My new scooter came today. To the casual eye, which would be pretty much everyone but me and maybe Stu, there’s little to see, since it’s the same model, same color and close to the same design as the one I’ve been using since ’01. It’s even the same color because not much has changed there, except for the addition of “champagne” which Barry The Scooter Guy said was really nice and like light gold and I said “it’s beige, Barry" and it reminds me of something to appeal to nice old ladies in Hollywood Florida (which is where my grandparents lived) so we stuck with red. Apparently, purple is no longer an option – It was once but I didn’t want to pay extra and red is really right for me anyway.

The mostly subtle design and engineering changes are remarkable though; not only do I have a better battery (not that I ever ran down, but it’s like knowing that when your gas tank reads “E” that you really have a couple of gallons left. The tires, which are the sort that can’t go flat (my first scooter did not have these and I suffered 2 flat tires – not good) give a sllghtly harder ride just because they’re, well, not quite solid, but not quite air-filled, seem better and the ride a bit smoother. And the machine, which is quiet to start with seems quieter.

The small but really fine bits are that the seat is cushier and provides a bit more low back support. And the floor, the platform where one’s feet go? It’s redesigned and makes a HUGE difference. Have you ever had an injury or had something where like two inches was the world? Or you know just like that stupid doorway that you always have trouble going through even though it seems normal? The slope of this floor is much flatter than before, and it’s lower; it’s easier to get my feet onto. Ooooh, baby baby. You wouldn’t think like two or three inches would mean such a difference but it was like instant fix.

Then there’s the cup holder. No jokes, it really IS a cup-holder, NOT a cd-rom drive. Ok, not yet. I got a cup holder attached to the left arm of the chair; this is a good thing because every time I put my nice coffee travel mug in the basket, it falls over and I get coffee on my feet. Which is not where coffee belongs. And as Cornelia suggested, yeah, I want a holder for the iPod; if one doesn't exist it's only a matter of time. You know someone's working on one, right?

The really HOT STUFF, though, is the seat lift. Which is so remarkable, I can’t begin to explain. Wull, okay, sure I can. The last scooter I had had the technology, but I didn’t have the money. I wanted it this time because it would, I thought, help getting in and out, or off and on the scooter - however that works. AND because I dunno about you folks, anyone with low back problems (everyone? I was afraid of that) but sitting up high tends to help me; when I use an office chair, I’m always raising it up if I can. Oh but this is SO much more than that. Whee. It lifts several inches. If I’m right, and I need to test it out more (Stu’s on his way home) it brings me practically eye level, while still seated. So after all of those endess conversations with me tilting my head and getting a neck ache and whoever I’m talking to having to bend down or something, it makes us almost normal in terms of having a conversation. It has to be lowered before I go off anywhere, because in terms of stuff like center of gravity, the scooter operates best when it’s balanced but the whole THING about needing to sit, the whole gestalt of being below someone you’re talking to gets dealt with here. AND it might (still to come) make working in the kitchen easier if I can be ABOVE the counter and work surface.

Alas my “”What Would Xena Do?” bumper sticker went with the old scooter and will need replacing but there’s no shortage of good stickers for our new scoot mobile, political or otherwise. I already placed an order for that and forsome new groovy peace symbols. I have the Powerpuff stickers out already to decorate the steering column, and need to find the WONDERFUL sticker I bought from Northern Sun some time back that reads “Start Seeing Wheelchairs”

And no, you can’t ride it. Okay, well, maybe. I CAN be bribed.