Rumble

21 June 2015

When I'm riding my motorcycle at low RPM and suddenly twist the gas, the machine makes a characteristic rumble, reminiscent of a few quick shots, then gets to the point and starts pulling forwards. This is a good description of the past week — a lot of hard metal, a little progress with my tasks, and in position to get to the point and start moving faster.

Unfortunately I am hearing this rumble only figuratively. The machine itself arrived on Monday, some required documents a few days later, but I don't have a driving license yet. I dropped my wallet in a taxi three weeks ago and never saw it again. The driver and I briefly looked for it in the car, after which I made the grave error of trusting him and letting him go, assuming I'd dropped the wallet outside. A brief search in front of the shop where I changed a 20 lv. note revealed that the wallet is not there, and I had dropped in the car and the driver had stolen it. Registration CA 7466 HT, small guy with black hair and beard. If I see him again, I'll have a brief ride and request a receipt — it's a legal requirement that he gives me one, but the shady driver he is he probably won't be able to, and I'll report him.

Since my license was issued in Germany where I got the motorcycle endorsement, the procedure is as follows: e-mail and call around for a couple of days to figure out what to do, request a certificate of my right to drive with a signature and print from Karlsruhe, wait ten days until it arrives by mail, send it back to a different institution in Karlsruhe to get an apostille on it (at least I'm sending it this time, so I can use DHL Express), then I bring it to the police in Bulgaria and after additional ten days I can drive again. The status is, I have sent the document to Karlsruhe, and about three weeks until I can ride again. That would make a four and a half month hiatus from motorcycling — my longest so far and I hope it remains so!