Always take life with a grain of salt.
And a shot of tequila.
And a slice of lime.
There’s a particular hill a few km from home that the old scooter would have struggled to climb. The new scooter was doing 8 kph at the start and had accelerated up the hill, sitting on 10.5 kph as it approached the crest.
It was equally steep on the downhill so I let the thing have its head and hit 13.6 kph going down it. On the flat it can just exceed 11 kph.
My new mobility scooter was delivered today. It's a bit longer and wider than the one I inherited from Mum. It's also new, not six years old. One thing about the old one that annoys me is the reversing beeper, the new one doesn't have that feature. The old one can work on hills and can haul my weight but it baulks at combining the two actions, the 2-pole 240W motor goes into overheat slowdown and the fix is to reset the overload by turning it off and back on again, as well as giving it a break for five minutes or so.
One particular short hill almost stalls the old device when approached at full noise (11kph). The new machine drops down to 8kph then picks up and is doing 9kph as it reaches the crest. I guess having batteries of 10% greater capacity and a 4-pole 700W motor helps a lot with the performance difference.
One thing about the new one that I initially thought was a bit of a gimmick is the Bluetooth/micro SD card audio player. It's basic, only one tiny speaker facing down from the bottom of the control panel on the steering tiller.
It has forward skip, reverse skip and play/pause buttons. In addition there's a USB-A port for charging small things like phones. The audio quality from the tiny speaker is poor but is loud enough to enjoy the music.
The older scooter uses foam-filled inflatable tyres on wheels 11 inches in diameter as the sole suspension whereas the new one gets coil springs on each wheel plus a short gas strut under the seat. In addition the wheels are 13-inched across.
The older one is still available for sale at a price thats about 20% higher that what I paid for the new one. There's a universal phone holder fitted and I've downloaded an app called Speedler, which displays live speed, maximum speed reached, distance covered, average speed and time. That's quite handy to have.
@variablepulserate Yes, a particular exercise brings relief. I elevate the affected limb slightly and flex the ankle back and forth gently for two minutes or so.
Today in 1990: I stopped smoking. The hospital I was in for the following 16 days after an industrial accident had a strict non-smoking policy.
Today in 2022: With a friend and a hired trailer I moved Mum's unused mobility scooter to my home from hers before spending the rest of the day with said friend.
Today in 2022: Mum died in the aged care facility she'd lived in for 14 months, just as I started driving home from my friend's home.
This has been a significant date for me.
I followed this Chinese balloon for almost 300 km, turned out to be bird poop on the windscreen…
If this bastard of a cat does return or is found within 14 days of adoption I'm seriously considering returning it to the shelter and recouping as many of my costs as possible. I am allowed to do this if necessary.
Totally dependent on getting the bugger back, though.
Refilled the food bowl, he’s been eating and pooping in the right place but now he’s in the wrong place. Bastard thing escaped through a tiny window gap and is nowhere to be seen. I went out for 40 minutes to refuel the car and do essential shopping. No cat inside anywhere. I’ve left food out by the open front and back doors.
