The BMW gets some TLC and Suzanne holds a face painting workshop. 

Yes, we're still in Faro, Portugal.

Tuesday 19/3/13

Bah! It's raining, and I have to drop the bike off at nine o'clock for it's service. Suzanne washed my riding gear yesterday and it's still wet so I'll just have to wear her gear. The jacket is OK because it's the same as mine, but the pants are a funny fit because they are cut to fit a girly figure, not a strapping he man like me. 

The short version is Suzanne said I looked gay.

I rolled the bike into the shop spot on nine and it was whisked away into the service department. I settled into the customer lounge only to find there is no WiFi available. Drat!

I read (when I say read, I mean looked at the pictures because I can't read Portuguese) all the magazines on the table, then walked around for a while, scratched myself, then looked at the magazines again. Ho hum!

By twelve o'clock I was going a little stir crazy and decided to go for a walk to the shopping centre down the road. I told the service managed I'd be back in about an hour and he replied "Ah, Mr Simon, give us a little longer please". No problem. When it comes to my bike I'd rather a thorough job than a rushed job any time.

In the shopping centre I found an American hamburger chain shop (that's twice this month) and ordered some "food" so I could access their WiFi. That took up about twenty minutes, so I went for a stroll around the shops. It wasn't very exciting. The best place was the pet shop, and it only had rabbits.

At about two I went back to the dealership and sat down again. Then I remembered that a friend had loaded a huge range of books onto my phone, so I sat down and started dreading Craig Ferguson's "American by choice." It's a really good read. If by some remote chance Craig ever reads this; Well done mate. You have my respect for getting on your feet and on with your life.

The bike service was completed but now it was time to try and sort out the fuel gauge issue. It's a common (very common) problem so it shouldn't take long...

Problem found. As I suspected, the sender is kaput! The dealer didn't have one in stock and I don't have a problem with that. You can't expect a dealer to keep every part for every motorcycle ever built. So one will be ordered from Germany for me. Hopefully the problem will be sorted in the next few days.

I rode out the door at six pm. So after eight hours working on the bike (they do have to eat lunch you know) what do you think my bill came to? Just over two hundred euros. BARGAIN!

Obrigado Caetano BMW. What a great bunch of guys.


Later in the evening Suzanne held her impromptu face painting workshop. Suzanne has a VERY limited kit with her, and only a few brushes, so it was a little awkward to get everyone to practice but I think it went over pretty well, judging by the smiles I saw.

The girls were keen.

Farense was in on the act, of course.
He even got painted.

One of the little girls was pretty keen to be painted, but usually kids this young won't sit still long enough for an artist to paint them. I watched Suzanne paint this face in about thirty seconds. I was amazed, and she was a very happy little girl.

Instant face painting - thirty seconds.

Then she got one of Suzanne's books and studied it for ages. She didn't put it down. Here's my prediction - This little girl will be a face painter in the future, mark my words.

"I love my new book."

"Hmm, I think I could paint that"

It was really nice to see this little girl so into her book and made a very pleasant finish to the day.