, and only thus far, scooter ride of 2018, it was rather short, more for the sake of having been able to say I went riding in January - that I got the bike  up and out and downtown and back in spite of the usual weather we experience around here at this time in a typical year.

It was a wet day, having not only been unseasonably warm, but with rain on tap as well.  I might have stayed out longer, but when I got to Public Square, about a mile and half from my comfy computer chair, the rain started up just enough to make me start getting soggy so back I headed to park the Piaggio in its dry space under the deck.  Needless to say, it felt good being out and about even if only for a half an hour or so!

I much enjoy an out of the blue warm day in the dead of winter such as this one was.  Even though my scooter ride didn’t last long, I spent some time out on the deck in between rain showers, watching trains go by, and just savoring the warmth and the view of the thermometer showing that we were in the high 50s.

I confess, there have been a few days, today being one of them, since that first ride when I conceivably could have taken the scooter out without risking the ride being a bad one because of any ice or snow and without it being too cold because I could have layered up to keep the chill out for the most part.  I was simply too lazy, though, to put on all the requisite layers for the sake of getting in a short ride at least.

I don’t know if that’s a sign of simply winter laziness or because I’ll be turning 60 in a few weeks.  I distinctly remember being a young man and thinking that turning 60 officially made somebody an old person.  Seeing as though I still think of myself as barely being out of high school it would seem that I need to rethink that whole elderly paradigm.  After all, one’s self perception definitely trumps numbers of years that have flown by and the varied aches and pains that seem to be persistent.

 

I was a little wet when I got back, but happy enough for having gotten the ride in.

  Assuredly I am waiting for warmer days ahead on which to enjoy the scooter properly, in a tee shirt, shorts, and sneakers.  Then the better rides will come, the days of two wheeled introspection for which I long, the times when the scooter is so very liberating especially when one’s days are spent mostly in solitude too often waiting for something to come rather than in enjoying anything special that happens to be here.  I’m like a little kid always waiting for Christmas in one way or another, looking ahead for days or weeks or months till something’s here to celebrate.  I’m okay with that, though, because a bad day of being retired still beats the hell out of any good day at work.  Having a scooter, even on day when I can’t ride it, still makes me quite happy!

Leave it to the weather around here to surprise us regularly.  This was the view off the deck a mere five days after my first ride of the year!

 

Only Dreams of Scootin'

The only scootin’ I’ll be doing for the next few weeks would appear to be the kind I can do in my dreams, both of the day and night varieties.  My brain knows it’s officially winter, but as we rolled from late autumn into it, somehow it didn’t seem possible that the deep freeze would be upon us soon. 

To be certain, I don’t like snow.  I don’t like it at all.  I’m not one of those bleary eyed fools who are always hoping for a white Christmas (although I admit to being a bleary eyed fool over romantic movies), and I’m definitely not the kind who wants snow because of the “fun” activities that the athletic types enjoy in it.

 

I like rain.  It doesn’t have to be shoveled, swept, or blown from point A to point B when it falls.  It doesn’t accumulate so as to make going anywhere difficult; well not usually although when it causes flooding around here it can be a bit annoying and sometimes dangerous.

Even to get from the yard to the street, there's snow in the way.

I like sunshine even more.  Especially when it’s of the sort that allows scootin’ in a tee shirt and shorts.  But those days are a long time off now and I barely remember them because of the Piaggio having been in the shop from May through August last year.

If the snow doesn't get you on two wheels, the salt will.

So I’ll wait.  Wait for the end of the snow and the popping up of daffodils and crocuses and such.  And I’ll dream of scootin’ while I wait.