Polar blast

I had to go to the hospital this week - nothing drastic - just 'girl stuff' that guys don't want to know about. I had to be there by 8 am. The Hospital is 25 kms away. So there I was Vespa- ing at 7.30 in the morning in a hard frost. I swear my hands were on the edge of frost bite. They were so cold, I was slapping my leg as I rode along, trying to regain feeling in them. Yes I was using leather motorcycling gloves. When I arrived, I couldn't take the key out of the ignition, or get my helmet off. A combination  of no feeling and acute pain.

We've had our 2nd Polar Blast for the winter. Apparently it was straight from the South Pole and was a 50 year Meteorological event. Actually we didn't get much snow in Nelson, not like the last time, but it was a great deal colder this time. My bike computer froze and hasn't gone since, even the cooking oil in the kitchen froze. Nelson got off pretty lightly compared to the rest of the country . They even had snow in Auckland - the largest Polynesian city in the world,  where the winters are usually so mild, a lot of people don't have heaters.

Fresh Snow on the Mountains.

It was with this Polar breeze and the Snow on the hills, that I Vespa-ed in the hard frost into town. One more amendment to my 'what to take list'. Light woollen gloves to wear under my leather ones. After all it could be very cold in Kazakhstan in April.

Coming home from the Hospital, it was warm and sunny and perfect Vespa weather. I took all the back roads home, just so that I could prolong the pleasure of the ride. It's amazing the difference the temperature makes to the enjoyment of riding, whether it's a Horse , Bicycle, or Vespa.