D DAY

Delivery Day has arrived.  I was up early just to check that the garage was still there and clear to accept the scooter.  I needn't have bothered because all I had to do then was to wait until Mark arrived.  I "actively" sat in the garden to wait.

I was wakened from my activity by my phone ringing, it was Mark.  It was only 1130 hrs, he had made very good time.  I asked him where he was only to find that he had overshot our house and was at the end of the drive.  A quick turn round and we met for the first time.

I got his van parked up on the drive in front of the project office knowing full well that it wouldn't be long before someone wanted to come in or out.  I wasn't disappointed. We had just started to open the van and sure enough a car arrived.  Having moved the van the car could pass and we decided to unload from where the van was.  It was a good job because we had three other people wanting to pass, one was a car and trailer! It's good living in the country.

Unloading was straight forward, Mark had done a great job securing the scooter and protecting it from damage.  Prior to arriving he had been to collect a car engine and he was concerned that it shouldn't break loose and hit the scooter, all was well.  As Mark took the cover off the bike he said he hoped that I was happy with it.  It was obvious that he had spent a lot of time and money on the project.  Despite his saying that he was not happy with some of the finish it was great.  One of my first thoughts was "how the heck am I going to be able to maintain this standard?"  I was frightened that because he had progressed so far I was going to  have difficulty not causing damage whilst adding more bits  

Mark had made up a ramp so getting the scooter out of the van was simple and we moved the scooter and  all the bits into the project office. Mark kindly explained some of the small items, there seemed to be quite a few .  The engine fitted is not the one that is specified in the log book and I think that I will explore the possibility of having it rebuilt so I can get the V5 documentation correct.  I guess this might prove expensive as it is missing the barrel,  head and part of the gear change mechanism. 


I insisted that Mark counted the money, I would have hated to have got it wrong.  I did have June check it knowing what I'm like with numbers.  As luck would have it Mark couldn't make the pile come out right at first.  All was well when he found that he had added an extra £50 to one of the piles.  That sorted, Mark declined our offer of a drink as he wanted to get on his way back to Thirsk.  I think his departure was tinged with sadness at leaving the bike because his last remark before getting into his van was "Are you sure you're happy because I can always take it back?" I look forward to receiving copies of the photographs he has of the original condition.


It was still too hot to really do much so it was back to the garden.  I had set a text to all the kids to say it had arrived and had received encouraging reply's.  It wasn't long before I received a call from daughter Jax asking is the family could come over to see the scooter.  They were suitably impressed, so much so that Neil gave me a pile of his scooter mags so I could start looking for bits.


The end of an exciting day, will I be able to sleep?