I rode my scooter in today and...

Finally, it seems that the weather has broken and I can safely ride my scooter to work again. I need to do some work on it before too long but for now, it's fine. After not using for over a month (I last rode it into work during a thaw in January), it started right up! Honda sure knows how to build a reliable scooter.

The work I need to do on it is:

• Change the oil
• Change the air filter
• Change the spark plug and adjust its gap
• Check and adjust (if necessary) the valve clearance.

They are all easy, step-by-step jobs and I have the service manual to help me along.

I used to really enjoy working on my car but now the engines of automobiles are so complex that I don't feel competent to work on them. But this scooter is manageable. And everything is smaller so I can work on it in a smaller space (our shed for instance) and I don't need help to move big parts. Also, you're not reaching down into a "box" to get to parts (and scraping your knuckles when the wrench slips). You just remove the side panels and everything you need to get to is right before you.

The numbers are the right of way priorities

And now for the "and..." in my title. Notice the traffic drawing here. I've put numbers next to the vehicles showing their relative right of way with '1' having the most right of way.

On the ride in today, I was ready to turn left onto a side road (on the left in this drawing)  from the highway I was traveling on (running vertically in the drawing, my little red Honda scooter is the red ellipse marked with a red '2'). The traffic was heavy and I was waiting for an opening. There was also a car in the side road waiting to pull out on the highway (marked with a '3' in the drawing). I noticed the car but, having the right of way, knew that I has first chance at a break in the traffic. Lots of times, I'll give the other driver a break and let them pull onto the road first and then make my turn. But this morning I was running late and decided that I'd better make the turn as soon as possible. BUT - as usual on my scooter, I know to be careful. In an accident, I'm the one who is going to be hurt. And it's a good thing I did.

The car coming toward us (marked with a '1' in the drawing) was also making a turn onto that road and he definitely had the right of way over both of us. But he slowed way down and flashed his lights to "go ahead". Just as I was starting to make the turn, the car on the left, '3', pulled out without even looking at me. Sure enough, that driver was on their cell phone and didn't even look my way. Fortunately, I was ready for this and there wasn't even a close call. I should have beeped but I figured that would just make them slow down or stop and that would make things worse.

It just drives me crazy how many people are talking on their cell phones while they are driving. And it's not just on long stretches of open highway. They are on their phone in tricky situations. And the really sad thing is that most of the time they don't even realize the trouble they have caused and how close they came to causing an accident. That's why I thought about beeping - to make them aware of what they just did. But, as I said, if I'd have beeped in that situation, I'd have probably just made it worse. What do you do? Just stay alert I suppose. It looks like no one is going to give up their "right" to be distracted while driving.