sweasel.com

This is funny. I guess it is a Duck-off!

https://twitter.com/TheMERL/status/1081175584540114944

@Ric Fan – Thank you for linking to that tweetfest quackfest. It’s reading little gems such as this that make it possible to wade through the cloaca that is most of the ‘net lately. Much appreciated!

Uncle Al: They are still at it.

Sigh.

An old old lover from my past sent me an email just before New Year’s
saying that she wanted me to know she’s fine and that she didn’t want to lose contact with old friends.

What to do?

Yup

@Some Vegetable – Beware! In my limited experience as observer of and, once, participant in similar re-establishments the result will very likely be unsatisfactory.

For your consideration: “I have fond memories of the good times we had together, and your email brought them again to mind. I’m glad you’re doing well and will always wish you the best, but I would prefer to leave my memories as-is rather than updating them. Yes, this is a brush-off, but I sincerely hope you think of it in the same way that you might think of a good book that you enjoyed reading some time ago but have no desire to re-read.”

Yup

Apropos of absolutely nothing at all, here’s a pic I found I thought you would like…

Smokin Chikins

When I was a kid, we all thought that English bicycles were the best. We called a specific type “the English Racer,” it was usually Raleigh, had the three speed Sturmy Archer rear hub, and front and rear hand brakes. If anybody owned a ten speed they were not in my circles.

My second ten speed was a second hand Raleigh, still built in Nottingham. I really can’t describe how I felt moving up from my old Schwinn Varsity to the Raleigh.

So, “English” bike, good. On the other hand, my experience with British sports cars, and their electrical systems built by Lucas, Prince of Darkness, makes me somewhat skeptical of English E-bikes.

@Steve Skubinna – Count me in on loving my Raleigh “English bicycle” as well.

Re: Lucas. I once owned a 1963 MGB. It was a lot of fun after I learned to remove the distributer cap and spark plug wires every night and put them in the gas oven so the pilot light would keep them warm and dry.

@ Uncle Al. I owned a 1964 MGB Roadster. I loved it but it was a rust bucket. I scrapped it in the end. One strange thing was that it attracted undue attention from the police and they were forever stopping me and demanding that I produce my driving licence and insurance. Something that virtually never happened with other cars I have owned.

Some Veg,

I’ve been where you are — when my second ex-wife came to town some 5 years after we divorced and wanted to see me. My initial reaction for you is to say, “Never pass up (what could be) a good thing.”

On the other hand, if indulging in your curiosity (or prurience, or whatever it is) will cause you serious trouble in your current life — like with a wife or important girlfriend — then probably the answer should be “No.”

In my case, I was lucky. I had no attachments at the time. Also, Ex No. 2 was still attractive and energetic, and we had a few good romps together. Had she completely lost her looks or her fun attitude, or both, we’d have met for lunch and that would have been that. She still scares me; she’s still probably (at age 56, now) a sociopath, or a classic case of narcissistic personality disorder. But as the old saying runs, “The hot ones are always nuts.”

Thank you all for the wise advice. I have decided to utilize my right to remain silent, and simply not answer her email. I really can’t see letting my life turn into a country music song like the one I wrote, above.

Mrs Vegetable and I are content…. and I want to keep things that way.

Some Veg – based on seeing this sort of behavior in the past, I’d remind that if they were friends worth keeping, they’d have been kept.

Sadly most people who want another go are looking for something that was already lost and will never be found again.
Or they want something from you, which they will eventually sooner or later, usually sooner, get around to asking for.

I think Uncle Al has nailed it really.

Now – bicycles – only the rich kids had “English” bikes and I didn’t own one till I bought my own at 18.
They would never have held up in the sort of places we rode our (non Schwinn) stingrays anyway. Little narrow wimpy street tires and fancy gears don’t do well when you ‘crash’ on purpose because the kid chasing you, who was riding a Messerschmidt, shot you and your tail gunner down on Tom Abbott’s front lawn.

I loved my Raleigh bicycle. Some little toe-rag clipped the chain and stole it in front of a…a…bike shop. Was there a bike shop chain called Western Flyer?

I also loved my MG Midget. Mechanically, it was a total and utter piece of shit.

@ Some Veg- If you’re in a committed relationship nothing good can come of meeting with an ex.

Back in my yute I dated a friend of my spouse before I met and married him. The ex met a nice lady and got married. He and the spouse remained friends…not besties, but we saw them occasionally and had good fun with them. As life is wont to do, we went our different ways.

Twenty years later the ex is passing through and calls the spouse to invite us to dinner to catch up. Welp, he was divorced and brought along his current GF. As we were waiting in the bar for our table, talking and laughing, I touched his arm in response to whatever he had just said. I saw my spouse bristle, just for a nano second, no one else caught it and we never mentioned it.

Nope, no good can come of it.

I had a sweet little ’68 Triumph TR250 in British racing green…what a fun car to drive in concourse. The 50’s & 60’s Brit sports cars were a joy to drive…when they started.

Sweasy – yes, I seem to recall Western Flyers. Big honking tires and ball buster bar…

And that helped me recall the manufacturer of my Stingray – Fleetwood, so thank you for asking that question.

Don’t even begin to wonder how your Western Flyer question caused me to recall Fleetwoods. It is a continuing mystery for me.

So, this is where former MG owners meet?

My first car (actually Dad’s car, but I was the designated driver) was a ’67 MGB, after some VERY successful groveling on my part. I loved it… but it was quirky to keep roadworthy. (It has a 12-volt POSITIVE GROUND electrical system, with 2 6-volt batteries in parallel. WHY?) I crashed it into a ditch on a snowy night – broke one of the front axles. It took SIX MONTHS to get a replacement! (No WWW or Ebay back then.)