March 04, 2003 : tuesday

In Very Brief format:

I went to pick up the scooter.

I was unaware that there was a transportation strike on today.

There weren't any trams, but I only figured it out after realizing that every Tram-stop I passed had:
A) no passengers waiting
B) showed that there wasn't a tram for at least 14 minutes. (this happening during prime-tram-riding-time.

The store closed at 6 and I had less than 10 minutes to make it to the scooter shop which was a 20+ minute walk away. I didn't think I'd make it, but still, as it was the only option, I ran.

I made it to the store (not before 6, but they were thankfully still open), I paid for the scooter, but when I tried to start it, it wouldn't start.

Since I"m a girl, and the scooter people were male, they insisted that they try it as well. (didn't work) and so I played dumb to the fact that I knew that when we had picked the scooter up by the library, the gas-tank-lid was off, therefore causing Eva and I to suspect that someone had peed in it. (that's the only option we see as plausible)

I'm mortified about telling the people in English (I've attempted to do most of my conversation in Dutch) that someone might have peed in the tank. Even after the mechanic unscrews the lid and says, "this smells a bit strange" to which I also smell it and say, "um, this smells like gas to me. But then again, I'm no expert."

I suppose I was trying to will the scooter into working regardless of the fact that all arrows pointed to it's being abused.

I left the key there, along with the scooter, and when I picked Eva up at the station, I made her promise to call the people and tell them a long-winded story about how I wasn't there to pick up the scooter but that she had seen the cap off and assumed that someone had probably peed in it. To which she swore she would.

It's a little depressing being duo-transportation-less, but I suppose we're doing alright.

IN THE NEWS:
Rio de Janeiro's famed Carnival parade came to a close at dawn on Tuesday--under threat from drug gangs that terrorized Rio last week, the two-day competition between 14 samba schools took place under its heaviest security yet as 3,000 army troops were called in to back up 30,000 police safeguarding the city. It was the first time the army had to be deployed to help keep the city safe during the annual bash, an anything goes farewell to sin that ushers in the 40 days of Lent.