MORONEY
THE RAINS
Words: Roger Moroney
Filling up the oil should be easy, right...?
I
t had been rather dry over the late summer
and early autumn, and the farmers around
these parts were casting frowning looks upon
the clear blue skies.
We (the folk of the towns and of dry highways)
greeted each day of clear blue skies as another
visit by a dear friend. We would catch sight of a
distant cloud and fret... for a barbecue had been
planned that evening. But the farmers would
greet the sight of a cloud as the potential visit by
a dear friend. A dear friend who had been gone
so very long.
Mind you, the grape-growing folk were the
opposite of the farm folk... the long heat and
bright skies were creating another classic vintage.
Which they have got, as all the harvesting was
wrapped by the time Mother Nature decided to
give the region a long overdue shower. And then
another one, and then some steady drizzle and
then some more showers and then a belt of
three of rain.
As I sit here and hopefully tap the right keys it
has just edged into July and for the past 10 days
the rains have been prevalent. They are calling this
seemingly endless attraction of northeasterly low
pressure (damp) systems a “droughtbreaker” and
for the fine people of pastoral climes that is a very
good thing. But I call it a pain in the sump (not
allowed to write ‘arse’) as I have to find indoor
activities. Which I did a week back and all did
not go to plane. But hey, does anything ever go
to plan these days?
I wandered out into the garage to check how full
the buckets were under the leaks and while there
decided to give little Peewee, my 50cc two-stroke
toy the grandkids (and us bigger and crazier folk)
drag out occasionally in more summery times to
play with. It hadn’t run since about February so I
put fresh fuel in, checked the plug and the air
filter and basically gave it a thorough going over.
On about the 27th kick it fired and after about 27
seconds settled into good run of revving... they
sound great the old two-strokes.
But at idle it sounded slightly clunky. There was a
bit of a knock in there so I decided to check the oil
level. A simple enough task...although I turned it
into a mission. The oil filler screw top cap is a tiny
thing on the right side of the tiny crankcase and
clearly had not been undone for some time as it
was firmly embedded. But a quick twist with the
pliers and it turned nicely.
I was slightly bemused, no make that bewildered,
to find it had no dipstick thing attached. I got the
torch and peered down through the tiny tunnel
84 KIWI RIDER