The
Squamidian Report – April 7 / 12
Issue #515
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I’ve had the bike ‘on the road’ now for a couple of week, and have even managed to get out for a few chilly rides. However, I had been putting off giving her a good wash and shine because I really don’t like getting her or me wet when its cold out. That bike is a lot of work to wash and shine and its made even harder when its cold. Even using a bike drying blower to dry it is harder because everything is cold. Then, what ever you use for shining doesn’t like the cold very well. It simply won’t spread and wipe and polish. But, the poor old girl needed a good cleaning and the other afternoon was at least sunny so out came all the cleaning stuff and I stuck the jack under the bike and lifted her upright and got to work. It took me over 2 hours to get all the hard to reach nooks and crannies although that time included polishing both wheels. That in it self is a task as bike wheels, especially the rear ones, are not very easy to get to. With the bike jacked way up you can sit on a roller stool and work away on the front one but the rear pretty well requires kneeling or even sitting on the floor.
However, she’s nice and clean now. And shiny too thanks to good old lemon Pledge. My fingers and arms are sore from rubbing and scrubbing but, for now and until she gets dirty again, she is clean. Cleaning a bike is also the opportunity to check everything over very carefully as you are running your hands over every bit of the bike. Its how you check for loose or broken items etc. I didn’t find any problems but I have found loose stuff in the past on this and other machines when doing a good cleaning. One thing I did do was attach my ‘spirit bell’. It was given to me by one of my friends in my CMC chapter. Spirit bells get hung from the underside of the bike where they ward off evil spirits as you ride. At least that’s the story. The other aspect of the story is that if a bell is given to you by a friend, it’s potency is much higher, and therefore it produces a higher level of protection. I won’t go into the whole story, but here’s the light version….
Legend has it that a lone biker used to ride the cold dark winter nights, gathering and bringing toys to needy children (based a bit on Santa I guess). This grizzled old biker had been doing this for years and years and this particular cold blustery night was going to be his last. His time riding alone, night after night was over, he was simply getting too old to continue. As he rumbled his way across the desert, he hit a slippery patch of pavement and went down. He was unable to get back up and so he laid there. A pack of wolves spotted him and began to circle, coming ever closer with bared teeth flashing in the moonlight. Unable to ward them off as he lay there, he reached into his bag of toys and found a small bell which he began to ring, hoping it might scare the wolves away. The tinkle of the tiny bell had no effect on the wolves but a couple of other bikers who had set up camp on a distant hill heard the tinkle of the bell as the cold night air carried the sound to them. They mounted up and charged to the rescue of the injured old rider, chasing off the wolves as they came. To show his gratitude, the old lone rider presented the two riders with the tiny bell, which took on the spirit of the old rider. Ever since, a spirit bell hung from the underside of a motorcycle bring luck and protection for the rider of that bike. If the bell has been presented as a gift, it brings double the luck and protection.
And having been given a spirit bell by a good friend, I must certainly honor the story by having the bell hang from my bike. One more thing, the bell is hung under the bike where it will get dirty often. The idea is that it must be cleaned and the act of cleaning it renews its power, and while cleaning it, you are supposed to remember the old riders who have fallen by the way. At least that’s what I’ve been told.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, with the warm spring weather we’ve been having for the past few weeks you’d think people would be driving sensibly! However, in just the past few days there have been five major collisions in KW. On Wednesday there was a transport truck pulling tandem trailers filled with grain on the expressway in Waterloo at the University Ave interchange that blew a tire and crossed from the southbound lanes into and over the northbound lanes and wound up on its side in the ditch. The truck was a wreck and the grain was spilled but the driver survived without any injuries and managed not to hit any oncoming vehicles! While the authorities were dealing with that accident, there was a three-car pile up caused by the “gawkers” trying to see what was going on while passing that scene. There was one driver taken to hospital from that mess and the cars were totaled! A few hours later there was a “head-on” collision on Victoria St N at Forwell Rd and the police had to call in an Orange Air Ambulance chopper to take the driver of one of the involved cars to hospital and I believe the second driver was VSA at the scene. That made three serious crashes the Regional Police had to deal with within hours. Then Thursday morning there was a serious crash at Fairway Rd and Morgan Ave that flipped one of the vehicles up onto it’s side. There was no mention of anyone being seriously injured in that crash but charges were pending. Likely someone blew through a red light to cause that mess!
Thursday morning saw two more crashes of a serious nature. On Bridgeport Rd in Waterloo, a pick up truck and a car were totaled when an 84-year-old male driver blew a red light and was T boned by a car driven by another 82-year-old male that had the right of way. I’m sure there were more charges in that situation. The drivers were both taken to hospital for treatment of minor injuries to one driver and serious but non-life threatening injuries to the other! While the Regional Police were dealing with that collision they also had to respond to the scene of a single vehicle mishap on Victoria St S at Eastforest Trail around 7:15am. The vehicle a Honda had somehow gone off the road and through a chain link fence at a Grade School on the corner and was reported to be on it’s roof with the driver still in his seat but unconscious!
With all of these mishaps within a three day period, I’m beginning to wonder what the heck is going on! The weather over these three days was perfect for driving and all of these incidents happened during the daylight hours! Is it that drivers are just not paying attention now that the roads are clear of snow or ice? I think that it’s just as important to pay attention in the nice weather as it is in the inclement weather. Probably more so because drivers tend to speed more in the clear weather and things happen faster than ever when speed is involved! Hearing about all these serious collisions I hope drivers around the region will learn a lesson and slow down for the safety of others if not for their own safety. If you don’t give a shit about your own life, at least think of other drivers and their families!
While on the subject of road safety, I was exiting the expressway at Courtland Ave yesterday and saw two OPP cruisers and officers checking vehicles entering the “On Ramp” to the expressway from Courtland for drivers not wearing their seatbelts! Who in their right mind these days drives without wearing a seatbelt? I sure as hell wouldn’t but maybe I’m conditioned to wear mine after seeing all the carnage at the many collisions I attended during my 30 years on the Fire Dept? There are two things that are fact when dealing with motor vehicle collisions #1 – motorcyclists always lose! And #2 – people that do not wear seatbelts lose as well! That is unless they are stinking drunk and are so loose that they don’t break any bones by resisting the impact! In those cases, they usually survive relatively unscathed but kill or seriously maim the people in the other vehicles involved! Where the heck is what we call “common sense” these days? I guess there will always be people who disobey the rules of the road and also those who drive drunk! It’s a sad world when drivers just don’t care or think it “Won’t happen to me!”
I hope that the events of the past few days on our local roads is no indication of what’s in store for the coming summer!
Driving Drunk is like waving a loaded gun around at a hockey game and not wearing one’s seatbelt is like playing Russian roulette!
I’m sure I don’t know anyone that does either of the above when driving but all it takes is one moment of not paying attention to other drivers while in your car or on your motorcycle and you can be a victim of one of these idiots!
So please let this Ontarion be a reminder to all of you to “DRIVE SAFE” this spring and summer! We can’t afford to lose any of our readers to such a tragedy!
That’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
“No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationary!”
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Have a good one..
the doug
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