Older, but no wiser

Postponed from day 18. If at first you don't succeed...



(takes a while to buffer, but it will start...)

It's been one of those evenings where must-do takes precedence over want-to. The tail light on my motorbike has been playing up - sometimes on, sometimes off. It was only pointed out to me yesterday, by a motorist who used a surprisingly accurate form of words. He didn't say "It's not [switched] on" or "It's not working" - what he said was "You're not showing a tail light" - a statement that was 100% accurate and without any attempt at infering the cause. I'm always impressed by precise use of language... but I digress. I spent the evening fiddling with it; one of those annoying faults which is sometimes there, sometimes not.

Taking the bulb out is easy; getting to the rear of the bulb holder to examine the connections is not. Too many things to undo and remove before you can get to it. But there was no option unless I wanted to take the train tomorrow - which I didn't. To examine the bulb holder closely you have to take the whole lamp housing out; to get to the screws holding the lamp housing, you have remove the tail cover, and to remove the tail cover you have to remove the grab handles. It all sounds a bit like that song about the connected bones...

It was when I was looking on the shelf for the nut spinner to remove the final set of screws, having removed everything else first, that I spotted it; indeed my hand almost fell on it: a spare stop/tail bulb. It had no right to be there; that's not where I keep spare bulbs. But there it was, all the same; tucked away but come to light (!) at exactly the appropriate moment.

And would you believe it, that solved the problem. Nothng obviously wrong with the original one, but the contacts on the found one were just that little bit higher.

So fortune does smile, occasionally.