We are ready to go, homeleave time

Some hectic weeks at work are lying behind me with a trip to Nepal, a workshop in Cambodia and lots of proposal contributions, contract extensions and visitors.

On the private side I started drooling again looked at two beautiful classic motorbikes, a Honda Super Hawk with 305 ccm, the bike Jim Morrison had and Robert Piersig rode on his trip across America when he collected materials for his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values and a Gilera 175. Both were very nice bikes, the Honda almost completely original, the Gilera with some modifications on the wheels. But both were not registered and without papers or only with photocopies of papers that were ages old. Then I saw a Triumph Tiger on the internet in Germany with only 750km on the clock, advertised for 3,000 Euro. A bargain, and either a mistake or a scam. I tried to call the seller several times, but he did not respond. When I then decided to buy the Honda it was already sold. Bad luck.

Yesterday I brought the Dax for engine check to Laguna Choppers, so hopefully it will be fixed when coming back. Something is wrong, usually I busy new motorbikes when I am very frustrated with things.

After some exciting sailing weekends on Lake Taal we also took Magayon out of the water and stored her safely in her shed. We got the repaired outboard motor back, but too late for use in this season. I got fed up with the heavy gasoline motor, fiddling around with tanks all the time and then it not starting when you need it. It is also not for sale so I should not invest more money in it, although the owner offered to cover the repair bill. So I decided to buy an electric Torqeedo motor for the use on Lake Taal. First I thought about bringing it from Germany, the company is in Starnberg close to München. But shipping the battery would be a problem. Then I contacted the importer in Singapore, he offered to inquire about prices for shipping a unit. Then I found out that Broadwater Marine just became importer for the Philippines. They offered a sweet deal, if I order before they do their first order I would get it for the prices published on the German web site. That includes 18% VAT, but it would save all the shipping cost. So yesterday I ordered a Torqeedo Travel and Mavic made the downpayment today.

Quite a hectic week.

In 6 hours we leave for the airport, everything is organised, the only thing that is not 100% clear is the Charter boat in Sweden. The company SailMarine is terribly slow in responding to emails. I wonder whether that is Viking behaviour or whether the company is a scam? A research in the internet did not produce any alarming results, so it should be OK.

I am so ready for the holiday.