Island Vespa

So, it's not a Vespa, but it's my ride on the island.

Bermuda, ahhh my treasured island to bemoan. You see, every time I arrive, the weather is gruesome, and work is a burdensome chore, but the folks I work for, Barry and James are a treat to work with. This time is no different. I try my best keep my rain gear with me at all times, but I usually fail miserably.

It was sad in a twisted sort of way to find a Piaggio badge from some Vespa crushed and defaced at the end of the driveway at Barry's house.

One of the things I do take the time to do is find a rock on the water to enjoy, while eating my lunch. It really helps to get away from the job site during lunch and enjoy the scenery. I can look, but I can't touch....I've nearly gotten to the point of not telling people where I'm going when I have to come over here and work. I get the idea most people think I'm laying on the beach. Just ask anyone whom I've brought over to work here. It ain't no vacation, trust me. If it's not miserably hot and humid, it's raining, or a hurricane is on the way.

Here's how it usually goes. I get a crap load of gear shipped over here. I'm lucky if it gets unloaded off the boat and cleared through customs in a timely fashion, and undamaged. Then, say one of my manufacturers forgets to send the bolts for the clips, I have to drive to the other side of the island to a hardware store only to find they have the bolts, but not the nuts. OK, so I drive to the opposite side of the island, to another hardware jobber, they have the nuts, but they're metric. I swear, this is the way it goes. Yea, its a vacation....I get to work on my stunning lineless full body suntan in the depths of most any dark theatre.

In all the fifteen years I've been working on this island, I never took the time to check out the local Vespa shop. I tried to score some swag, but I failed miserably. With so many scooters here, I believe it is considered merely a utilitarian purchase. Very different than the scooter shops back in the states. Nothing, no tee-shirts, no key chains, nada, zip, zilch. There is a pile of rusting hulks of LX125 frames looking pitiful to me.

A little slide show of my latest journey: