Scooter Craziness
A friend of mine is out of town for a few months and since I’m trying to get rid of tendinitis in my foot, he’s letting me borrow his scooter to putt around town with. So far I have had some adventures.
The first time I rode the scooter was at my friend’s place before he left. I got on thinking that this would be like riding a bike or the three-wheelers I used to drive as a kid. This is not the case. As I tried to pull into the street, I figured out three things: 1) don’t try to do a Fred Flintstone by stopping a vehicle with your feet, 2) even if you have full clamped down on the brake, it’s hard to stop if you don’t back off on the gas and 3) the curb can help you stop! Once I got stopped, I looked back and realized that I had done a nice “S” shaped drive down the road and ended up on the wrong side of the road. It must have been quite a sight as a German lady who had been walking by was now screaming (roughly translated) – “oh my, oh my – you’re going to get killed!” I was so thankful no one had a video camera on me. That was when my friend suggested that I go and get a feel for the scooter by driving around a parking lot next door. So I spent a little bit of time getting a feel for it before making my way home.
Now my friend hadn’t stayed outside (I don’t think he wanted to watch me get killed or demolish his scooter) so after I had gotten home, we received a phone call. Krista answered and it was my friend asking if I was there. Krista was quick on her feet and and said “No, I thought he was working late with you?” My friend was stunned. His mind quickly raced to thinking that I was laid out on some road having had some accident or something. So as to not alarm Krista, he told her that he had left me working and had to go immediately. That’s when Krista figured he’d had enough and told him I was there. He was so relieved (and yes, his first thoughts were for my safety before the condition of his scooter). I have since gotten better driving around town. Soon I hope to be able to drive further than our town. Maybe I’ll just go for a drive in the Black Forest today!
