But I'm Not A BAAAD Person...
The bike is sick and my antique door has mushrooms: I’ll be such a lousy father.
Okay, scratch the latter. Failure to register & plate, oil and maintain the Harley, and allowing that fine piece of teak to rot don’t necessarily mean I’ll forget my (future) kids at the carnival ground/bowling alley/A&W/mall.
But I ask you, what kind of motorcycle lover (guilty) who would allow his vintage ’47 HD to sit un-taken-care-of for over 2 years? The dirt has turned sticky, there’s tiny rust kisses (rust in the tropics? Who’d a thunk?) and even though I clamped the gas line I might as well throw the carbs away. The brakes need work – the rear drum is okay but the loathsome modern front disc has gotta go. And on and on.
And yet, there it sits in the garden, still wearing its original expired Bali plates. Nominally cleaner now as I was finally shamed into spending an hour with rags, soap and shammy. The sudden burst of energy can be ascribed to the imminent arrival of Bapak Yoyo, maestro of motorcycles, fixer of legal papers and source of both Indo Harley lore and experienced mechanics who’ll come off the clock to do custom jobs like my own affordably.
(two hours later…) and Yoyo has left for the four hour trip back to Bandung with the bikes rego papers in his pocket and a promise to be back on Tuesday next week with original front and pillion seats, an original drum brake for the front, various other stock doodads and a grease monkey with all the necessary tools. Perhaps two weeks till I’m street legal and we’re off to the races. Mind, going to have to re-learn the suicide shift but that’ll be a pleasure.
I'm also Rp. 800,000 lighter, having bought a couple of tix for HOGFEST 2004, Feb. 7. Hours of cold beer, roast pig, potato salad, live Country & Western music (once a year) and loads of shiny Hogs. Calls to friends thus far have been met with "Yeah, umm, that sounds great. Lemme just check with my wife if I'm available..." Three times today I heard the same thing. Maybe its my delivery?
… A further couple of hours later….
The door is tomorrow’s project. Regular readers will already know the Tale Of The Door. For the rest of you, the stripped down version is that I managed to haggle down a Madurese trader a couple of years back. Picked up what I think is a beautiful teak door and frame of either Balinese of E Javanese pedigree, lushly carved with a combination human, plant and animal imagery. Unlike others that I’ve seen it’s not gaudy and the flaking paint and muted colors give it a very sedate air.
So sedate in fact that some variety of mushrooms have taken up residence along the bottom, encouraged no doubt by daily watering of plants and washing of the flagstones which would cause the water to pool beneath the door – which is actually leaning up against a wall at the moment. I’ve not looked closely at it as today was taken up searching for a spot to get married, a trip to a “Western” grocery store and the arrival of J’s (too) massive bookcase (all of which warrant some explanation at a later date).
Tomorrow however, I’ll tip that puppy back and whittle back the rotten bits, and fry up those pale wee ‘shrooms alongside some juevos rancheros. Yummm.