This is the scooter, the Lambretta LD150 that caught fire. I dragged it into the small workshop one night to do some work on the fuel shut-off valve because it was far too cold outside. I drained the tank beforehand, of course, and once inside, removed the valve. Unknown to me, the valve was designed to leave a half gallon of fuel in the tank as a reserve supply. This came gushing out into the shop, which was being warmed by a paraffin heater. You can guess what happened next. The fuel caught fire. The workshop was so small that I had wedged the scooter behind the only door, making it very difficult to open the door and get out.The rest of the story….Mom and Dad saw the flames from the kitchen and came to the rescue. In Dad’s rush to get to the workshop, he kicked over the bowl of fuel that I had drained earlier, thus getting fuel on his slippers. Hence, the expression, "adding fuel to the fire". The burning fuel spread outside and set fire to one of Dad’s slippers. He didn’t seem very amused at the time.
The fire was soon put out without assistance from the Brigade. The whole scooter was stripped down and completely resprayed.
Footnote: The whole time Tony was dictating this story to put on the blog, he couldn’t keep from laughing just thinking about it.
Stay tuned - we may do one of all modes of transportation from the UK bike to the USA motorhome at some time.
petrol really is very flammable isnt it. i too found that out while 'playing 'in the old garage at mill lodge (before the new one) with a match and a pot of petrol from the lawn mower. i too was surprised by how even the fumes catch light!!.
ReplyDeleteneedless to say you didnt see or hear about it (or mum) (i'm not that stupid) and nothing bad happened.
things to bear in mind when bringing up young boys, i know that at some point abey will be doing the same!!
Though I’ve tried real hard I cannot recall anything about “the old garage” at Mill Lodge. There obviously was one there before we built the new one but I can’t remember how big it was, what it looked like or even pulling it down or taking away the rubble. Did it burn down !!!!!!!????
ReplyDeleteit was the first time i was allowed to hit a wall with a big sledge hammer, great fun... double garage flat roof windows at the back, dart board pinned up next to the paint spray cans (hence trip to emergency ward with red car paint in my eyes (not a good dart player)!
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