Bart, Gamma I can mostly understand ... I've had a lot of exposure to matter technical in getting my 2 Gamma highway bound over the last years (& last ouch Euro) & lots of coaching via the Gamma Forum & lots of "eyes on" exposure at the great gamma events I've attended.
When the NL Crews arrived at my house this April , I was out on business. They arrived very early, they attacked everything that looked like a Gamma in my warehouse & took care of lots of 'many little-things that I'd not taken care of for a while; like the tire pressure in the reserve tire !!!
Which was great of them to do, since they next AM 1 of my Gamma departed for Torino, 800+km away.
On the day they arrived they proceeded to attack 2 more Gamma that had arrived, by truck, from Norway & got then 'allspiffied-up' too, The 4 Norway Drivers were very happy when they arrived, very late that night.
One thing that worried them (the NL Crew) was that the Gamma that one of them was driving to Basel for me, (where I was to be waiting) was "running rough" ! I said -
when we drive to the restaurant listen & feel what happens to it. What happened happened, the parking lot soot burned off plugs after 10 minutes & it became a silent runner. I knew that would happen, since Gamma want to be driven & not just sit in a warehouse.
Although much about Fulvia is still a mystery to me....I repeat most of my above text ...substituting Fulvia for Gamma. I remember my new, never seen before Fulvia friends checking / repairing / adjusting / oiling-up my Fulvia, in a parking lot in BE & later in F. Also, most Fulvia don't run so smoothly when cold, after being idle for weeks or months...but when they get warm & stop smoking so much....watch out
So, I give myself time to learn about the idiot-syncracies of the Fulvia & promise you...I'll never do anything that would cost me the use of my hands. Funny that we are talking about that...missing digits, pain & suffering.
A friend came by today, for a coffee & to tell me his story. Peter is one of those people that always has a story; not always a happy story ! One week ago he was doing something alone that no one should do alone (especially at his age). He was assembling, with the help of a crane, a 240 year old music-playing wooden horse carousel. In spite of ill-conditions, he had to get it done before the carnival opened that evening.
He did it ! Horray Peter !! He felt no pain doing it, or if he did, he ignored it. His hands were so frozen that he felt no pain, but he saw the blood; his blood. He wrapped his hand in a old rag & kept on working..for a wooden horse had slipped from his wet frozen hands (of course it was raining) crushing his left hand.
Once the operating crew (older operators, his parents in law & his kids young kids... to keep little children from falling off the wet horses) had arrived he drove to the hospital, in a huge truck, right to the emergancy doors.
He was in the hospital for 2 days; had a # of emergency operations & now has a 100kg cast--to stabilize the crushed bones. After the Christmas Market in Heidelberg, where his Family has 8 different "attractions" he is scheduled to go back to the hospital...if his entire arm doesn't fall off first.
I asked him, what are you doing today = He replied "taking the Carousel apart & loading it on the truck (8 hours work for 2 persons) , but don't tell the doctor ! Someone has to do it & it has to be in the next city in two days, where, again, I build it up".. I said a little silent prayer for my friend Peter, remembering the above posts about "very dangerous, special tools, losing fingers"...
I asked him, as he left..
.where are your (grown) kids & why don't they help you. He ran down the list of what each one was doing & where...."building up or taking down the auto-skooter/bumper car track, lights, roof etc", alone; "building up or taking down the wild-water rapids-ride, alone etc.
I realized that I couldn't say enough prayers for all of them & so I too went back to work; light undangerous work, in the Lancia warehouse, moving not light cars around so I could get to the things I needed to get to.
When the weather is rainy or cold I drive everything into the warehouse & final push them into corners, Do not ask me why it is easy to push a car into a corner, but 2x as hard getting it back out ???
Yes, I have all fingers & toes. Peter too. Oh yes, Peter is an American ... too
-D
NO?tt?; he can not get insurance coverage on any employee he hires..the work is considered 'too dangerous'.
So, he & his grown kids (male & female) do everything themselves. Yikes !!! What a life !!!
