Dad and his scooter

My dad has this way of starting the scooter that is unique, enticing, and
unforgettable....

He starts it off by searching for his keys. This is one activity that
frustrates him like no other. If you want to see 1 frustrated dad(mine I
mean) loose something off his and get him to search for it. He starts
swearing, and muttering and mumbling, and gets on my mom's nerves till she
comes in, and surprise surprise.... she finds it in 2 minutes flat.

O.k. not the most congenial way to start off a drive but there....

The next problem happens when he finds out that the neck-lock key has
fallen out of the key ring... More frentic searching later he has located
it....

Then he goes down to the parking lot, and tries to pull out that beast
which has neatly fossilized itself in one corner....

he gives it a mighty big tug and it comes off it's centre stand....

then there is a whole orchestra of neat manouvering before he manages to
turn it around and facing the exit... (think of 4 point turns of tankers in
the atlantic)....

finally when it's facing the entrance he wheels it out onto the street.

here he puts it on it's centre stand and then opens the petrol tank to
check if there is petrol...

he then locks the tank and then turns on the fuel cock to on....

he then 'primes' the engine by holding onto the clutch and then kicking the
starter slowly.....

since this fails ( the last time petrol flowed into the engine was 3 months
ago), he pulls it towards the ground....

that pose is something that has always managed to piss me off.... it looks
like he is trying to wake up his horse, and instead of going and giving it
a solid kick on the butt he is whispering to her. Not that my irritation in
any way dettered my dad... It was his communion with his steed.

Then he rights the machine.... and goes around to the other side..

Mind you all this is on centre stand....

Then one kick and the scooter starts....

only to stop again....

then a few more kicks and it would finally roar to life, like a wheezing
asthmatic.....

he then gets to the other side...

being blessed with his pot belly, he attempts to slide in between the
handle bar, till his bulk eases past, and then like a tanker clearing the
Panama canal he pulls free.....

And then the slow movement of the centre stand and then the little comedy
played out as mom tries to get on.....

and all this when mom requests him to drop her off because she is getting
late....

No wonder he says i drive rashly when i move out from rest(locked bike) to
mom sitting in 1 minute flat.....

can say mom enjoyed driving around with dad....

best summarized as dull but safe, directly in contrast to her married
life...

Safe maybe, but never, dull.