Scootering at Scully Scooters with Lynne Scullard!

A little while ago I won myself a session at Scully Scooters via Twitter, where myself and 2 friends would be spoiled and taught how to properly ride a automatic scooter...! I've been riding motorcycles for a few years but had never ridden a fully AT scooter before! So it was a first for me too.

That's where I met Lynne Scullard, the founder of ScullyScooters and a wonderful lady who seems to share the same sentiments as I with regards to motorcycling and gaining independence in South Africa. What a refreshing spirit!!

Our Date!

Our session kicked off with a great lunch where I got to know a bit more about Lynne...where she started, why she started and where she hopes to see herself. And in turn she got to know a bit more about us and our friendship.

 

We then headed outside for the practical task, which started with getting familiarized with our little scooters, getting them to move and eventually racing around the track....well, for me at least, found the little machines to be too much fun! Deshi was really serious about getting a hang of this riding thing without falling. While Michele was so nervous, I at times thought she was going to have a panic attack, she didn't seem to be having fun...which was a bit foreign to me to understand in the beginning but soon did.

After the outdoor jol in the sun, we went back inside to bask in all the theory about riding motorcycles on the road, safety included.

The most important thing that I walked away with and bear in mind everyday as I ride are Scully Scooters' Three Guiding Principles:

1. 100% Accountability
2. No Excuses
3. No Accidents

When you, as a rider, become about taking 100% accountability for yourself on the road, you fully acknowledge your responsibilities, you accept that no one else is entitled to looking out for you and you stop making excuses that would otherwise put you in harms way!

Our Sentiments:

Why, like other developing African countries, does South Africa NOT have millions of people considering motorcycling as a form of transport? Is our public transport structure that great that we don't see the need to seek independence? Are we not bothered by the constant petrol price hikes? Or can we simply blame lack of exposure and fear of the unknown?

Our economy is not at the place where it should be. For our population, the state of our economy is simply unhealthy. How do we get more South Africans active in the economy? Give them mobility. That alone is probably the most important form of independence. The kind of independence that makes getting to work and/or starting ones own business easier. What's the cheapest way to get people mobile? Get them on scooters. Which is exactly what Scully Scooters is doing! They are showing people that they CAN choose independence! This is not rocket science.

The Rosebank area has caught on to scooter fever! So has Sandton with the 3-wheel Tuk-Tuks... Eventually, the rest of Jozi will too, then South Africa! And you can bet that Lynne will play a big hand at that, as she is already and doing such a great job at it!

For all info on Scully Scooters, their training courses, offer packages and programmes, check out: www.scullyscooters.co.za

Go on, get your neighbour, gardener, teenager, wife and even your boss riding... Life's just better on two-wheels!!

Smartphone Train!

So yeah, smartphones have taken over! I tried to resist but I've finally jumped on that gravy train!

Why I wasn't into them before:

1. I was always broke.
Well, not entirely true, but let's go with that. Really, spending over 5K on the latest smartphone just to be cool and be part of the IN crowd? That's silly! Especially when you know that in a few months, the latest version of that same phone you have would be released and it would be dubbed "SO MUCH BETTER!!". Seriously?!!? FOMO ain't worth that.

2. I hate being like everyone else.
It's like when someone walks up to you and says, "Nice dress! My friend has the exact same one!"...*crickets*...I guess I really am a girl after-all! Damn. I don't like sharing much, I'm all about exclusivity...even if it means being stuck in the dark ages (which I was...for a while). Very dark and unique place, I was the only one there. Awesome.

3. I ALWAYS had something better to spend my money on!
Like what??? Biking...duh! Bikes, riding gear... that stuff's expensive...and makes me happier than a phone ever could! I could buy a baby-scoot with the price tag on most of these smartphones... Yes, that's generally how I measure whether something is worth buying or not. Your currency is Rands, Euros, Dollars, mine is Bikes.

A change has come!

I was using a small phone with a local carrier logo on it to make and receive calls & texts, and an old Nokia (ancient) which ONLY served the purpose of going online...that is it! If I tried to make it do other fancy things, it would just lay there and die. For the passed couple of months I've been featuring on that song about "Getting A Better Phone"...I'm not so sure I was serious about getting one, though. I mean, my phones could make calls, receive calls, send texts and manage my emails...what more did I need? Well apparently I need instagram, BBM, 16-32GB on-board memory, 8MP camera, 4G, LTE, a phone that senses when I've fallen asleep then switches off its screen, did I mention the screen must be HD...nan'nani...

So, [with the push from Durban thieves who stole my belongings, cellphones included, while I was having a nice time at the beach in the wee hours of the morning after the MetroFM Awards] I went and got myself the Samsung Galaxy S3. Because even with the newly released iPhone5 and Blackberry Z10, it's still ranked the best smartphone around! I wanted to experience the hype myself. Also, I got the Blackberry Curve 9320, just to get the BB experience, and because it was on the TechRadar.com Top 20 Smartphone list until a few weeks ago, had a reasonable price tag...and happened to be the only BB there. Must be something to it!

While we're on BB, I honestly love the idea behind BIS. It has been the source of affordable internet access for millions around the world!! Which is something that even our local cellular networks have robbed our people of with their ridiculous data rates, have you seen them??? For 100MB data bundle, Vodacom will charge you: R49.00, MTN will charge you R80.00, 8ta will charge you R40.00, and CellC will charge you R15.00, being the better of them all...but STILL! What happened to us being a 3rd world country and being treated as such??? They're killing us! We've recently seen MTN do away with BIS... I say that's BS.

Anyway, I am so sold on smartphones, phablets, tablets and all the cool apps one can download or even programme! I even have RADFAM-RAUCK supplying them now!

Oh and..... Yes, I know... The S4 is out *face palm* Allow me to be Ray Charles to that tu.